SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 22, 2008

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

From Search Engine Land:

• 7 Recession Strategies For B2B SEO

  Many people have a “set it and forget it” approach when it comes to SEO. But if you have a good site (in terms of organic search), you should be taking advantage of it—especially during these tough economic times. SEO remains one of the most cost-effective marketing strategies, especially over the long haul. If your site [...]

• Where Do I Vote? Google Maps Shows The Way

  I live in a purely Vote-by-Mail county; in fact, most of Washington state is Vote-by-Mail. But in this year of heightened political interest, you can imagine a lot of U.S. citizens wanting to go to the polls … but not knowing exactly where to go. [...]

• G1 Arrives, So Does Android Market

  This morning the Android Market formally launched, coinciding with the arrival of the T-Mobile G1, the first Android phone. There’s a showcase that features a sampling of the more than 50 existing apps, with many more to come. All the apps are currently free, with paid apps to come in the first quarter of 2009. [...]

• Google Analytics Upgrade: AdSense Reporting, Visualization Tools, & More

  A day after announcing a slight touch up, Google Analytics is rolling out what it calls a “significant upgrade” to its feature set. The new tools include AdSense integration, “Motion Charts,” advanced segmentation, an API, custom reports and an updated user interface to highlight these new tools better. Google is calling this an “enterprise class” [...]

• Search Illustrated: The Life Of An Article On The Web

  When it comes to SEO, content is king—most likely, you’ve said it and heard it a thousand times. But have you ever really thought about how many touch points a well-written and well-optimized piece of content encounters on the web? This week’s infographic demonstrates exactly how a well-optimized article can find its [...]

• Building Brand Awareness With Content & Display

  Sure, search is an effective marketing channel — and it is particularly adept at capturing demand — but the one thing search can’t do is generate demand. Given that, marketers need to be mindful that solely relying on search is a mistake, especially if you are launching something new. Instead, you need to first [...]

• Two Ways To Justify SEO In Uncertain Times

  During uncertain economic times like these, our advice is to always stick with the fundamentals to maintain business efficiency and progress. No matter what your business model, performing the fundamentals will keep you on-track and in-line for leveraging future success. [...]

• A Completely Different Kind Of Landing Page Optimization

  What exactly is landing page optimization? For most search marketers, optimizing landing pages means A/B testing and multivariate testing (MVT). It means using tools such as Google Website Optimizer to experiment with different arrangements of a page – or different variations in the content of a page – to maximize its conversion rate. [...]

• Yahoo Q3 Revs Flat, 10 Percent Layoffs Confirmed

  Yahoo announced (pdf) Q3 revenues this afternoon. Search revenues and performance-based display ads were up. However, “premium display” (CPM) was down. Revenues were $1.786 billion, a (tiny) one percent increase, vs. $1.768 billion in the same period last year. The company stressed that consumer page views and engagement were up. Yet Yahoo confirmed that it [...]

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• New in Labs: Canned Responses, Official Gmail Blog

Business Issues

• Microsoft’s Fast Search and Transfer raided by police, Pandia
• Post-Debacle Yahoo Scorecard (Or, Another Open Letter to the Soon-to-Depart You-Know-Who), Traffick
• Russian seach company Yandex acquires ad agency , News.com
• Thinking Outside The Box, In The Box! Microsoft Begins Container Testing At Chicago Data Center , LiveSide
• Win John Lewis Vouchers With Big Snap 2 Live Search!, Mel Carson
• Introducing ClickZ’s Layoff Tracker for Digital Marketing Jobs, ClickZ
• Like.com Raises $32m, ComparisonEngines
• Rumormonger: It’s like PageRank for layoffs, Valleywag
• Tough times, hard decisions., calacanis.com
• Mahalo Layoffs, www.alleyinsider.com

Link Building

• Screencast Tuesday: A Walk Through the Basics of Applying Linkscape for SEO, SEOmoz
• Myths and Truths About Google GrayBar PR, Search Engine Journal

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Finding a Restroom With Google Maps, Google Maps Mania
• Terrain of Google Earth – Awesome Tour, Google Earth Blog
• Google Maps: Polling location information goes live, Understanding Google Maps & Yahoo Local Search
• Topix CEO on Site’s Evolution as a Local Portal, Kelsey Group Blogs
• Google Adds WiFi to Cell Towers for Location, Screenwerk

Other Items

• Google Treasure Hunt winners abound, Official Google Blog
• A Look At Google’s Newest Data Center, www.datacenterknowledge.com
• Podcast: Weekly SearchCast: October 16, 2008, SearchCast
• Quintura Launches Site Search for Publishers, Bill Hartzer

Paid Search & Contextual

• Holiday Season Best Practices for PPC, adCenter Blog for Advertisers
• American Airlines Sues Yahoo for Selling Keyword Advertising, Eric Goldman
• Shopzilla Increasing Advertising Click Rates by 25% , PalatnikFactor.com

Searching

• Another Call For Search Literacy, John Battelle’s Searchblog
• UK: Yahoo!, Google and MSN: news services in UK compared, Hitwise
• All Conferences Search Engine, Phil Bradley’s weblog:
• Danny (Re)Visits Search Engine Land, Infotoday Blog
• Looking for a Cheap Gas Station?, AOL Hot Searches
• Personal ads Google Maps = HookupMaps, News.com
• Search Engine Land: What’s Happening Out There?, Training Wheels

SEM Industry

• PubCon London 2009 – Kicking It Old School, PubCon
• Scary SEO Conference is on Friday, Search Engine Journal
• SMX Singapore Keynote II – Harrison Gervitz, Search Marketing Gurus
• SMX West 2009 Registration Open, Search Marketing Expo Blog
• Pubcon Poker Tournament & Fight Club, Shoemoney
• Help Me Create a Top 10 SEM List for Blogs.com, WebMama

SEO & SEM

• NoFollow and PageRank Sculpting is it Worth the Effort, Michael Gray
• SMX East 2008: AJAX, CSS and Web 2.0, Live Search Webmaster Center Blog
• What’s in a Keyword: How the Presidential Campaigns Use Search, Mark Grote
• 13 Sites to Jumpstart Your Keyword Research, bg Theory
• Using Keyword Analysis and Social Media to Inform Creative And Engage Your Audience, MediaPost

Social Media

• emetrics: Social Network Analysis Session Highlights, Search Marketing Gurus
• Facebook Adds Action Links to Feeds, All Facebook
• Track Hot Trends With Twitter Tools, Search Engine Journal
• Biggest Mistakes Made by Social Media Gurus , Mashable

Web Analytics

• eMetrics: A Morning in Google Analytics University, Search Marketing Gurus
• eMetrics: Actionable Social Media Metrics, Search Marketing Gurus
• Google Analytics Releases Advanced Segmentation!!, www.kaushik.net

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

• NoFollow and PageRank Sculpting is it Worth the Effort?
• StumbleUpon : 3 Most Important Things To Keep In Mind
• How To F*** Up At Online Networking
• 6 All-in-One Tools for Quick SEO Diagnostics
• 2008 TwitterStache Awards
• Free links to your site…from google.com
• Google Hacks for Dorks and SEO prowlers
• Key Relevance Review of Google Analytics at eMetrics
• Proof SEOmoz Owns the Dotbot?
• Perfecting the SEOmoz Linkscape tool
• Scary SEO Rocks My Monkey
• I own your domain. Hand over your site!