SearchCap: The Day In Search, January 20, 2010

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 [...]