SearchCap: The Day In Search, December 29, 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: 5 (More) Search Tools You May Not Know … But ShouldHow would you like to track hot news geographically? Or see where social conversations are happening on a map? Maybe you’d […]

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

From Search Engine Land:

  • 5 (More) Search Tools You May Not Know … But Should
    How would you like to track hot news geographically? Or see where social conversations are happening on a map? Maybe you’d like to find businesses that are open 24 hours a day, or research keywords on a state-by-state basis. If so, read on for a look at five search tools you may not know about, but should. About two months ago, we published 7 Search Tools You May Not Know … But Should. That became a popular article and let us know that we should continue uncovering largely unknown search tools in future articles. So, here’s the second in an …
  • Blogger Image Thumbnails In Google A Bug?
    Steve Rubel reported seeing an excess of what he calls “Blog Thumbnails” in the Google search results. In short, when you do certain searches, Google may show little thumbnail alongside the first set of results. For Steve, this has been happening for “blogger’s name and some other related keywords.” Personally, I have been seeing these types of thumbnails for a while, but they only have come up for me for very specific searches, so I assumed it was a smaller bug then it really was. Google’s Matt Cutts has commented claiming this is some sort of bug and he has reported it to the right people. Matt said he hopes to “get it straightened out in short order.”
  • Local Searches Set to Flip to Mobile Phone
    Given the continuing growth in the smartphone market, mobile phones are poised to become the first source people turn to when searching for local business information. Until widespread adoption of smartphones occurs, though, there will be a gap that smart businesses will seek to fill. There were some especially telling findings in comScore’s presentation, “New Takes on Local Audience Targeting,” at the Interactive Local Media 2008 conference hosted last month by the Kelsey Group.

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

Business Issues

Local, Maps & Mobile

Paid Search & Contextual

Searching

SEM Industry

SEO & SEM

Social Media

Video, Music & Image Search

Other Items

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


About the author

Barry Schwartz
Staff
Barry Schwartz is a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land and a member of the programming team for SMX events. He owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry can be followed on Twitter here.

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