SearchCap: The Day In Search, January 29, 2010

Posted on January 29, 2010 by Matt McGee

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

From Search Engine Land:

  • Good Bye Winter, Hello Santa Clara. PPC Marketer’s Dream Agenda

    I suppose the next best thing to dreaming about leaving the cold New Hampshire winter is to actually do it! Can’t think of a better way to toss off winter blahs than with a few days at SMX West. [...]

  • Yelp Ratings Appear In Google AdWords

    I received a screenshot in email of an AdWords ad for a San Diego auto repair shop that featured Yelp ratings (and a link to the Yelp review) in the AdWords copy. Here’s a screen of the ad: [...]

  • Microsoft Earnings Beat Estimates Online Services Post Loss, More On Bing And The iPhone

    Microsoft had a “blow out” quarter in which it saw $19.02 billion in revenue, a 14 percent increase from $16.63 billion in the same fiscal quarter a year ago. This was largely about the success of PC OS Windows 7. That’s the story: people like it and are buying PCs. Everything else is a bit [...]

  • Goojje, A Google China Knockoff

    The Chosun Ilbo reports a new Google China has launched, a knockoff, named Goojje.com. It was made in response to Google saying they may have to shut down their Google.cn search engine a few weeks back. It is a basic search engine, not affiliated with Google in anyway. It does however play on the [...]

  • Google Mobile Image Search Gets Popular Images

    The Google Mobile Blog announced that Google has added to their images home page on Android, iPhone, Palm and other smart phone devices a new user interface. When you visit Google Images on those devices, you now see “popular images” and a link to browse more popular images. Here is the home page: [...]

  • Click To Conversion Time (Part I): What This Metric Can Tell You About Your Clientele

    An often-overlooked metric is the time taken from the first click on an ad to the final conversion of the keyword. That is, the total conversion time for a keyword in a given campaign. While this metric may seem relatively unimportant to ROI (for instance), it can help you understand your clients and also help [...]

  • The Algorithm Chasers

    When the Fort Hood, Texas shooting rampage hit the news, a small staff of news folks were trying to determine which words to use for their online news stories on the topic. The goal was to get Google News to find and rank their article higher than their competition. They struggled with the difference of the [...]

  • Google’s Proposal For Crawling AJAX May Be Live

    In October 2009, Google proposed a new standard for implementing AJAX on web sites that would help search engines extract the content. Now, there’s evidence this proposal is either live or is about to be. Read on for more details on the proposal, how it works, and why it might be past the proposal stage. The [...]

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SearchCap: The Day In Search, January 28, 2010

Posted on January 28, 2010 by Matt McGee
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land:
  • Ballmer Blogs His Thoughts On Google, China Both current Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and former CEO Bill Gates have recently spoken out critically about Google’s stance on doing business in China. (See my previous posts, Ballmer Critical Of Google’s China Decision and Like Ballmer, Bill Gates Dings Google On China.) Now, Ballmer is putting his thoughts in writing … well, electronic writing [...]
  • Bing Debuts In-Depth Stock Pages Bing has announced a new “Stocks and Funds page” that offers in-depth information for users following or doing research related to stocks and finances. A sample page looks like this one for Apple: [...]
  • Google Formally Introduces “Clickable Phone Numbers” In Mobile Search Ads Today Google is formally launching functionality that enables a “clickable local phone number” to appear in mobile ads. In other words a phone number appears as part of the ad copy and consumer-users can simply tap the number to initiate a call (see image below). It’s a call for the price of a click on [...]
  • SMX West Early Bird Expiring Saturday – Register Now! The Early Bird Rate for Search Marketing Expo – SMX West expires in just two days (Saturday, Jan. 30) Register now and get 3 days of exception content and invaluable industry connections for only $1245. Join us in Santa Clara, CA March 2-4 for the most compelling search marketing conference on the West coast. Our [...]
  • 8 Opportunities To Optimize Content Beyond Local Listings Not to beat a dead horse, but as I said in my last column, I think 2009 was truly a watershed year for local search. Between Google’s introduction of the generic 10-pack, its beta test of local listing ads, dramatic improvements to Bing’s Local Listing Center, and numerous partnerships throughout the industry— all of these [...]
  • Google Updates Google Book Search After Apple iPad Launch Less than 24 hours after Apple announces the Apple iPad, Google announces improvements to the Google Books home page. The improvements include: [...]
  • 7 Do’s & Don’ts For Working With A Technical SEO During A Redesign In the past few months, I’ve been the technical SEO consultant to 6 companies who have been in the process of redesigning their websites. The companies range in size from a one-person show to a world-reknowned Boston hospital, and everything in between. All of the companies were smart enough to know they needed expert SEO [...]
  • Survey: Only 42% Of Americans Have Googled Themselves Although the phrase “Google yourself” has become part of our culture, a new survey suggests that less than half of Americans have actually done it. The numbers come from a December survey commissioned by Microsoft on the subject of online reputations. The survey polled about 2,500 consumers and recruiting personnel in the US, UK, Germany and [...]
  • A Paid Search Glossary Before we really start diving into the specifics of managing a paid search account, it is important to cover some standard industry jargon. You may want to bookmark this post as a resource for any terms you may need to go back and reference. [...]
  • Google Maps’ Search Suggestions Get Personal Google has announced that it’s now personalizing search suggestions that appear on Google Maps. It’s an odd announcement to me, because I’m almost sure my maps search suggestions have been personalized for some time now. One thing that I haven’t seen before, though, is the explicit notice beneath the suggestions that things have been personalized. [...]
  • How To Improve .EDU Link Requests Using Academic Metaphors As a web marketer who is requesting high-quality links from the gatekeepers of academic sites, understanding the lingo and professional culture of the academic world can greatly improve your success rate. Academic environments can be a bit more formal and regulated than web or business world. When you get through to a blogger or .com [...]
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SearchCap: The Day In Search, January 27, 2010

Posted on January 27, 2010 by Barry Schwartz

From Search Engine Land:

  • Finally! Yahoo Search Weather Report : January 2010

    The Yahoo Search Blog dusts itself off to announce a search update happening right now. The last “weather report” Yahoo announced was in September 2009 – typically, Yahoo would announce these updates monthly. We actually expected this to be announced. I was tracking a WebmasterWorld thread where SEOs were noticing ranking changes at Yahoo [...]

  • Google Social Search Goes Live, Adds New Features

    Google has begun the rollout of its Social Search product, a way of seeing customized search results based upon the people in your social network. Social Search has been an opt-in Google Labs experiment since its debut in October, but will be available as a beta product in the “next few days” to all users [...]

  • Yahoo Gains “Default” Search Deal With Ubuntu

    One small search victory for Yahoo: a new default search deal with Ubuntu, the free Linux-based operating system. According to Ars Technica: Canonical, the company behind the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution, revealed today that it has established a revenue sharing agreement with Yahoo. As part of the deal, the Firefox Web browser that is shipped in [...]

  • AT&T Planning To Launch Yelp-Like Site Buzz.com

    Forbes covers AT&T’s forthcoming local recommendations site Buzz.com. It aims to be a place where people can get and share recommendations about local businesses. Despite my headline and that of the Forbes article it’s not going to be a reviews and social networking site like Yelp. Rather it may be more analogous to AlikeList or [...]

  • 6 Common Mistakes In B2B PPC Advertising

    B2B marketers often preach about how B2B marketing is unique, and that advertising to businesses is very different from consumer focused advertising. And while there is truth in that argument, B2B marketers should be wary that leaning on their “uniqueness” too heavily can adversely impact their PPC campaigns. Granted, there are a number of ways in [...]

  • The 2010 In-House SEM To-Do List

    While it may feel like 2010 is already whizzing by, now is a good time to take a step back and think about the big to-do list items for in-house search marketers this year. We’ve all got a list of million little search optimizations that need doing, but here are some larger tactics to think [...]

  • Conversion Optimization Is The New SEO

    Thomas Edison said that genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. As we begin a new decade in search, we face a parallel truism: great search marketing is 1% about getting the click and 99% about what you do next. Starting here in 2010, conversion optimization is the new SEO. To be sure, SEO is still important [...]

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SearchCap: The Day In Search, January 26, 2010

Posted on January 26, 2010 by Barry Schwartz

From Search Engine Land:

  • Yahoo’s Q4 2009 Revenues Down Only 4%, Search Ads Down 15% YoY

    Yahoo announced their fourth quarter 2009 earnings just minutes ago. They reported better than expected earnings, with a decline in revenue of only 4%, year over year. Most of that decline came from a 15% drop in search ad revenue from Q4 2008 compared to Q4 2009. But Yahoo’s search ad dollars [...]

  • Google Acting Like A Carrier, Being Treated Like One By The FCC

    Google, which to some eyes increasingly looks and acts like a VoIP/mobile carrier, is now effectively being treated like one by the US FCC. Today the regulatory body sent out requests for information to wireless carriers about the adequacy of their consumer disclosures associated with early termination penalties, which can be several hundred dollars in [...]

  • Is Celebrity Tweetvertising Worth Paying For?

    Last January, I wrote about finding The Value of a Facebook Fan, which effectively took the number of fans a brand has on Facebook, multiplied that by the average number of friends a Facebook user has to determine the number of impressions each brand would receive from each users network, and then applied an average [...]

  • 20 Metrics To Effectively Track Social Media Campaigns

    Before I actually go into the different types of metrics you can set up to prove social medias value, I want to state the obvious. You should not only have analytics on every page of your site, but also make sure you add it to all your viral marketing campaigns in order to track the [...]

  • Collecta Widget Brings Real-Time Search Results To Any Site

    Collecta has announced the availability of a new widget that allows any webmaster/blogger to show real-time search results on a web page. The widget builder is available now at widget.collecta.com, and includes several customization options including widget title, header background image, and even use of an external CSS file. It appears that the size of [...]

  • Disabling The Google Toolbar Doesn’t Stop Google From Tracking You

    Ben Edelman uncovered evidence that even if you disable the Google Toolbar, Google may still be tracking your web browsing behavior. Edelman documents how he disabled the Google Toolbar within the preference, then visited a web page and captured how Google was sending browsing data from the toolbar to Google’s servers. Edelman first [...]

  • Google Trying To Remain In China, Even If Search Engine Doesn’t

    Last week on Google’s Q4 earnings call Google CEO Eric Schmidt seemed to “walk back” some of Google’s prior strong statements about leaving China if it cannot operate in an unfiltered way there. In response to a financial analyst question he said the following: We have made a strong statement we wish to remain in China. [...]

  • Linking Food For Thought

    This week, I’m stepping away from my usual article format and instead, address several linking related questions and comments I haven’t seen discussed as much across the link building blog/twitter/feed o-sphere. I welcome your feedback, comments, opinions and answers. People will tell you that one of the better ways to spot link targets is to study [...]

  • Duplicate Content: The Biggest Challenge To Successful International SEO

    Duplication is the bane of projects eeeking international seo success. It catches them first, invisibly creeping up and throwing their results to the wind. Why does this happen to so many – what is it that tempts them into the duplication trap? And do modern methods work?

  • Like Ballmer, Bill Gates Dings Google On China

    Bill Gates doesn’t get the fuss everyone’s making over Google’s recent threat to stop censoring search results in China. “They’ve done nothing and gotten a lot of credit for it,” Gates said Monday during a visit at The New York Times. “What point are they making?” Mr. Gates asked. “Now, if Google ever chooses to [...]

  • No Feed, No Problem – Google Reader Now Tracks (Mostly) Any Website Change

    The Google Reader blog announced you can now track changes to any web page, even the ones without RSS feeds. How does this come in handy? Well, let’s say you want to track when Google changes their webmaster guidelines. All you do is copy the URL into Google Reader and click on [...]

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SearchCap: The Day In Search, January 25, 2010

Posted on January 25, 2010 by Barry Schwartz

From Search Engine Land:

  • Playing Games With Customers: Is Foursquare The Future Of Local Search?

    Congratulations! You are now the Mayor of Search Engine Land! If that sounds familiar you are one of the growing number of people using/playing Foursquare, a mobile app that uses the location of your mobile device to encourage users to “check in” wherever they might be in exchange for points and recognition like becoming the [...]

  • Five Quick Tips For Success On Google’s Content Network

    According to Google’s recent quarterly earnings report, the company earns about 34% of its revenue from AdSense, placing contextual ads on its content network partner websites. This proportion has stayed steady year over year. It certainly reflects overall growth, but some might be surprised at how conservative the pace is. One of the reasons for this [...]

  • One Week to Save on SMX West – Register Now!

    The Early Bird Rate for Search Marketing Expo – SMX West expires Saturday, January 30th. Save up to $350 on your All Access ticket by registering now! Here’s why:

    More than 150 of the world’s most knowledgeable speakers will present at SMX West. They’re selected based on ability AND willingness to share the tactics and strategies [...]

  • Twitter Testing Local Trends

    Lisa Barone has screen captures of Twitter testing a localized version of Twitter Trends. Twitter Trends shows you what Tweet topics are currently hot and trending on Twitter. The local trends version does all that but breaks it out by region, country and city. Here is one of the pictures from @LisaBarone:

    You can see [...]

  • Science Fiction Writer Le Guin Launches Petition Against Google Book Settlement As Opt-Out Deadline Looms

    Renowned science fiction and fantasy writer Ursula K. Le Guin has launched a petition to “exempt” the US (US authors) from the terms of the Google Book Search Settlement. The text of the petition says that “Ireland, India, South Africa, and New Zealand (countries with active publication in English) protested the settlement and have been [...]

  • Dress Up Ask Jeeves In The UK

    Ask UK (uk.ask.com) has a new game where you can dress up the lovable Jeeves character. Just search for [want to dress up jeeves] at Ask UK and you will be presented the opportunity to place khakis on the famous butler. You can dress up Jeeves at uk.ask.com/dressupjeeves. UTalkMarketing.com reported “Gieves and Hawkes together with [...]

  • Factery Labs’ New Fact Engine: Just What Real-Time Search Needs

    Not a month goes by without someone launching a new real-time search engine; but after trying out most of them, there are few I use on a regular basis. Factery Labs is about to change that with today’s launch of its real-time fact engine at 1:00 pm ET. Where other real-time search engines focus on [...]

  • Enterprise SEM: Q&A With Zappos’ Darrin Shamo

    Zappos.com, the online retailer with legendary customer service, has been on a meteoric rise during the last few years. After achieving revenues of over $1 billion in 2008, Zappos was acquired by one of the biggest players on the web in late 2009: Amazon.com. Behind Zappos’s amazing customer service and great brand, lies a sophisticated [...]

  • Some SEO Advice For Bill Gates

    What do you get for Bill Gates, the richest person in the world? How about a little free SEO advice for his new blog? It could use some. Bill, I went looking for your blog today on Google. Sorry, like many people, I have a habit of using that search engine first. What did I find [...]

  • Satellite Images Of Haiti Earthquake From Google & Bing Maps

    Both Google Maps and Bing Maps offer ways to see the devastation caused by the earthquake in Haiti. Below, a look at how to see before and after images, taken by satellite. Plus, several 360-degree ground level videos you can view. 360-Degree On-The-Ground Video Immersive Media has released a number of 360-degree view videos of someone actually [...]

  • Ballmer Critical Of Google’s China Decision

    At a conference in Houston on Thursday, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer spoke critically of Google’s recent decision to stop censoring its search results in China. Paraphrasing some of Ballmer’s statements, Forbes says Ballmer called it an “irrational business decision” on Google’s part. Ballmer suggested that Google’s decision to no longer filter out internet searches objectionable to [...]

  • Google Founders To Sell 10 Million Shares Over Five Years

    According to an SEC filing late this afternoon, Google’s founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin “each intend to sell approximately 5 million shares” — over a period of five years. This is not a reaction to any particular development in the market or perception of the outlook for Google; rather this is part of a [...]

  • The Pitfalls Of Budget-Constrained Bidding

    The downsides to overbidding on keywords are both plain and painful: low-quality traffic at a high cost-per-click (CPC) and a limited budget quickly blown away with little to show for it. But bidding too little, or just not properly accounting for budget constraints, also has consequences, some subtle and some more obvious. Here we will consider some lessons that will help you to avoid the pitfalls of budget-constrained bidding.

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SearchCap: The Day In Search, January 22, 2010

Posted on January 22, 2010 by Matt McGee

From Search Engine Land:

  • Google Adds More Answers & Info To Search Results

    Google has announced a pair of changes to its search results pages that make its search results pages more informational and give searchers information they’re looking for without having to click away from Google.com. [...]

  • comScore: US Has Most Searches; China Slowest Growth; Google Tops Worldwide In 2009

    Which countries generate the most searches? comScore has just published a look at this, and the US once again is ranked tops. China maintained its second place position but showed the lowest growth of any country in the top ten. Google remained the top search provider worldwide. And globally, searches grew overall by 46 percent. Here’s [...]

  • Search In Pictures: Google China, Yahoo Character & Google Pillows

    In this week’s Search In Pictures, here are the latest images culled from the web, showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have, and more.

  • Bing Maps Challenge: Try Silverlight Version, Maybe Win $100

    Microsoft wants people to download (or update Sliverlight) so they can use the new and improved Bing Maps. To create that incentive, as well as to get people to explore the new Bing Maps, Microsoft is offering chance to win a $100 gift card as part of the “Bing Maps Challenge.” [...]

  • Bing’s Stefan Weitz: Rethinking The Search Experience

    Way back when, in the dying weeks of 2009, I asked the question, “Where does search go from here?” It seems that everyone agrees we’ve barely scratched the potential that is web search, but what might that scratch reveal? What will our searching look like in two years? In five years, or even in ten [...]

  • Google’s Matt Cutts On 2010 & Looking Back At 2009

    Matt Cutts of Google posted two videos. One was a short video answering a question on where he thinks Google and search will be in 2010. The other was a long video, re-creating his presentation on the “state of the index” from his presentation given at PubCon in late 2009. Here are [...]

  • Know Where You Are…To See Where You’re Going

    I test a lot. Different ideas and techniques pour out of my brain; to be honest, some of them are utter crap. I learned the hard way not to take leaps without testing the takeoff and landing first. One step that seems to be overlooked when people are starting to test their own websites is developing [...]

  • Don’t Let Your Analytics Deceive

    If John F. Kennedy were an internet marketer, I think he would say, “Ask not what your marketing can do for your site. Ask what your site can do for your marketing.” Kennedy understood the idea of cause and effect in his original quote: that people make a nation effective, and not the [...]

  • Google 4th On Forbes’ Best Companies To Work For List

    Google has placed fourth in Forbes Magazine’s ranking of the Best Places to Work 2010. That’s the same place the company ranked in the 2009 list. In explaining “what makes it so great,” Forbes says: [...]

  • SPONSOR MESSAGE: US Interactive Marketing Forecast, 2009-2014 Predictions for SEM, Social, Mobile, Video and More!

    In this independent report, Shar VanBoskirk, Vice President at Forrester Research, explains the factors behind the decline in traditional marketing and shows the reasons why current marketing professionals are investing in interactive marketing efforts. It is predicted that by 2014 interactive marketing will near $55 billion and represent 21% of all marketing spend.

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SearchCap: The Day In Search, January 21, 2010

Posted on January 21, 2010 by Barry Schwartz
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land:
  • Google Beats Estimates With Very Strong Q4: $6.67 Billion Google posted a very strong Q4, given the recession, with $6.67 billion in revenues. This beats financial analyst general consensus estimates. Here are some top-level highlights from the earnings release: Revenues – Google reported revenues of $6.67 billion in the fourth quarter of 2009, representing a 17% increase over fourth quarter 2008 revenues of $5.70 billion. Google [...]
  • Google’s Sergey Brin Writes About His Relief Mission Visit To Haiti Google co-founder Sergey Brin is back from a relief mission to Haiti and has written his impressions of the situation there. He writes about the relief effort (and even shares some suggestions for things that could be done differently) and the scene in Port-au-Prince, but says the people of Haiti are “the real heroes.” Despite tremendous [...]
  • PageRank Sculpting Leaves NoFollowed Tags Behind Six months ago, Google’s Matt Cutts confirmed that NoFollowed tags no longer work as a tool for sculpting PageRank and that he would not recommend PageRank sculpting in general. Despite the passage of time and much discussion in forums and on blogs, many website owners are still confused about the importance of optimizing how PageRank [...]
  • Things To Consider Before Starting Your Next Conversion Rate Optimization Project Five years ago, few people paid any attention to conversion rate optimization. Today, everyone is jumping on the conversion optimization bandwagon. I believe that there were two main factors that changed search marketers perceived value of conversion optimization: Google Website Optimizer. In October 2006 Google announced the release of its website testing tool, Google Website Optimizer. [...]
  • Another Person No One’s Heard Of Tries To Trademark SEO HuoMah Blog discovered that yet another person is trying to claim a trademark on the term SEO, search engine optimization. Clinton Cimring of a company called “Search Engine Partner” filed a trademark application with United States Patent and Trademark Office on January 5, 2009. The filing claims first use SEO as a trademark was [...]
  • Why Facebook PPC Is Crucial For Branding & How To Sell Your Boss On Christmas Eve, December 24th, Facebook garnered 7.56% of United States internet traffic market share, whereas Google had 7.54%. Subsequently on Christmas Day, December 25th, Facebook’s piece of pie ballooned to a whopping 7.81% while Google dropped a bit to 7.51%. The day after Christmas, December 26, Google regained its stature as most visited site [...]
  • In The SEO Game, It’s All About Strategies And Systems When it comes to SEO, folks tend to think of me as super-tactical (perhaps because, when presenting at conferences, I cram so many tips and tricks into my infamous 80 slide PowerPoints when I have only 10 minutes to present!) But in actuality, I’m really very strategic. My new title at Covario (now that Covario [...]
  • What’s For Dinner? Bing Mixes Recipes Into Search Results Bing is now giving special placement to recipes in response to some food-related searches: Bing pulls from a number of popular recipe websites (delish.com, MyRecipes.com, epicurious.com.com, etc.) to bring you correlating recipes that you can sift through by holiday, meals, ratings, and my personal favorite, convenience (with a 10 month old at home, quick is key) [...]
  • How To Get Customers And Keep Them Coming Back Brand advocacy, reputation management, loyalty and reward programs are all the rage now, as consumers have unprecedented opportunity to broadcast their complaints as well as their satisfaction with businesses, specific purchases and customer service. What customers say is vitally important to the public perception of a business. While advocates and reputation managers may work to [...]
  • The YouTube Music Discovery Project YouTube has launched the YouTube Music Discovery Project. It is a new tool they are testing, which helps you search for music and create YouTube playlists based on that query. You basically enter an artist’s name into the search box, hit “Disco” and it then returns results which you can add to your [...]
  • Facebook To Cut Some Microsoft Ads paidContent.org is reporting Facebook and Microsoft are scaling back their ad relationship. Microsoft powered much of Facebook’s display ad network. Facebook is no longer using Microsoft for their international display ads but might also drop them in the U.S. as well. Back in 2007, Microsoft invested $240 million in Facebook, and made [...]
  • 44% Of Google News Readers Only Scan Headlines? Maybe Not! A new report saying that 44% of Google users fail to click from Google News to newspaper web sites got some buzz this week. However, after a closer look at the report, I don’t see it providing the damning evidence that Google really is a content vampire, as some news publishers have [...]
  • Bing As iPhone Default Search Engine Part Deux I expressed skepticism yesterday that Bing would become the default search engine on the iPhone. Rather, I speculated, it would be added as an option (as it should be) on the device. But CNBC has some additional information that asserts default search status on the iPhone is a real possibility for Bing. But take the [...]
  • A Brief History Of Paid Search Advertising If you’re just getting started with paid search, it’s helpful to know a bit of history of how pay-per-click advertising got started and why it has become such a major factor in the success of online marketers.
Search News From Around The Web: Applications & Portal Features Business Issues Local, Maps & Mobile Link Building Paid Search & Contextual Searching SEM Industry SEO & SEM Social Media Video, Music & Image Search Web Analytics
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SearchCap: The Day In Search, January 20, 2010

Posted on January 20, 2010 by Barry Schwartz

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

From Search Engine Land:

  • Google Buys Search Ad In Response To The China Decision

    The Wall Street Journal noted that Google has purchased search ads for queries done on Google.com for “Google Leaves China” or “Google vs. Baidu.” Clearly, Google wants people to read their position on the recent move for them ending the censorship of Google China. Here is a picture of the ad:

    Google, on occasion, will buy [...]

  • Google AdWords Allows Advanced Mobile Targeting & App Downloads

    The Google AdWords blog announced new targeting and ad features for the mobile search ad product. The first feature allows you to specify the device type and carrier you would like to target your ads to. The device type options include iPhone/iPod Touch, Android and Palm WebOS. The current carriers targeting is [...]

  • Behavioral Targeting Is Easier Than You Think

    In a previous post, I discussed the importance of using behavioral targeting to increase your conversion rates. I also wrote about how to use Google Analytics to understand personas of the users who visit your site. This post will present a fast and easy way to get your behavioral targeting (BT) process up and running. [...]

  • SEOmoz Launches Open Site Explorer, A Competitor (Replacement?) To Yahoo Site Explorer

    SEOmoz has launched Open Site Explorer, a new tool that joins the already crowded field of link analysis tools. In choosing that name, SEOmoz is somewhat blatantly positioning it as a competitor, and perhaps eventual replacement, for Yahoo’s popular Site Explorer tool.

    Open Site Explorer provides a number of data points pulled from SEOmoz’s Linkscape tool [...]

  • In-House Training: The Plan Versus Reality

    As part of your job managing in-house search marketing, you’ve no doubt created a training plan. At some point, you either have delivered training, or will need to. Whether it is natural search optimization, paid search management, social media, link building or any of the other disciplines that orbit around the world of search, training [...]

  • Bing Silverlight Maps Comes Out Of Beta With New “Destination Maps” And Local Events Apps

    Microsoft is taking the beta tag off its innovative Bing Maps Silverlight site, which we wrote about previously when it initially launched. According to Microsoft users will be transitioned to the new site and prompted to download Silverlight if they don’t already have it: First off, if you go to the Bing Maps AJAX site and [...]

  • Want To Speak At SMX SphinnCon Israel? Here’s How

    The week after SMX West, I am hosting an informal SMX named SphinnCon Israel. The event has a half day of SEM related content, including 12 sessions on topics from SEO, PPC, Web Analytics and Social Media. The event is just about sold out now. We launched this event about a month [...]

  • Take The Google Webmaster Quiz

    The Google Webmaster Central blog announced they posted a “fun and educational” quiz for all to take over here. The quiz must be taken by Wednesday, January 27 at 5PM PST. And there are no prizes for winning, it is just for fun. I took the quiz yesterday and it was pretty useful to [...]

  • Report: Microsoft And Apple Discuss Making Bing Default Engine On The iPhone

    BusinessWeek is reporting and solidifying what was previously an almost unthinkable rumor: that Bing might become the default search engine on the iPhone (and iPod Touch). The way BusinessWeek frames it this becomes a case of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Google and Apple are increasingly fierce competitors. But here’s an amazing quote [...]

  • How To Segment Google Website Optimizer Tests

    It can be important to segement your conversion rate tests to see how they perform for different kinds of users of your site. I’m going to show you a few ways of gathering GWO data in Google Analytics in order to bring the full power of the GA platform to your GWO testing.

  • Bing Updates Autosuggest With News & Trending Queries

    Bing’s autosuggest feature now provides more current suggestions as you type a query. Bing says that it’s added “breaking news and hot trending queries” into autosuggest, with updates being pushed out every 15 minutes. So, for example, start typing “orange county” into Bing and the autosuggest feature will show a couple terms related to today’s extreme [...]

  • Can Google Tell Us What Men and Women Are REALLY Thinking?

    Last week, a post on the Predictably Irrational blog described the differences in what boyfriends and girlfriends were looking for their beloveds to do based on Google Suggest. Google Suggest can provide hours of fun. Just spend some time at Autocomplete Me or QuestionSuggestions. But can it provide useful audience analysis for understanding our customers, [...]

  • Yahoo Search Marketing Launches New Network Distribution & Import Campaigns

    Last week, I wrote about two new features coming to the Yahoo Search Marketing platform. Those two features, the new network distribution and import campaigns, are now live for Yahoo advertisers. Yahoo has reportedly sent out an email to advertisers, notifying them of the new features.

  • Google Changes How It Handles Synonyms

    In a post on the Official Google Blog, Google opens up the curtains a bit on how it handles synonyms in search queries and results. It’s a fairly detailed peek inside one aspect of Google’s search algorithms — an aspect that Google says affects a lot of searches: “…our measurements show that synonyms affect 70 percent [...]

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

Business Issues

Local, Maps & Mobile

Paid Search & Contextual

Searching

SEM Industry

SEO & SEM

Social Media

Video, Music & Image Search


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SearchCap: The Day In Search, January 19, 2010

Posted on January 19, 2010 by Barry Schwartz

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

From Search Engine Land:

  • 10 Tips For Working On A Collaborative Link Campaign

    If you’ve never worked for a client who also has other people doing the same thing you do, just wait…you will. For particularly large or especially competitive link campaigns, it has become more commonplace for a company to try various options, sometimes all at once. While covering several angles is definitely a smart marketing move, it also [...]

  • Twitter Is Pointless – Just Like Phones Are

    As with many people, I started 2010 with many good intentions, one of which was to ensure that my first post of the new year wasn’t about Twitter, and was full of practical tips on how to make the best use of social media to build your brand. Unfortunately, as with so many resolutions, mine hasn’t [...]

  • Less Than Two Weeks Until SMX West Rate Increases – Register Today & Save

    Register now for Search Marketing Expo – SMX West and save up to $350. You have until the end of the day Saturday, January 30th to take advantage of our early bird rate. As the search industry changes, so does the SMX agenda. Learn tactics to make the most of developments such universal search, real-time [...]

  • Google New York Expanding

    The New York Observer reports Google is expanding their already humongous New York office by 57,000 square feet. Google leased two floors of the old Port Authority building on 76 Ninth Avenue, between 15th and 16th street, spanning from 8th to 9th avenue, back in 2006. The building spans a complete avenue and [...]

  • Microsoft Complies With EU Demand, First To Cut Data Retention To Six Months

    Microsoft is the first of the major search engines to agree to the European Union’s demand that data retention be cut to six months. The company will now completely delete IP addresses after six months. Here’s what Microsoft said on the Bing community blog about the move: Today we sent a letter to the Article 29 [...]

  • 2010 Is The Year Global Search Marketing Finally Arrives

    I typically don’t jump on the annual prediction bandwagon since too many cycles are spent defending some of the crazy things I come up with. However, I will go out on a limb and predict that 2010 will be the year of global search marketing. I have been advocating the use of the internet to [...]

  • Study Looks At Personalization’s Impact On Search Results

    A group of SEOs is testing the impact that personalized search has on a search results page. David Harry, posting today on his blog, has shared some of the preliminary findings while also admitting that the testing is in its early stages and there are “no definitive answers” to be found yet. That said, it [...]

  • Google Gets 75% Of Paid Search Clicks & Dollars: Report

    Three of every four paid search clicks happen on Google, and 75 cents of every paid search dollar is spent on Google. That’s according to the latest quarterly report from Efficient Frontier, a search advertising agency that manages more than $750 million in annual digital spending annually. The stats cover Q4 of 2009, and show [...]

  • More Haiti Disaster Relief Resources

    Google, Yahoo and Bing, among many others, are offering cash donations and resources to assist with disaster relief in Haiti. Here’s our earlier coverage of online resources. You can also find images of post Earthquake Haiti from Bing Maps and Google. Google has a full-blown disaster relief center with a wide range of updates, free Google [...]

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

Local, Maps & Mobile

Paid Search & Contextual

Searching

SEO & SEM

Social Media


Posted in Search Feature News, SearchCap | Comments Off

SearchCap: The Day In Search, January 18, 2010

Posted on January 18, 2010 by Barry Schwartz

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

From Search Engine Land:

  • Google Now Collecting Local Reviews From Non-Traditional Sources

    In order to increase the volume and coverage of reviews on its Place Pages, Google is now apparently looking beyond the range of traditional review sources to new, non-traditional sites (e.g., blogs, articles, etc.). Mike Blumethal has written a lengthy post on the subject. As Mike points out this could potentially complicate the emerging area [...]

  • German Companies Piling On With Anti-Trust Complaints Against Google

    Last week, in a German magazine interview, government minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger suggested that Google was “becoming a giant monopoly.” She casually asserted that government action might be coming at some point if Google didn’t become more “transparent” and responsive to government concerns. Almost on cue a number of companies have filed diverse complaints with Germany’s [...]

  • Martin Luther King Day Logos From Google & Others

    Today is Martin Luther King, Jr day and the search engines are showing off their logos and themes for the special day. Below you can see logos from Google, Yahoo, Bing and other search engines. In addition, check out the 2009 and 2008 logos, if you missed them the previous years. Google’s [...]

  • Apple iPhone To Drop Google For Bing?

    A BusinessWeek piece named Apple vs. Google discusses much of the recent competitive business products the two companies have. On page three of that article, there are some analysts who suspect Apple may drop Google, as the default search provider, to Bing. Jonathan Yarmis, research fellow with the consulting firm Ovum, was interview by BusinessWeek, [...]

  • The Pundits Are Wrong! Don’t Cut Off Your Tail

    There is a growing chorus of folks who advocate giving paid search programs “tail-ectomies.” Don’t be misled! There is terrific value in a well-managed campaign that includes long-tail keywords.

  • Take Control Of Google’s Content Network With Placement Targeting

    If a single ad network could help you reach 80% of global Internet users—and target them based on geography, website and even context—you would probably invest a lot of time figuring out how to optimize your advertising dollars there. Yet, for many large advertisers, the opportunity of advertising on Google’s AdSense content network hasn’t [...]

  • Advanced Tips To Optimize Your Local Paid Search Campaigns

    It’s no secret that local online advertising is expected to continue growing. In fact, according to BIA/Kelsey’s 2009 U.S. Local Media Forecast, local online ad spending is predicted to grow by more than 15 percent in 2010. As more and more local businesses allocate marketing dollars to online, a lot of those dollars will flow [...]

  • One Small Step For Marketers, One Giant Leap In Profit

    Why does accuracy matter when measuring marketing effectiveness? Accuracy matters because in today’s world, marketing decisions are made on data. The best creative is not the one that makes us laugh the hardest, and it’s not the one that we remember for the longest period of time. No, it’s the one that produces the most [...]

  • Report: It’s A Good Time To Be A Web Analyst, Not Quite So A Google Analytics Competitor

    Econsultancy just released its annual Web Analytics Buyers Guide, and in conjunction with its Online Measurement and Strategy Report forms an in-depth analysis of the marketplace over here in the UK. On the whole it makes for very interesting (and heart-warming) reading. That is, unless you are a paid-for web analytics provider residing at the [...]

  • Google Plans To Buy Its Way Into Real Estate

    Google is making its intentions in the real estate vertical more clear. Speaking this week at Inman Real Estate Connect, an industry conference, Google’s Sam Sebastian reportedly said: “We’re actively looking to acquire one to two small real estate companies a month.” (Update: We now understand that the Realtor.org blog post linked above may have misquoted [...]

  • New to Search Engine Marketing? Need a Refresher? Your SMX West Dream Agenda

    Need to get up to speed fast on search engine marketing? Here’s your “dream agenda” for Search Marketing Expo – SMX West (March 2-4 in Santa Clara, CA). By following this agenda, you’ll get a comprehensive introduction to Search Engine Marketing, and maximize your investment in money and time. We highly recommend that beginners attend [...]

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

Business Issues

Local, Maps & Mobile

Link Building

Paid Search & Contextual

Searching

SEM Industry

SEO & SEM

Social Media


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