SearchCap: The Day In Search, May 19, 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:

• Yahoo: We’re Moving From Web Of Pages To Web Of Objects
  

  Yahoo held a search event today in San Francisco at which the company connected the dots among a number of search initiatives that it has rolled out over the past couple of years: Search Assist, BOSS, Search Monkey, Search Pad and oneSearch. There was no announcement but a provocative reframing of all these efforts. The big [...]

• Google Woos Brits With Bike-based Street View Project
  

  In the U.S., we tend to do our streets big and wide. In Europe, not so much. (I have literally been able to cross a road in Ireland in four steps, and I’m barely 5-foot-9.) This is a problem for Google’s Street View tool and its mission to map the world’s roads — even the [...]

• SMN Webcast Wednesday: Mastering Local Listings
  

  Tomorrow, May 20 at 1 PM Eastern, Search Marketing Now presents: “Local Search Marketing: Local Listings GONE WILD!” with Michael Boland of the Kelsey Group and Bryan Simkins from FedEx. Local listings were once relatively easy—businesses targeted Yellow Pages and classified. Today, there’s a range of free online listings—from local search engines to city [...]

• Google Using Algorithm To Find Potential Defectors
  

  According to the Wall Street Journal Google is trying to apply its own search techniques to the problem of employee retention: Concerned a brain drain could hurt its long-term ability to compete, Google Inc. is tackling the problem with its typical tool: an algorithm. The Internet search giant recently began crunching data from employee reviews and promotion [...]

• The Importance Of Link Development Metrics
  

  Can you apply standard metrics to link development? We measure what’s going on in our PPC campaigns very easily. Metrics we have available include cost per click, cost per conversion/acquisition, total spent, number of impressions, number of clicks, etc. These numbers give us a good idea of how well our ads are performing, and we can [...]

• Wolfram Alpha Is Already Monetizing Search Results
  

  Have a look at an Internet first: “computational knowledge ads” on Wolfram Alpha. (We can’t call them “search ads” if it’s not a search engine, now can we?) Gary Price tipped us to the presence of an ad for Lenovo’s ThinkPad appearing on what appears to be mainly math-related queries. The screenshot above is from a [...]

• Google Finds No Data Misuse In Shoemoney Trademark Case
  

  Earlier this month, my Why Hasn’t Google Cleared, Fired Or Suspended Accused AdWords Employee? article asked why Google hadn’t yet publicly commented about accusations that one of their employees may have abused the AdWords system for his own benefit. Now the company is speaking up — and saying it has found [...]

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• How to Use Google Docs Folders as Labels, Google Operating System
• Hierarchical navigation and other new features for Google Sites, googleappsposts.blogspot.com
• Mistakenly Logged In to Google As Someone Else?, Google Blogoscoped
• New in Labs: Automatic message translation, Official Gmail Blog

Business Issues

• Twitter sees tools, not ads, for revenue, Reuters
• Microsoft and Alibaba in Talks Again: for Future After Yahoo?, www.chinastakes.com
• Official: Twitter will launch ‘premium’ business tools by the end of this year, thenextweb.com
• Larry Page: Twitter made Google focus on Realtime Search, TechCrunch
• The Google Way: How Google is revolutionizing management, ZDNet

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Google Asks for LBC Feedback!, www.davidmihm.com
• Google Maps: Local Business Center Online – Merging Problem Improved?, Mike Blumenthal
• MapQuest.com Is Now Optimized for Android!, blog.mapquest.com
• My Phone Beta Opened to All Users!, myphoneteam.spaces.live.com

Link Building

• Smash a Brick into the face Link building, Cornwall SEO

Paid Search & Contextual

• adCenter API Experiencing Intermittent Timeouts, adCenter Blog for Advertisers
• Enhanced Search Query Performance reports, Inside AdWords

Searching

• Wolfram|Alpha Is In Production!, Wolfram|Alpha Blog
• On the eve of Kumo, is Live Search better than you think?, LiveSide
• Wolfram Alpha, yet another pretender to Google’s throne., www.slate.com
• 11 Striking Findings From an Eye Tracking Study, ProBlogger
• Ask.com Searches Smarter, Ask.com Blog
• Custom Search promotions made easier, Google Custom Search
• Five Things Wolfram Alpha Does Better (And Vastly Different) Than Google, mashable.com

SEO & SEM

• Adding User Behavior to SEO Considerations, BruceClay.com
• 3 Keyword and Topic Visualization Tools, Search Engine Journal
• Be Wary of Shady SEO Deals, www.seo.com
• Do I Have a Google Penalty?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Look What People Ask in Your Niche, dailyseotip.com
• Rules of Thumb for Choosing an SEO, The SEO Scoop
• SEO Concerns When Migrating Your Site, Search Cowboys
• The Importance of the Humble Sitemap, Search Marketing Standard

Social Media

• Redefining FriendFeed, www.socialmediaexplorer.com
• Allegiance To The Social Pledge, www.verticalmeasures.com
• Creating Your Social Media Plan, outspokenmedia.com
• Major Ad Campaign for Starbucks to Focus on Quality, New York Times

Web Analytics

• Web Analytics Tips & Tricks: Back to Basics: Graph mode, Google Analytics Blog
• Google Analytics Mega-Post: 23 Google Analytics Tips and Tweaks, Search Engine People

Other Items

• Google CEO urges grads: ‘Turn off your computer’, Google

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