SearchCap: The Day In Search, August 31, 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 Still No. 1 Search Engine On Earth; Search Activity Way Up, comScore Says
  

  Search activity around the world jumped 41 percent between July 2008 and July 2009, and Google remains the most popular search engine with 67.5% global market share. Those are some of the stats that comScore shared today about the global search market. According to comScore, Google is not only No. 1 around the world, but it [...]

• Danny Sullivan’s Preview Of Search Engine Land’s SMX East 2009 Search Marketing Conference In New York
  

  In five weeks, our SMX East search marketing conference arrives in New York City from Oct. 5-7. The show features four to five tracks of sessions spread across three days and covers all aspects of search marketing. Below is a personal tour from me on what attendees can expect. Our SMX Advanced [...]

• Gulli Leaves Ask.com For Microsoft Bing, Finally Has “Resources”
  

  Ten days ago, we reported that Antonio Gulli left Ask.com after 4 years heading up their technology team in the European R&D center. Gulli announced his new plans are to continue in search, but switch ships and work for Microsoft Bing. Gulli said he will be “leading all the engineering development for UX and verticals [...]

• SMX East Rate Increases Sept 12 – Register Today & Save
  

  Register now for Search Marketing Expo – SMX East and you’ll save $150. You have until the end of the day Friday, September 11 to take advantage our early bird rate.

  50+ conference sessions for all experience levels on SEO, PPC, social media, local search and more. Check out the agenda. New to search engine marketing? [...]

• Microsoft Now Promoting Cashback Program With TV Ads
  

  TechCrunch reports Microsoft is continuing with the Bing TV commercials but this time promoting the Cashback program. Most recently, Bing doubled the Cashback rewards to drive more awareness to the program. That double reward increase was so successful on some sites that Microsoft had to pull the program four days early. Maybe TV commercials [...]

• How To Choose A Web Analytics Solution
  

  Choosing the analytics tool you will use to track what’s happening on your web site can be a time-consuming, expensive, and incredibly frustrating experience. There are a number of good candidates to choose from and each touts an impressive feature set that promises to significantly improve everything about your web site. But while [...]

• Wolfram Alpha To Enable API, Open Data To Others
  

  Not long ago “computational engine” Wolfram Alpha struck a deal with Microsoft to license some of its data to Bing. Now, according to the Guardian UK, Wolfram is going wide with that strategy and will soon enable an API that third parties can use to create mashups or enhance their sites. This may be a step [...]

• Boost Quality Scores With These Simple Tips
  

  Read the search marketing press today and you’ll find abundant information on the importance of bid management strategies, as well as tools to maximize campaign ROI. However, as anybody who’s managed a search campaign recently knows, bid levels are only part of the equation. Effective search marketers know that search engines are looking to maximize their [...]

• Microsoft’s Lu A Formidable Search Foe For Google
  

  The NY Times offers an extensive and flattering profile of the former Yahoo EVP Qi Lu who, in January, 2009 was named president of online services for Microsoft. Lu was deemed an unlikely appointment by some given his background not as a business and advertising executive but rather as an engineer. However, he was apparently instrumental [...]

• Be Careful When Evaluating Paid Search Tests
  

  The delay between clicks and orders can often make test results appear artificially bad or good in the early stages. This post defines two different approaches for more accurately gauging the effectiveness of tests.

• Matching Mobile Ads To Consumer Intent
  

  In my last article, “Matching Local Advertising to Consumer Intent,” I encouraged local advertisers to consider the intent of the consumers that they wanted to reach with their advertising distribution sources. The same idea can be applied to mobile, including the types of advertising that best fits your desired action (i.e. an enticement for an [...]

• Google Logo Remembers Michael Jackson’s Birthday
  

  Google’s August 29th logo notes Michael Jackson’s birthday.

  Google has commemorated birthdays of many famous people and events, such as Luciano Pavarotti, Lego, and Dr. Seuss.

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Take a peek at our new page, Yahoo Answers Blog
• Copy your site, more search options, and better announcements for Google Sites, The Google Apps Blog
• Google Translate now speaks 51 languages, Official Google Blog
• MSN Ends Deal With Bell Canada; Both Will Launch Separate Portals, paidContent.org
• Wikipedia to Color Code Untrustworthy Text, Wired

Business Issues

• EC Media Commissioner Backs Google Books Plan, paidContent.org
• Google’s plan for world’s biggest online library: philanthropy or act of piracy?, The Guardian
• Google CEO Eric Schmidt Interview: His Thoughts On Search, Books, News, Mobile, Competition And More, TechCrunch
• Google May Hand Over Caribbean Journalists’ IP Addresses, Read/Write Web
• Search Advertising: Google Makes Grab for Hollywood Dollars, Ad Age

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Google Voice Warms Up For iPhone, Cuts Off Calls After 15 Minutes, TechCrunch
• Bing Mobile’s Language Bug & How To Fix It, Search Engine Roundtable

Link Building

• Does Google value its own links for PageRank?, YouTube
• Why Reciprocal Links Will Always Be Viable, Eric Ward

Paid Search & Contextual

• More High Quality Templates and New Premium Fonts in Display Ad Builder, Inside AdWords

Searching

• More questions than answers on Google Books, CNET News
• Press Round-Up: UC Berkeley Conference Regarding Google Book Search Settlement, ResourceShelf
• Shorter Blue Bar on Google SERPs, Google Blogoscoped
• Next Steps for Europeana, ResourceShelf
• Resource of the Week – Database: Sheet Music Plus, ResourceShelf

SEM Industry

• Former Googlers Spamming Site Competitors To Beat Them In Google Search Results?, Search Engine Roundtable

SEO & SEM

• 10 Valuable, Actionable, Take-Aways From the SEOmoz Pro Training Seminar, SEOmoz
• 5 Common Pieces of SEO Advice I Disagree With, SEOmoz
• Closer Google AdWords Increasing Ad Clicks & Decreasing Organic Clicks?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Don’t Want Your Social Security Number or Identity Card Number On Google?, Search Engine Roundtable
• How a Search Engine Might Analyze the Linking Structure of a Web Site, SEO By The Sea

Social Media

• Why Don’t Teens Tweet? We Asked Over 10,000 of Them., TechCrunch
• Why Twitter is underhyped and is probably worth five to 10 billion dollars, Scobleizer

Video, Music & Image Search

• It’s semantic – easier solution to annotate and search images, ICT Results

Other Items

• Happy Birthday, Carol!, ycorpblog.com
• Google repels Microsoft attack on London offices, News of the News