SearchCap: The Day In Search, May 5, 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 AdWords Opens Up Trademarked Bidding To Most Countries
  

  BrandVerity tipped me off to news that Google has modified their AdWords trademark policy to allows bidding on trademarked terms in 190 new countries. The policy is in line with the same trademark policy that we have in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Ireland. I asked Google for a comment on [...]

• An Insider’s Look At SMX Advanced: Alex Bennert
  

  Continuing our series of behind-the-scenes insights from our SMX Advanced programming team, today we have a Q&A with Alex Bennert, the In House SEO for the Wall Street Journal. Alex has been a self-professed “search geek” for more than a decade, and has worked with clients such as Zillow, Philips, SFGate, JibJab and other large-scale [...]

• AdWords Bid Management: Advanced Tactics
  

  On the face of it, bid management is a simple process. Lower your bids where you are spending too much for a conversion. Raise your bids where you are willing to pay more for a conversion. However, there are two hidden assumptions in the above “simple process” that can cause your bid management to [...]

• Goodbye Live Search And Give & SearchPerks
  

  Softpedia reports that Live Search’s Search and Give program is coming to a close on June 1st. In addition, those that have participated in Microsoft’s SearchPerks program are being notified to cash in on their prizes now or lose them forever. If you visit searchandgive.com, you will see the notice on the home page, which [...]

• Don’t Forget About Us, The Web Directories
  

  Last night a post from the DMOZ blog titled R-E-S-P-E-C-T for DMOZ caught my eye. As I read through it, I felt for the old Open Directory Project (aka dmoz.org). Let me just quote the first line: Everybody loves Google, everybody loves Wikipedia – so why doesn’t everybody love DMOZ? Ouch! I mean, I [...]

• Cool New Link Tools And… SEO Discounts!
  

  I’ve come across some cool tools to use in your link building efforts and have a handful of discounts I wanted to share so let’s get right to it! All link building tactics have one thing in common—they need relevant pages to secure the links from. Notice I didn’t say “authority pages” or “high [...]

• Using Infographics in Social Media to Promote Content and Visualize Data
  

  What are infographics? Infographics, or information graphics, are visual devices that communicate information or data in an easily digestible manner. They have been used for ages by computer scientists, mathematicians, and statisticians to ease the process of communicating conceptual information, support it, strengthen it and present it within a provoking and sensitive context. Since infographics are [...]

• Yet Another Anti-Trust Inquiry For Google (& Apple)
  

  Last year Google was all but forced to back out of its proposed paid-search deal with Yahoo because of a reportedly impending Justice Department anti-trust action against it. Much more recently — in fact, just last week — Google’s Book Search settlement came under anti-trust scrutiny from the US Justice Department. Now the Federal Trade Commission [...]

• Search Month: April 2009 Search News, In Review
  

  Search Month is an exclusive monthly newsletter for Search Engine Land premium members that recaps stories covered on Search Engine Land from the previous month. Below are top stories organized by topic that happened over the past month. Each topic (or Search Engine Land column) is also a link, where you [...]

• Why Hasn’t Google Cleared, Fired Or Suspended Accused AdWords Employee?
  

  Google takes plenty of well-publicized heat for things it hasn’t really done or concerns that get hyped. But in the case of one of its AdWords employees being accused of bypassing AdWords policies for his own benefit, I’m surprised the Big G isn’t being dragged over the coals. Over a month after [...]

• Big Upset: Live Search & Ask.com Win Kentucky Derby Search
  

  The major search engines are often quick to point out occasions when they’ve done a good job anticipating searchers’ needs and providing instant answers to search queries right in the search results; see this Live Search announcement about instant Oscar Award results as an example. But when they miss an opportunity? That’s someone else’s job. And [...]

• Search Week: May 4, 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

• Gmail Gadget Incompatible with Secure Setting, Google Operating System
• Use Google Apps seamlessly with corporate BlackBerry smartphones, Official Google Mobile Blog
• Google Checkout Begins Charging Fees: Time To Drop Google?, Search Engine Roundtable

Business Issues

• Google: Drop the AP first, BuzzMachine
• Library Associations Ask Judge to Assert Vigorous Oversight of Proposed Google Book Search, Association of Research Libraries
• Ballmer’s layoff mail to the troops fails to rule out more cuts, ZDNet
• Google Haifa center head Maarek leaves for Yahoo!, Globes
• Twitter Mania: Google Got Shut Down. Apple Rumors Heat Up., TechCrunch
• Yahoo and Microsoft Deal Progress “Meaningful”–Plus the Deal Team Rosters, AllThingsD by Kara Swisher

Link Building

• 2 Ways to Compare Link Power of Two or More Sites, Daily SEO Tip
• Blow Your Mind Link Building Techniques – SMX London, BlogStorm
• Trust and Link Building, Stone Temple

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Yandex Launches Location-Based Mobile Search, Quintura blog

Other Items

• German State Advertises With Google Page Count, Google Blogoscoped

Paid Search & Contextual

• 8 Geo-Targeting Dos and Don’ts You Need to Follow, PPC Hero
• Decline in Ad Spending Quickens Pace at 9.2%, Wall Street Journal
• Google Hosting Implementation/Optimization AdSense Webinar May 7th, Search Engine Roundtable
• Improving efficiency and results with the new AdWords interface, Conversion Room
• Understanding and preventing invalid clicks and questionable activity and with Microsoft pubCenter, pubCenter Blog for Publishers
• Why You Can’t Trust Keyword Research, Search Engine Guide

Searching

• The Dead People Search Engine *footnote, AltSearchEngines
• Google News Should Add a Liberal to Conservative Slider (Filter), Search Engine Roundtable
• Google Profiles Doing the 302 Hop?, SEO Speedwagon
• Will Swine Flu Wipe Out Mexico Vacations?, Hitwise

SEM Industry

• 10 Reasons You Must Attend SMX London, SEOmoz
• Search Marketing Day, Pittsburgh, PA, May 13, 2009, IMPAQT

SEO & SEM

• How are load times displayed in Webmaster Tools calculated?, YouTube
• 10 Things You Can Do To Optimize for Image Search, Search Engine Journal
• Conduct Your Own SEO Site Audit – Part 2, Search Marketing Standard
• Finding & Converting Non-Customer Prospects Into Paying Customers, SEO Book
• How To Optimize for Google – Questions Answered, StepForth
• Keyword Research for Optimized (SEO) Public Relations, Online Marketing Blog
• Oops, My Domain Expired & Google Delisted My Site, Search Engine Roundtable
• Why aren’t penalized sites notified in Webmaster Tools?, YouTube

Social Media

• Facebook Begins Heavily Promoting Mobile Services, All Facebook
• More Canada, Please, Twitter Blog
• Tweepz: A New Search Engine Powered by Exalead’s Technology that Searches Twitter Profile Data, ResourceShelf
• Twishitter: Twitter Apps Head Towards The Gutter, TechCrunch

Web Analytics

• Back to Basics: An easy way to spot quality traffic, Google Analytics Blog
• Google Analytics "Error Had Been Detected" Message Issue, Search Engine Roundtable

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

• Using Analytics For Local Search Optimization
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• How to Succeed on YouTube by Sheena Melwani
• 10 Things You Can Do To Optimize for Image Search
• Search Marketing Isn’t an A La Carte Menu – It’s a Seven Course Meal
• Choosing a Killer Avatar for Your Online Profiles
• 5 Ways to Maximize PPC Impressions
• Top100 blogs in Social Media
• The Cheapskate’s Guide to Usability