SearchCap: The Day In Search, January 27, 2009

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

From Search Engine Land:

• Yahoo Q4: Mild Operating Loss; Display Weak, Performance & Search Better
  Yahoo was widely expected to report lower earnings. But the lower earnings reported beat some financial analysts’ very low expectations. Here are the top-level highlights from the earnings release …
• How Search-Like Are Social Media Sites?
  Like search? Who doesn’t — great traffic, huge brand value and an audience ready to convert. Like social media? What’s not to like — huge growth, tons of buzz and an entire new marketing frontier that is opening up. For the search marketer looking at social media, how does it measure up? Which social media sites are most “search like?” This article looks at the issue and tries to chart it all out for easy …
• Google Logs Help Convict Husband Accused of Murdering Wife
  CNET reports on a conviction based in part on search query logs from Google that was upheld on appeal: A physical search of Justin’s computer revealed that a few months before the murder, he had searched for terms including “trauma, cases, gunshot, right chest” and “Florida & divorce.” Prosecutors had also discovered that the defendant downloaded a suggestive Guns N’ Roses song called “Used to Love Her” and then deleted it a few weeks later, after his wife’s death. The lyrics: “I used to love her, but I had to kill her / I had to put her / Six feet …
• Packaging Yourself For Success: A Search Marketer’s Resume Guide
  In today’s competitive search landscape you need to go beyond a basic resume and find a way to stand out in the crowd of applicants. It’s not just about outlining your experience anymore. Employers are raising the bar with specific metrics, certifications and requirements. Here are a few key components to hone in on when vamping up your resume to help separate yourself from the pack while demonstrating your search skills & expertise. Use numbers, numbers and more numbers. Unlike other industries, search marketing really does thrive on stats. A search marketer needs to highlight a variety of metrics they have …
• Search Biz: Yahoo Earnings, Google Lobbying, Tech Stimulus, Best Places To Work & Making PCs ‘History’
  Just like the US economy, things at Yahoo may get worse before they get better; the company reports earnings today at 5 p.m. Eastern. The general expectation is they’ll be down. Yahoo may have been hit hard by the weakness in online display advertising. And new CEO Carol Bartz will be on the hot seat as financial analysts probe about a potential deal with Microsoft and whether the company will layoff more employees. Bartz is trying to impose some discipline and get tough on press leakers, which have feed Kara Swisher at AllThingsD so faithfully and regularly. Swisher reports on …
• 2 Weeks Until SMX West, 3 Ways To Attend
  Don’t miss Search Engine Land’s next conference, Search Marketing Expo – SMX West, taking place in Santa Clara, CA, February 10-12. We’ve got ticket options that fit every budget. Here’s a summary …
• How To Maximize Your Link Traction
  In my last Link Week post, I talked about how monitoring Twitter could help build links. Search Engine Land Managing Editor Elisabeth Osmeloski had this comment: “not really underscored in this example is the potential for the link to gain traction over time. Sure, Jane’s blog may not be that popular, but it only takes one person in her network (or even outside of it) to stumble upon it and also see a need for the same product Jane ordered, and by virtue of Jane’s positive review on ABCwidgets, this second person orders, hopefully has a good experience, and spreads the word further – maybe they have a larger network or more visible blog that additional people will see.”

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Kanye West blames Gmail hijack for bisexual porn hoax, The Register
• Watch YouTube videos right inside Gmail chat, juberjabber
• Pogue: Google’s GrandCentral Not Dead, Just Resting, www.alleyinsider.com
• Google promotes Chrome with YouTube ads, News.com
• Ten Years of Google (Video), Google Operating System
• Why a ‘Google Web Drive’ Won’t Kill Windows, the PC or Anything Else, Wired
• Yahoo Currency Converter Gets Smart; Adds Pocket Guides, Digital Inspiration

Business Issues

• Exits: Marissa Mayer Sticking to Google Like Icing on a Cupcake, Valleywag
• Yahoo Japan says quarterly net profit up 11% to $214 million, MarketWatch
• AOL, Bebo Line Up To Deny A Sale Is In The Offing, paidContent.org
• Yahoo expected to see earnings fall as new CEO Bartz makes debut, MarketWatch

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Google Maps: Cheney’s Veil Lifted on Vice President’s Residence, Valleywag
• ‘Rogue’ Googlephone App Raises Questions About Android’s Open Policy, Wired
• Google Finally Confirms Fixing SMS Search, Search Engine Roundtable

Other Items

• Pictures of Google’s Tel Aviv Office, Barry Schwartz
• Chinese New Year At Yahoo.com & Google’s Malaysia Site, Search Engine Roundtable

Paid Search & Contextual

• Optimizing for Editorial Before Uploading, adCenter Blog for Advertisers

Searching

• Searching for the Super Bowl, Live Search
• Data Visualization Sketches for Google Search Results, flowingdata.com
• How Important Is Search to Users?, www.emarketer.com
• Does cleaning out cookies stop personalization?, Search Engine Guide
• Google Mispelling Match: A Tale Of Two Searches, www.ninebyblue.com
• Social Bookmarking Service Qitera Now Integrates With Google and Yahoo Search, Read/Write Web

SEM Industry

• More Google AdWords Reps Join Twitter, Search Engine Roundtable

SEO & SEM

• Optimizing your very large site for search — Part 2, Live Search Webmaster Center Blog
• AdWords Updates Advanced Conversion Implementation Help Files, Brad Geddes
• Ask an SEO – Wasting Pagerank on Noindex Pages, Chris Hooley
• Can SEO’s and Journalists Really Be Friends?, www.cyberjournalist.net
• Google’s Knol About Webmaster Tools Verification, Search Engine Roundtable
• Majestic SEO – Interview of Alex Chudnovsky, SEO Book
• When Will Google Remove Third Party Content On Your Behalf, Search Engine Roundtable
• The Value of Conducting Competitor Research for SEO, Search Marketing Standard
• SEO Selection Via Google Webmaster Guidelines, Search Engine Guide
• SEO Web Site Review: Water Filter Corner, Search Engine Watch

Social Media

• Social Network User Demographics, www.emarketer.com
• Social networks overtake adult websites, Hitwise

Video, Music & Image Search

• The YouTube Homepage Goes HD, YouTube Blog

Web Analytics

• Cool FireFox Plugins to Enhance Google Analytics, Search Engine Journal

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