SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 14, 2011

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 Shuttering Buzz In Favor Of Google+; Farewell To Labs

  Buzz was a great learning experience, says Google, but in a few weeks it will be shut down and all such efforts will be focused on Google Plus. The move will likely come as no surprise to Google-watchers, who noted that Buzz integration with Google+ was minimal. Additionally, the Google Labs page, as previously announced, […]
• Keys To Understanding Search Marketing & User Intent

  Search engine marketers spend a large portion of their marketing strategies on keyword research. One method is to seek words and phrases that are most likely to be used by searchers to find a particular website. What may be ignored or overlooked is understanding the user intent behind these searches. It’s one effort to provide […]

• The Meta Keywords Tag Lives At Bing & Why Only Spammers Should Use It

  I was happy. I was joyful. I thought the meta keywords tag had finally died last year. But Bing recently said that it does use it. After some back-and-forth, I can confirm further that it does, but as a signal for finding spammers, not for improving rank. Meta Keywords Tag 101 If you want the […]

• Social Deals: Opportunity Cost & Customer Lifetime Value

  It’s probably my fault but I receive what seems like 20 emails a days from an endless stream of Groupon emulators, flash sites and discount etailers that have taken my inbox by storm. These sites are saturating the online marketplace with tantalizing deals designed to make even the most staunch consumers (like my wife) … […]

• Rumor: Google To Launch Cloud-Based Music Store?

  In May Google launched Google Music, a cloud-based streaming music app that allows for music backups and streaming to phones and other devices. Rumors have been swirling that Google will use this product to create an online MP3 store to compete against Apple and Amazon. The WSJ reports that while Google has been in licensing […]

• Why You Can’t Compare Google+ User Figures To Facebook & Twitter

  Google announced that Google+ has 40 million users today. Woo-hoo! That’s nearly half what Twitter claims, right? And while it’s below Facebook’s 800 million, Google’s getting there, right? Wrong. The number simply can’t be compared to Facebook and Twitter. Active Users Vs. Sign-Ups Let’s start with Facebook. At various points, Facebook has given out a […]

Search News From Around The Web:

Business Issues

• Even Google’s Huge Offer Failed to Convince Hulu Owners to Sell, Read/Write Web
• Exclusive: Twitter’s VP Engineering Mike Abbott Departs, allthingsd.com
• Google sheds light on size of ITA Software business, www.tnooz.com
• Yahoo Chief Trust Officer Quits in Style on Facebook, allthingsd.com

Link Building

• Link Assistant’s Rank Tracker – A Complete Review, SEO Book

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Are Google’s Local Efforts in Trouble?, Marketing Pilgrim
• BlackBerry-verse: the notification tray is now yours! Here’s to never missing a beat., blog.foursquare.com
• Google Places Changes Email Notification, www.optilocal.org
• Google Places Now Updating Your Listing Automatically, Mike Blumenthal
• Heads Up – Google Places will now Change Your Business Listing Automatically – Without Consent, marketing-blog.catalystemarketing.com
• Location-Based Services Can Put Businesses on the Map, New York Times

Paid Search & Contextual

• adCenter Maintenance this Coming Saturday, www.yadvertisingblog.com
• How To Use MSN adCenter’s Desktop Editor, PPC Hero
• Managing An Ecommerce PPC Account w/o Conversion Tracking, PPC Hero
• Simple works, but which flavor of simple?, blog.traffick.com

Searching

• Siri: Maps and Local Search for International Customers Coming in 2012, www.macrumors.com
• Steve Jobs death causes seven-fold increase in pancreatic cancer searches, weblogs.hitwise.com

SEM Industry

• Dennis Goedegebuure Advice on Creating Effective SEO & IT Relationships, Search Engine Journal
• Google’s Panda Update Lead To 9.2% Unemployment, Search Engine Roundtable

SEO & SEM

• Bing Articles and syndicated content – help or hindrance?, www.bing.com
• How Google Might Filter Out Duplicate Pages from Bounce Pad Sites, SEO By The Sea

Social Media

• The Average Facebook Post Lives 22 Hours And 51 Minutes, www.allfacebook.com
• Tools for Twitter Review: Timely vs. Buffer, Online Marketing Blog

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

• 7 content promotion strategies for healthier website traffic. – A solid piece filled with tips, links to a bunch articles, and very actionable conclusions for those of you that are into organic conent and influencer marketing.
• Demand Media to writers: we don't need you (as much) anymore – The day had to come when content farms realized there are only so many articles they could churn out about how long to let paint dry or how to get a bump out of a sweater before they – and everybody else – had had enough. For Demand Media, that day came last week.
• 5 Holiday Marketing Ideas to Boost Sales – In this article, you'll find five marketing ideas that could help your business in this important shopping season.
• How To Take Your Keyword Research To A Higher Level – Good actionable post detailing keyword research beyond initial Google Keyword Tool usage.
• Phrase Based Indexing and Semantics – Justin Briggs talks about phrase based indexing and semantics.
• Ultimate list of PPC advertising tools – Here’s a peek at the tools that can help you manage a successful online advertising campaign. Today’s list is limited to PPC advertising tools. Tomorrow, we’ll have an ultimate list for social media advertising tools. And soon, we’ll circle back around with display and ad network advertising tools.