SearchCap: The Day In Search, February 19, 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:

• ChaCha Defeats Google, Bing And Siri In “Answers Quality” StudyA study published today by Indiana-based Butler University compared the performance of a range of search engines and Q&A sites on mobile devices. It found that “ChaCha delivered the highest quality responses consistently across the largest group of categories and question types.” The study was sponsored by ChaCha. However ChaCha CEO Scott Jones told me via email […]
• 4 Under The Radar Keyword Research Sources You Can Use To Find Hidden GemsIf you are using the same tools and techniques as your competitors, you’ll end up competing on the same keywords, resulting in an ongoing SEO battle that will drain your resources in this zero sum game. This article will outline a number of tools and techniques that I have used to go above and beyond […]
• 15 Tips To Launch A Successful Multilingual PPC CampaignUnfortunately for those of us who work in the international space, launching a global PPC campaign is much less successful than doing so domestically? Why is this and what’s to be done? Culture and language is the answer you’re expecting from me – right? Yes, that’s definitely an important part of the mix, but there […]
• Pass Options for SMX West; Sessions, Networking and More in Silicon Valley, March 11-13Search Engine Land’s – SMX West conference kicks off March 11 at the San Jose Convention Center in the heart of Silicon Valley. With over 50 educational sessions and keynotes, multiple networking activities and presentations from leading solutions providers, you’ll get the tactics and solutions you need to exceed your marketing and sales goals. SMX […]
• Alibaba Creates Aliyun Search Engine To Challenge Baidu, Google In ChinaChinese Internet company Alibaba has created a new search engine (Aliyun) to challenge Chinese market leader Baidu and more symbolically, Google. The new entity resides within Alibaba Group’s AliCloud subsidiary. It offers all the standard features of search: Internet, news, images and maps (via AutoNavi). The appearance and functionality of the SERP on Aliyun is more like […]
• Google Revolving Planets Logo For Nicolaus CopernicusGoogle is celebrating the 540th birthday of Nicolaus Copernicus, a mathematician and astronomer who was the man who came up with Heliocentrism. As you can see, the Google logo is of Heliocentrism, where the planets revolve around the sun and the sun is stationary at the center of the Solar System. Today being Nicolaus Copernicus’s […]
• Bing Updates Friends’ Photos Search With Windows Tiles Layout & Slideshow ViewBing announced they have made some changes to the Friends Photos search site that lets you browse and search photos of your Facebook friends. Friends Photos launched in August 2012 and several months later gets its first major refresh. The changes include a new title-like layout you are familiar with when it comes to Windows […]
• Burden Of Search UI Innovation Now Falls To Yahoo Veteran Laurie MannLaurie Mann has been promoted to run Yahoo Search. Mann, who is a man, has been senior vice president of engineering operations at Yahoo since 2002. Prior to that Mann spent a number of years at Oracle in various engineering roles. The news was first reported late last night by AllThingsD. Mann fills the position that was […]
• Google Was Nearly A Site That Allowed Users To Order Pizza Through A Fax MachineLast year, Sergey Brin gave a speech at Google Ventures CEO Summit on the value of failing, and how failing fast can be beneficial. One of the subjects that he covered was his original foray into building a web service some 20 years ago. The service that allowed users to order pizzas by harnessing the […]
• Live @ SMX West: Must-Have Local Search TacticsDo you run a small business? Or do you provide search marketing services for companies who serve predominantly local customers? Then you know so-called “local search” is a unique beast in its own right, requiring different approaches for organic optimization, paid search and social media marketing efforts. At SMX West, you’ll get some great street-savvy […]
• Reddit AMA Reveals Graph Search Has Been In The Works Since Early 2011 & Specs On How It WorksLast Friday, Lars Rasmussen, Facebook’s Director of Engineering, did an AMA (ask me anything) on Reddit to discuss the ins-and-outs of Graph Search. Lars answered 20 questions from fellow Redditors shedding some light on the history, importance and technology behind Graph Search. According to Lars, the initial Graph Search was internally launched in Summer of […]

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

• MTV Uses Twitter Hack To Promote BET Experience
• Mobile Email Opens Now 41% & On Pace To Surpass PC By End Of 2013
• Curalate Adds Instagram Analytics, Expands Beyond Pinterest
• Google’s Stock Price Breaks $800: GOOG All Time High
• Content: Six Reasons For Tool Disconnect
• Google Shopping: New Revenue Stream Or More Of The Same?

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Google Upgrades Their Jobs Section, Search Engine Roundtable

Business Issues

• Demand Media Splits in Two — Spinning Off Domain Registrar Business, AllThingsD
• Google, Responsive to Users, Direct Match Media
• Growing the Search Pie, SEO Book
• With Its Australian Court Victory, Google Moves Closer to Legitimizing Keyword Advertising Globally (Forbes Cross-Post), Eric Goldman
• Yandex Announces Fourth Quarter and Full-Year 2012 Financial Results (NASDAQ:YNDX), Yandex

Local Search & Maps

• Google’s Fight Against Fake Online Reviews, State of Search
• Quixey partners with Sprint to bring its app search engine to Android smartphones and the carrier’s site, thenextweb.com

Link Building

• 3 Ways to Measure Link Building ROI, Search Engine Watch
• Google Sent Me A Link Notification: Modify My Anchor Text!, Search Engine Roundtable
• The Google Disavow tool: FAQ, VerticalLeap

Paid Search

• It’s Change And It’s For The Better With Google AdWords Enhanced Campaigns, www.spydertrap.com

SEM Industry

• BlueGlass Acquires Idealizer and Launches in Switzerland, BlueGlass
• Graph Search & Social Search With Bing’s Stefan Weitz, Stone Temple
• Janet Thaeler joins Avalaunch Media, Avalaunch Media
• Thanks to All the Awesome Brains in the Search Industry, dailyseotip.com

SEO & SEM

• 3 Reasons It’s OK That Non-Brand Paid Search Keywords Don’t ‘Work’, Search Engine Watch
• A second look at sitelinks in light of Enhanced Campaigns, PPC Associates Blog
• Ad Testing: Are You Using the Wrong Success Metrics?, Certified Knowledge
• AdWords Shared Library, PPC Chat Streamcap
• Does Google take action on sites that do keyword stuffing with phone numbers?, YouTube
• Eric Schimdt Suggests Google Will Trade Relevancy for Identity Data, SEO Book
• Fact Checking Google: Tablet and Desktop Are Not the Same!, PPC Hero
• Google Manually Revokes A Penalty & Site Drops In Google, Search Engine Roundtable
• Guide to Site Navigation for SEO, www.distilled.net
• Hiring an SEO? Look Out For These 7 Red Flags (And Run Away If You Find Them), Search Engine Guide
• How Rich Will Listings Get?, SEO Book
• How to Use Google Authorship to Boost SEO and Reduce Piracy, Author Media
• Let’s Make the SEO Industry Crystal Clear and Ethical in the year ahead!, Search Engine Journal
• New Bing Ads Accreditation and Training for Aspiring “Pro Bingers!”, Microsoft Advertising Blog
• PPC Keyword Research For SEO, SERPs.com Blog
• Ramping Up Your Seasonal SEO, Search Engine Guide
• Search Funnels Have Arrived in the AdWords Interface, PPC Hero
• Website or writer: which should optimize content?, seocopywriting.com
• When Redesigning Your Website, Don’t Kill Your SEO: Part 2, Search Marketing Standard

Other Items

• An update on our war against account hijackers, Official Google Blog