SearchCap: The Day In Search, April 6, 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 Confirms & Talks About Expanded Local Results
  

  In a blog post today, Google confirms what we and others reported last week — they’re now showing local results on non-local queries. Google says they’re guessing the searcher’s location, “in most cases” by using your IP address. As I pointed out last week, this isn’t always the most accurate solution. And, as Greg Sterling pointed [...]

• Chairman and CEO of OgilvyOne Worldwide to Keynote SMX London
  

  Search Marketing Expo – SMX London, the leading UK-based event for cutting-edge SEO and PPC tactics, announced that Brian Fetherstonhaugh, Chairman and CEO of OgilyvyOne Worldwide, will be the keynote speaker at this year’s event. SMX London will be held at the New Connaught Rooms, London 18-19 May. Kicking off the day one agenda, Brian’s dynamic [...]

• Getting Core Paid Search Analytics Right (Part 1)
  

  If you’re a diehard search marketer, you probably find web analytics conferences a bit strange. Many of the speakers are versed in the nuances of customizing third-party analytics platforms like Google Analytics, Omniture, and ClickTracks. But many of them seemed to have learned to sprint before they learned how to walk. I’ve been struck by [...]

• Court: Trademarked Keywords Can’t Be Used By Third Parties In AdWords
  

  Last week the Second Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling in the Rescuecom v. Google case that has some potentially serious implications for all concerned. The appellate court has jurisdiction over cases arising in Connecticut, New York, and Vermont but the case has national impact because of the way that AdWords is operated and [...]

• Getting The Most Out Of Your SEM Agency
  

  Should we use an SEM agency or take it in-house? The recent trend to pull search marketing in-house has generated more than a few articles on this topic, so I thought I’d put an industrial strength spin on it. Here, I’m not going to contemplate whether you should use an agency or not, but rather how [...]

• Leveraging Reverse Search For Local SEO
  

  A couple of years ago when local search engine optimization started becoming a hot topic, I winced when I heard other search marketers recommending that local businesses include their street address in all page titles. Not only did this seem like overkill to me, but the school of “everything-and-the-kitchen-sink” in title tags can result in relevancy [...]

• Analysis: Which URL Shortening Service Should You Use?
  

  URL shortening services are experiencing a renaissance in the age of Twitter. When every character counts, these services reduce long URLs to tiny forms. But which is the best to use, when so many are offered and new ones seem to appear each day? Below, issues to consider and a breakdown of [...]

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• CVS joins Google Health Rx network: millions can access medication records online, Official Google Blog

Business Issues

• Murdoch Wants A Google Rebellion, Forbes
• Facebook’s Newest Funding Source: You, TechCrunch
• Google Claims Orphan Books, Raising Alarm in Academia, New York Times
• Google Execs in Secret Layoff Meetings, Valleywag
• No Backbone As Google Bows To Korean Government And Bans Users With Fake Names, Silicon Valley Watcher
• Second Circuit Expands Trademark Rights, Restricts Consumer Search Options, Electronic Frontier Foundation
• The Google Ventures Cheat Sheet, TechCrunch
• Wikia Death Proves Google Is Search-Startup Killer, Wired
• Henry Porter: Google is just an amoral menace, The Guardian
• D’oh! Sun May Be Pulling A Yahoo!, Forbes
• Internet service providers to record all emails and calls, The Guardian
• YouTube in talks with Sony Pictures for feature films, News.com

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Learn more about your surroundings with your iPhone, Google LatLong
• Google sees voice search as core, BBC NEWS
• Ocean Now, Google LatLong
• T-Mobile to Use Google Software in Devices for Home, New York Times

Link Building

• Getting PageRank Without Getting Links, Search Engine Roundtable

Paid Search & Contextual

• Back to the PPC Classroom, SEM Geek
• Revenue opportunities for video content owners, Inside AdSense
• AdSense rejecting new applications on new domains, JenSense
• Amazon Cans PPC Affiliates, SEO Book
• Google AdSense Bug Still Holding Payments For Publishers, Search Engine Roundtable
• SEMRush : Research Competitors’ PPC Tactics, Search Engine Journal

Searching

• Developing Search as a Science, Live Search
• Google force feeds Web 2.0 to US gov, The Register
• Should we expect more spelling corrections in search results?, YouTube
• Live.com – Handy, Yet Little Known Features: Currency Conversion, Calculator And Dictionary, LiveSide
• Semantic API in the Cloud, AltSearchEngines

SEM Industry

• Secret Matt Cutts Video Unveiled, SEO Book
• Introducing JenSense Pro – members only articles & forums, JenSense
• Shining a Light on The Dark Arts of Search Engine Optimization, SEO Book

SEO & SEM

• Dropping an Egg Four Stories is Just Like Choosing Your Keywords, SEO.com
• Are there any Good Solutions for Caching Redirects?, SEOmoz
• Choosing Robots.txt or the Noindex tag, DotCult
• Google’s Tips on Unranking For Keywords, Search Engine Roundtable
• How to Optimize Your Page Titles for Singular & Plural Terms, TechLINKS
• Internal Links – Telling Google How to See Your World, SEO.com
• Keyword Research to Identify and Reach Your Target Market, SEO Ireland
• New Info from Google and Yahoo! Tilts the Geo-Targeting Balance, SEOmoz
• Phone Call tracking for SEO, PPC, AdWords, Google Analytics – Call Metrics, BlogStorm

Social Media

• Bring Twitter Right Into Gmail with the Amazing TwitterGadget, Micro Persuasion
• A Picture Is Worth A Thousands Tweets: Pixim And TweetPhoto Emerge, TechCrunch
• Breaking Up Is Hard To Do, In Life & Social Media, outspokenmedia.com
• New FriendFeed: Simpler, Faster, Better (Maybe Too Fast), TechCrunch
• Social Media Marketing & PR Guide – Review of Marketingsherpa Report, Online Marketing Blog
• Why Facebook Is Working with Microsoft to Fight Koobface Virus, Inside Facebook

Video, Music & Image Search

• Yahoo Music Soon Expected To Open Up, Wall Street Journal
• Facebook Completes Rollout Of Haystack To Stem Losses From Massive Photo Uploads, TechCrunch
• Yahoo Music opening pages to YouTube, others, News.com

Web Analytics

• Could FeedBurner Be Replaced by PostRank.com? (Redux), Read/Write Web
• RSS and Google Analytics Integration, FeedBlitz News
• Roll up reporting in Google Analytics, Advanced Web Metrics

Other Items

• Why Did Sergey Brin Stop Blogging?, TechCrunch

Social Media

• Digg To Finally Fix Search – See The Screenshot, TechCrunch
• DiggBar Launches Today!, Digg the Blog
• How to Abuse the New DiggBar for Fun and Profit, Michael Gray
• Revenues this year, Twitter’s Biz Stone tells Stephen Colbert, The Guardian

Web Analytics

• FeedBurner Subscriber Reports Bug: Major Drops In Counts, Search Engine Roundtable
• How to Migrate your FeedBurner Feeds, FeedBlitz News

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

• How to Combine Google Search with Twitter Search
• How to Grow Your Google Authority
• Case Study: How I Used Twitter to Generate 35,967 Extra Hits to my Site in Just 14 Days
• 6 Real Linkbait Examples and the Lessons Learned – Part 1
• Analysis: Which URL Shortening Service Should You Use?
• Increase Online Visibility for Links and Sales