SearchCap: The Day In Search, August 23, 2010

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

From Search Engine Land:

• Back to School Time: A Refresher Course on Writing Great Ads

  In this month’s column, we’ll take a quick refresher course on what goes into writing great ads and then we’ll evaluate a few recent ads to see if they make the grade. Well-written ads define your brand, differentiate your products from competitors, give searchers important information about your features and benefits and create long-lasting competitive advantages for your campaigns.

• Getting Started With Social Media Valuation

  Even with all the buzz about social media, many people have questions about how to value social media marketing efforts. It’s not uncommon to hear (very legitimate) questions such as:
  “How much is it worth for a user to become a fan of ours on Facebook, or to follow us on Twitter?”
  “How much revenue is social […]

• Hot On Sphinn: Facebook Places, SEO’s Reputation, Link Building & More

  Where does Facebook Places fit into the local ecosystem? If local search was the game of Risk, David Mihm says Facebook Places is instantly one of the major countries.
  Does the SEO industry need a (stronger) advocacy group to improve its reputation? Matthew Diehl says such a group could help consumers make better choices when […]

• Share the Experience: Send Your Team to SMX East…and Save Up to 25%

  Shared knowledge, experiences, vocabulary…they’re all part of building an effective internet and search engine marketing team. And Search Marketing Expo – SMX East provides an exceptional opportunity for teams to learn and network.
  Choose from more than 60 sessions on the SMX East agenda covering topics including SEO, PPC, social media marketing, local/mobile, analytics and […]

• Test: Google Updating Search Results As You Type

  Rob Ousbey documented on video how Google is testing a feature where the search results on the page are updating as you type your search query. This is a form of search query refinement and Google Suggest that dynamically modifies the search results on the page as you type.
  Here is his video:

  The internet […]

• Find More Sizes Of That Image On Google Images

  If you search for an image on Google Image Search and then mouse over the result, Google will let you find “more sizes” of that image. For example, I searched for [cow] and hovered my mouse over the first result. As you can see, there is a link to “more sizes” for that […]

• Behold “The King Of Bing Maps”

  This summer Microsoft held a competition to promote and popularize its Bing Maps developer SDK and Map Apps. I was privileged to be one of the three judges who reviewed the finalists and voted on them across a range of criteria. The other two judges were Josh Lowensohn from CNET and Joe […]

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Google Mobile App for iPhone gets pushy, Official Google Mobile Blog

Business Issues

• It’s Official: Google Acquires Like.com, TechCrunch
• Exclusive: Yahoo’s Communications Products Head Jason Titus Departs, AllThingsD
• Google Avoids Liability for Failed Google Search Appliance Installation–Market America v. Google, Eric Goldman

Local, Maps & Mobile

• How to Claim Your Place on Facebook, San Francisco Chronicle
• Pay no attention to that playful UI behind the Google Maps curtain (video), Engadget
• The dirty little secret about Google Android, TechRepublic.com

Link Building

• Can Link Building Give You or Your Client a Bad Reputation?, Search Engine Journal

Paid Search & Contextual

• Sensitive category blocking now available for Japanese, Chinese, Polish, and Portuguese, Inside AdSense

Searching

• Google Tests a New Interface for Google Translate, Google Operating System
• When you google, think Ben Gomes, Mercury News
• Techmeme’s tweets now more useful: contain direct links and author IDs, Techmeme News

SEO & SEM

• WTF are rel=”dofollow” & rel=”noindex”, andybeard.eu
• Develop a Smart Keyphrase Strategy to Optimize Conversions, SEO Copywriting
• Difference Between Video Sitemaps & Video Sitemaps Labs Report in Google Webmaster Tools, Search Engine Roundtable
• Dropping Bids on Bing: Be Ready, Rimm Kaufman
• Google’s International Filter Loosened Up?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Is Malware Undermining Your Search Results?, Search Marketing Standard
• SEO vs PPC? SpyFu Recon Soon To Deliver Serious SEO Edge, Search Engine Watch Blog
• Social Search Optimization, Search Engine Watch
• Take Your Online Business to New Heights With the Display Network – Part 5, Search Engine Guide
• Testing External Factors for Quality Score, Search Engine Journal
• What’s the Value of a Paid Search Impression?, Search Engine Watch
• When Is It OK to Have Low-Quality-Score Keywords?, PPC Hero
• Why Are My Search Query Counts in Google Webmaster Tools The Same?, Search Engine Roundtable

Social Media

• Buzz Kill, leoville.com
• I Can Stalk U: New Site Posts Exact Locations of Twitter Users Posting Geotagged Photos, Read/Write Web

Video, Music & Image Search

• An In-Depth Look at the Google TV Interface, newteevee.com

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

• Win With Web Metrics: Ensure A Clear Line Of Sight To Net Income! – This is an incredible post on monitoring web metrics and how to segment your data to understand where to create initiatives that will increase your bottom line.
• Website Auditor Review – Ann Smarty walks through this "advanced on-site diagnostics assistant" that helps you understand site architecture, indexation, link value distribution and popularity of your domain on some social media sites.
• Local Search War Gets Hot: Facebook Joins Game – David Mihm analyzes Facebook Places from a local search perspective and places it in the "world ecosystem" of its competitors, offering excellent in-depth analysis of each.