SearchCap: The Day In Search, March 18, 2009

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

From Search Engine Land:

• How To Prioritize Search Marketing Work At A Large Company
  

  Although it’s rarely discussed, a huge part of an in-house search marketer’s job is setting priorities on work items. In an even broader sense, this role expands out to encompass staffing, budgeting, content planning, infrastructure management and more. But fundamentally, setting priorities is a crucial part of assuring your internal search marketing activities are successful. And the [...]

• Twitter Search: Not Your Friend If You Tweet Something Bad
  

  Did you Twitter something embarrassing? Don’t think deleting your tweet or locking your Twitter feed means what you said goes away. Twitter Search still makes it available, which one job applicant may have found to their loss. Hutch Carpenter covers how one Twitter user named TheConnor said on Twitter that Cisco offered them a job. [...]

• Google’s Matt Cutts On Keywords In The URL
  

  Google’s Matt Cutts posted a recent video answering a question about the position of the keywords in the URL. The question asked, does the order of the words in the URL make an impact on one’s ranking at Google? Matt Cutts said one should not obsess about the order of the words but [...]

• New Privacy Complaint Filed Against Google (And The Cloud)
  

  Yet another privacy complaint has been filed against Google with the FTC, this time by the Electronic Privacy Information Center over Google’s cloud computing services and related privacy and data security issues. While Google is the named party, the company is basically the stand-in for “the cloud” as a whole. (If you want to read [...]

• Customer Retention Through Search Marketing
  

  Most B2B marketers associate search marketing programs with lead generation and customer acquisition efforts. However, search marketing can play a surprisingly effective role in ongoing customer engagement and retention. Here are 4 specific recommendations. 1. Examine searcher behavior Do you thoroughly understand how people are searching for your brand, products and services? Over time, search phrases have [...]

• Dennis Woodside Fills Tim Armstrong’s Position At Google
  

  Approximately five days after Tim Armstrong left Google for AOL, Google has filled his position. paidContent.org reports Dennis Woodside is the successor and will be the new VP-Americas Operations at Google. Woodside, a Googler for five years, was most recently Google’s Vice President for the UK, Ireland and Benelux. He will be [...]

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• A small (but helpful) change to ‘mark as unread’, Official Gmail Blog
• Amazon Shutters Unpopular Alexa Site Thumbnail Service, TechCrunch
• Furl.net is No More However Your Bookmarks Still Available via Diigo, ResourceShelf
• How to Write a Chrome Extension in Three Easy Steps, Matt Cutts

Business Issues

• Nobody is Dancing At ChaCha. One Third Of Employees Get Pink Slips, Salary Cuts For The Rest, TechCrunch
• Why Microsoft continues with search: it’s still not solved, Ars Technica
• Analyst: Google, MySpace Make a Bad Fit, AdWeek
• Google again delays debut of Project 10^100 ideas, News.com
• ISOHunt search site lawsuit could make Google, Yahoo, others illegal, TG Daily
• UK Recording Industry: Investigate Google For Not Giving Us Money, TechDirt

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Updated Local Search Control used in brand new GoogleBar, Google AJAX Search API Blog
• Ads added to Google Maps API, Mike Blumenthal
• New! Free Merriam-Webster Web Interface for iPhone, ResourceShelf
• Reopening Your Business on Google Maps Can Take Two Weeks, Search Engine Roundtable

Other Items

• Google Reveals 57% of DMCA Takedown Notices are Bogus, Marketing Pilgrim

Paid Search & Contextual

• adCenter Announces New Conversion Tracking Options, adCenter Blog for Advertisers
• Do Not Overlook the Importance of the Display URLs in PPC Ads, SEOmoz
• Facebook May Be Traffic Driver, but Won’t Reap Search Dollars, Ad Age
• Get Your PPC Stats ASAP with Automated Reports in Google and MSN, PPC Hero
• Google AdWords Conversion Tracking 101/201/301, Search Engine Journal
• Google Confirms Test of Search Result Favicons, www.kerstinbakerash.com
• Google’s Keyword Tool Getting To Broad, Search Engine Roundtable
• Google, WPP Team To Research Ad Effect, MediaPost
• Taking your US search campaign to Europe, Econsultancy
• Yahoo Directory Renewals Going Completely Free?, Search Engine Roundtable

Searching

• Microsoft Testing New Search Beta in Japan Named Zenbu Kensaku, Search Engine Roundtable
• Spargel, Official Google Blog
• Video Games Made Easy, searchblog.blogsmith.com

SEM Industry

• SES Amsterdam – Beyond Googling, Search Cowboys
• SEO’s Split on Importance of Specialization in Industry Sectors, Search Engine Roundtable
• SES Amsterdam – The Google view, Search Cowboys
• SXSW Interactive: Search Meets Social Media in Pictures, Online Marketing Blog

SEO & SEM

• Pulling Rank, The SEO Scoop
• Are In-Text Home Page Links User-UNfriendly?, Search Engine Journal
• Google Confirms "Typically" Treating / & /index.html The Same, Search Engine Roundtable
• Search: Too Boring For Branding?, Closed Loop Marketing Blog
• Using Online News to Drive SEO, Online Marketing Blog

Social Media

• MySpaceID Gets An Upgrade, But Did It Already Miss The Boat?, TechCrunch

Video, Music & Image Search

• YouTube music video row heats up, news.bbc.co.uk

Web Analytics

• Tips for Tracking Email Marketing Campaigns, Google Analytics Blog
• Introducing Hourly Tracking and more for your TV Campaigns, Google Analytics Blog
• UPDATED: Integrating Google Analytics with a CRM, Analytics Talk

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

• Gary Vaynerchuk’s Name Sucks
• @guykawasaki & Lucille Ball: Personal Channels & Social Media Success
• Search is Getting All Emotional Thanks to Twitter
• 11 Ways to Lose Friends and Followers Online
• Top Wordpress Resources to List Your Wordpress Blog & Build Links
• Google Confirms Test of Search Result Favicons
• 5 Ways to Tell if a Blog Link is Gold or Rotten
• Track and Get Links From Those Who Copy Your Content
• Adobe Launches SEO Technology Center for Flash
• 10 Words to Use in Your Website Copywriting
• SEO Spared The Gutter Ball
• Putting Together your Consulting Outline 101
• Despite The Hype, Twitter Isn’t A Mainstream Social Marketing Tool
• SearchFest 2009 Reflections