SearchCap: The Day In Search, November 21, 2008

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: SEM Pre-Click & Post-Click Double Feature: Conversion Attribution and Q&A with Analytics Guru Eric Peterson In The Trenches is a spotlight of tips, tricks, and news about the tools search engine […]

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

From Search Engine Land:

  • SEM Pre-Click & Post-Click Double Feature: Conversion Attribution and Q&A with Analytics Guru Eric Peterson
    In The Trenches is a spotlight of tips, tricks, and news about the tools search engine marketing professionals use to give them a leg up on the competition. Today: news from the search engines, today’s double feature is Pre-Click: Conversion Attribution 101 and Post-Click Q&A with web analytics guru with Eric Peterson, who shares his insights on the topics.
  • Search In Pictures: Yahoo’s Larry Tesler, Google Subway Ads, Yahoo Parade Float
  • Yahoo November Search Update
    Yahoo has informed us that they will be rolling out a search update over the weekend. Yahoo said, that you can expect “some changes to our crawling, indexing and ranking algorithms over the next few days and expect the update will be completed soon.” As always, expect the ranking to change, hopefully not too much and expect things to settle down over the course of a few days. I have heard only one blip about a change at Yahoo in the forums, but that individual soon retracted his statement. So as of right now, it does appear nothing …
  • Two Little Things That Make A Big Difference
    A lot of the focus in the search marketing world—both paid and organic—is on the technical and quantitative side. And that’s understandable, given the technical background of many of the practitioners and the perception that those elements are relatively easy to control. But many search marketers do themselves and their clients a disservice by not taking a more balanced view, arming themselves with the tools that a solid understanding of the search user experience (SUE) can provide. With all the talk about how to achieve high rankings, the right growth curve to target for inbound link counts, PageRank shaping (which always makes me think of Suzanne Sommers, like she’ll be pimping the PageRank Shaper as the next Thigh Master), eking out higher Quality Score, and the like, it’s easy to lose sight of the role that actual users play in determining the success of our search campaigns. But user experience considerations often play as large a role as any of the other topics that search marketers regularly discuss. The trick is figuring out where to focus your attention. To provide a shortcut, here are two quick tips on SUE issues that don’t get a lot of attention yet have a big impact on results. The first tip focuses on how to increase organic traffic by achieving a higher CTR on your organic search listings. The second discusses how to reduce the bounce rate on your site by ensuring a good first impression.
  • A Searcher’s Perspective Of iPhone 2.2 Update
    Last night Apple announced a software update to the iPhone.  This update was pretty major and there are tons of sites covering all the details of the changes.  I thought I just focus on the features specific to searching. Apple made a change to the browser, featuring the Google search bar more and a few changes to the Google Maps application. Google Maps now has street views, walking directions, transit directions, and a share location feature. Those are the bulk of the Google and search related changes that I see, were made in version 2.2 of the iPhone. Here are pictures below:
  • 8 Reasons To Sign Up For SMX West Now
    The next Search Marketing Expo – SMX West – takes place February 10-12 at the Santa Clara Convention Center. With the pre-agenda rate expiring the first week of December, we thought we’d put together a list of the reasons you should attend. Saving $600 enough to convince you? Stop reading and register here. Not convinced? Read on…
  • Yahoo’s Sean Suchter Switches Sides, To Head Microsoft Search Efforts In Silicon Valley
    News came out yesterday on Valleywag about Yahoo vice president Sean Suchter leaving the company and heading to Microsoft. To do what? Sean had told me privately on Tuesday, and I’d been waiting to get an official heads-up to say more. But AllThingsD now has the formal news: to be general manager of Microsoft’s Silicon Valley Search Technology Center.
  • Search Biz: Yahoo & AOL, Again?; IAB On Ad Revenues; Debating Google’s Evilness & More
    Does anyone want to dance with Yahoo? Well, Bloomberg is reporting that Yahoo is continuing to talk with Time Warner about buying AOL. The report says the two companies have met “in the past few weeks,” and are discussing a plan where AOL’s advertising business would be given to Yahoo in exchange for Time Warner receiving a stake in the combined company. Spokespersons for both Yahoo and Time Warner declined to comment on the report.

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

Business Issues

Local, Maps & Mobile

Paid Search & Contextual

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SEM Industry

SEO & SEM

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About the author

Barry Schwartz
Staff
Barry Schwartz is a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land and a member of the programming team for SMX events. He owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry can be followed on Twitter here.

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