SearchCap: The Day In Search, April 26, 2011

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: 50 Percent Of Those Exposed To Mobile Ads Took Action

  Google today released findings of a smartphone-user study that the company did with Ipsos OTX at the end of 2010. The sample consisted of 5,000 US adults who owned a smartphone and accessed the mobile internet. Most of the findings reinforce other studies that show how widely people now rely on smartphones across a spectrum […]

• How To Use 3 Competitive Intelligence PPC Tools

  Want to feel like a super-spy while learning valuable secrets that can help grow your client’s business? Here’s how you do it: invest your time and money in PPC competitive intelligence and please shhh … don’t tell anyone. As the auction grows more expensive and more complex, it’s critical to have a view into your […]

• Google Challenges Apple, Netflix, Hulu with Video Rentals Service

  Google is about to launch a premium video on demand service through YouTube that will directly challenge iTunes, Netflix, Hulu and even cable TV. In the past YouTube tested video rentals (and has continued to do so) but the titles were limited and the results have been muted. The new service appears to be called […]

• Proven Ways To Use Content To Attract Links

  This article is really part three of our Link Building Foundational Blueprint series, and will focus on using content to attract links. Here are parts one and two. There are many ways to generate links using content, you’re probably familiar with article writing, guest blogging, link bait, white papers etc. All of these content tactics […]

• Why Google Latitude’s Check In Deals Is A Few Degrees Off

  In the past month, Google’s +1 has been the most hyped Social feature that Google has launched to date, as it has the potential to compete with Twitter and Facebook. A less noticed launch during this same time included social changes to Google’s Latitude product, which have also been launched to help Google compete with Foursquare. […]

• Google Logo Honors John James Audubon’s Birthday

  Google is sporting another special logo today, this one honoring the 226th birthday of John James Audubon. Audubon, of course, was a nature-lover who focused on studying and painting/chronicling birds all across North America. In 1905, more than 50 years after his death, the National Audubon Society formed in his honor. Today’s Google logo doesn’t […]

• Facebook Launches “Social Deals” To Challenge Groupon & LivingSocial

  After several months of anticipation Facebook is launching its second deals program: Social Deals. The new effort more closely resembles Groupon-style daily deals, with several twists. The original “Facebook Deals” is now being called “check-in deals” to distinguish it from the new program. Check-in deals are free to users; they’re mobile centric and operate like […]

• Google Instant Preview Ads Fully Launched For Search Ads

  Google is now showing Instant Previews — small thumbnails that show when a user mouses over an ad — for all search ads, presumably helping to qualify consumers before they actually click-through on an ad. The feature has been in testing for at least a week or so. The company is touting the new functionality […]

• Yahoo Snaps Up Video Check-In Start-Up IntoNow

  How badly does Yahoo want to skip ahead to the forefront of media and social check-ins? Badly enough to spend a reported $20 to $30 million to buy TV check-in service IntoNow, which launched its iPhone-based service just 12 weeks ago. IntoNow’s main “secret sauce” is the proprietary “Soundprint” technology that recognizes television shows by […]

• Google’s Larry Page, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg Make 2011 TIME 100 List

  Two of the biggest names in search are on the 2011 TIME 100 — the magazine’s choices for the most influential people in the world: Google CEO Larry Page and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. In the short Zuckerberg essay, April Capone – the mayor of East Haven, Conn., tells the story of how she donated […]

• Hitwise Data Pegs Panda Impact On Demand Media Sites At 40%

  Demand Media sites have suffered an estimated loss of about 40% of overall Google traffic since the Panda/Farmer update took effect. That’s according to new Experian Hitwise statistics measuring outbound traffic from Google to other sites, and reported today by Forbes. The Hitwise numbers suggest that about 0.57% of all outbound Google traffic went to […]

Search News From Around The Web:

Business Issues

• Google Acquires TalkBin, A Feedback Platform For Businesses That’s Only Five Months Old, TechCrunch
• AOL’s Patch Adding 8,000 Bloggers in ‘Full-On Course Correction’, Forbes
• Court grapples with ‘cast of thousands’ in Paul Allen suit vs. Google, Apple and others, www.geekwire.com
• Facebook Needs To Hire 3,000 People, www.businessinsider.com
• Google China: CEO change won’t affect operations, MarketWatch
• Google replants its garage roots in tech workshops, Google
• Twitter Adds Much-Needed Developer Relations Manager, Read/Write Web
• Twitter VP: We’re focused on discovery, relevance, and mobile, VentureBeat
• Why Fox, Paramount, Disney Are Holding Out on the YouTube Deal, www.thewrap.com

Link Building

• Is Google Ignoring Your Backlinks? Webmaster Tools Can (Maybe) Help (Sometimes), www.searchinfluence.com

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Bing Maps helping solve the world’s toughest problems – seriously!, www.bing.com
• Hiroshima’s Atomic Bomb Dome Makes Google Street View, inventorspot.com
• Google Irks Brazilians With Map of Rio de Janeiro Highlighting Favelas, latindispatch.com
• Google Places is Adding Upcoming Events To Venues via Rich Snippets, Mike Blumenthal
• Google reportedly to unveil Video Chat for Android smartphones at Google I/O, thenextweb.com
• Greater U.S. Reach for Apple iOS Than Google Android Across Devices, ClickZ
• MapQuest Map Builder plugin works to make adding custom maps to WordPress easier, wpcandy.com
• Microsoft collects locations of Windows phone users, news.cnet.com
• Quite a Month in Local Search, www.davidmihm.com

Paid Search & Contextual

• Paid Search is Not Keyword Advertising–It’s Restrictive Advertising, certifiedknowledge.org

Searching

• Google puts your address in the SERPS, quick edit your profile and more autocomplete, www.stateofsearch.com
• The History of Search and SEO [Infographic], www.seo.com

SEM Industry

• A Letter to Women in Tech, I Let You Down, Outspoken Media
• Most SEOs Are Very Generous With Giving Free Advice, Search Engine Roundtable
• Only 55% Want SEO Certification In The Industry, Search Engine Roundtable

SEO & SEM

• Improve Your Search Engine Optimization Skills, BusinessWeek
• Overstock freed from Google’s penalty box, CNN Money
• Content Farms Revisited: Panda Needs To Go Further, MediaPost
• Google Panda Update – Thoughts and Solutions from Jim Boykin, www.webuildpages.com
• Google: Don’t Use Page’s Title Tag As Image Alt Tag, Search Engine Roundtable
• Great Content for SEO: Simpler than You Ever Imagined, SEOmoz
• Hunch.com Shows How Data = SEO, www.localseoguide.com
• Is it Time for a Copywriting Face Lift?, www.marketingwords.com
• Is there an advantage to using rel="canonical" over a 301 redirect?, YouTube
• Monitor Your Local Search Engine Positions with Local Search Rank Tracker, Search Engine Journal
• Why Was Demand Media Torched by Google? Branding, SEO Book
• You Think YOU Have a Duplicate Content Problem?, Search Engine Journal

Social Media

• Sharing with Small Groups, blog.facebook.com
• 5 Reasons to Add Video To Your SMB Blog, smallbiztrends.com
• 5 Twitter Secrets to Become Highly Visible in your Niche, www.mediabistro.com
• How to Choose the Best Social Network for Your Business, Search Engine People
• Introducing the new Klout.com, klout.com
• Review And Walkthrough Of Tweetdeck Version 2.0 For iPhone, www.businessinsider.com
• Should You Advertise on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter?, www.socialmediaexaminer.com
• Small Businesses Focus Social Efforts on Top Sites, www.emarketer.com
• Social Media "Guru" Doesn’t Mean You Have to Do it All Yourself. Sheesh!, socialmediatoday.com
• Twitter now available in Russian and Turkish, Official Twitter Blog

Web Analytics

• Our Guide to Google Analytics IQ Testing: E-commerce Tracking, PPC Hero

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

• 11 Digital Marketing 'Crimes Against Humanity' – Another well-written, insightful and amusing post from Avinash where every point addressed is a key factor for why and how websites fail.
• Google Panda Update – Thoughts and Solutions from Jim Boykin – Interesting read from Jim Boykin comparing Panda to Google's old supplemental index issues: "Google’s been tossing duplicate pages, and poorly linked pages, and pages with little content into the supplemental results for years… this hasn’t been an issue with google….the issue comes when you have original content, on a page that is not deep enough to be at the “supplemental level”…"
• 5 New Tactics For SEO Post-Panda – Adam Audette offers insightful advice to dealing with SEO realities after the Panda update.
• Failed SEO – Who’s To Blame? The Client or SEO? – Nice continuation of last week's Sphinn discussion…when things don't work out as planned, whose fault is it? Nick gives us some good tips for how to avoid failure by nailing down the expectations at the beginning.
• Google Places is Adding Upcoming Events To Venues via Rich Snippets – Google has confirmed that they are adding these events to venues “in a few major cities across the globe, including New York, San Francisco, London, Paris (and others)” and this “information is based on data from rich snippets markup“.
• SEO Posers! 9 Stark Signals Your SEO Tool Is Futile – Marty Weintraub provides a humorous list of things to avoid when looking for SEO Tools.
• Proven Ways To Use Content To Attract Links – There are many ways to generate links using content, article writing, guest blogging, link bait, white papers etc. All of these content tactics are fine and still work, but since they’re talked about frequently.  So instead, let’s take a look at a handful of tips and twists you can use with these foundational tactics to generate additional links….