SearchCap: The Day In Search, December 4, 2013

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

From Search Engine Land:

• Consumer Watchdog Claims Google Shopping Makes Consumers Pay More, Further Evidence Of Google’s “Search Monopoly”

  Consumer Watchdog has lodged a new complaint about Google’s “search monopoly” with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), this time saying Google Shopping results don’t pass the sniff test. The group calls the way the search engine displays its Product Listing ads “deceptive and unfair”, adding that Google Shopping’s paid listings are price gouging consumers. […]

• Google Search Now Discovers Content Within Android Apps

  Google announced you can now search content within Android apps through their new App Indexing protocol they launched at the end of October. Currently available on Android smartphones, when you search Google and there is an app that has content related to your Google search, you will see search results that open the app, directly […]
• Google Adds Cars To Knowledge Graph

  Google announced on Google+ that they have expanded the knowledge graph to include automobile/car information. So if you search for [2014 Honda Accord] or [2014 Mazda3] or other car make and models, you will see information about that car on the right hand side panel’s knowledge graph box. The information includes the name of the […]

• Google’s Matt Cutts: Stitching Content Makes For Bad Quality Content

  Google’s head of search spam, Matt Cutts, posted a video today on the topic of “stitching content.” Stitching content is the practice of taking snippets of content from other websites and pasting them on your own site, with citations. Matt Cutts basically said it is not a good technique that will lead to rankings in […]

• NORAD & Google Launches Rival Santa Trackers; Still No Comment From Santa’s Camp On Which Site Mrs. Claus Will Use

  After NORAD announced last week it would be joining forces once again with Bing to track Santa’s whereabouts during the holiday season, NORAD Tracks Santa went live on Dec. 1. Google followed suit today by announcing the return of its own Google Santa Tracker. There’s still no comment from Santa’s camp on which site Mrs. Claus will be […]

• Google Webmaster Tools Adds Smartphone Specific Crawl Errors

  Pierre Far, Google Webmaster Trends Analyst, announced a new feature within Google Webmaster Tools that shows webmasters crawl errors specific to smartphone devices. The issue is: it is often hard for webmasters to detect and thus fix errors that happen on smartphone devices. Google decided to add a section to the crawl errors report that […]

• When Should You Overhaul Your PPC Account Structure?

  Let’s start by looking at a hypothetical scenario: You’ve just been put in charge of a PPC account — either in-house or as part of an agency shakeup. It’s an account with a lot of history, and it is hitting goals, but… After a few days spent familiarizing yourself with this account, you come to […]

• Meet Bing Ads Express: The Auto-Pilot PPC Solution For Small Businesses

  When it comes to marketing for small businesses, PPC is among the most leveraged and most profitable marketing channels out there. With smart PPC insights and some time spent on ongoing optimization, PPC can drive a ton of valuable leads and sales! Unfortunately, that’s also the challenge. With so many new PPC features being released […]

Recent Headlines From MarTech, Our Sister Site Dedicated To Internet Marketing:

• How Viral Is Ron Burgundy: The Top 20 Most Shared Anchorman Videos
• Facebook Most Used Mobile App, Google App 10th
• Burger King’s 64 YouTube Ads Turn Pre-Roll On Its Head With A Laugh
• Report: More Than 70 Percent Of Apple Users Now On iOS 7
• The Future Of Internet Sales Tax: What’s Next After The Supreme Court’s Denial Of Amazon, Overstock Appeals?
• Marketing Technologists Are The Secret Weapon Of Conversion Optimization
• 8 Often-Overlooked Opportunities To Authentically Thank Your Customers
• ComScore: Cyber Monday Desktop Sales Hit $1.735 Billion, Confirming Biggest Online Shopping Day Ever
• VIDEO: Boston Celtics’ Peter Stringer Keynotes SMX Social Media Marketing
• Report: Top 3 Video Ads Of 2013 Earned Nearly 50 Times More Shares Than Top Ads Of 2006

Search News From Around The Web:

Link Building

• After the Penalty, What Do You Do for Links?, SEO Theory
• Hyve.com – Backlink Audit on Penguin 2.1 Victim, Link Research Tools

Searching

• Location Autocomplete in Google Calendar, Google Operating System
• Google for mobile tests new sitelinks design, allgoogletesting.blogspot.com

SEO

• 11 SEO Changes That Will Give You Big Results, quicksprout.com
• 12 International Search and Social Scoops To Blow Your Mind, blog.webcertain.com
• 4 Tips For Helping Your Site Dominate Google Hummingbird, Daily SEO Tip
• 7 Risk-Free SEO Strategies For Self-Funded Or Well-Funded Startups and Entrepreneurs, E2M Blog
• Google: Creating City & Country Specific ccTLDs & Subdomains Won’t Benefit You, Search Engine Roundtable
• Hummingbird’s Unsung Impact on Local Search, moz.com
• Hypothetical SEO: Author Rank For Comments, top5seo.co.uk
• Running an SEO RFP & pitch process effectively & efficiently, Branded3
• Secondary Keywords: How to Target Two Phrases on One Page, BruceClay.com
• Semantic Search Tips For The Future Of SEO, Webpresence
• Your SEO is doing it wrong, verticalleap.co.uk

SEM / Paid Search

• 3 Ways to Measure More Conversions Using Estimated Total Conversions, Inside AdWords
• Advanced Google AdWords Domination! The Brad Geddes #SMX Social Interview, aimClear
• How to Turn Ineffective PPC Campaigns into True Triumph, Search Engine Journal
• RIP AdWords Editor??, WordStream
• Using Google PLAs? It’s time to get granular, Econsultancy

Search Marketing

• Ask a Search Expert: How Can I Build Better Brand Awareness?, Yahoo Advertising Blog
• It’s All Going "Not Provided" – 9 Experts Share Their Thoughts, blueclawsearch.co.uk
• Shady Marketing Firms Are Still Quietly Bribing Bloggers, gawker.com