SearchCap: The Day In Search, March 26, 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:

• Google To Cut 200 Sales & Marketing Staffers
  

  Google has just announced plans to cut almost 200 people from the sales and marketing teams around the world. According to the announcement, the affected employees will be given time to find new positions at Google and/or help in locating a job elsewhere. They’ll also give severance packages to those who leave the company. Says Omid Kordestani, [...]

• Google Pushing Hard(er) To Get Webmaster Products Adopted
  

  I was setting up a new domain last year, something I’d done countless times and could do with my eyes closed, when my hosting provider suddenly started pushing several Google products on me. Did I want to use Gmail for my domain? Did I want to use Google Apps for Domains? Well, no, but thanks. [...]

• Yahoo – But Not Yahoo Search – Headed To TV
  

  Yahoo is making a move onto television screens with the Yahoo Widget Engine (YWE), but its first iteration won’t include a Yahoo search box. The Yahoo widgets are Internet-based applications that can be used on Internet-connected TVs and controlled with the TV’s remote control. Samsung has just introduced a TV that integrates the Yahoo Widget [...]

• Ask.com Shows Display Ads On Home Page
  

  If you visit Ask.com today, you may notice that they have ads for their sister sites. Here is a picture of Ask.com with a Match.com ad, an IAC property.

  Currently, Ask.com is the only “search engine” to have display ads on their search home page. I’ll leave my negative thoughts to myself this time.

• What Israeli SEMs Want
  

  A month ago, I wrote about my meet up with Google Israel, from my trip to Israel about two months ago. This week, I am back in Israel on a sponsored Blogger Delegation to meet with Israelis and see their way of business and life. Today, I had free time and used it to [...]

• Searching For Healthcare Solutions: Electronic Health Records Initiative Faces Significant Obstacles
  

  When the long rumored Google Health was announced in early 2008, it appeared to be a very ambitious initiative that had a mountain to climb. That mountain was participation: getting individuals, doctors and hospitals to digitize their records. Then there are the myriad privacy and data security issues. But Google isn’t the only one in the [...]

• March Madness Strategies For Small Businesses
  

  Some of you may know that around this time every year, I come down with a serious case of NCAA Tournament fever. During the month of March, when people ask for my phone number, I respond “65-32-16-8-4-2-1.” Assuming clients are able to get a hold of me somehow, all of my doodles during phone calls [...]

• Are The Search Engines Really Indexing Flash?
  

  It seems that once a year for the past five years or so, a search engine representative will stand up at a conference and announce that they are now indexing Flash. Website designers jump with glee, and SEOs lament that all the work they did educating their clients on why they need to curb their [...]

• Can Hulu Sustain Its Success Without Engaging Community?
  

  At first, online video service Hulu appeared to be a futile response to the rising tide of online user uploaded and user generated content—after all, Hulu is a group of major broadcasting networks backing a platform to publish their content online and regain control of their distribution networks. Hulu was declared doomed, and bound to [...]

• Search Week: March 23, 2009
  

  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 [...]

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• iGoogle’s got game… themes!, Official Google Blog
• Drawing on your creativity in Docs, googledocs.blogspot.com
• Find and Replace in Google Docs, Google Operating System
• Google Plans Fifth Birthday Present for Gmail Users, PC World
• More Security Loopholes Found In Google Docs, TechCrunch

Business Issues

• Yahoo Slips As Analysts Say Microsoft Deal Not CEO’s Focus, Wall Street Journal
• Bartz: Yahoo Has Tested 141 New Versions Of Its Homepage, paidContent.org
• Google and Privacy International at war over claims of dirty PR tricks and Microsoft bias, The Guardian
• Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz Paying More Attention to Mobile, Ad Age
• Google funds photo advertising start-up, Reuters
• Microsoft Hires Yahoo Veteran As Live Search’s Chief Scientist, paidContent.org
• What Could Go Wrong With Google: The Slideshow, TechCrunch

Link Building

• An Impressive Case Study in Link Acquisition: OpenCube.com, SEOmoz
• New Guide Release: The (Updated) Professional’s Guide to Link Building, SEOmoz
• What Attributes Make Up a Good Web Directory?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Link Building With Images – Tracking Down Your Lost Link Love From Your Creative Images, www.evisibility.com

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Maponics Paves the Way for Search and Mapping That is More Local and Personal, www.lbszone.com
• Using Google APIs in an iPhone App, googlemac.blogspot.com
• Virtual Earth Silverlight Map Control Sample Code, blogs.msdn.com
• Inquisitor iPhone App Goes Global, Yahoo Search Blog
• Find Custom Maps, Google Operating System
• comScore releases First Data on iPhone Users in the U.K., comScore
• Mobile Google Not Working For Many, Search Engine Roundtable
• Setting Up Google Earth Options, Google Earth Blog
• Searching for more than the point, Google LatLong

Other Items

• A FeedBurner Alternative: Blitz Your RSS!, feedblitz.blogspot.com
• Firms Track and Sell Data on All Your Web Clicks, New York Times
• How Google Routes Around Outages, www.datacenterknowledge.com
• The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Data, Official Google Research Blog

Paid Search & Contextual

• 5 Ways to “Cut the Fat” Out of your PPC account AND Your Body This Spring, PPC Hero
• AdSense for Domains on the AdWords Search Network, www.apogee-web-consulting.com
• Google – Account Navigation in the New AdWords Interface, www.youtube.com
• Google – Managing the Content Network in the New AdWords Interface, www.youtube.com
• Google – Tracking Your Ads in the New AdWords Interface, www.youtube.com
• Google AdSense Reporting Off Again: Impressions High & CTR Low, Search Engine Roundtable
• Google’s surveillance is taking us further down the road to hell, The Guardian
• Beneath The Tip Of The Iceberg, adCenter Blog for Advertisers

SEM Industry

• 8 Best Practices For Serious SEM Marketing Plans, AIM Clear Blog
• Ads All Up In Yo Facebook @ SES New York!, AIM Clear Blog
• Day 2 Recap – Search Engine Strategies – New York & Video!, adCenter Blog for Advertisers
• Dealing With Affiliates: A Roadmap to Success, BruceClay.com
• In Social Media – Size Really Does Not Matter, AIM Clear Blog
• Morning Keynote: The Brand Bubble by John Gerzema, BruceClay.com
• SES NY: 8 Tips to Boost SEM Results, Online Marketing Blog
• Super Ultimate Link Power Part 1: Search Engine Reps, AIM Clear Blog
• Welcome Search Newbie Friends: SEO 101 at SES, AIM Clear Blog
• Does Search Marketing Belong in Marketing or Sales?, Search Engine Guide
• Brands Find Social Media Irresistibly Sexy, AIM Clear Blog
• Dealing With Affiliates: A Roadmap to Success, outspokenmedia.com
• Morning Keynote: John Gerzema, outspokenmedia.com
• New Adwords UI, Happy SEMs & Awkward Clapping, AIM Clear Blog
• Opportunities, Reality & Display Ad Evolution, AIM Clear Blog
• Search Engine Strategies New York – Small Business Case Studies, Search Engine Guide
• Search Engine Strategies New York – Turning Simple Change Into Big Profit, Search Engine Guide
• SEO Through Blogs & Feeds, outspokenmedia.com
• SES NY: Maximing B2B Lead Generation, Online Marketing Blog
• Turning Simple Change Into Big Profit, outspokenmedia.com
• Super Ultimate Link Power Part 2: Search Marketers, AIM Clear Blog
• 4 Views of Social Media: Planning a Successful Social Media Strategy, outspokenmedia.com
• News Search SEO, BruceClay.com
• SES NY: 3 Approaches to Social Media, Online Marketing Blog
• SES NY: Improve SEO Through Blogs & Feeds, Online Marketing Blog

SEO & SEM

• Google – How do I optimize an e-commerce site without rich content?, www.youtube.com
• 12 Types of Content Strategies SEOs Should Know and Use, www.searchenginepeople.com
• Can META Keyword Tags Confuse Google?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Do Search Engines Look at Keywords in URLs?, SEO By The Sea
• 3 Document Search Engines to Search for SEO Documentation, Search Engine Journal
• Google – Should I strip file extensions from my URLs?, www.youtube.com

Social Media

• @BarackObama Updates His Twitter!, mashable.com
• Twitter Blog: Suggested Users, blog.twitter.com
• Twitter’s suggested user list: You don’t have to be rich, just famous, VentureBeat
• Facebook Begins Targeting Families, www.allfacebook.com

Video, Music & Image Search

• A Few Name Changes on the Site, www.youtube.com
• YouTube Release Notes: 3/26/2009, www.youtube.com

Web Analytics

• Google Analytics Cake, Google Analytics Blog
• Top Web Analytics Questions, Twitter Edition | Occam’s Razor by Avinash Kaushik, www.kaushik.net

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