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 Thoughts On A "Killer" Bing-News Corp Deal & The Myth Of An "OPEC For News" SEMPO Rel [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | Search Week

In Search Month European Edition we bring you a monthly update of European search news, with related links to full coverage. Here’s what happened in November. Germany says Google Analytics is illegal. According to an article in Zeit Online, German federal and state government officials are convinced that Google Analytics is against the law in Germany. The officials want to ban Google Analytics in Germany, and companies who use the tool to gather detailed stats on their visitors without the explicit consent of those visitors could be fined up to 75.000 euros. UK government doesn't belie [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | 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 Caffeine Now Live On One Google Data CenterAs expected the Google Caffeine index is now live on one Google data center. Note, it will not be added to more Google data centers until after the holidays. As I reported at the Search Engine Roundtable, Matt Cutts of Google confirmed that the IP 209.85.225.103 is hitting the data center that is running the [...] Bid Management Automation Basics: No Excuses!Here, in the Paid Search column, there’s [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | SearchCap

Here, in the Paid Search column, there’s been a lot of talk of bid management tools and strategies for using them. Some of the uses of these tools can get pretty advanced. But in the real world you can do better with pretty basic bid automation strategies. Many people are afraid or skeptical of campaign automation rules, in part because of misconceptions about how tough they are to use. Some are afraid that ceding control to an automated system will make a campaign worse, not better. These are valid concerns, but there is a way to climb up the learning curve gently, assuming your softw [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Paid Search

As expected the Google Caffeine index is now live on one Google data center. Note, it will not be added to more Google data centers until after the holidays. As I reported at the Search Engine Roundtable, Matt Cutts of Google confirmed that the IP 209.85.225.103 is hitting the data center that is running the Caffeine index about 50% of the time. Matt Cutts explained that the update webmasters were noticing were either this data center or individual sites being penalized in some way. Again, Caffeine is live on a single data center which is currently accessible about 50% of the time on 2 [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: SEO | Google: Web Search | Google: Webmaster Central | Top News

According to Reuters, French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand said the European Union intends to develop a plan to offer a public and pan-European alternative to Google's book scanning project. The French, among others, filed formal objections and opposition to the Google Book Search settlement with the court in New York this past September. An amended settlement was announced by Google and the other parties and given preliminary approval on November 19, 2009. Danny blogged the press conference associated with the announcement of the amended settlement agreement, which sought to address [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google: Book Search | Google: Legal | Google: Outside US

Here are a couple important areas for Industrial Strength search marketers to focus on right now, both of which are feed-based: Google Product Search and Yahoo! Paid Inclusion. Below I outline why these channels matter more than ever this holiday season, and how they can help you capture substantial traffic and sales. Google Product Search is particularly important this year—actually essential for ecommerce sites—as the shopping season gets underway. If you're not yet leveraging it, get a strategy together fast. Meanwhile it's time to grab some loot off a sinking ship—and the [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: Product Search | Industrial Strength | Search Engines: Shopping Search Engines

Is search marketing is your livelihood? Your passion? Your future? Then come to Search Marketing Expo – SMX West for compelling content and industry connections that are certain to make you a more effective, inspired and employable internet markter. Join us for SMX West in Santa Clara, CA, March 2-4. Register for SMX West now and you’ll get at the lowest rate possible. Keep reading for more info, or register right now! Here are 7 reasons to attend SMX West: 1) You’ll learn groundbreaking tactics so effective you’ll start implementing them during the session breaks! SMX West [...]

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

Discussing/insulting newspaper business models is all the rage these days. Danny Sullivan has had some choice words for the whole "let's give Google the noindex finger" thing and a few weeks ago Chris Silver Smith offered some SEO advice for local newspapers. Given how on-trend the subject is I thought it might be useful to offer some complementary advice to Chris' recommendations. Certainly all newspaper sites should be figuring out how to rank well for news searches and Chris covers how to do this pretty well. The problem is that ranking for news searches is probably not the best busin [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Local Search | Search Marketing: Local Search Marketing

Google has written two spam related posts over the Thanksgiving period on the Google Webmaster Central Blog tackling the issue of comment spam. The first post focuses on the futility of comment spam, saying: At best, a link spammer might spend hours doing spammy linkdrops which would count for little or nothing because Google is pretty good at devaluing these types of links. Think of all the more productive things one could do with that time and energy that would provide much more value for one's site in the long run. Those who may have been banned by promoting their sites through comment [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: SEO | Google: Webmaster Central

If there’s one thing that both Google and Microsoft agree on, it’s that search isn’t solved yet. Google’s vice president of search product and user experience Marissa Mayer has said: We’re all familiar with 80-20 problems, where the last 20% of the solution is 80% of the work. Search is a 90-10 problem. Today, we have a 90% solution: I could answer all of my unanswered Saturday questions, not ideally or easily, but I could get it done with today’s search tool. (If you’re curious, the answers are below.) However, that remaining 10% of the problem really represents 90% (in fact, [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Content | Search & Usability

"Search is the world's largest focus group." A while ago, someone said this to me (I can't remember who, but buy yourself an eclair if it's you: you've earned it), and it struck me as pure brilliance. We tend to get so focused on the challenge of showing up in search results that we frequently forget that we're bringing real people with real needs to our website, and unlike other traffic sources, these people have already told us exactly what they're looking for. Searchers are an analyst's dream because of this fact: in many cases, we know why they came to our site, and this helps us put the [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Analytics | Google: Analytics | Search & Analytics

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! In observance of the Thanksgiving holiday, we will likely not be writing much here today. But I did want to share with you, like I did at the Search Engine Roundtable, the various logos we have from Google, Yahoo, Ask, Bing, AOL and others in the search engine industry. Google: Yahoo (Flash): AOL (Flash): Bing: Ask.com: Dogpile: Cre8asite Forums: PPC Heros: Search Engine Roundtable: For the past years logos, see 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005 and 2004 logos. Happy Thanksgiving All! [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Google: Logos | SEM Industry: General | Top News

That new Google look that's being tested, that we covered last week in our Google Tackles Its "UI Jazz" Problem, Tests Streamlining Search Options Feature post? Now you needn't just read about it. You can try it out yourself! Google Blogoscoped has code that you can copy and paste to make it happen. Check it out, Google with three "panes" or main windows. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Google: User Interface

I said from time to time, I'd highlight some bad search results I come across. Here's a killer -- a top ranking for us national anthem on Google that when you click on it brings up random web sites that have nothing to do with the song. Behind the scenes, there's an Ask.com connection. Let's dive in. Here's the listing: For those who can't view images, I'm pointing at the fifth listing, which says: gbjann.com Get an auto loan that's right for you. Compare auto loan rates of top lenders. ... Loan type : Sort by : State : City : New auto, 48 mo. New auto, 60 mo. ... gbjann.com/anthe [...]

Related Topics: Ask: General | Ask: Sponsored Listings | Channel: SEM | Features: Analysis | Google: Web Search | Stats: Relevancy | 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: Black Friday 2009: Bing Cashback Bumps, Users Searching For DealsIt could be that the general state of the 2009 economy is fueling the increase in early search queries for “Black Friday” related terms, or it it could be that the retail industry as a whole have embraced the annual event as part of a clever marketing strategy to boost overall holiday sales. As you [...] B2B Landing Page Strategies: More Might Really Be More EffectiveRecent [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | SearchCap

Recently, I was reading Julie Joyce's Link Week article, 8 Tips To Make PPC Work With Link Building Efforts, and really enjoyed the premise of combining two disciplines that are often very separate in a marketing organization. Julie's article got me thinking about some of the work we have been doing in the area of landing page optimization, and how those efforts are sometimes being tied to social media marketing and lead nurturing efforts that do not traditionally "talk" to, or integrate with, PPC Marketing. Conventional wisdom in the world of landing page optimization is that "less is more [...]

Related Topics: B2B Search Marketing | Channel: Search

Is it just me, or do too many agencies claim to be able to perform organic search optimization for clients? I mean, really. An agency that charges someone for doing "SEO" as part of a site build should be able to understand how to populate meta descriptions, and what to populate them with. Right? Sitemaps should be easily handled as well. None of that grab-a-third-party-tool and send over whatever output it coughed up as a legit sitemap - especially if that sitemap happens to include advertising links embedded in it and links to competitor’s websites. What are agencies thinking when they [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Search | In House Search Marketing

It could be that the general state of the 2009 economy is fueling the increase in early search queries for "Black Friday" related terms, or it it could be that the retail industry as a whole have embraced the annual event as part of a clever marketing strategy to boost overall holiday sales. As you can see from the Google Trends data below, the increase in usage since the advent of "Black Friday" has grown exponentially. In 2009, consumers began flocking to the Web earlier than ever to search for Black Friday deals, although it's difficult to see in the graph below, the uptick does begin sligh [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Retail | Microsoft: Bing Shopping & Cashback | Search Marketing: Shopping Search Marketing | Stats: Search Behavior | Top News

Websites like Sponsored Tweets and Ad.Ly were created with the hope that famous and popular social media users will be willing to start sponsored conversations online. And with clients such Kendra Wilkinson and Kim Kardashian ready to spread any advertiser's message for the right price, participating in social media has finally become profitable. Even Google has began to monetize YouTube for users, gradually accepting popular users and companies into their advertising AdSense program that runs Google ads over streaming videos. Users posting videos that Google runs ads with receive a profit for [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | How To: Social Media Marketing | Social Media Marketing