SearchCap: The Day In Search, May 31, 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:

• Google To Chinese Searchers: Your Search Interruptions Are Not Our Fault

  Google announced on their blog that they have noticed an increase in complaints from searchers in mainland China. The issues they are reporting is that Google.com and searchers are not coming up, as if Google.com is down. So Google investigated their servers and operations and noticed no issues with anything on Google’s side. So they […]
• 5 Ways To Capture Brand Equity With SEM & Affiliates

  Last week, I read David Rodnitsky’s Enterprise SEM column on brand term bidding, and I loved it! Even better, it got me thinking about search and affiliate marketing again. While I think David made some excellent points, as I consumed his endless wit and wisdom, I kept thinking: All that brand keyword goodness, it’s almost […]

• Google Product Search To Become Google Shopping, Use Pay-To-Play Model

  Google Product Search is getting a new name, Google Shopping, and a new business model where only merchants that pay will be listed. It’s the first time Google will decommission a search product that previously listed companies for free. The company says the change will improve the searcher experience, but it will also likely raise […]

• Google Penguin & Panda Talk Now In Coffee Shops & Elementary School

  As Google becomes more mainstream you hear random people in coffee shops, the grocery store, church and even kids in elementary school talking about Google’s updates. Google’s head of search, Amit Singhal, tweeted early this morning that he was at a local Starbucks and overheard a conversation that proved to him that Google’s latest updates […]

• Should We Disavow Links To Combat Negative SEO?

  The Negative SEO conversation has truly been re-ignited and has everyone debating its affect again. Conversations are exploding with claims of lawsuits, paying people to remove backlinks, and just blowing up the site and starting all over. Fair enough. But the way I see it, there is really a simple solution to this issue. Disavow […]

• RIAA Accuses Google Of Not Doing Enough To Fight Piracy, But May Be Guilty Of Not Doing Enough Itself

  The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has once again come out swinging at Google, saying the company isn’t doing enough to fight copyright infringement online. But it may be that the RIAA itself is guilty of that charge. In a blog post this week, RIAA Executive VP Brad Buckles shares what the organization calls […]

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

• Google Applies For .google, .docs, .youtube & Reportedly More Than 50 New Domain TLDs
• Pew: Daily Twitter Usage Has Quadrupled Since 2010
• Meeker: Mobile Advertising A $20 Billion Opportunity In US
• Post IPO Report: Facebook Drops In Customer Loyalty Ranks, Down 7% In Brand Equity
• Facebook Adds New Roles For Page Admins & Ability To Schedule Posts
• Too Many Companies Are Ignoring Mobile Web Traffic

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Now you can polish up Google’s translation of your website, Google Translate Blog

Business Issues

• Inside Google X’s Project Glass, Part I, Fast Company
• EXCLUSIVE: Google and Facebook exploring investments in Vevo as part of broader partnership with YouTube music-video service, NYPOST.com
• Google forces advertisers to buy back their own trademarks, Harvard professor says, Financial Post
• How I Did It: Alexis Ohanian, Reddit, Inc.com

Local, Maps & Mobile

• My CliffsNotes on the Google Places-Plus Merger, LocalVisibilitySystem.com
• Explore historic sites with the World Wonders Project, Official Google Blog
• Foursquare Teases Major Redesign, Shows Off New Maps, thenextweb.com
• Google Answers Questions On Managing Google+ Local Page, Search Engine Roundtable

Link Building

• Web Directory Submission Danger: Analysis of Directories Shows 20% Penalized/Banned by Google, SEOmoz

Searching

• Bing Deep Links Issue to Blame for ‘Mysterious’ Yahoo Links, Search Engine Watch
• C-SPAN’s Online Collection of More than 600 Searchable, Viewable Commencement Speeches, LJ INFOdocket
• New Resource: Library and Archives Canada Launches Portraits Portal, LJ INFOdocket

SEM Industry

• How Google’s Head Of Search, Amit Singhal, Knows Penguin Works, Search Engine Roundtable
• Links and Outings and Guidelines. Oh My!, SEO.com
• The Mob Mentality of SEOs, ShoeMoney

SEO & SEM

• 4 Secrets About Paid Search Agencies, Search Engine Watch
• Common eCommerce Technical SEO Problems, distilled
• Google AdWords MCC Bug With Linking To Google Analytics, Search Engine Roundtable
• Now 404 & 410 Response Codes Treated The Same By Google, Search Engine Roundtable
• Technical Vocabulary, Jargon, Acronyms & Client Communication in SEO, Search Engine People
• The Benefit of A Sitemap According to Googles John Mueller, State of Search
• Was There A Google Panda Refresh? Panda 3.7, Search Engine Roundtable
• Will My Rankings Return After a Google Penalty?, BruceClay.com