SearchCap: The Day In Search, January 20, 2012

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

From Search Engine Land:

• Bing’s New Ad Campaign: Bing Is For #Doing

  Bing is set to launch a new ad campaign this weekend that includes a subtle change from its previous messaging. Rather than promoting the idea of making decisions, the new campaign is about people doing interesting things and uses the slogan, Bing is for #Doing. More specifically, the new TV campaign focuses on winter sports […]

• Google Webmaster Tools Adds Useful Download Options

  Google webmaster tools data is helpful stuff, but has been somewhat tough to download and use. Last month, Google made things a bit easier by providing a Python script for downloading search query data (as this report isn’t available as of yet through the API). Now, they’ve added new download options that significantly add to […]
• Wolfram|Alpha Scores Again With Rich NFL Data

  I am a long time admirer of Wolfram|Alpha and I’m happy to report that my admiration continues to grow, as you can now access NFL (National Football League) statistics using Wolfram|Alpha. So, queries like: Tom Brady Joe Flacco Passing Yards 49ers 2011 New York Giants field goal attempts, field goals made Chicago Bears Record 1985 […]

• An Interview With A Google Search Quality Rater

  Since at least 2005, Google has been using a large, worldwide focus group to help review its search results and the quality of the web pages that rank well in its algorithm. The people in this program are called Quality Raters and, as you can imagine, the work they do is important to search marketers […]

• Search In Pics: Google Boxers, 90+ Million Google+ & Gundotra Google+ Cadbury Bar

  In this week’s Search In Pictures, here are the latest images culled from the web, showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have, and more. Google Boxers: Google+ Circles T-Shirt: Google Camera Google Graffiti: Vic Gundotra Google+ Cadbury Bar: Google+ With […]

• How America’s Search Trends From 2011 Makes Google+ Stand Out

  More than 300 Billion searches were made in the US in 2011, according to ComScore. In December each year, the Big Three search engines publish the most popular searches of the year. In 2011, the top ten searches from the three search engines added up to more than 250 million searches alone. We thought it […]

• Website Usability 101 For SEO Professionals

  Want to be better at search engine optimization? What all SEO professionals should know about website usability.

• AdGooroo Trademark Insight Tool Makes Infringement Monitoring A Breeze

  Some of you may not have any issues with other advertisers infringing on your trademarked terms via search marketing… count yourselves lucky. For those of us who have been left by the search engines to self-police these problems, AdGooroo’s Trademark Insight tool can turn a laborious challenge into a fairly efficient task. AdGooroo is well […]

• Pages With Too Many Ads “Above The Fold” Now Penalized By Google’s “Page Layout” Algorithm

  Do you shove lots of ads at the top of your web pages? Think again. Tired of doing a Google search and landing on these types of pages? Rejoice. Google has announced that it will penalize sites with pages that are top-heavy with ads. Top Heavy With Ads? Look Out! The change — called the “page […]

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

• Google Algorithm Tweak Targets Pages With Too Many Ads
• Google Acknowledges AdSense Is Down For Some, Says It’s Working On The Issue
• Infographic: How Facebook Grew Users & Pages In 2011
• Stunned By SOPA Backlash, Senate Leader Cancels PIPA Vote
• Microsoft Posts $21B In Revenue, Xbox May Beat Windows Revenues Soon
• Google Now Forcing All New Users To Create Google+ Enabled Accounts
• Display’s The Thing
• Vevo In Talks To Move Away From YouTube & Head Over To Facebook
• No, Google+ Doesn’t Have A 60 Percent Engagement Rate

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• New Google Accounts Require Gmail and Google+, Google Operating System

Business Issues

• Does Google Have An Interest In Pinterest?, TechCrunch

Link Building

• VAVA, or How to Use MajesticSEO and Radar Graphs to Determine Link Building Strategies, Site Visibility

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Find hotels by travel time, Inside Search
• Google Updates Google Latitude Desktop Experience, Search Engine Roundtable

Searching

• Which GOP Candidate Has the Most Search Authority?, icrossing.com

SEM Industry

• Video: Google Penalizes Ad Heavy Sites, SOPA Activism & Yang Resigns From Yahoo, Search Engine Roundtable

SEO & SEM

• AdWords Graphs Are My Best Friend, PPC Hero
• Mastering Google Product Feeds and Product Listing Ads – Part 2, blueglass.com
• Optimizing a Page for Search Engines, Part 2: Keyword Mapping, www.practicalecommerce.com
• The ‘Heat’ in AdSense Heatmaps Means ‘This Will Get You Smoked’, SEO Book
• Time Management for SEO, SEOptimise
• Top five KPIs for SEO campaigns, Econsultancy
• What is Quality Content: The Road to Panda Recovery, beu blog
• What to Do When You Need Boring Content to Rank Well in Competitive SERPs – Whiteboard Friday, SEOmoz
• Will Google penalise itself for excessive ads above the fold?, BlogStorm

Social Media

• Priorities: Curing Social Media Overload, thefuturebuzz.com
• Using Social Media Profiles for Online Reputation Management, Michael Gray