SearchCap: The Day In Search, August 3, 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:

• How To Maximize The Impact Of Your Top Performing Keywords
  

  Behavior is unique for these high volume/value keywords and as a result, steps need to be taken to make these terms more visible for daily account management and analysis. The first step is to identify and isolate these top terms in order to help prioritize where to focus.

• Is Googlebot Skewing Google Analytics Data?
  

  A few days days ago, I noticed some strange Google Analytics data: Googlebot appeared as a browser in the reports. Although this might sound like a not-so-important fact when it comes to SEO, it is a major change in the Web Analytics field. As Avinash Kaushik and I wrote in the SEMJ journal article Web [...]

• Can Yahoo Really Compete In Search By “Owning The Interface”?
  

  During the Yahoo-Microsoft conference call with CEOs Bartz and Ballmer and subsequent discussion with Microsoft’s Yusuf Mehdi and Yahoo’s Hilary Schneider we heard repeatedly that although the two engines would share a single index and Microsoft would incorporate elements of Yahoo Search (e.g., Search Monkey) into Bing, Yahoo would continue to be different and vital [...]

• Google Kicks Off “Going Google” Ad Campaign
  

  Google is launching a billboard campaign in four major cities named “Going Google.” There is a ton of buzz around the campaign, being that Google typically does not conduct traditional forms of advertising and that this is a direct shot at Microsoft. First, here is a video of some of the billboards:

  As you [...]

• Google’s CEO, Schmidt, Resigns From Apple’s Board
  

  Apple, Inc. announced today that Google’s CEO, Eric Schmidt, has resigned from Apple’s board of directors. Schmidt has held the position since August 2006, as you can see by August 29th, 2006 announcement of him joining the board. Why did Schmidt resign? “Eric’s effectiveness as an Apple Board member will be significantly diminished,” due [...]

• PPC Lessons From The Catalog Industry
  

  Research suggests that geography plays a role in response rates similar to what is seen in the catalog industry. If the engines can give us the tools we need it will be a win for everyone.

• Can Locally-Focused Display Ads Make The Phone Ring?
  

  Display advertising and local search have been key points of emphasis for major online search engines and networks in earnings calls over the last several weeks. This raises an interesting question about the interplay between local search and display ads: Can local spend help drive display advertising over the near or medium term? While we [...]

• Yahoo Testing New Search Results Layout
  

  A sign of things to come, perhaps? Based on this screenshot posted today on Flickr, Yahoo appears to be testing a new layout for its search results pages.

  It looks very much like the new Yahoo homepage that launched a couple weeks ago, which suggests this may be soon become the default layout for Yahoo’s [...]

• Google’s “Show More Results” Link Goes Contextual
  

  It seems like Google has changed the way they handle the “show more results from” feature, by removing the simple HTML link to a site command feature and by dynamically opening up several more results, within the same search results page. They are using an AJAX (JavaScript) driven plus sign box that adds an [...]

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• AP Debuts Online Payments: Cash for Quotes, Screenwerk
• “Free” Isn’t A Four-Letter Word Offline, So Why Does The Media Hate It Online?, daggle.com
• Google Preparing To Launch A Large Themes Gallery For Chrome, TechCrunch
• Google reveals plans for Chrome cloud synchronization, Ars Technica

Business Issues

• Does Microsoft & Yahoo = A Privacy Arms Race Among Web Giants?, New York Times
• For State, Local Office Seekers, Web Ads Present Potential Pitfalls, Wall Street Journal
• The FTC Takes On Targeted Web Ads, BusinessWeek

Local, Maps & Mobile

• August 2009 Imagery Update for Google Earth, Google Earth Blog

Link Building

• Link Building: more than just Link Exchanges, Search Engine Optimization Ireland
• How user data, links & document scoring may be used in the “brand” algorithm, BlogStorm
• Link Building Through Social Media – Is It That Difficult?, Natural Search Blog

Paid Search & Contextual

• Quality Score fact of the week, AdWords Agency Blog

Searching

• On Collecting Google Toolbar Data, Google Blogoscoped

SEM Industry

• Video Recap of Weekly Search Buzz :: July 31, 2009, Search Engine Roundtable

SEO & SEM

• common errors that can tank a site (sem 101), Bing Community
• Does It Matter If You Use WWW For SEO? (SEO FAQ), seoroi.com
• New Mozbar: An SEO’s Dream Come True, SEOmoz
• 10 things you must check when you re-launch your website, SEOmoz
• DigitalPoint Founder Upset With MSNBot’s Crawl Rate (MSNBot 2.0b), Search Engine Roundtable
• Driving Organic Traffic from Search Engines, Shimon Sandler
• Google Site Reconsideration Form Not Working For Many, Search Engine Roundtable
• How Google Can Win the Hearts of Internet Marketers, ShoeMoney
• New Google Sitemaps Error: "Duplicate URL" Warning, Search Engine Roundtable
• Retiring the "One at a time" Feature, Google Base Blog
• SEO Geotargetting part deux, David Naylor
• View How Keywords Are Performing by Segmenting Them with Adwords Tools, dailyseotip.com
• What is Unique Content?, DMOZ Blog
• Why It’s Vitally Important to Trust Your Search Engine Marketing Company in a Down Economy, Search Engine Guide

Social Media

• A Brief and Informal Twitter Etiquette Guide, Chris Brogan
• District Court Judge Orders Facebook To Reveal Source Code In Patent Dispute, TechCrunch
• Blocking Twitter Followers – Blocking and Removing Followers, SEOConsultants.com
• For Companies, a Tweet in Time Can Avert PR Mess, Wall Street Journal
• For Traders, Twitter Is One More Trading Tool, Wall Street Journal
• JetBlue and United give Twitter a try to sell airline seats fast, USATODAY.com
• NASDAQ Launches Live Stock Quotes On Twitter, Business Insider
• Trends: Twitter Changes Language Much Like the Telegraph Did, Steve Rubel
• Twitter Starts Filtering Malicious URLs, Read/Write Web
• What are You Doing With Your Social Media Traffic?, Michael Gray

Video, Music & Image Search

• Google Explains Why It Is So Hard To Source Original Image Owner, Search Engine Roundtable
• Now on YouTube – Local News, New York Times

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