SearchCap: The Day In Search, November 25, 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:

• Black Friday 2009: Bing Cashback Bumps, Users Searching For Deals
  

  It could be that the general state of the 2009 economy is fueling the increase in early search queries for “Black Friday” related terms, or it it could be that the retail industry as a whole have embraced the annual event as part of a clever marketing strategy to boost overall holiday sales. As you [...]

• B2B Landing Page Strategies: More Might Really Be More Effective
  

  Recently, I was reading Julie Joyce’s Link Week article, 8 Tips To Make PPC Work With Link Building Efforts, and really enjoyed the premise of combining two disciplines that are often very separate in a marketing organization. Julie’s article got me thinking about some of the work we have been doing in the area of [...]

• Inside Out: Managing Your Agency
  

  Is it just me, or do too many agencies claim to be able to perform organic search optimization for clients? I mean, really. An agency that charges someone for doing “SEO” as part of a site build should be able to understand how to populate meta descriptions, and what to populate them with. Right? Sitemaps [...]

• How To Monetize Social Media: The Right Way
  

  Websites like Sponsored Tweets and Ad.Ly were created with the hope that famous and popular social media users will be willing to start sponsored conversations online. And with clients such Kendra Wilkinson and Kim Kardashian ready to spread any advertiser’s message for the right price, participating in social media has finally become profitable. Even Google [...]

• Google AdWords Now Allows Dynamic Parameters, Such As Prices, Via API
  

  The Google AdWords API Blog announced that advertisers who use the v2009 API can now use up to two dynamic parameters in the ad copy. The ad parameters include numbers such as prices, discount percentages, quantities, and so on. For example, if you run an airline and you want to display the latest prices for [...]

• Google Movie Results On Mobile Devices
  

  The Google Mobile Blog announced that the new Google movie search features which launched a couple weeks ago on Google.com, is now available on mobile smart phones. The best way to show you the various features is to share screen shots and a Google made movie demo on how it works.

  Now, if I can [...]

• Canada, Australia Give OK To Microsoft-Yahoo Deal
  

  The governments of Canada and Australia have given their okay to the proposed Microsoft-Yahoo Search Deal. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has published its findings, which say that “the proposed agreement was unlikely to result in a substantial lessening of competition.” The ACCC points to an existing deal in which Microsoft is using Yahoo’s [...]

• Microsoft: Bing Cashback Price Discrepancies Are A Mistake
  

  In response to a report about pricing discrepancies in its Bing Cashback service, Microsoft says it has tools to prevent the problem from happening and the case in question was a mistake on the merchant’s part. The Bountii blog wrote Monday about a pricing inconsistency for the Canon Vixia HV40 camcorder. In Bing Cashback, the price [...]

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• New Developer Policies Go Into Effect On December 16, All Facebook
• The Most Influential Websites in the World: Wikipedia, Read/Write Web
• ​Google Apps Premier Edition Innovation – Year in Review, Official Google Enterprise Blog
• Google Profiles Turn Into OpenIDs, TechCrunch
• Opera web browser ‘censors’ Chinese content, BBC News

Business Issues

• Microsoft CFO Liddell To Leave, paidContent.org
• Is Yahoo Leaving Sunnyvale?, NBC Bay Area
• Prosecutors Press Case Against Google in Italy, New York Times
• Yahoo Loses The Brains Behind Boss, TechCrunch

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Google’s Plan To Map The World, Forbes
• Getting Front Page Listings in Google Maps, Daily SEO Tip
• Snagging Google Maps Reviews From Your Competitors, Search Engine Roundtable

Link Building

• Build Links Via Testimonials – Like Google, Hobo

Paid Search & Contextual

• Banned Google AdWords Accounts Will Likely Never Be Unsuspended, Search Engine Roundtable
• Beware: Google AdWords Phishing Scam, AdWords Help Experts
• Pop-ups offer timely help, right where you need it, adCenter Blog

Searching

• Lists & Rankings: The Most Cited Books in the English Language Wikipedia, ResourceShelf
• Google Drops "Search within results" Search Box?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Mark your calendars…A Gold Rush is coming, Bing Search Blog

SEM Industry

• 85% Required to Pass Google AdWords Professional Exam, Search Engine Roundtable

SEO & SEM

• Google Awarded Patent for Local Search Integrated with Whois, Domain Name Wire
• Webmaster Center blog comments Q&A, Round 2, Bing Webmaster Center Blog
• Building a Better Keyword List – One Relative at a Time, PPC Hero
• Google Adds Breadcrumbs to Search Results Interface, SEO Book
• Search Engine Marketing On A Small Budget (Part 1 – PPC), Search Marketing Standard
• The Perfect SEO Pitch, Search Engine Journal
• Two Simple Tactics to Improve Your Online Review Scores, Marketing Pilgrim

Social Media

• 7 Tips For Building Twitter Followers, 10e20
• Blogging Vs. Microblogging: Twitter’s Global Growth Flattens, While WordPress’ Picks Up, TechCrunch
• LinkedIn hits 3 million members in the UK, eyes IPO in not so near future, TechCrunch
• The White House Posts a “Twitter List” of Selected Government Twitter Feeds, ResourceShelf