SearchCap: The Day In Search, November 12, 2008

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

From Search Engine Land:

• YouTube Formally Introduces ‘Sponsored Videos’
  YouTube is formally announcing “sponsored videos.” This is an evolution and expansion of what was has been informally running under the heading “promoted videos.” The effort seeks to marry Google AdWords bidding and targeting with YouTube video content. Accordingly, it’s an auction marketplace but somewhat simplified vs. AdWords. And while there apparently will be a view from AdWords of sponsored videos the two marketplaces are largely separate — for now.
• Google Fixes Veterans Day Logo
  Google’s special occasion logos are supposed to be lighthearted tributes to some person, event, or thing … but it’s not lighthearted when a Google logo upsets the very people it was supposed to honor. That’s what happened Tuesday, when Google first posted a Veterans Day logo showing hats representing the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines. Seems Google forgot the U.S. Coast Guard, and heard about it from members of that branch of our military.
• Want Higher Conversions? Get Clear About Your Value Propositions
  In last month’s article, I wrote at a high level about the heuristic introduced by Dr. Flint McLaughlin and the folks at MarketingExperiements.com that helps us B2B marketers systematically and purposefully improve the conversion rates of our landing pages and websites. For quick review here is the conversion “formula”:
• Verizon Wireless Moves Closer to Choosing Microsoft As Default Search Provider
  Last week the Wall Street Journal reported that Microsoft was trying to “steal away” an almost-done default search deal between Google and Verizon Wireless that would have given Google a high-profile presence on Verizon handsets. Verizon is the largest wireless carrier in the US with more than 80 million subscribers (post Alltel acquisition). Reuters now reports that Verizon is “closer” to choosing Microsoft as default search vendor to replace Google.
• Google Updates Search Interface For iPhone Users
  The Google Mobile Blog announced a new version of Google search for iPhone 2.x users. The new version looks more iPhone like and the search results fit better within the iPhone’s mobile Safari browser. The local results also have “Get Directions” link to the Maps app and a clickable phone number. Here are some screen captures of pages I tested out on my iPhone:
• In-house SEOs: Put On Your Detective Hat
  When you’re an in-house SEO, much of your success is dependent on the information you dig up and how you use it. “I feel like a detective” said my client two days into intake discussions with IT. We’re doing a customized SEO training program that involves understanding how the development process works so that the information can be tailored to identify key deliverables and where SEO needs to be inserted in the development life cycle. Everywhere we turn, new deliverables, opposition and/or steps in the life cycle arise. Much of what happens between idea to launch is a mystery to in-house SEOs who typically sit in the marketing department. Instead, what you need to do is constantly wear the detective hat, or at the very least, keep it in your back pocket at all times. Whenever you interact with someone from IT and they talk about what they are working on, listen for buzz words – documentation names, project deliverables, etc. so that you can poke around to find out if it’s something that you need to be a part of.
• Me.dium Changes Name To OneRiot, Launches Social Search Engine
  OneRiot, the company formerly known as Me.dium, has launched OneRiot.com, a social search engine that crawls and indexes the pages viewed by OneRiot toolbar users. The idea behind OneRiot is to measure the “pulse” of the web by offering search results ranked by what searchers are actually viewing at the moment, rather than by more traditional methods such as link analysis. “Pulse” is a measure of several factors, including popularity of a page, video, news story or other type of content. According to OneRiot’s FAQ: “If a website, video or news story is generating a lot of buzz and energy within our community, we consider it “pulsing” (which means it gets to go in our top search results).” The idea is to offer a view of the web that shows what searchers are interested in, in near real time. OneRiot focuses on the content that’s currently popular and doesn’t worry about being a comprehensive source of information, as the traditional search engines do.
• PubCon Vegas ‘08 – Day One Coverage
  The first day of the sessions at PubCon is now complete. Conference attendees are now enjoying the night life here in Las Vegas. If you missed the sessions, do not worry, here is live blogging and coverage from several search and Internet marketing blogs across the web.
• Tackling Large Paid Search Campaigns: Automated Solutions – SMN Webcast Thursday Nov. 13
  What do you do when your PPC campaign has grown to hundreds, thousands or even millions of listings? Managing the bidding process manually can be a nightmare – perhaps even impossible. Fortunately, there’s an entire class of search ad bid management tools that can save you time and money — and when used properly can actually improve your campaign’s performance and ROI. This Thursday – at 1 PM Eastern – Chris Sherman will deliver a Search Marketing Now webcast “Tackling Large Paid Search Campaigns: Automated Solutions.” He’ll describe the kinds of bid management systems available and how they can be …
• Is This Link Building RFP A No-Win?
  Imagine you have been asked to work on a project where the sole goal is to rank a new site in the top five for the term Christmas Gifts, and your fees would be based on where in the top five that site ranks by December 1st, just 20 days from now. If you don’t rank in the top five, you get paid nothing. If you rank 5th you are paid $1,000 a day for every day you keep that ranking, through December 21st. If the ranking rises, you receive an additional $1,000 for each day you hold that position. Get to position one on December 1 and hold position one until December 21, and that’s a cool $100,000 in your pocket for just a few week’s work. Remember, if you never rank in the top five, you get paid nothing.

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Google’s Love to Machine Translation Is beyond my Understanding, profy.com
• Have I got a deal for you, Yodel Anecdotal

Business Issues

• Facebook Now Worth About $4 Billion, Revenue Light, Alley Insider
• Lambotte’s Click Fraud Lawsuit Against IAC Survives Motion to Dismiss, Eric Goldman
• Microsoft’s lobbying tab dwarfs Google’s tally, The Associated Press
• David Eun: Reorg at Google gives old-media exec a boost, Valleywag
• Eric Schmidt speech in D.C. next Tuesday, Google Public Policy Blog
• Google shares close at $291, Yahoo just above $10, News.com
• Revenue search continues, as Facebook (and LinkedIn?) employee stock sale begins, VentureBeat
• What’s Yahoo’s Brand Name Worth?, InformationWeek
• Yahoo’s Jerry Yang warns on ad downturn, The Guardian

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Google Mobile Maps Drops India Temporarily, Search Engine Roundtable
• Local Product Search Comes to Superpages, Screenwerk
• Local.com Announces Deal with Virgin Mobile, Screenwerk
• Roman history comes to life in Google Earth, Google LatLong

Paid Search & Contextual

• Is a Competitor Bidding on Your Trademark?, adCenter Blog for Advertisers
• Launched: Detailed Delivery Estimates with Google Audio Ads, Google Traditional Media Blog
• How to Target Holiday Shoppers Through Gift Finder Keywords And Landing Pages, PPC Hero

Searching

• Google Alerts Now Spell Checks the Queries, eKstreme.com
• Google Patents Searching Through Multiple Categories At Once, TechDirt
• Social Search gets Smarter with MySideKick, www.altsearchengines.com
• Yatinoo Search is Arabic, African and Asian, www.altsearchengines.com

SEM Industry

• Doug Heil on Blackhat SEO, Google Blogoscoped
• Interview: Bruce Clay on SEO Tools, Search Engine Guide
• Jim Hedger: Search Blogger of the Day, The SEO Scoop
• SEO Scoop Moving Onwards And Upwards, The SEO Scoop

SEO & SEM

• Disabling Google Sitelinks May Not Hide Them in Google.com, Search Engine Roundtable
• Google’s Results Bar Often Very Incorrect?, Search Engine Roundtable
• How Much Does Semantic HTML Structure Matter for SEO?, Search Engine Journal
• Planning an SEO Campaign, Small Business SEM
• ReviewMyWeb : SEO and Social Media Site Comparison Tool, Search Engine Journal
• Robots.txt: Powerful but Picky!, WebOptimist.com

Social Media

• Facebook Announces New Advertising Metrics, All Facebook

Web Analytics

• How to Understand Your Audience: Data Collection & Analysis, DoshDosh

Recent Hot Items From Sphinn, Our Social News Sharing Site:

• 50 Simple Ways to Gain RSS Subscribers
• Social media – The online constituency
• Search Engine People Purchases SEO-Scoop.com
• Is This Link Building RFP A No-Win?
• Ultimate SEO & Internet Marketing Top Blogs List
• Barack Obama’s Ultimate Guide to Internet Marketing
• Is Flat The New Hockey Stick Growth?
• Hidden Quantcast links on Digg.com