It's common for comprehensive books written by respected authorities to be tagged as the "bible" of a particular topic or industry. My vote for that distinctive title in our industry goes to Search Engine Marketing, Inc. by Mike Moran and Bill Hunt. Both Mike and Bill are longtime search marketing veterans who were responsible for the search marketing strategy and implementation for IBM.com's massive global network of web sites. They're both currently active marketers who work with a wide variety of well-known organizations and brands, primarily now at the strategic level. The hefty 626 pag [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | Features: Book Reviews

Our newest Search Engine Land column, Bookshelf, launches today. Bookshelf features reviews of books, white papers and other publications that help search marketers do their jobs or gain a better understanding of general digital marketing issues. The Bookshelf column appears periodically at Search Engine Land. In today's debut post, I review the newly updated second edition of a book that can justifiably claim the title of the "bible" of search marketing: Search Engine Marketing, Inc. by Mike Moran and Bill Hunt. Read on in The "Bible" Of Search Engine Marketing. [...]

Related Topics: About Search Engine Land | Channel: Other | Features: Book Reviews

Break out the birthday candles for Yahoo's Search Assist and Google's Toolbar. Yahoo reminds us today that its Search Assist feature was launched a year ago this month. Search Assist is the feature that suggests words and phrases while you type in the Yahoo search box; it also suggests related concepts -- something, Yahoo tells us, that no other search engine is doing. And Yahoo can celebrate these numbers: Usage of search assist is up 60x since it was launched a year ago, and usage of related concepts has seen a 3x jump, according to Yahoo's blog post. The Google Toolbar, meanwhile, [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: Toolbar | Search Features: Query Refinement | Yahoo: Search

When Yahoo Buzz launched back in February of 2008, it was thought by many to be the next big player in the social news community space. This was largely due to the fact that if your content got the most "buzz" it had a chance to be featured on Yahoo.com, which can send millions of visitors to your site over a short period of time. Of course it didn’t take long for people to find themselves at Yahoo’s first major Buzz-kill. The program allowed only a small handful of around 300 sites into the program, so the motivation was not there for most users to participate in the site when t [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Content | Yahoo: Buzz

This month in our continuing series of interviews of inhouse SEMs, we speak with Kieran Hawe.  Kieran practices our art as the Director, SEO / Search - Global Digital Media for MTV Networks, based in New York.  He's taken the time to offer up advice for readers not just on SEO and career aspirations, but also on how to get in his good books, and where to eat when in NYC. So, Kieran, how did you get your start as a search marketer? About 10 years ago, during the tail end of the dot-com boom, I started my career as an Online Marketing Coordinator / Technical Analyst for a then Fo [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Search | In House Search Marketing

Texas Republican Congressman and Google critic Joe Barton wants more information about the proposed paid-search deal between Google and Yahoo. Dissatisfied with Yahoo's responses to his questions to date, Barton has asked the US Department of Justice to "thoroughly investigate issues of competition and privacy that Yahoo failed to address fully."  He is concerned about Google developing "an effective monopoly" in paid search. If you're having a sense of deja vu, it's probably because all this sounds very much like a rerun of Barton's public pronouncements in scrutinizing the Google-Double [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google & Yahoo Ad Deal | Microsoft & Yahoo Search Deal

A year ago today, I wrote about an experimental feature Google was showing off. I titled that article Google Like/Don’t Like: Move Results Up, Hide Them Or Suggest Your Own. Now it appears Google might be rolling the feature out, at least to a subset of Google searchers. NOTE: THIS IS NOW LIVE FOR EVERYONE. SEE Google SearchWiki Launches, Lets You Build Your Own Search Results Page. We have several blog posts across the web documenting them seeing these features in their Google web search results. Those blog posts include Justin Hileman, Garett Rogers, Alex Chitu, a German blog and [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Google: Personalized Search | Google: User Interface | Google: Web Search | Top News

As expected, Google has added an RSS feed for web search results to the Google Alerts service. As seen in the screenshot above, when creating a new alert, you can now choose to get the alert via email or RSS feed. RSS feed alerts are only available to logged-in Google account holders. As we reported earlier this month, Google is the last major search engine to offer its web search results via RSS. This is a good addition, but I have to agree with Google Operating System today: "The new feature from Google Alerts is useful, but Google should've provided an option to subscribe to feeds [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Google: Alerts | Google: Web Search | Top 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: Google Settles Book Search Copyright Lawsuit For $125 Million, Paves Way For Novel ServicesGoogle has settled the class action litigation entitled The Authors Guild, Inc., et al. v. Google Inc., which alleged that Google Book Search, including the company’s practice of scanning books to distribute them online, violated the copyrights of publishers and authors. Subject to final court approval, the settlement calls for Google to pay $125 million [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | SearchCap

Google has settled the class action litigation entitled The Authors Guild, Inc., et al. v. Google Inc., which alleged that Google Book Search, including the company's practice of scanning books to distribute them online, violated the copyrights of publishers and authors. Subject to final court approval, the settlement calls for Google to pay $125 million to litigants and clears the way for Google to continue scanning books. It also establishes some novel services and distribution mechanisms for the future. The plaintiffs suing Google included The Authors Guild (and individual authors) and [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google: Book Search | Google: Legal | Legal: Copyright | Top News

How did folks build links before tools were available? Just a few years ago, there was no way to identify hubs, authorities, vortals, or spokes, rims, chutes and ladders. (Click here for the full effect of that sentence via a ten second mp3 audio message.) When I wander around conference expo halls, I see booth after booth of tools that generate reams and reams of data. But I never see a booth with a person offering to show you the exact process by which you can obtain a single high value high link that's been identified as being perfect for your particular content. Where's that booth? [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Link Week

I recently had the dubious honour of being told that I looked a lot younger than one of my closest friends, who was in the same year as me at school. It’s a dubious honour because no matter how well I may be fighting off the wrinkles and laughter lines that pattern the faces of many of my contemporaries, there’s no getting away from the fact that I will never see my twenties again. And yes, I have the grey hairs to prove it. This many seem like a strange thing to say in a column that is meant to be about social media but it’s because I often worry that many people in marketing, e [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Search & Social

I was waiting for the day someone would bring an SEO tool to the iPhone. Today is that day, Infindigm released a tool named proSEO - iPhone SEO Content Analyzer. You can download the tool on iTunes or on your iPhone. To see the tool on iTunes, use this link. It does cost $14.99 but it seems to have a nice feature set, including: Complete source code listing Listing of META keywords Listing of META description Listing of all META tags in the document Tag counts - this feature counts all the tags in a document to give clues abo [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Search | SEM Tools

The Microsoft adCenter blog has an army of posts containing details of their large fall upgrade. The main features most advertisers may notice are: Campaign Management: ability to pause and resume ads and keywords, geo-targeting enhancements, and improved performance reporting on the Ads page Editorial Improvements: faster reviews, dynamic feedback about why ads and keywords were disapproved, and inline notification when dynamic text causes your ads to exceed character limits User Management: if previously you were only able to have one user, now you can create multiple account users [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Microsoft: Bing Ads | Microsoft: Content Ads

The Wall Street Journal reports that Google, Yahoo and Microsoft have agreed on a common set of principles governing how they intend to do business in countries that restrict free speech and human rights. All three companies have been criticized by rights groups and the US Congress in the past for putting profit over principles and human rights, in China in particular. According to the article: Under the new principles, which were crafted over two years, the technology titans promise to protect the personal information of their users wherever they do business and to "narrowly interpret and i [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google: Outside US | Legal: General | Microsoft: Outside US | Top News | Yahoo: Outside US

The Gmail Blog announced a new labs option that gives Gmail users the ability to add Google Calendar, Google Docs and other gadgets directly on their Gmail interface. Plus, Steve Rubel reports Google Reader has added subscription statistics, which I find to be awesome. Let me explore both features below. Gmail Gadgets: You can now add the Calendar and Docs gadgets to the left hand side of your Gmail screen, next to the Chat and Labels area. Plus, you can add any Google Gadget to that area, although it isn't all that easy to add random gadgets. To get started, go to Gmail > Settings [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Google: Gmail | Google: Reader

Search Marketing Expo - SMX West is coming to the Santa Clara Convention Center in the heart of Silicon Valley, February 10-12, 2009. Here are 5 reasons why you should register today. This 3-day, multiple track event has programming for all levels of search marketing experience. The show is programmed by Search Engine Land editors Danny Sullivan and Chris Sherman - the most knowledgeable and experienced conference team anywhere. We're offering a great deal if you register today - just $995 for all the tips, tactics, and networking. We guarantee your satisfaction. This is a limi [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | SEM Industry: Conferences | SMX & DMD Alerts

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 Explains Malware Warning Policy & How To Fix Your SiteSome search industry watchers have called Google the “internet’s traffic cop,” and it’s a role Google seems to be growing more comfortable in, too. Late last week, for example, Google published an explanation of how it handles pages that are found to house malware, and how webmasters can clean up the problem and get back [...] The PPC Buying Cycle: Buyer Beware [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | SearchCap

Some search industry watchers have called Google the "internet's traffic cop," and it's a role Google seems to be growing more comfortable in, too. Late last week, for example, Google published an explanation of how it handles pages that are found to house malware, and how webmasters can clean up the problem and get back in Google's good graces. What Google Does As the blog post explains, Google uses scanners that look for web pages that have been compromised by spyware, viruses, worms, and other types of malware. When the scanners find such a page, they add a warning to the search resul [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: SEO | Google: Webmaster Central | How To: SEO | Top News

How often have you heard that keyword level performance data can be misleading? That PPC managers need to consider the phases of the buying cycle when evaluating terms? That specific keywords tend to steal conversions from the more general keywords that started the customer's consideration, and that you should keep spending money on the general terms even though the efficiency looks awful? It's pretty obvious why the engines might want to trumpet this story: it makes them money. By convincing advertisers that they should spend money on general search terms regardless of the observed [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Paid Search