Google to Launch Enterprise Solutions in Australia

It looks as though Google will finally be opening up their enterprise applications Google Appliance and Google Mini to the Australian Market.

In an email distributed to media, Google stated "Please join Google and partners for this media-only briefing as we launch business solutions for enterprise search” and this page from the enterprise section of www.google.com,au suggests the same.

The Google appliances enable webmasters to use the power of Google search technology on their own websites, intranets and networks etc. Starting at 50,000 searchable documents for US$1,995 the Google Mini is an affordable solution for small business.

Also providing integration with Google desktop and Google Toolbar enterprise editions, Google is set to refresh how search is applied in the Australian market with the release of these products.

No More Commissions for Australian Media Buyers says Google

According to this article in the Sydney Morning Herald, it looks as though Google is stopping the act of paying media buyers a 10% commission in
Australia.

It seems most of the media buying agencies interviewed for this article don’t seem to mind the move by Google as it levels out the playing field

Google Trends out of Beta

Google has brought its Google Trends program out of beta, giving an insight into search behavior through worlds most used search engine. Google Trends enable a user to see a graphical representation of the difference between two search queries. Searches are shown in a timeline with relevant news items (taken from Google News) inserted at peaks.

An interesting addition is the ability to break down search trends into cities, regions and languages, giving users the ability to drill down, getting a more refined search result.

Google Trends does not give an amount on searches however; savvy marketers with the right tools can get a rough idea of amounts. Whilst this new addition to Google’s toolbox is not a definitive guide to the world’s searches, it will definitely help marketers and business owners get a little more insight to Google’s search data.

Free Webcast on Small Business Search Engine Marketing

Hostaway, a global leader in hosting services who opened an office in Sydney last month are offering a free Webcast for small businesses to learn about search engine marketing and how to increase traffic to their websites.

Some of the items covered in the Webcast include

– Growth of local online advertising and how it affects small businesses
– Your business is online, now how do you get noticed?
– Importance of having a presence on search engines
– A step-by-step guide on how to use SEM to drive traffic to your site
– Common search marketing mistakes to avoid

John Lee, Vice President of Global Marketing and General Manager of Hostway had this to say about small businesses trying to make headway in the search space.

"The simple fact is that search engines have become consumers' starting point for researching products and services. If small businesses don't have a presence on the major search engines, they're missing a great opportunity to connect with customers at the exact moment they are looking for what these small businesses sell,"

To register for the May 23rd Web seminar, "How Search Engine Marketing can Boost Small Business' Revenue," please visit http://www.hostway.com/webinar/sem.html.

Google Buys Australian Search Engine

Google has won the bidding war for a new type of search engine created by University of New South Wales PhD Student Ori Allon. The new search engine has been noted as speeding up the search engine process by displaying information from related searches so users do not have to actually go to a website to find out more information.

Dr Eric Martin from the university’s computer science department had this to say about the new engine.

“We have been developing a new search engine that returns not only links to webpages, but actual information so that users, when they enter keywords, get a list of related concepts, information that they can directly access. So instead of having to click on the link, read the webpage and find out the information they're after, they're provided with the information itself.”

This type of engine will present an interesting challenge for Google as most of their revenue comes from their text based advertising product Adwords. If users do not have to click on a website to visit the page, this effectively cuts off any opportunity for contextual advertisement publishers using the Adsense platform to generate visitors to their site.

How will this type of search results page impact on these types of advertisements being seen?