We conducted more than half a dozen video interviews with attendees at SES Toronto 2009 -- to get feedback on the conference. Basically, the event got rave reviews with comments ranging from "excellent" to "bloody fantastic." A couple of attendees mentioned the Monday keynote by Tara Hunt, author of The Whuffie Factor. The Tuesday keynote by Emanuel Rosen, author of The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited, was also mentioned. A couple of attendees mentioned the "Canadian focus" of the conference or the new information on the "Canadian landscape." Also mentioned were the session, Beyond Linkbait: Getting Authoritative Online Mentions. Each of the video interviews runs from 14 to 56 seconds long, so check them out below. Debbie Wheeler on SES Toronto Nick Eng on SES Toronto Michelle Agudera, Microsoft on attending SES Toronto 2009 Estee Langis, Yellow Pages Group, on attending SES Toronto Susan Hurell, Modern Earth Web Design and BinaryCanary on SES Toronto Helen Faber, WebFuel, on SES Toronto Cecilia Tamez, XE.com on attending SES Toronto 2009 So, congratulations to Andrew Goodman, the SES Advisory Board and SearchEngineWatch.com, who organized and programmed SES Toronto 2009. Based on the feedback, it appears that the keynoters and mix of sessions in the Nuts & Bolts, Corporateville and Geek Tracks appealed to both first time attendees and SES veterans. Hey, I couldn't make this stuff up. Oh, and check out the crowd at the bing booth at SES Toronto 2009. Yes, with close to 1,200 attendees, the exhibitors were happy, too. Crowds at the bing exhibitor booth at SES Toronto 2009

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If you're looking to give back to your community or volunteer for a charity, a new site from Google can help you find the right opportunity. It's called AllforGood.org and it's a volunteer search site. When you visit the site, it detects your location via your IP address. The results will return opportunities from a variety of organizations. The site was built on 20% time with App Engine and Google Base. An API is also provided for third party developers.

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Google Analytics has been moving things around, giving parts of the site a new feel. But don't get used to the way things are now. Analytics is using Website Optimizer to, um, optimize their site. And that means things can continue to change. But like a good search marketer, the Analytics team isn't testing everything all at once. Instead, they're taking it a step at a time. Their focus right now is on the education and professional resources. Google realized that few people were using the search box to find these resources and figured that perhaps people didn't know about them. (Can't search for what you don't know about!) So, the analytics team created new sections for them. Here's what to look for: The Product section has been updated to help users better understand Google's web metrics offerings including Analytics and Website Optimizer. The Support section highlights online communities as well as authorized consultants. The Education section enables users to develop their skills, watch videos, find out about seminars and take the Google Analytics IQ online course and test. What do you think about the updates to the Google Analytics site? Leave a comment and tell us!

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It's one of social media's favorite topics: How will Twitter make money? This week brings news of two possibilities that many have speculated: Shopping and Corporate Verified Accounts. Twitter is already like the mall, or at least an airport concourse with companies such as Starbucks, Dell, Dunkin' Donuts, Jet Blue and Southwest Airlines tweeting away. It's rumored that Dell has made millions sending out Tweets about deals and sales. And while companies are increasingly keeping track of their brand in things like Tweets and Facebook updates, wouldn't it be nice to have technology that could serve up an ad or even the ability to directly purchase from Twitter when someone asks "Should I get one of the new Acer Timelines coming out?" or "Are Keen shoes any good?" Of course, the reason people are even asking that on Twitter is because they're not always satisfied with search results. Plus, they're more likely to trust their network than computer-generated links. Speaking of which, not everyone in a person's network is alike. On that note, Twitter plans to give users the ability to sort their streams. You could lump celebrities into one group, co-workers into another and Spymasters into another one (yes, I'm addicted). Twitter application TweetDeck already offers groups so it will be interesting to see if Twitter simply acquires them like it did with Summize, which provided search. So that's your (almost) daily dose of Twitter news. What do you think of the monetization and stream sorting plans? Share your thoughts the old fashioned way by leaving a comment below.

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Yahoo! has released a couple of updates to extend enhanced search results. A new SearchMonkey update that enables even more enhanced results. You may remember back in March that a similar update enabled embedded rich media and documents in Yahoo! search results. Not every search would show them, but for web developers, adding a code snippet could be worth the added attraction in results. Now, the enhancement is being expanded. Product pages, local information, events, news, and discussions can potentially be seen in the results per SearchMonkey code. The Yahoo! Search blog gave an example of a Systore.com result for a video game: Additionally, Yahoo! search will now accept Google Base, a product publishing tool. Five Google Base items will now be supported: Event, Product, Review, Job, and Personals. Those who have Event and Product information can submit their feeds to Yahoo! Site explorer to get their enhanced results automatically displayed. What do you think of these updates? Let us know in the comments.

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If you're like most searchers, you find yourself refining your searches until you find what you're looking for. But if Bruce Johnson from Semanti has his way, you'll start getting the results you want from your first search. Johnson is the CEO of Semanti, a San Francisco-based semantic search company. Today, Semanti is officially launching their brand new Firefox add-on. The add-on uses an 8 million term ontology to aid searchers with their keywords and phrases. Semanti can figure out that when you type in fuel economy, that other terms such as mpg are relevant to your search as well. No need to go back to your original search to add on that second term in the hopes of finding new results. When installed, you can use Facebook Connect to sign in. Then, Semanti will provide query suggestions for Google, Yahoo, and Bing. When the results page comes up, you'll see the Semanti results above the search engine's organic results. You can collapse the results if you wish. Semanti ultimately relies on social search, hence the Facebook Connect. Johnson says that the sites that your social network visits are more likely to be relevant to you than the ones generated by a generic algorithm. Additionally, Johnson believes the "wisdom of the crowds" can fuel better search. In order for that to happen, your network will need to actively be using and bookmarking Semanti. Of course, that's the big challenge in search - getting people to form new habits with new search engines. Johnson says that's why Semanti was developed as an add-on. You don't have to use a new search engine. You just use your default engine and then use the Semanti to bookmark. Because of the social aspect, it takes a while for Semanti to work. Johnson and team may need to rework this since most people want their search to work out of the box. But to get an idea of what Semanti is like in all its glory, check out this video:

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If you have a favorite journalist, you can now search their name on Google News. There are three ways you can do this: 1. Type in "author:" followed by the name. 2. Use the Advanced Search option in Google News. 3. Click the link associated with a name featured in Google News search results.

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Seems the Federal Trade Commission wants to become the regulator of the web. They have weighed in on behavioral targeting and is ready to set up rules. Now they are ready to start setting rules for bloggers - particularly payola blogs that get paid for reviews or recommendations of products. The bloggers should have been aware of this coming as it has been discussed before. As the Associated Press reported they plan to monitor blogs for payments. One has to wonder when they will look at copy written to attract Adsense. True, "many bloggers have accepted perks such as free laptops, trips to Europe, $500 gift cards or even thousands of dollars for a 200-word post. Bloggers vary in how they disclose such freebies, if they do so at all." But more write content to make money through Adsense. Self-regulation by bloggers is being recommended, but then again that is how the behavioral targeting people have been talking. Sadly, yet realistically, both groups are not doing much to get these rules in place and the FTC is getting ready to actively step in. The FTC already bans deceptive and unfair business practices. and it seems they seek to expand those laws by including bloggers. The BT people have to deal with the issue of privacy - something the web seems to ignore at times - but with targeting of ads by watching individuals' web activity this goes to an area that really make people uncomfortable.

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The comScore's monthly numbers show a drop in growth for Google, Yahoo and MSN, yet an increase for social sites Facebook and Craigslist over last month was noted. Google's numbers fell to 65% of search share - a 2% drop from last month - while Craigslist gained 12 percent. comScore Expanded Search Query Report May 2009 vs. April 2009 Total U.S. - Home/Work/University Locations Source: comScore qSearch Expanded Search Entity Search Queries (MM) Apr-09 May-09 Percent Change May-09 vs. Apr-09 Total Expanded Search 22,067 21,818 -1% Google Sites 13,041 13,035 0% Google 9,830 9,680 -2% YouTube/All Other 3,211 3,355 4% Yahoo! Sites 3,161 3,021 -4% Yahoo! 3,135 2,995 -4% All Other 26 26 0% Microsoft Sites* 1,250 1,194 -4% MSN-Windows Live 1,158 1,103 -5% Microsoft/All Other 92 91 -1% AOL LLC 795 721 -9% AOL Search Network 427 374 -12% MapQuest/All Other 368 347 -6% Ask Network 705 691 -2% Ask.com 402 382 -5% MyWebSearch.com/ All Other 303 309 2% craigslist, inc. 583 651 12% Fox Interactive Media 666 644 -3% MySpace Sites 658 636 -3% All Other 8 8 0% eBay 654 634 -3% Amazon Sites 188 185 -2% Facebook.com 176 184 5%

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Twitter's real-time search capability has great appeal to anyone wanting to get the pulse of what people are actually tweeting about. Media entities are taking note; companies are using it to deliver fast customer service responses. But I'm still not using Twitter search for my news and information. When I search for news, I stick with Google (and starting to experiment with Bing). Google generally finds what I'm looking for and I don't necessarily need "real-time" search results. I do want quality over quantity. Microsoft's Bing might give me more of what I want. But I'm still not motivated enough to start using Bing with any serious regularity. But what about Twitter? Twitter search seems destined to improve with new Twitter search tools coming out such as Twazzup, OneRiot and icerocket's twitter search engine. All of the apps seem to deliver similar search results when I used them but I like Twazzup's interface the best. You can easily see who tweeted, their profile stats, including number of followers. Scoopler recently made its debut. It neatly splits your search results into two columns, the left showing real-time search results and the right column showing results from blogs and websites, including links to videos and images. You can "peek" at the story and share it via so many of the social media tools we've come to know and "love:" Facebook, Digg, Reddit, etc...Check it out! I know I'm not the first Tweeter to remark that one of the most interesting uses of Twitter is the more unusual links tweeters post which you might not otherwise come across in a Google search. In that fashion, twitter search certainly adds social and news value. But as explained by Mark Jackson of Vizion Interactive in this informative video interview, Twitter's search functions can still be easily manipulated, making it very unreliable, not to mention the SPAM factor which Twitter is still not yet capable of combating effectively. Twitter search does have a way to go if it wants to seriously compete with Google. But as we've seen with the coverage of the recent Iran election, Twitter has made a significant impact on the value of real-time search. And Google, along with a few other contenders, while playing catch-up, has time (and money) on its side.

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The reasons for Microsoft to still consider a deal with Yahoo! diminished even further this week as news broke that three former Yahoo!'s have been recruited to Microsoft. They aren't the first. You would think there was a fire sale on former Purple People. Larry Heck, Scott Moore, Qi Lu, and Sean Suchter have all ended up at Microsoft after leaving behind their Yahoo! gigs. Now, joining them, is Kevin Timmons; Yongdong Wang, former Yahoo VP of international search; and Knut Risvik, who incidentally spent time at Google after his stint at Yahoo! Microsoft isn't the only place former Yahoo!'s are making their mark. Jeff Weiner joined LinkedIn last year as President, having left Yahoo! last summer and then hanging out at a couple of venture capital firms. Now, he's changing his title to CEO. What do you think about the departed? Does Microsoft have any incentive to negotiate a deal with Yahoo? Leave a comment and let us know!

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If you conduct a search for a brand, you're most likely looking for the official site. Bing is separating the official sites out from the rest of the results for brands with a feature called Best Match. Here's an example of a search for FIFA. Notice the search box included with the result plus deep links: Best Match isn't perfect. It didn't recognize Caribou Coffee. Also, the "best match" for Keen was a psychic site, Keen.com. But what about Keen shoes? They were at the top of the organic results below. Perhaps there shouldn't be a "best match" for that keyword? What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.

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FREE Google webinar on the 7 Deadly Sins of Landing Page Design led by SiteTuners.com CEO Tim Ash will be held on Wednesday June 24th from 10:00-11:30am PDT (GMT-7). Plenty of time will be included for audience questions. For more information and to register please visit the webinar page. Hope to see you all there!

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Congress is preparing an opt-in privacy bill for online advertisers, according to Peter Kafka. The effort is led by Rep. Rick Boucher of Virginia. This means publishers couldn't serve up behavioral ads unless getting permission first from the consumer. Right now, most consumers can opt-out, though most probably don't give it a thought as they browse the web. Though details on the bill are vague, Kafka rightly points out that most advertisers and/or publishers could work around the new regulations by offering incentives to those who opt-in. Another option would be offering an ad-free version of a site for a premium. It's no secret that many in the media world are hoping to push online publishing in that direction. From charging for online newspaper access to charging for Hulu, media execs are looking for non-advertising ways to fund their sites and networks. They could sweeten the deal by making the opt-in process completely miserable. You'll probably have to hand over your email address and then get tons of junk email in order to access content for free. I already experience this for one local newspaper, but imagine if there were new regulations as an excuse! If you think the web is a bit messy right now, just wait until you have to opt-in all the time. The intentions of the bill may be to protect the consumer, but it more likely will create ultimatums: agree to advertising, pay for content or miss out altogether. That's just my opinion. What's yours? Sound off in the comments.

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YouTube recently released a bunch of updates across the popular online video sharing site. Here they are: Wonder Wheel - You may remember that Google added Wonder Wheel to search back in March. Now, for certain searches on YouTube, check the right hand side for the Wonder Wheel link. Here's what happens when you click on it for "keyboard cat" Improved Advanced Search - YouTube says they've made advanced search easier to use, highlighting all the options available to searchers. Upload Progress Bar Remaining Time - Users will get an estimation of how much time is left on the upload based on file size and internet bandwidth. Download mp4s of Your Own Videos - This is especially helpful if you've lost your videos saved on your hard drive for whatever reason. TV-Like Experience - When you're in full screen, the player controls are hidden so you can watch videos without distraction. Mobile App Expanded to Six Languages - They are: French, UK English, Italian, Spanish, German and Dutch What do you think of these YouTube updates? Share your thoughts in the comments.

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