SearchFeature.com Internet Marketing News and Social Media News

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.

From Search Engine Land:

• Report: Digital Marketing Budgets To Increase In 2010
  

  Econsultancy and ExactTarget released a new report today that says digital marketing will account for 24% of overall marketing spend this year, and 28% of firms are shifting at least some of their overall marketing budgets from traditional to digital channels. The research was based on a survey of more than 1,000 companies around the world, [...]

• Third Annual Doodle 4 Google Contest
  

  Google announced their third annual Doodle 4 Google contest today. In this year’s contest, the competition is around the theme, “If Could Do Anything, I Would…” The prizes include, the logo being features on Google.com on May 27, 2010, plus receive a $15,000 college scholarship, a laptop computer and a $25,000 technology grant for their [...]

• Do Search Engines (Google) “Harm Minority Owned Businesses”?
  

  Yesterday WatchdogWatch.org, which monitors NGOs (”watchdogs”) found and blogged about a filing with the FCC in the larger context of its proceedings on net neutrality. The filing is by an organization representing minority owned media and business. The issue raised is whether the concept of “net neutrality” should be expanded to include search engines and [...]

• Google Logo For Norman Rockwell Saturday Evening Post
  

  If you visit Google.com today, you will see a special doodle, aka logo, with a boy and a girl sitting on a bench together. The painting was one of Norman Rockwell’s most famous, which was on the front cover of the Saturday Evening Post on April 24, 1926. It was known as the [...]

• Organic Search Strategies For Driving Traffic To Channel Partners
  

  B2B brands are often reliant on channel partners to sell products and services to end users. And while manufacturers and others offer traditional co-branding marketing tools, they often fail miserably at driving traffic to distributors, dealers, and other channel partners through B2B search marketing. Optimized channel partner landing pages, bulk uploads of locations to Google [...]

• Shake Up In-House SEO By Adding Social Media To The Mix
  

  Mixing Social Media into your daily in-house SEO routine is not the easiest thing to do, nor is it simple to merely add it to one of your strategies. You already have enough on your mind to stress and worry about with regard to SEO, adding Social Media into the mix could make it a [...]

• Bruce Clay’s Advanced SEO SMX West Dream Agenda
  

  Experienced SEOs understand the need for keeping up on changes in the constantly evolving search space. That’s why I’m so passionate about continuing SEO education and training. The upcoming SMX West conference taking place March 2-5 in Santa Clara, CA, is one such opportunity I recommend to fellow advanced-level SEOs. The advanced-level content that will be [...]

• He Calls Google A Vampire, But Mark Cuban’s Mahalo Is Doing The Sucking
  

  Yesterday, Mark Cuban warned media owners in a keynote speech that Google is a vampire trying to suck them dry, giving them nothing back and daring owners to block it. This is the same Mark Cuban who is an investor in Mahalo, which touts to advertisers how it taps into Google to generate page views. [...]

• Using Affiliates To Protect Your Brand With Paid Search
  

  If brand advertising using paid search is hotly competitive for you, your affiliates to help you win in the market. To determine if this strategy is right for you, evaluate the competitive landscape on your brand terms. A quick test: Do any of these statements apply to you?

  There are more than 3 advertisers [...]

• SEMPO Invites Search Marketers To Take Its Annual Industry Survey
  

  SEMPO, the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization, has launched its sixth annual “State of Search Engine Marketing” survey. Search marketing professionals — either in-house or at an agency — are welcome to participate, and you don’t need to be a SEMPO member. The study will project planned spending across the industry for search, advertising, and [...]

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Spend less, love more, Bing Search Blog

Business Issues

• Microsoft’s Bing will make money: executive, Reuters
• AOL Revenues Dropped 17% Year-Over-Year In Q4 2009, TechCrunch
• Video Ad Network BrightRoll Gets $10 Million, paidContent.org
• Yahoo Finds Its Latest UK Sales Director, paidContent.org

Local, Maps & Mobile

• All About EPUB, the ebook Standard for Apple’s iBookstore, ResourceShelf
• Google Map Enhanced Listing Billing Tab Visible in ALL LBCs?, Mike Blumenthal
• Wander the seafloor like never before, Google LatLong

Link Building

• 50 Ways To Lose Your Link, SEO Chicks
• Creating Internal Link Structure After Google Indexes Your Site, Search Engine Roundtable

Paid Search & Contextual

• Difficulties in Starting an MCC Account, Search Engine Journal
• Google AdWords Hides Their Tax ID From Invoices?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Google Double Pays Publisher, Apologizes Via Email, Search Engine Roundtable

Searching

• Google Straw In Czech & Find Dead People, Search Engine Roundtable
• How many bots does Google have?, YouTube
• LinkedIn Search: A Look Beneath the Hood, thenoisychannel.com

SEM Industry

• 2010 Social Media Marketing Guide – MarketingSherpa, Online Marketing Blog

SEO & SEM

• How did you do on the Webmaster Quiz?, Official Google Webmaster Central Blog
• A concise list of SEO black hat tactics, Best SEO Blog
• Keyword Research Offs Writer’s Block [SEO Writing], The SEO Scoop

Social Media

• The Economist – Special Report on Social Networking, ResourceShelf

Video, Music & Image Search

• List: Top 10 YouTube Mashups of All Time, ResourceShelf

Recent Hot Items From Sphinn, Our Social News Sharing Site:

• Tripping Link Filters
• Blogify Your Static Website for Google
• Using the hReview Microformat for your Review Pages
• Link Building Gems from User Behavior Patterns
• Why Search Engine Optimization Isn’t Snake Oil (Even If Dave Sifry Says It Is)
• 20 PR Blogs You Should Be Reading

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.

From Search Engine Land:

• “Inkbait”: A Case Study In Linkability
  

  In the world of search engine optimization (SEO), the tactic known as “linkbait” is one of the few link building tactics the search engines embrace, encourage and algorithmically reward. The reason for this is simple, linkbait generates editorial links which the search engines love. Knowing this and understanding the influence of universal search, the bounty placed on paid [...]

• Why You Shouldn’t Trust Feeds For Social Updates
  

  Social Media is still a fresh concept for many companies and the resources allocated to these efforts are usually a slim as possible. However, cutting corners to save time could end up hurting you and your accounts down the road. One of the biggest time-saving items that can cause disunity and confusion when speaking to [...]

• Katy Perry: I Googled Myself & I Liked It
  

  How did singer Katy Perry discover that Russell Brand was going to propose to her? Turns out that Perry googles herself on a regular basis and found out Brand had purchased a ring. Perry explained to reporters as she walked down the red carpet to the Grammys this week that she uses Google Alerts to track [...]

• Does CityGrid From Citysearch “Answer” The Local SEO Problem?
  

  At one time local startups could reliably count on Google organic traffic to help build their own traffic and brands. Indeed, this is how Yelp gained visibility in its early days. And larger publishers, such as yellow pages sites, have relied heavily on SEO, as well, to drive traffic to their advertisers. However, recently that’s [...]

• Google Gears Comes To AdWords: Browser Local Storage
  

  Tim Cohn reported that he was given a new option yesterday, after logging into his AdWords account. The new feature utilizes Google Gears, a browser plugin that allows you to download web-based data to your local hard drive, so you can work offline. The feature is named Browser Local Storage and it basically [...]

• Google News Allows You To “Star” News Stories
  

  Google News has added the ability to allow users to “star” news stories. When a user stars a story (or technically, a cluster of stories), it:

  Lets Google know that you’re interested in that subject. Alerts you to significant updates by putting the headline in bold, so you can get more information. Allows you to follow your [...]

• What Is A Link Worth? Part 1: Valuing PageRank
  

  This posting is the first in an occasional series that will attempt to quantify the value of links – in this case, by measuring the value of links in terms of other links PageRank (i.e. how many PR4 links is a PR5 link worth). A later posting will cover market pricing of links with statistics from the various paid link markets, and other postings will cover what links are worth in terms of effort and resulting traffic. By the end of this series, a complete model for valuing linking activities and determining their ROI should then be possible.

• Why Coming In Second Can Be A Good Thing
  

  Sometimes being European can be very frustrating. Let me rephrase that: when it comes to internet, tech and search, being a European is very, very frustrating. Why? Because Europe always comes in second. Cool new things like Google’s Nexus phone, the iPad or even Bing are invariably launched in the US and Europeans have to [...]

• Google Apps May Get Its Own App Store
  

  It’s no secret that what really sets the iPhone apart from other smartphones is its App Store. Google appears to be betting that an app store will help set Google Apps apart from Microsoft’s office and business software. The Wall Street Journal reports that Google might announce the Apps app store as soon as next month. [...]

• The Latest On Google News Sitemaps
  

  Back in November 2009, Google News announced they were “in the midst of an exciting transition period” that included a change to the News Sitemap Protocol. News publishers have through April 2010 to modify their News Sitemap to accommodate the new format. What’s so exciting and transitional? I asked Google, thinking that they were changing [...]

• Google New Local Ad Category Invades The “7 Pack”
  

  It doesn’t in any way affect a local business ranking in the so-called “7 pack” or on the subsequent Google Maps page. However Google is introducing a new local business ad (”enhanced listings“) that allows a business to stand out with an “enhanced” presence on the map or in the map-related listings on the SERP. [...]

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• 20 Major News Sites Ranked by Domain Authority, Adam Sherk
• Google Documents and Groups Open in China!, CHINAYOUREN

Business Issues

• Class Action Suit Against Facebook Over ‘Scammy’ Ads Withdrawn, paidContent.org
• Facebook And Twitter Will Always Be Crappy Businesses, Business Insider
• Announcing Google’s Focused Research Awards, Official Google Research Blog
• Chegg Names Former Yahoo COO Rosensweig CEO, paidContent.org
• Facebook Asks Court To Dismiss Click Fraud Cases, MediaPost
• Google Extends Outside Research Financing, New York Times
• Google’s two-front war; who are the winners and the losers?, scobleizer.com
• Stanford expands Google Books agreement, Google Public Policy Blog

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Bing Maps Imagery Release, January 2010 (Part 2), Bing Maps Blog
• A First Taste Of What The Google Tablet’s Interface Will Look Like (Pics), TechCrunch
• February imagery update, Google LatLong
• Google’s Jazz Interface Returns to the 7-Pack, Mike Blumenthal
• Take your places and searches to go with Google Maps for mobile, Official Google Mobile Blog

Link Building

• Tripping Link Filters, Link Spiel
• How Accurate is Open Site Explorer?, Site Visibility
• How To Optimize Using Internal Linking, Shimon Sandler

Paid Search & Contextual

• 80 days until major AdWords API v13 sunset, Inside AdWords
• Google AdWords Disapproved For "Artificial Ad Traffic", Search Engine Roundtable

Searching

• Get Your Grammy Info Here, Bing Search Blog
• A recent improvement for Arabic searches, Official Google Blog
• Anatomy of a Large-Scale Social Search Engine, blog.vark.com
• Improved Google Search in Labs, Official Gmail Blog

SEM Industry

• Groundhog Day: Bing Theme But Nothing From Google, Yahoo, AOL & Others, Search Engine Roundtable
• Old Time Forum Personality, MakeMeTop, Acquired Partially, Search Engine Roundtable
• SphinnCon Israel 2010 Sold Out – March 7th, Barry Schwartz

SEO & SEM

• Don’t Set it and Forget it, Yahoo! Search Marketing Blog
• Is speed more important than relevance?, YouTube
• Splash Pages: Bad for Usability, Bad for SEO, Shimon Sandler
• A Week Later, Google Fixes Webmaster Tools iGoogle Gadgets, Search Engine Roundtable
• Breadcrumb URL Display: A Review, Search Engine Journal
• Google’s Social Search – Affecting a SERP Near You, Michael Gray
• How to SEO Your Images, David Naylor
• Hyped Launches With Affiliates Selling HOPE to the Hopeless, SEO Book
• Is Google Analytics data a factor in a page’s ranking?, YouTube
• Is Your SEO Expert Obsolete? 8 Minute Self-Audit, AIM Clear Blog
• It’s a Feeding Frenzy for Keyword-Rich Domains, SEOmoz
• Leveraging Webinars to Learn SEO (Or Anything), Search Engine Journal
• SEO 101 – Part 5: Everything You Need to Know Domain Names, Search Engine Guide
• Shopper Profiles and Conversion Rates Part II, Rimm Kaufman

Social Media

• 5 Things True Social Media Experts Do Online, Techipedia
• Reorder the Sections on Your LinkedIn Profile: Now You’re in Control, The LinkedIn Blog
• What the deuce? Twitter changes my password, blog.arhg.net

Video, Music & Image Search

• YouTube Turns on IPv6 Support, Net Traffic Spikes, PC World
• Softbank Leads $75 Million Investment in Ustream, Bloomberg
• YouTube’s Take From Movie Rentals: $10,709.16, New York Times

Recent Hot Items From Sphinn, Our Social News Sharing Site:

• Google: The King of Disruptive Technology
• Why is my SEO guy obsessed with 301 redirects? I can do JavaScript and a Meta Refresh Tag
• Keyword Research with Google Only: No Other Tools Needed
• WordPress Comments Slow Down Page Speed
• 20+ Reasons Why You Need to Start Guest Blogging

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.

From Search Engine Land:

• SEOmoz Leaves The Consulting Business To Focus On Software
  

  SEOmoz, the well-known, Seattle-based SEO agency, is getting out of the agency business. In a blog post today, CEO Rand Fishkin says the company will focus instead on SEO-related software and tools. SEOmoz recently launched Open Site Explorer and has offered a variety of SEO tools for several years now. SEOmoz also says it’s strengthening the [...]

• AP & Google Reach A Deal – Sort Of
  

  Google and the Associated Press have reached an agreement allowing Google to continue using AP content. But whether this is a long-term agreement replacing the one that expired last month is unclear. And despite the agreement, AP stories won’t be hosted by Google News any time soon, it seems. Yahoo’s also struck a new deal [...]

• Report: Google To Bring More “Transparency” To AdSense Revenue Sharing
  

  BuzzMachine’s Jeff Jarvis was part of a “private meeting” in Davos, Switzerland at the World Economic Forum with Google CEO Eric Shmidt and a handful of other top Google execs. Jarvis reports that Google sales boss Nikesh Arora said that Google “would consider giving more transparency about revenue splits in Adsense” (this is likely a [...]

• US Appeals Court Allows Google Street View Trespass Lawsuit To Continue
  

  A couple called “Boring” (yes, that’s their surname) sued Google in early 2008 for taking pictures of its suburban Pennsylvania home. The claim was their house was on a clearly marked private road (“Private Road, No Trespassing”) and Google’s Street View mobile trespassed by entering and taking the images of their home. There was also [...]

• 2000 In Review: AdWords Launches; Yahoo Partners With Google; GoTo Syndicates
  

  This article is part of a series, a review of the 2000 decade and search developments. Below, major events from the year 2000 in consumer search. For the complete series, see the introduction, The Google Decade: Search In Review, 2000 To 2009. Google Launches AdWords To me, the big story of 2000 was Google’s launch of AdWords. [...]

• Can Google Kill Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 6?
  

  On Friday afternoon, Google announced they will be discontinuing their support for “very old browsers.” They said, they will stop supporting Internet Explorer 6, commonly referred to as IE6, on many of their applications. Starting on March 1st, Google Docs and Google Sites will no longer be officially supported on IE6. Google [...]

• The Google Decade: Search In Review, 2000 To 2009
  

  The 2000s were notable as the first full decade of consumer search. The first decade ever where you could try to sum up what happened in search, as a consumer product. And what happened, in a word, was Google. In the 1990s, Google barely existed. If search were a religion, it was polytheistic. There were a [...]

• Six Odd Tactics For Getting Ads Into Google Maps
  

  As usage of Google Maps grows, marketers are increasingly drawn to the promotional potential found there, and some innovative ways of insinuating ads into the interface have evolved. Here’s a breakdown of some of the strangest tactics that have been dreamed-up for getting messages in front of Maps users.

• Broad Match + Negative Keywords = A Profitable Long Tail
  

  It’s common to hear advice that you should use long tail keywords and that you should be careful when using broad match. After all, broad match keywords do not convert higher than either phrase or exact match. The problem is that often these two pieces of advice can be contradictory. If you start using keyword phrases with [...]

• Overcoming The SEO Challenges Of Huge Online Commerce Sites
  

  Ecommerce sites featuring product catalogs present interesting search engine optimization challenges. Typically, these sites will carry large volumes of products, organized into various groupings. Let’s take a look at a snippet of the Zappos home page as an example.:

  Notice in the left menu the neat categorization of the shoes category of products on [...]

• Apple CEO: Google Wants To “Kill The iPhone”
  

  According to a hearsay report in Wired, Apple CEO Steve Jobs allegedly said the following at an internal town hall meeting for Apple employees coinciding with the launch of the iPad: We did not enter the search business, Jobs said. They entered the phone business. Make no mistake they want to kill the iPhone. We won’t [...]

• Irony: You Need A Map To Find Google Street View On The iPhone
  

  We came to a strange realization on Friday at SEL headquarters: Google Street View is terribly unintuitive on the iPhone. As Danny Sullivan suggested, you practically need a map to find it. For those of you with an iPhone or iPod Touch who know how to use Street View already, move along — there’s nothing [...]

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Google Labs Adds Search Icon To ‘Compose Mail’ Window In Gmail, TechCrunch
• Google Translate Adds Haitian Creole, Google Operating System
• NASA Publishes Its First e-Book (Free), ResourceShelf

Business Issues

• Google’s ‘Don’t Be Evil’ Mantra is ‘Bullshit,’ Adobe Is Lazy: Apple’s Steve Jobs (Update 2), Wired
• O’Brien: Google joins the titans of Silicon Valley lobbying, Mercury News
• AOL Loses Another VP: Ralph Rivera, VP of AOL Games and AOL Latino, TechCrunch
• AOL To Hire 150 Engineers In Silicon Valley, Business Insider
• Google begins search for regional lobbyist, The National Newspaper

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Ready Reference: E-Reader Comparison Chart, January 2010, ResourceShelf

Paid Search & Contextual

• Google AdWords Changing Reports-Only Access To Read-Only, Search Engine Roundtable

SEM Industry

• 2010 SEMMY Winners Announced, Small Business SEM
• The End of Consulting: A New Partnership & Our Focus on Software, SEOmoz

SEO & SEM

• Should PPC Advertisers Monetize Twitter Followers As A Viable Conversion Event?, SEM Geek
• Best Practice SEO Strategy for International Website Launches, Site Visibility
• Keyword Research with Google Only: No Other Tools Needed, Search Engine People
• New Image SEO tool, SEOish
• Shopper Profiles and Conversion Rates Part I, Rimm Kaufman

Social Media

• Facebook COO: 175 Million People Log Into Facebook Every Day, TechCrunch
• Foursquare partners with Bravo TV, VatorNews

Video, Music & Image Search

• Google Images Preview Flip (Slider) Feature, Search Engine Roundtable
• Google Video Finds Playlists, Google Operating System

Web Analytics

• Google Analytics Even More Global, Google Analytics Blog

Recent Hot Items From Sphinn, Our Social News Sharing Site:

• Step-by-step Approach to Contacting Link Partners for Authoritative Links