SearchCap: The Day In Search, March 4, 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:

• New Coupon & Deals Search Engine Launches
  

  In light of the current economy, Vertive, Inc., is banking on now being the right time to launch a new search engine for coupons and deals. It’s called Offers.com, and it enters an already crowded space of coupons/deals sites. Offers.com provides coupons and deals from more than 1,000 merchants, and classifies them by product or service [...]

• Google Spending Millions On Newspaper Ads To Notify Authors And Publishers Of Book Lawsuit Settlement
  

  One of the requirements of class-action lawsuits is notification of potential class members. Most of the members of a class never know that a lawsuit has taken place on their behalf (e.g., bank X credit card holders). So the courts require attorneys to tell class members of the suit and settlement terms and allow them [...]

• Google Shakes Things Up By Adding Earthquake OneBox
  

  About two years ago, Greg Sterling wrote a piece on Searching for Earthquakes. Since then, I believe Ask.com was the only search engine providing a “smart answer” for earthquake data. Ask.com continues to offer the smart answer, but recently, Google added their own. Google Operating System reports Google has added an Earthquake OneBox result [...]

• SEMPO Board Elects Officers
  

  SEMPO’s Board of Directors has elected new officers to oversee the organization. The new officers include Jeffrey Pruitt, formerly SEMPO president and executive vice president of corporate partnerships, iCrossing, who was elected chairman. Sara Holoubek, corporate strategy consultant, was elected president. Ron Jones, president and CEO of Symetri Internet Marketing, was elected vice [...]

• The Armchair Sleuth: Competitive Intelligence Via Search
  

  Would you like to have a heads-up any time your competitors are about ready to launch a new product? In many cases you can get good advance warning with clever use of search. There are specific competitive intelligence tactics that make this relatively straightforward. But first, take a step back and think about the things [...]

• Not everyone has the aptitude for SEO
  

  Large companies with many divisions have many SEO opportunities, yet also many challenges. One of the first things I do when consulting with companies on how to implement enterprise-level SEO is to identify who needs to do what. But that doesn’t always work out, because not everyone has the aptitude for SEO. Yesterday I spoke with [...]

• It’s Not ALL About Conversions – A Wider Perspective On B2B Search Campaigns
  

  Ok, so I’m really passionate about looking for ways to improve conversion rates – I admit it. I’m kind of a conversion junkie. But sometimes I make the mistake of getting so focused on conversions that I can lose site of the bigger picture. I end up only staring at the trees right in front [...]

• Take The Poll: Is Twitter Your Search Engine Alternative?
  

  Do you Twitter it rather than Google it? I’m running a poll to try and understand how Twitter may be changing search habits. Please participate! More and more people have been talking and writing about how they are turning to Twitter to get answers. Search engines like Google have, of course, long been the dominant way [...]

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Google Spreadsheets to Add Macros, Drawings, Google Operating System
• New Templates: Embedding spreadsheets in your website, Official Google Docs Blog
• Extend Your Publishing Reach with JS-Kit, Yahoo! Developer Network Blog
• New in Labs: Filter import/export, Official Gmail Blog
• View Google Calendar offline, Official Gmail Blog

Business Issues

• Updated: MySpace COO Amit Kapur Leaving With Two Other Execs For Start-up, paidContent.org
• Google to spend $200 mln at new Finnish site, Reuters
• There’s hope! Yahoo Homepage Ad Rates Stop Sliding, Business Insider

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Finance for Android App, Official Google Mobile Blog
• Review Site Draws Grumbles From Merchants and Users, New York Times
• Microsoft Joins the Onebox Bandwagon, www.localsearchnews.net
• That Was Fast: Kindle, Meet the iPhone., AllThingsD

Link Building

• 33 Local Blog Directories, Hyperlocal Blogger
• The true formula for link building gold, The SEO Scoop

Paid Search & Contextual

• Reports have gone international, Inside AdSense
• Ad Review Center is now available for Feeds, AdSense for Feeds
• Delay in updating campaign statistics, Inside AdWords
• Google Advertising Search Pages on the AdSense Network, Digital Inspiration
• How Does AdWords Determine a Keyword’s Quality Score Before It’s Even Activated? Find Out!, PPC Hero
• IAB leads behavioural advertising good practice, IAB
• Language in International PPC : Rose By Any Other Spelling May Smell Sweeter, Search Engine Journal
• Let’s Take another Look at URL Tagging and Tracking PPC Campaigns via Google Analytics, PPC Hero
• Some AdSense publishers unable to login, starts endless loop with Google account login, JenSense
• Updates on account access and reporting, Inside AdSense

Searching

• Gmail Brings Back the Web Search Button, Google Operating System
• Google SMS Search Goes Offline Again, Search Engine Roundtable
• Twitter: We Can Do What Google Can’t, Ad Age

SEO & SEM

• 12 Easy Mistakes that Plague Newcomers to the SEO Field, SEOmoz
• 3 Common Uses of Robots.txt File, Search Engine Journal
• Don’t Deceive Your Users, SEO.com
• Google Search March 2009 Webmaster Report Update, Search Engine Roundtable
• Proxy Caching for International SEO, SEO Gadget
• Study: Fear Still Exists Over Google’s Supplemental Index, Search Engine Roundtable
• The Big, Bad List of Pre-SEO Questions You Need to Answer, Part I, Search Engine Guide
• There’s More To Life Than Links & Sex, outspokenmedia.com
• Thesis Tutorial – Adding Date Based Triggers to Your Posts, Michael Gray

Social Media

• Google CEO: Twitter A ‘Poor Man’s Email System’, Business Insider
• Improving Your Ability to Share and Connect, Facebook
• Online Marketing Tips Video: Blogging & Gaining Subscribers, Search Marketing Gurus
• Screenshots Of Facebook’s New Real-Time Homepage, www.businessinsider.com
• The 5 best online bookmarking services, Pandia
• Yahoo! Launches Major Challenge to Facebook Connect, Read/Write Web
• Your first look at Facebook 1.5 for BlackBerry, Boy Genius Report

Video, Music & Image Search

• Picasa for Mac (beta) progress, Google Photos Blog

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

• Matt Cutts vs Ted Murphy on Paid Blogging & Sponsored Conversations
• There’s More To Life Than Links & Sex
• Aaron Wall asks Conversion Rate Experts for their top CRO tips
• Why I’m Not Comfortable with Web Site Clinics
• Leveraging Social Media For Local SEO
• SEO Q&A : Do Social Bookmarks Still Hold Link Value?
• New Google Algorithm Change – Commie update?
• 17 Secrets on How to Sell eBooks
• The 50 Most Popular Celebs On Twitter – Times Online
• The Link Hookup (Fiction)
• Real Impact of Google Quality Score In AdWords PPC
• Build Links and Brand with Twitter Maddness
• Alternative Forms of Keyword Research
• Personal Brands in SEO: Stop Obeying False Idols
• The Life and Times of A Twitter Link