SearchCap: The Day In Search, November 20, 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:

• Search In Pictures: Google México Party, One Republic @ Google & Pineapple 5K
  

  In this week’s Search In Pictures, here are the latest images culled from the web, showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have, and more. [...]

• Google Appears To Be Testing New Local AdWords Presentation
  

  Mike Blumenthal received a screenshot that seems to show a test of a new presentation of Google local/geotargeted AdWords. Mike suggests this may be an expression of AdWords local extensions: [...]

• Search Ad Keyword Lawsuit, Now Over Privacy
  

  We have covered many of the search ad keyword lawsuits aimed between competitors or directly at the search engines in the past. Nowadays, it seems like a new suit around this topic is filed weekly. Typically these suits go after trademark violations and the like, but a new suit is focusing on a [...]

• Practical Tips To Prepare For Cyber Monday & Beyond
  

  Cyber Monday is one of the most important (if not the most important) day to paid search professionals in America, and I’ve got some great tips and tricks to share on how to make the most of it. But first, I thought I’d share some history of the term I found at Wikipedia: [...]

• Google’s News Experiments & The Quest To Solve The “Read State” Issue
  

  Hey news publishers. Stop acting as if your content only appears printed on dead trees and tap into the dynamics that the web offers. That’s a blunt summary of advice from Josh Cohen of Google News, from a wide-ranging interview with him on Google’s experiments with new ways of delivering news. Cohen, business [...]

• Jedi Metrics: How To Prepare For SEO Growth
  

  Powerful the force is in you! You’re overcoming resistance to your SEO efforts. But preparing for growth requires looking within. Learn how Keyword Reach and Page Yield metrics can help you set good baselines and direct your SEO campaigns for maximum effect.

• Understanding Orienting Search Behaviors For SEO & Conversions
  

  Website owners and search professionals alike often overlook finding behaviors after a searcher clicks on a link to a website from a search engine results page (SERP). One of those finding behaviors is called orientation or orienting. Orientation is a search behavior that no SEO professional, search engine advertiser, or website owner should dismiss. Quick-and-easy orientation contributes to a positive brand experience, increases conversions and sales, and makes content easier to find.

• Google Builds Out A National Real Estate Search Engine
  

  While the National Association of REALTORS® is planning to launch its own national property database sometime next year, Google seems to have just stolen the NAR’s thunder. How? By rolling out individual “place pages” for every property that’s listed in Google Maps. Like this one for a home in Seattle: [...]

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Consolidate Your Contact Lists, ymailblog.com
• Groups Updates: CAPTCHA, Posting from the Owner Address, Email Moderation, Yahoo! Groups Blog

Business Issues

• Boycott Microsoft Bing, New York Times
• Facebook Sends Cease And Desist To USocial, All Facebook
• Google books hearing set for February 18, Google
• Google, Yahoo target Internet ‘freedom’ bill, MarketWatch
• Video: Yahoo Reveals SEM of Re-Brand, WebProNews

Link Building

• Ten Reasons Why Good Link Builders Fail, SEO Speedwagon

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Making it easier to find the property you want on Google Maps, Official Google Australia Blog
• More new imagery in November, Google LatLong
• Google Local Listing Ad Heatmap, Mike Blumenthal
• Google Locking Locksmith Spammers Out Of Maps, www.solaswebdesign.net
• Google makes yet another big move into real estate territory, www.1000wattconsulting.com
• Google Maps Local Listing Ad Spam & Other Notes, Mike Blumenthal
• New Troubleshooter: I’m having trouble verifying my listing, maps-forum-announcements.blogspot.com

Searching

• Future Directions of Wolfram|Alpha, Wolfram|Alpha Blog
• 100 Alternative Search Engines in 100 Minutes, AltSearchEngines
• Get Inside Bing’s Head: See the Features You’ve Only Heard About, Bing Search Blog
• Google Shopping Results : User Experience Downfall, Search Engine Journal
• In Search of Usefulness, Out Of My Gord

SEM Industry

• Ruud Questions: Glen Alssopp aka ViperChill, Search Engine People
• Video Recap of Weekly Search Buzz :: November 20, 2009, Search Engine Roundtable

SEO & SEM

• 5 Worries That Can Blow Your SEO Budget, Search Engine Guide
• Sticks & Stones May Break Your Bones But Ignoring the Online Convo May Crush You, BruceClay.com
• ‘New software version’ notifications for your site, Official Google Webmaster Central Blog
• 10 Resources: SEO Going Underground Again, www.seoptimise.com
• Flash SEO: 5 Tips and Best Practices for Optimizing Flash Websites, Online Marketing Blog
• GoogleBot Can Also Crawl Too Much & Be Nasty, Search Engine Roundtable
• How to Release Your Web Marketing Potential, Chris Garrett
• Microsoft Bing November 2009 Search Update?, Search Engine Roundtable
• No More Exceptions on Display URLs that exceed 35 characters, AdWords Help Experts
• Whiteboard Friday – Content & Technology Licensing, SEOmoz
• Your Site Is Badly Indexed? What Can This Mean?, Search Engine Journal

Social Media

• Nouvelle saveur : Twitter en Français!, Twitter Blog
• Refreshed Privacy Policy, Twitter Blog
• Think Globally, Tweet Locally, Twitter Blog
• Depressed woman loses benefits over Facebook photos, CBC News
• Facebook acts on follower trade, BBC News
• Twitter to turn on advertising “you will love” (here’s how: SuperTweet), scobleizer.com

Video, Music & Image Search

• Google adding IPv6 to YouTube, Network World
• YouTube now streaming full UK TV shows, IABUK
• YouTube Will Soon Block Access From Set-Top Devices, lifehacker.com

Web Analytics

• Free Google Analytics iPhone App, Web Analytics World Blog
• Playing with Google Analytics Intelligence, BlogStorm