Google Stuff

Create calendars with the Google Calendar Data API.

Lane LiaBraaten, The Google data APIs Team

The Google Calendar data API now supports two new read/write feeds that allow you to manage a user's list of calendars. One feed lets you create and delete calendars, while the second feed can be used to add and remove subscriptions to existing calendars.

The owncalendars feed contains the collection of calendars that a user 'owns' (either because they created the calendar or because someone shared it with them and gave them permission to "Make changes AND manage sharing"). Adding a calendar to this feed will create a brand new calendar that you can add events to or share with your friends and colleagues.

The allcalendars feed contains all the calendars that a user has access to, including the public or shared calendars that have been subscribed to. You can use this feed to add and remove subscriptions or update personal calendar settings like the color or visibility.

For more information about these new feeds, visit the Google Calendar data API Reference Guide, or follow the links above to see code examples in the Developer's Guide. Lots of people have requested this feature in the Calendar data API developer forum, so let us know what you think!

Reporting Delay Update

Update: 4:24pm Tuesday, 31 July -- Report data has been fully updated and is now current again. We apologize for any inconvenience the temporary delay caused and will have less reporting delays in the future.
_____________

We are starting to update reporting in all Google Analytics accounts affected by the delay. As of 5pm PST this evening, some users will start to see part or all of the data from the period between Saturday and now appear in reports. We expect updates for all accounts to continue through Monday night into tomorrow and will update this blog when reporting is fully restored.

Thank you for your patience.

Posted by Jeff Gillis, Google Analytics Team

Supplemental goes mainstream

Written by Prashanth Koppula, Product Manager, and Matt Cutts, Software Engineer

When Google originally introduced Supplemental Results in 2003, our main web index had billions of web pages. The supplemental index made it possible to index even more web pages and, just like our main web index, make this content available when generating relevant search results for user queries. This was especially useful for queries that did not return many results from the main web index, and for these the supplemental index allowed us to query even more web pages. The fewer constraints we're able to place on sites we crawl for the supplemental index means that web pages that are not in the main web index could be included in the supplemental. These are often pages with lower PageRank or those with more complex URLs. Thus the supplemental index (read more - and here's Matt's talk about it on video) serves a very important purpose: to index as much of the relevant content that we crawl as possible.

The changes we make must focus on improving the search experience for our users. Since 2006, we've completely overhauled the system that crawls and indexes supplemental results. The current system provides deeper and more continuous indexing. Additionally, we are indexing URLs with more parameters and are continuing to place fewer restrictions on the sites we crawl. As a result, Supplemental Results are fresher and more comprehensive than ever. We're also working towards showing more Supplemental Results by ensuring that every query is able to search the supplemental index, and expect to roll this out over the course of the summer.

The distinction between the main and the supplemental index is therefore continuing to narrow. Given all the progress that we've been able to make so far, and thinking ahead to future improvements, we've decided to stop labeling these URLs as "Supplemental Results." Of course, you will continue to benefit from Google's supplemental index being deeper and fresher.

Поздравления! Поздрав!

Two more languages -- Bulgarian and Serbian -- have just joined the AdSense for content family, and AdSense for search has also launched in Serbian. We know that web publishers in these regions have been waiting for for a long time -- thank you for your continued patience.

To get started with AdSense for content or AdSense for search, log in to your account and follow the wizard located under the AdSense Setup tab. If you don't have an account yet, you can sign-up for AdSense in just a few minutes.

If you have questions about using AdSense for content or AdSense for search, visit our Help Center or email us via our Contact Us form.

Keep working on your content and let it work for you!

Posted by Gergana Marinova (Bulgarian) and Ilinka Zaharčeva (Serbian) - AdSense Publisher Support

Update: Temporary Reporting Delay since Saturday Night

Google Analytics users,
There is a temporary reporting delay within Google Analytics accounts. For most accounts, reporting is current through this past Saturday night. Please note that no data will be lost - data will continue to be collected and processed during this time.

We are in the process of fully updating your Google Analytics account data and will display it within your reports as soon as possible. Please note, you are still able to log in to your accounts and access all the data through Saturday. We will update this blog when reporting is fully restored.

We apologize for any inconvenience this delay in reporting has caused. Thank you for using Google Analytics.

Posted by Jeff Gillis, Google Analytics Team

Google Analytics Artistes

We have not yet established a certification for reaching the master level of Google Analytics, but ROI Revolution, a Google Analytics Authorized Consultant, is definitely the equivalent, and they want to pass on some actionable wisdom with a six-week online Google Analytics training course which launches on Aug 9, 2007 at 1:30 pm EST. We think Google Analytics is easy to use and set up, but if you're like us, sometimes you want to walk through a new process with an intelligent teacher to quickly become an expert. Also, there are some tips and techniques they use that we haven't even documented in the help center, such as these incredibly cool filters which populate your e-commerce transaction reports with the referring source and keyword that brought the buyer. This links a specific transaction with a specific keyword. Advanced stuff, and beautiful.

And consider this a huge plug for all our Authorized Consultants - if you aren't aware of them, you don't know what you're missing. These guys affordably work in concert with clients to find high impact insights about users and sites. We've seen them modify the Google Analytics javascript to integrate it with in-house lead tracking software or automatically track outbound clicks (more on this in a future post, Mr. Jacka). However, if you're simply having issues with implementation or analysis - or just have some general support questions and would like to talk to someone on the phone - you can also give them a call. They'll give you a reasonable hourly quote, and you'll be more knowledgeable for it. Isn't that the whole point?

Find one near you here.

Posted by Jeff Gillis, Google Analytics Team

Adsense for Communities

Here is a nice blog entry from the Adsense folks on ad placement and design for community sites.  Also a with the blog is a link to Section Targeting which I didn't even know existed.  The idea targeting section, like the post portion of a forum makes great sense. 

If you run a community and use Adsense take the 2 minute read, it's well worth it.

Getting your forum site to perform well with AdSense

When Amit Kumar co-founded MegaGames Forum in 1998, Google Inc. was being run from a Menlo Park garage and AdSense didn’t even exist yet. Fast-forward 9 years to 2007: Amit still runs MegaGames Forum just as a hobby, but he earns enough revenue through the AdSense program to run a dedicated server and continue growing his site.

Amit wasn't so successful with AdSense right from the start. When he first started using the program in 2005, his earnings were nothing to write home about, and it was largely because he chose his ad placement, formats, and colors at random. After recently optimizing his ads, however, Amit was able to more than double his AdSense revenue and even improve the user experience on his site. Results may vary since every site is unique, but here are some tips that any forum site, large or small, can also try out to increase revenue.

1. The welcome box ad
   Many forums have a message above the fold on their pages welcoming users to the site and encouraging them to register. Placing a large (336x280) or medium (300x250) rectangle next to this message catches users’ attention right when they walk through the door (so to speak). By the way, these are our best performing ad units, and may also increase the number of site-targeted ads on your pages.
   
   
2. The forum post ad
   
   Based on previous testing, integrating ad units into your page content can improve clickthrough rate (CTR). It also provides a better online experience, since your users see relevant ads side by side with normal content. In forums, the highest visibility content is often the first post, so it makes sense to place the ads here. Again, large and medium rectangles are your best bet!
   
   
3. Blending colors and breaking down borders
   
   Colors are important for making an ad visible to the user, but they should still blend with the design of the site. Removing the borders on your ads helps even more with this concept of blending. Don’t worry -- even with a well-blended implementation, the 'Ads by Google' label keeps your users from confusing ads with content.
   

Bonus tip: Improve ad relevance with section targeting

With forums, the first post often contains the most relevant content on the page. By using the section targeting feature to emphasize this content, you can potentially increase CTR with better targeted ads. Visit this 'section targeting' link we mention for instructions.

If you decide to try out these tips, we’d love to hear about your success.

Posted by Magnus Yang - AdSense Optimization Team

Notice of Brief Processing Delay

Today there will be a brief processing delay. It is expected to last a few hours. You can still login and view your reports. Please be assured that your data continues to be collected and that no data will be lost. We expect everything to be updated shortly. Sorry for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience.

Posted by Brett Crosby, Sr. Manager, Google Analytics

Hoş geldiniz and Witamy!

We're pleased to announce that we now offer and support Google Analytics in two additional languages: Turkish and Polish. You can use Google Analytics, receive email support, get technical information from the Help Center, browse our website and learn marketing techniques from Conversion University in any of the 19 languages for which Google Analytics is available. Google Analytics Authorized Consultants provide advanced support and consulting services around the world in many of the Google Analytics languages. And if you simply want an introduction to Google Analytics, you can watch the subtitled Flash tour.

To update your language preference, sign in to your Google Analytics account and click the My Account link at the top of the Analytics Settings page. Select a language from the Language pulldown menu then click Save Changes. You will see that Google Analytics supports US English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Dutch, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Portuguese, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, Russian, UK English, Polish and Turkish.

To all of our Turkish and Polish users: Hoş geldiniz and Witamy! Welcome!

Posted by Alden DeSoto, Google Analytics Team

Can't log in using Firefox?

We've recently noticed that many publishers are having trouble logging into their accounts after the latest Mozilla Firefox update. A number of publishers have reported that they're only seeing a sign-up page rather than a login form.

After a little digging and some testing, we've found that Adblock Plus, an add-on that sometimes gets installed with Firefox, can prevent you from accessing your account on the AdSense homepage. Our recommendation is to clear your cache and cookies and turn off the Adblock software before trying to log in at www.google.com/adsense. You may also wish to review our troubleshooting tips for login issues in our Help Center.

Thanks for bringing this to our attention!

Posted by Rajiv Sud - AdSense Publisher Support

More features. One interface.

Last month, we added the first batch of feature enhancements to the new Google Analytics. Today, we're excited to announce that we're adding a few more of your most requested features. The following improvements are available in your account now:

- We've added a "Go to:" box to all reports that have tables so you can jump directly to a specific row. If you have 5,000 referring sources and you want to see row 3,456, you can jump right to it.

- The Map Overlay report view now defaults to Country instead of Subcontinent.

- Content reports now have a Segment menu so you can cross-segment pages and sets of pages by referral source, keyword, visitor type, and other visitor segments.

- Many of you prefer the more readable Content by Title report over the URL-based Content Drilldown and Top Content reports. However, drilling down on a specific title in the Content by Title report hasn't allowed you to find (and therefore analyze and fix) URLs sharing the title. Until today.

You can always review the latest Google Analytics release notes here. Finally, please note that, as of today, the former interface is no longer available. However, the Report Finder tool remains available to help you locate the new versions of your favorite reports.


Posted by Alden DeSoto, Google Analytics Team

Picasa Web Albums adds new API features

Posted by Ryan Boyd, Google data APIs Team

The latest release of the Picasa Web Albums data API has added a number of new features that you have been asking for:

• Community Search: You can now search through the photos of all public, searchable albums using the q query parameter. Example: http://picasaweb.google.com/data/feed/api/all?q=penguin will find all penguin pictures.



• Retrieving a user's recently uploaded photos: You can retrieve the photos recently uploaded by a user. Example: http://picasaweb.google.com/data/feed/api/user/userID?kind=photo&max-results=25 will retrieve the 25 photos most recently uploaded by userID.


• Retrieving recently added comments for a particular user: You can retrieve the comments recently added to photos owned by a particular user. Example: http://picasaweb.google.com/data/feed/api/user/userID?kind=comment&max-results=25 will retrieve the 25 comments most recently added to photos owned by userID.



• Searching a user's photos: You can search through all the photos belonging to a single user using the q query parameter. Example:

  http://picasaweb.google.com/data/feed/api/user/userID?kind=photo&q=penguin

  will find all photos owned by user userID which contain the word 'penguin' in the title, caption or tag.


• Filtering by tag: You can filter photos in the album feed or user feed based upon tags using the new tag query parameter. Example: http://picasaweb.google.com/data/feed/api/user/userID?kind=photo&tag=dog will find all photos owned by the user userID which are tagged with 'dog'.



• Uploading non-JPEG photos: You can now upload bmp, gif, jpeg, and png photos via the API.


• Downloading the original photo: You can now download the original photo, including all EXIF data. This is accomplished by retrieving the feed with the imgmax=d query parameter and value This will return a feed where the media:content elements reference the original downloadable image.

We hope you enjoy these new features. We welcome your continued feedback and feature requests in the developer forum.

You work hard for the money

It's almost the end of the month, which means that it's almost time for us to send our publishers their payments. We know you're eagerly waiting for your check or EFT deposit to pay your bills, so we'd like to answer some questions you may have and clarify what to expect over the next few weeks.

Will I be sent a payment this month?

You can check to see whether you're eligible for a payment at the end of July. Just visit your Payment History page, set the date range to 'All time', and find the amount in the 'Monthly balance' column corresponding to June. If this number is greater than $100 and you removed all holds from your account before July 15th, you're eligible for a payment at the end of this month.



Can you give me an actual 'end of the month' date?

Unfortunately, we can't. You may sometimes see that your payment is issued on the 23rd of the month, and at other times on the 29th. This is because all earnings are audited for accuracy every month, and this automatic audit process can take different amounts of time during each payment cycle. To keep things simple, you may wish to think of 'end of the month' as the last day of the month. After your payment is issued, please allow up to 6 weeks for delivery, depending on your location and the form of payment you've selected.

What about the 25th? I read somewhere that I'm supposed to get my checks by that day.

That's a reissue date that applies to the month after a standard delivery check is issued. Let's say you earned $200 in June and removed all payment holds before July 15th. We'd then issue you a check at the end of July, which we'd expect to reach you by August 25th.

I've selected EFT. Does that mean my payments get processed faster by Google?

No, the processing time is still the same for EFT and checks. However, once processed and issued, EFT payments typically reach publishers more quickly, since they're directly deposited into bank accounts. If you're issued an EFT payment at the end of July, we expect that you'll see it in your bank account by August 5th. If you're issued a standard delivery check at the end of July, we expect that you'll receive it by August 25th.

After reading through this info, we hope you feel like an expert on payments. :) We've used the current month in all of the examples, but feel free to refer back to this post again in the future. If you'd like to learn more about AdSense payments, we recommend reviewing our Payments Demo, Payment Guide, and subscribing to the AdSense Calendar.

Posted by Arlene Lee - AdSense Publisher Support

Hosted site search for businesses

Google has finally create a Site Search that is ad free and allows the site owner to pay for the service rather than having ads. 

Furthermore, they allow you to get your search results as XML.  Then the site owner can format it however the want it to appear with in there site.

Thanks Google, I am sure I have customer who will want this ability.  See there is more to life than server ads.

Check out the Google Blog for Details 

This is so cool, yet so simple and so overdue.