Windows Live Classifieds Coming Soon

Everyone has been speculating about whether Google Base is Google’s entry into online classifieds. I have argued that it’s about much more than classifieds. But I can tell you with confidence that MSN is soon to enter the online classifieds market. The company has been for working some time on a classifieds site that it will offer through the Windows Live portal. It’s in “internal beta” right now.

I got a quick demo a couple weeks ago. The site sweeps pretty broadly and has traditional classifieds categories, as well as services. It also seeks to leverage community features so that it’s not just a listings database but much more dynamic.

I didn’t see the live site in operation; I saw several screenshots (sorry I don’t have any to share). The interface I saw was very nice and should give MSN/Microsoft an immediate presence in the now much more competitive online classifieds space. I expect we’ll hear (and hopefully see) more at ILM:05.

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Greg Sterling, Local Search and Convergence Columnist - Greg Sterling is managing editor of The Kelsey Group who also writes the Local Media Journal Blog.

Google Testing Google AdWords Click-To-Call

Google has come out with a test of their new Google Pay-Per-Call service dubbed “Google Click-to-Call.” Google is reportedly only testing this service in designated areas of the United States and like Ingenio Pay-Per-Call (which is currently testing its service with Yahoo Local and is running live on AOL and Local.com), Google Click-to-Call sets up a phone call between the Google user and the advertiser. Google Click-to-Call advertisers only pay when the call has been made.

However, unlike the Ingenio service, Google Click-to-Call does not simply serve a trackable toll free number in the Google AdWord advertisement. Instead the service works a bit like Estara which acts as a third party, connecting the user and the advertiser via the Google Click-to-Call Call Center, bypassing the need for multiple 1-800-numbers. Google also does not share the user’s information with the advertiser, leaving it up to the advertiser to draw their lead information from the user after being connected via Google.

Google explains : We won’t share your telephone number with anyone, including the advertiser. When you’re connected with the advertiser, your number is blocked so the advertiser can’t see it. In addition, we’ll delete the number from our servers after a short period of time. We’ll be sure to have more on this later, but in the meantime Greg Yardley has a nice selection of screenshots from the Google Click-to-Call connection process.

Here’s one example of Google Click-to-Call in action :

Feedster Top 500 - Search Engine Blogs

The Feedster Top 500 has been updated to reflect the most popular, “interesting and important” blogs for November and as Barry Scwartz points out, there is a nice showing of search engine industry blogs.

Search Engine Journal is ranked at #93 on the Top 500, with 7,079 links directed at our site. I do not believe we were even previously included in the Feedster 500, so being in the top 100 is a nice premier showing. I’d like to think our readers for your support and all of the sites and bloggers who have linked to our content and stories.

Barry’s Search Engine Roundtable weighed in at #161 on the Feedster 500, an improvement over his last ranking at #500.

The Search Engine Watch Blog is ranked at #109, expect this to grow over time as Sullivan & Co.’s blog is the Baby Huey of the bunch, a younger blog with enjoys the huge reach of the SearchEngineWatch.com site, a large subscriber base, expert content, and excellent syndication.

Other search engine blogs which made it to the Top 500 and stood out at first glance include Nick Wilson’s ThreadWatch Community (#181), InsideGoogle (#282) , Niall Kennedy’s Weblog (#362), Aaron Wall’s SEO Book (#488), and Jeremy Zawodny’s Blog (#119).

Blogs of note or that I enjoy reading which were also ranked include Scobleizer (#76), Darren Rowse’s ProBlogger (#129), and The Blog Herald (#151). Given its early popularity and precise, targeted, and useful content, expect to see a stong showing from Performancing the next time around.

If your blog made it to the Feedster 500 and you’d like to show off your ranking, please feel free to leave a comment in the comment box below.

Google Video & CBS Partnering for Google TV?

Brad at the Unofficial Google Blog says that Google is talking with CBS about providing more timely ‘on demand’ content for the Google Video system. CBS has been quite an aggressive netwrok when it somes to distributing its content via Comcast On Demand.

Brad quotes from a Reuters story ” They need our content, we need their technology,” [CBS chairman Les Moonves] said, referring to broader discussions with Internet companies. “We argue about which is more important. I think ultimately my content, no matter how you get it, content is still the most important thing.”

From Unofficial Google Weblog : “There’s not question that the Internet companies need richer, more timely content—especially the nascent and unfocused Google Video. But Google and Yahoo! do not represent an industry on the verge of expiration, as does CBS. Ultimately, CBS needs the distribution more than either INternet company needs CBS in particular.”

Google has dipped in exclusive video broadcasts for Google Video with its Chris Rock “Everybody Hates Chris” pilot Viacom UPN experiment, but there has not been much happening since.

Yahoo, on the other hand, is a media network and enjoys high profile partnerships with NBC’s Apprentice & The Biggest Loser, Entertainment Tonight, Tyra Banks & America’s Top Model, and archived exclusive Seinfeld DVD episodes.

Gary Price notes on Search Engine Watch that “At the moment, multimedia engines like BlinkxTV make some news content from CBS available. Other multimedia engines including AOL Video Search also offers programming (clips, previews, behind the scenes material) from HBO, CNN, and others. HBO, CNN, and AOL are all owned by Time Warner.”

Google’s Froogle Local Merchant Search

I got a release of sorts from Google this a.m. explaining in more detail the offline/local product data that Froogle will be featuring online. As an example, here’s “digital camera, San Francisco”— just in time for Black Friday/Cyber Monday. Here’s Google’s statement:

Thanks to a new feature in Froogle, Google’s shopping search engine, shoppers can now find that must-have gift at a store in their neighborhood without running all over town. Today Google announced the addition of local merchants’ content to Froogle http://froogle.google.com. By entering the item you’re looking for and your location information, Froogle will show locations nearby that offer the product and pinpoint the stores on a map. So, whether a user wants to order it online or run out and grab it for a holiday party the same evening, Froogle can help.

Here’s how local merchants, using Google Base, can upload inventory information. This is a way for Google to “carry” their inventory online without them needing to have a Web site (Google Base as a substitute/alternative Web presence).

As StepUp.com CEO Kendall Fargo said to me recently about small retailers, “their inventory is their Web site.”

Consumers clearly want local, offlline shopping information (even though more will be avoiding crowds and lines this year). And everyone—Yahoo!, Shopzilla, eBay’s Shopping.com, etc.—that wants to be competitive in the online shopping arena will eventually have both online and offline inventory information. Then the question becomes: how do the engines monetize those offline leads (or how do they get “credit” for them)?

PPCall, call tracking, coupons?

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Greg Sterling, Local Search and Convergence Columnist - Greg Sterling is managing editor of The Kelsey Group who also writes the Local Media Journal Blog.

AOL and IAC Invest in Web TV Startup Brightcove

Looks like AOL and IAC both want a piece of video search : Brightcove, an Internet television startup that helps programmers syndicate shows across the Web and collect money from it, plans to announce on Tuesday it has attracted new high profile investors including AOL and IAC/InterActiveCorp, and a distribution pact with AOL.

Jeremy Allaire, known for making Macromedia Inc.’s Flash software one of the most popular formats to view video online stated “We’re talking about the open distribution of video programming over the Internet,” Allaire said. “It’s about aligning content with audience sets.”

And the business model?

Program owners that upload videos to Brightcove’s servers can simply opt to let Brightcove attach a 15 or 30-second commercial to their videos. Brightcove takes an estimated 30 percent cut of ad sales, according to Forrester Research estimates.

Advertising-supported videos will cost program owners nothing to use the service. Advertisers are charged $25 per 1,000 viewers, a higher rate than the average $16 to $20 fee charged on broadcast television, analysts said.

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Aaron Wall is a Search Engine Marketing expert and the publisher of the SEOBook, the only living & breathing book on SEO .