Australia Blog
News and notes from Google Down Under
Get your cricket scores here
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Posted by Deepak Ramanathan, Business Marketing Manager
With Australia facing a do-or-die game against Sri Lanka in the
Twenty20 world championship
, cricket fever is upon Australia agan. To make it easier to keep up to date with the latest scores, we've simplified your search for cricket scores. Just type
cricket
in a Google search box and you'll see a brief score of all the current cricket matches. A single click will also give you access to a detailed cricket score card.
Type [
australia cricket
] or [
cricket score australia pakistan
] to get results for Australian matches. Of course, feel free to replace Australia with the country of your choice for country-specific results.
We hope Australian cricket fans will find this feature useful; we think it's absolutely maaaaarvellous.
On the hustings
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Posted by Julian Sonego and Rob Shilkin, Google Australia election team
You can be sure this year as the parties get out on the hustings, babies will be kissed, doors knocked and hands vigorously shook. But this Australian election campaign is already a lot different to others, with digital media playing a new and important role.
At Google, we believe that democracy on the web works, and also that the web can work for democracy.
Today, we proudly
announced
the launch of Google Australia's
election website
, allowing Australian voters to have an intimate look at the parties, candidates and election issues all in one Google location. We were delighted to have Joe Hockey and Peter Garrett in attendance, as well as video messages from the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition.
These products, spanning across our Search, Maps, News, video, Earth, Trends, and iGoogle properties, will allow Australians to organise and digest election information more easily than ever. You can see the political landscape in Google Maps. You can access the latest news and information on your personalised Google homepage. Or you can have your say at Google's
Australia Votes channel on YouTube
. And much more.
Here's
a demo of the new tools.
A world first for Google, these products were developed right here in the Australian office. We hope you enjoy them and that they help you make your vote all the more informed.
August's top gaining queries
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Posted by Diana Starmer, AdWords Associate
Well it’s plain to see, Aussies just want to have fun! The top gaining searches on Google for the month of August reflected an interest in the arts, entertainment and travel.
It’s time to start planning that summer holiday! Australian Google users got right into it in August, planning for
school holidays
, searching for
travel agents
on Google and checking out what deals
Flight Centre
had to offer.
Entertainment is always an important part of Australian life. Art buffs were interested in
Van Gogh
and the recent discovery that “Head of a man” – which has been on display in the National Gallery of Victoria for over sixty years and thought to be worth $20 million – was in fact not painted by Van Gogh as previously thought. Still on art, sculptor and artist
Andy Goldsworthy
’s trip to Australia sparked interest in his work on Mount Victor Station.
Marilyn Monroe
is still managing to capture the hearts of Australian Google users, coming in as the second top gaining query; with the sassy UK model/actress,
Kelly Brook
taking out the number one spot for August.
Many Australian’s were keen to freshen up their eyesight with some new glasses from
OPSM
perhaps to read Bram Stoker’s terrifying classic,
Dracula
or to watch Randwick Girls’/Boys’ high schools take out first place at the Sydney
Rock Eisteddfod
.
Jackass star
Johnny Knoxville
and his crazy antics are always a source of interest for, well, most people really!
Survivor
fans were desperate to find out when the new season was starting and Dr Who fans wanted to know more about star
Billie Piper
.
Human rights
were on the minds of many. And shareholders' rights were also probably top of mind for people searching for the
Coles Group
.
For breaking news and obscure information alike, people around the world search on Google. What follows is a summary of Google Zeitgeist results for the top gainers on
Google.com.au
in the month of August.
For more information, visit the
Google Zeitgeist
and
Google Trends
Top
Google.com.au
Gainers for August:
Kelly Brook
Marilyn Monroe
Andy Goldsworthy
Van Gogh
Human rights
OPSM
School holidays
Flight Centre
Dracula
Travel agents
Johnny Knoxville
Coles group
Rock Eisteddfod
Billie Piper
Survivor
Rugby World Cup on iGoogle
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Posted by James Toepfer, Industry Marketing Manager - Technology
As you've read
below
, we have a large contingent of Wallabies fans at Google Australia.
For rugby fans, we have great news. With the World Cup underway (and a crushing victory over Japan in the books), you can follow all the action by visiting
www.google.com.au/rugby2007.
Gadgets containing live scores, team information, rugby news, stadium locations, local information, rugby fan videos, results and rankings are all available by clicking on the link to add the “Rugby 2007” tab to your personalised homepage. The Rugby 2007 tab then becomes a part of your personalised iGoogle page, which will appear whenever you visit Google.
There's also a gadget called “Make some noise”. It lets you encourage your team (and makes your allegiances clear to your co-workers) by clicking on its flag. The winning team is the one that scores the greatest number of clicks.
So make some noise for the Wallabies and keep up with the latest on the Rugby World Cup with Google!
Agency newsletter launched
Friday, September 7, 2007
Posted by Guy Gibbs, Head of Agency Relations
Google has a growing Agency team in Australia that is focused on growing online advertising in conjunction with Australia's advertising agencies. Online advertising is a dynamic, growing and very competitive sector and we're excited to be part of it.
This week, Google launched the first edition of our Australian and NZ Agency Newsletter.
The newsletter will be a fortnightly update of all things Google, which we hope will keep agencies informed about new product launches, new policies and Google advertising solutions in general. Comments or suggestions can be sent through to us
here
.
Some of the other things we help out agencies with include:
providing in-depth training;
helping agencies with client pitches;
providing technical tools and support;
market and industry education; and
GAP accreditation
.
The tools that we provide give agencies more insight into their clients' campaigns which ultimately benefits agencies, their clients and helps Internet users get more relevant and useful advertisements.
Agencies are a huge part of Google's business and we hope that the newsletter will help strengthen our ties with them and continue to build our mutually beneficial relationship.
Last week to get Doodles in!
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Posted by Ashley Gorringe, Doodle 4 Google Team
Entries for Doodle 4 Google are about to close this Friday 7 September and I wanted to give you an update on the initiative.
We were overwhelmed by the response - over 2400 Australian schools from across the country registered, which is amazing!
We've sent out certificates for the students who created each school's top 8 entries, plus bookmarks for all students who participated. In addition, we've been filming students from schools around Australia as they discuss their drawings and what Australia means to them. We've managed to get out to schools in Perth, Darwin, Alice Springs as well as Melbourne and Sydney. This video will be up on the
Doodle 4 Google mini-site
in time for the online voting in mid-October.
Students at Mt Lawley Primary School, Perth
In terms of next steps, our expert judging panel will be getting together in the next few weeks to assess all the entries and arrive at our state and territory winners.
We're really looking forward to seeing everyone's entries at the end of this week.
Wallaby coach John Connolly speaks to Google
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Posted by Christine Knight, Creative Maximiser (Retail, Media and Entertainment team)
The Sydney Speaker Series at the Sydney Googleplex recently kicked off with John Connolly, coach of the Australian Wallabies.
With the Rugby World Cup starting this weekend, it was great timing to have the Wallabies coach speak with us. John took time off from his hectic schedule to speak to Australian Googlers on topics such as team work and strategy and how he intends to lead the Wallabies to victory in the World Cup in France.
As a player, John played hooker with the Brothers club in Brisbane for more than a decade as well as a stint in Darwin where he also began his coaching career at Casuarina, leading the Cougars to a premiership. Returning to Brisbane in 1983, he coached Brothers Reserve Grade for three seasons and two premierships and then was appointed as the Queensland coach from 1989 to 2000. In February 2006, with more than 15 years coaching experience, John took on the role as the Australian Wallabies coach.
John spoke about his personal philosophies and gave us some insight into his approach to coaching and life. There was a big turn out for the talk, no doubt due to the many rugby fans in the office who are excited about the World Cup.
John - thanks for speaking to us and go the Wallabies!
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