SearchCap: The Day In Search, March 31, 2009

Mar 31, 2009 at 5:12pm ET 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: Wikia Search To Close Up ShopNews.com reports that Wikia Search is giving up and closing up shop. Search Wikia launched an alpha release in January 2008, where Chris Sherman gave it a poor review. Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikia, told News.com “It was going to take at least an another year to two before it’s usable by [...] IAB: PPC And Search Gain In Q4, FY08 Online Ad Revs At $23BAccording to data released yesterday by the IAB/PwC on [...]

Filed in: SearchCap

Wikia Search To Close Up Shop

Mar 31, 2009 at 1:06pm ET by Barry Schwartz

News.com reports that Wikia Search is giving up and closing up shop. Search Wikia launched an alpha release in January 2008, where Chris Sherman gave it a poor review. Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikia, told News.com "It was going to take at least an another year to two before it's usable by the public, and we can't afford that right now." Due to the economy and the need to get to "profitability" right now, Wikia Search needs to shut down. Two full-time employees will be out of a job due to the decision. Wales said that Wikia Search only had 10,000 unique users a month over the past six mo [...]

Filed in: Search Engines: Answer Search Engines, Search Engines: Search Wikia, Search Engines: Social Search Engines, Search Engines: Wikipedia

IAB: PPC And Search Gain In Q4, FY08 Online Ad Revs At $23B

Mar 31, 2009 at 11:25am ET by Greg Sterling

According to data released yesterday by the IAB/PwC on Q4 and full year 2008 online advertising revenues, performance-based advertising and search gained while other segments declined slightly or were flat. Overall, online advertising grew 10.6% in 2008 to reach $23.4 billion. US online ad revenue in Q4 was $6.1 billion, up from $5.8 billion in the third quarter of last year. Especially noteworthy for the readers of this blog, search ad revenues comprised 46 percent of Q4 online ad revenues, up from 42 percent a year ago. Here are a selection of charts from the report: [...]

Filed in: SEM Industry: General, SEM Industry: Stats, Search Ads: General, Search Marketing: General, Stats: Size, Stats: Spend Projections

Microsoft Kills Encyclopedia Encarta

Mar 31, 2009 at 8:03am ET by Barry Schwartz

Ars Technica reports that Microsoft has decided to discontinue their encyclopedia software, Encarta. Both the MSN Encarta reference Web sites as well as its Encarta software will be shut down. Microsoft said: On October 31, 2009, MSN® Encarta® Web sites worldwide will be discontinued, with the exception of Encarta Japan, which will be discontinued on December 31, 2009. Additionally, Microsoft will cease to sell Microsoft Student and Encarta Premium software products worldwide by June 2009. We understand that Encarta users may have questions regarding this announcement so we have prepare [...]

Filed in: Search Engines: Academic Search Engines, Search Engines: Answer Search Engines, Search Engines: Wikipedia

Twitter: Incredibly Valuable Or Utterly Useless As A Link Building Tool?

Mar 31, 2009 at 8:00am ET by Eric Ward

I've read so many articles lately about Twitter, from mainstream press to the sports world to the SEO world, that all seem to focus on the "phenomena" aspect of it.  After the Twittles (Twitter+Skittles) thing happened,  it was like a dam bursting.  Everyone wanted to know who was doing what with Twitter, how to use it for this or for that, from buzz building to reputation management to link building.  I use Twitter, but not for telling people what I'm about to have for lunch.  I use it to keep up with news, events, announcements, links etc.  In my demographic I really don't think anyone [...]

Filed in: Link Week

Beware These Comment Saboteurs In Social Media

Mar 31, 2009 at 7:00am ET by Greg Finn

When using social news sites for search marketing, you are inevitably going to run into annoying people. Some, in fact, may be actively trying to undermine your credibility, to further their own agenda. You need to watch out for these troglodytes, and respond appropriately to maintain your own credibility. Here are the 10 worst kinds of comment saboteurs to watch out for. Know-it-alls No matter how great your submission is, these characters think they can find a way to make it better. It they are an "expert" on the topic, you will know. While adding to the community is a definite positiv [...]

Filed in: Let's Get Social

Google Ventures Into VC Business

Mar 31, 2009 at 1:52am ET by Matt McGee

Google has announced the launch of its new venture capital fund, appropriately named Google Ventures. "At its core, Google Ventures is charged with finding and helping to develop exceptional start-ups," Google says of its new for-profit effort. The New York Times reports that the group is expected to invest up to $100 million in the next year. The paper also says some of Google Ventures' investments will be in areas that Google.org, the company's philanthropic arm, has previously funded. Google says Ventures will focus on a broad range of industries, "including consumer Internet, [...]

Filed in: Google: Business Issues, Google: Other

SearchCap: The Day In Search, March 30, 2009

Mar 30, 2009 at 5:02pm ET 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: Turn Back Google’s Clock With Retro Links ScriptBack in the day, when some of us old-timer SEOs used to walk to work in the snow (uphill both ways), we’d get to our desks, fire up our 14.4 modems, pop in a floppy disk, listen to our favorite songs on a Sony Walkman cassette player and optimize that meta keywords tag like there [...] Microsoft’s Dr. Qi Lu, Google’s Matt Cutts To Keynote Search Marketing Expo - SMX Advanced June 2-3 i [...]

Filed in: SearchCap

Turn Back Google’s Clock With Retro Links Script

Mar 30, 2009 at 3:17pm ET by Matt McGee

Back in the day, when some of us old-timer SEOs used to walk to work in the snow (uphill both ways), we'd get to our desks, fire up our 14.4 modems, pop in a floppy disk, listen to our favorite songs on a Sony Walkman cassette player and optimize that meta keywords tag like there was no tomorrow. And when we searched Google, if it didn't produce the results we wanted (yes, there was a time that happened, kids), there were a bunch of other search engine suggestions at the bottom of the page to make life a little easier. You could click one of the links and run your exact search on another searc [...]

Filed in: Google: User Interface, Google: Web Search, SEM Tools, Top News

Search Week: March 30, 2009

Mar 30, 2009 at 2:45pm ET by Danny Sullivan

Search Week is an exclusive weekly newsletter for Search Engine Land premium members that recaps stories covered on Search Engine Land over the past week. Below are top stories organized by topic that happened over the past week. Each topic (or Search Engine Land column) is also a link, where you can click through and drill into the Search Engine Land members library to find other stories in that area. Because some stories are listed in more than one category, you may see them repeated. Top News Big Brand Media Wants A Google Bailout SMX Advanced Agenda Up! 2 Days, 3 Tracks Of E [...]

Filed in: Search Week

Microsoft’s Dr. Qi Lu, Google’s Matt Cutts To Keynote Search Marketing Expo – SMX Advanced June 2-3 in Seattle

Mar 30, 2009 at 12:34pm ET by Search Engine Land

Search Marketing Expo - SMX Advanced returns to Seattle June 2-3 with a cutting edge agenda specifically created for experienced search engine marketers. SMX Advanced sessions are fast paced and sophisticated, packed with extended Q&A. Presenters will jump right in to cover today's hot button search engine marketing issues, including paid search advertising (PPC), search engine optimization, social media marketing and search marketing business strategies. Take a look at the agenda for sessions you won’t find anywhere else like: Keyword Research Artistry Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make [...]

Filed in: SEM Industry: Conferences, SMX & SMN Alerts

Microsoft Releases Large Volume Of New Images For Maps

Mar 30, 2009 at 10:46am ET by Greg Sterling

Virtual Earth, which has been somewhat in the shadow of Google Maps and Earth released a large volume of new images for Live Search Maps for a range of countries and cities around the globe. The imagery allows you to get in very close, so you can see how far your hotel is exactly from the beach in Cannes, for example: Live Search Maps has not received as much attention as Google Maps but the site has improved greatly over time in terms of usability and accuracy. It's also much faster than before. Both Google and Microsoft offer satellite imagery, which is often not that us [...]

Filed in: Google: Maps & Local, Microsoft: Bing Maps & Local, Microsoft: Outside US, Microsoft: Photosynth

Google Expands AdWords Fav Icon Test

Mar 30, 2009 at 10:12am ET by Greg Sterling

Earlier this month we reported on Google's test of favicons in Germany and Poland in AdWords. Subsequently I was alerted by someone in email that this was happening in the UK as well. Dave Naylor noticed it today in the UK and has some screenshots. I was unable to find any conducting various searches on Google.co.uk. In addition Blastmodo found them in AdWords in the US: Source: Blastmodo Previously Barry also noticed favicons being tested in organic results. So why is Google doing this? A cynic would respond it's to boost CTRs, which the Checkout icon has reportedly done in ma [...]

Filed in: Google: AdWords, Google: Universal Search, Google: User Interface

March ‘09 Yahoo Search Update

Mar 30, 2009 at 9:28am ET by Barry Schwartz

SEOs and Webmasters are noticing major shifts in the Yahoo Search results over the weekend. I reported the threads discussing the changes at the Search Engine Roundtable and noted that Yahoo has yet to post a "weather report" on this update at the Yahoo Search Blog. Yahoo promised that they would continue to provide "weather reports" on these algorithm and index updates, when they happen. I would expect to see a post from Yahoo today or tomorrow on this update. The update does seem fairly significant, based on what I see reported in the forums over the weekend. [...]

Filed in: Top News, Yahoo: SEO, Yahoo: Search

Google Kills Video Ad Units After Poor Performance

Mar 30, 2009 at 9:20am ET by Barry Schwartz

The Inside AdSense blog announced that Google will be discontinuing the Google Video units. Google Video units launched in October 2007 but due to not living up to the expectations Google hoped for, Google is going to "retire" the feature by the end of April. In fact, many publishers were recently not happy with the video ad units performance, in terms of earnings through the AdSense network. So, starting now, new publishers can no longer sign up for video ad units, and in April, they will be completely discontinued. Google recommends that all publishers begin removing the ad units from [...]

Filed in: Google: AdSense

Amongst Google Layoffs, Google Continues To Hire

Mar 30, 2009 at 9:09am ET by Barry Schwartz

Last week, Google laid off 200 sales and marketing employees but this does not mean Google is not hiring. Google layoffs don’t stop hiring efforts from Reuters reports Google has 360 job openings on their web site. A Google spokesperson has confirmed that Google is still hiring, amongst those layoffs. In fact, 30 or so of those jobs are related to sales and marketing. [...]

Filed in: Google: Business Issues, Google: Employees

Google: Some AdWords Ads May Exceed Character Limit

Mar 30, 2009 at 9:00am ET by Barry Schwartz

Over the course of the past month or two, there have been several reports that Google is allowing AdWords ads to have extended character limits, above what is allowed in the guidelines. I reported this at the Search Engine Roundtable earlier this month, where Google told me "We haven't changed our AdWords policy regarding the number of characters allowed in the title line." Google also told me, they would look into the issue and resolve the bug. Then Kerstin Baker-Ash claimed a Google account manager in London said that this is something Google has been "testing" for the past month. So I ha [...]

Filed in: Google: AdWords, Top News

Ignoring The Content Network? Think Again To Vastly Improve Conversions

Mar 30, 2009 at 8:00am ET by Brad Geddes

Search page views make up fewer than 5% of all page views on the web. By default, that means that content network impressions are the other 95%+ of all page view on the web. So why are so many people still shunning the content networks in favor of the comparatively tiny exposure offered by search result pages? If you are looking to... Increase your total conversions Increase your company’s reach Expand the number of people who enter the buying funnel ... then the natural extension to search campaigns is a good content campaign. However, content behaves much differently than sea [...]

Filed in: How To: PPC, Paid Search

Useless SEO Terms

Mar 30, 2009 at 7:00am ET by Eric Enge

Back in the early days of search engines and search engine optimization it was an anything goes environment. Initially, SEOs stuffed reams of keywords into their page to get their pages to rank. Then when links became the driving force in rankings SEOs moved into link buying. The problem with all this is that it was all based on manipulation of one form or another. While many will argue that SEO continues to be the practice of manipulating search rankings, it does not have to be that way. The SEO industry hurts itself by allowing itself to be associated with manipulation. That is my pr [...]

Filed in: Industrial Strength

SearchCap: The Day In Search, March 27, 2009

Mar 27, 2009 at 5:01pm ET 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: How Google Shot Microsoft After It Took A Knife To A GunfightGoogle’s a split-personality company. On the one hand, it wants people to believe that it could lose its customers at any time, lest it get viewed as a monopoly. But question its ability on the technical front, and the Big G will go off on you like nobody’s business. That’s what happened [...] The Google Wonder Wheel & Other Search Refinement Features Get Live Te [...]

Filed in: SearchCap

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