SearchCap: The Day In Search, December 16, 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:

• Making Your Search Campaigns Work Harder During The Economic Downturn
  Even in this challenging economy, paid search will continue to be one of the best-performing marketing methods out there. Search marketing has weathered economic storms of the past. In fact, Google and the entire industry was born out of necessity, during the dot-com bust. When times are tough, marketing needs to work hard and prove its value—and that’s what search does. While other forms of advertising (TV, print, display) are facing cuts, search is surviving because it’s extremely measurable and enables advertisers to easily tie revenue and ROI back to the ad level. But as paid search becomes ever more crucial, it’s also becoming more complex—and the stakes to wring every last dollar out of your search marketing spend are higher. As a serious search marketer, you need the right tools and applications to run your campaigns efficiently and effectively. Just as you wouldn’t set out to landscape your garden with a plastic shovel, you shouldn’t try to manage your crucial, revenue-driving search campaigns with a hodgepodge of spreadsheets and online tools. To help you get the most out of your search programs—especially in these challenging economic times—I’ve put together some meaty tactical tips that serious search marketers can use to help generate the highest returns out of their search dollars.
• Small Businesses Struggle With Search Marketing
  Microsoft just released results of a survey of 400 small businesses (SMBs) that shows they continue to struggle with search marketing (how to think about it, how to do it). This is consistent with what I and others have observed about the majority of SMBs, even those with websites.
• Google’s Countdown To 2009 Promotes Products & Services
  Did you know Google has a countdown to 2009 calendar? It is available at google.com/countdownto2009/ and it basically is a dressed up calendar with ways to use Google for the holidays. Each day of the calendar has a new Google tip for the holidays. There is also a mobile version and it can be added to your iGoogle home page.
• AdWords Landing Page Quality Refresher
  “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” This gem from heavyweight boxing legend Iron Mike Tyson also applies to AdWords account strategy, especially when starting a new account. Beginning in 2006, some advertisers in the affiliate marketing, Made-for-AdSense, and other spheres have referred to harsh quality score treatment — especially treatment caused by poor landing page and website quality scores — as the “Google Slap.” But “slap” was never the appropriate terminology. I know Google won’t like being compared with Mike Tyson, but it’s the only analogy I have in the jar. So, let’s be clear. Slaps are for sissies. If your landing page and website quality are really bad, you’ll probably take a Google Punch in the mouth. With regard to landing page quality score hits on your keyword quality scores, “it tends not to have a small impact,” Nick Fox, Director of Business Product Management (and a primary architect of the Ads Quality system), told me in an interview last week. When it comes into play, “it usually causes a fairly significant hammer in an account,” he added.

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Google Accounts Page Redesigned, Google Operating System
• How to Remove iGoogle’s Chat Box, Google Operating System
• System Status Dashboard, Quota Details Page, and a Billing Sneak Preview, Google App Engine Blog

Business Issues

• Anyone Buying Up Huge Blocks Of Yahoo? (YHOO), www.alleyinsider.com
• China Said to Be Blocking Web Sites, New York Times
• Ex-Vodafone chief set to rule out Yahoo move, FT.com
• Goldman Sachs upgrades Baidu.com, Reuters
• Google buys four more Mountain View properties, San Francisco Business Times:

Local, Maps & Mobile

• A Business Owner’s Guide To Local Advertising, Forbes
• A one-two-three on licensing your content to Google, Google LatLong
• In the Trenches: the reality of SMB Marketing- Bruce’s Sew Handy Interview, Mike Blumenthal
• Mobile phone market to shrink in 2009, Yahoo! News
• Verizon Wireless Currently Blocking GPS Features For Google Maps, Search Engine Roundtable

Link Building

• Ten (More) Links You Can Get Right Now, Vertical Measures Blog
• Am I Risking a Penalty if I Give this Hot Fudge Away?, Jim Boykin

Paid Search & Contextual

• Kenshoo announces an iPhone interface for KENSHOO SEARCH , Kenshoo
• 4 Step PPC Ad Optimization Process, Search Engine Journal
• Optimizing your adCenter Search Marketing Campaigns with the Add-in Beta for Excel 2007, adCenter Blog for Advertisers
• Spotlight on your content, Inside AdSense
• Ten Reasons To Run Google Ads On The IPhone, MediaPost
• Web Ad Regulations Get Mixed Reviews, National Journal Online

Searching

• Yamli Launches New Smart Arabic Search Engine Features, StartUpArabia
• BlogRank and Top 100, Twingly Blog
• Firefox Add-ons: Make Google More Powerful With Tag Filtering, Epicenter
• Google Tests a Different Search Links Design, Google Blogoscoped
• New Tables-of-Content Service for Scholarly Publications And it’s Free!, ResourceShelf
• Q: What Was the Name Of the Secret Yahoo Answers Project That Never Launched?, TechCrunch
• Qi Lu’s patents show interest beyond search, SeattlePi

SEM Industry

• Eric Enge PocketCam Interview at SES Chicago, AIM Clear Blog
• An Interview with Dr. Rudi Studer on Semantic Search Technologies, Yahoo Search Blog
• Are SEO Blackhats Turning White or Is The Industry Melting?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Black Hat SEO Isn’t Employable, We Build Pages
• Search 2009: Outlook Uncertain, Yet Optimistic, searchmarketingnow.com

SEO & SEM

• 5 Search Engine Ranking Killers You Want to Avoid at All Costs, Search Engine Guide
• 6 Steps To Bake SEO Into The Web Design Process, Search Engine Journal
• Brits Don’t Understand Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), BlogStorm
• Google Sitelinks Being Cut Off?, Search Engine Roundtable
• How to Tell if Your Site is Being Penalized, Search Engine Roundtable

Social Media

• More companies use social media for marketing, BostonHerald.com
• New highly critical Facebook XSS vulnerabilities pose serious privacy risks, XSSed.com
• Welcoming New Social Network Friends, BruceClay.com
• Yahoo! Buzz Rolls Out New Publisher Landing Pages, Search Engine Journal

Video, Music & Image Search

• Researchers Create YouTube Archiving Tool, Read/Write Web

Web Analytics

• New and improved account management pages, Google Analytics Blog

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

• The Definitive List (75+) of Link Building Techniques in 2008
• “Google Window Dressing” – 12 Ways To Squeeze Every Last Drop Of Traffic From Your Current Rankings — SEOptimise
• Introduction to SEO, IR and LSA
• How To: Evaluating Competition For New Site Niches
• Search Analytics: Life After Ranking
• Free Keyword Research Tools – the Ultimate Guide
• 7 Tips to Save Money on your PPC Campaign