SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 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:

• Supporting A Global Brand Campaign With SEM
  

  On the heels of launching Yahoo campaigns in three countries in eight days on an incredibly tight timeline, it makes sense to take a small step back and jot down a few thoughts about what went right, what went wrong, and how to improve next time.

• American Association Of Advertising Agencies Backs Microsoft-Yahoo Search Deal
  

  One of the factors behind the US Justice Department’s (DOJ’s) objection to the now-defunct Google-Yahoo search ads deal, which was far less sweeping than the pending Yahoo-Bing/Microsoft deal, was the objection of the powerful advertising trade organization the Association of National Advertisers. Now, another advertising trade organization, the “4As,” or American Association of Advertising Agencies, [...]

• Yahoo Adds Delicious.com, Other Data To Site Explorer
  

  Yahoo continues to add new data to its popular Site Explorer tool and, for reasons unknown, doesn’t tell anyone about it. Today, Barry Schwartz reported on Search Engine Roundtable about several new additions to Site Explorer’s data:

  Key Terms Delicious Activities Top Delicious Tags SearchMonkey Objects

  Barry posted this screenshot showing the new features as they related to Search Engine [...]

• Attribution Wars: In Defense Of The Last Click (Part I)
  

  I went to a party last week. It was put on by a big online player, mainly to thank agencies who buy large gobs of display ads for their clients. And strangely, one of the hosts began apologizing to me (over the gurgling sounds of me thanking him for the free drink—how they let me [...]

• Moving Ads Closer To “Free” Listing Ups Google’s Earnings
  

  In early August, Google quietly shifted the ads closer to the free listings. We assumed then, Google did this to drive more attention to the ads, and now we can say that we were right. In the question and answer session of last week’s Google earnings report. A transcript reports Google’s Jonathan Rosenberg confirming that [...]

• Wolfram iPhone App Improves Upon Site Experience
  

  There’s a way in which the just-released iPhone version of Wolfram Alpha makes more sense than the web version. The web version suggests a Google-like general search engine, which it is not; it’s a “computational” or “fact engine” with a more limited range of use cases. It does what it does well — offer a range of [...]

• Google Expands “Going Google” Enterprise Ad Campaign
  

  Google has decided to extend and pick up the pace of its “Going Google” (Apps and enterprise products) traditional media campaign. The ads were first launched in August in four cities with billboards. Now Google says the campaign will be expanded globally to “the U.K., France, Canada, Japan, Australia and Singapore” and appear “in train [...]

• Got Bad Incoming Links? Google Says, “Don’t Fret It”
  

  The Google Webmaster Central blog has a post on “dealing” with low quality backlinks. In that post, Google basically explains that incoming links is “just one of many” ranking factors. That being the case, Google says if you have bad quality incoming links, “don’t fret” it and focus on things you can control, [...]

• There’s No Debate That Local Search Has A Role to Play in Healthcare
  

  Congress’ debate on healthcare has sparked many different opinions about the right path for the future of healthcare insurance. Regardless of where that debate is headed, all Americans share the same challenge at one point or another: finding good healthcare. And that’s where local search comes in—to help connect medical professionals with patients. Recently, Dennis Fromholzer at [...]

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• A new home for accessibility at Google, Official Google Blog
• AOL Tells Content Story to Media-Buying Shops, Ad Age

Business Issues

• Google on an Endless Search for New Worlds to Conquer, FOXNews.com
• Google loses Europe COO Ben Legg to European Directories, TechCrunch
• Yahoo’s Next Chapter, Forbes

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Header Magic: Returning device specific content, Yahoo! Mobile
• Baidu Lands A Big Mobile Distribution Deal, paidContent.org

Link Building

• Use Derren Brown’s Secret Hypnosis Tricks to Help Your Link Buildling Efforts, Site Visibility

Paid Search & Contextual

• Hacking it in NYC, Yahoo! Search Marketing Blog
• Video: Yahoo’s Mitch Spolan on Search Retargeting, Yahoo! Search Marketing Blog
• Campaign Insights: Better measurement for display advertising, Inside AdWords
• PPC Engine Loyalty Study, Rimm Kaufman

Searching

• AVG Releases Update To Fix Google Security Threat Warning, Search Engine Roundtable
• Random users Google Voice mail is searchable by anyone?, Boy Genius Report

SEM Industry

• SEO Dojo: A Community for SEO Enthusiasts, Search Engine Journal

SEO & SEM

• Facebook Internal Search: SEO & Ranking Hacks, AIM Clear Blog
• How Link Spammers Killed My Wife’s Web Site, daggle.com
• SEO 1984 – User Data and You, Terry Godier
• SEO Followed By Website Optimization – Beat Your Competition, Natural Search Blog
• Breadcrumb Navigation : How Important For On Page SEO?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Does it matter how bloggers are paid?, BlogStorm
• Google Penalizing .GB.COM Domains?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Headsmacking Tip #15: Rank for Brand Promo Code Searches, SEOmoz
• Search Engine Optimization: The Truth About SEO, Online Marketing Blog
• Sock puppet marketing, YouTube

Social Media

• Twitter Lists; Limitations, bugs, impact, and brilliance, scobleizer’s posterous
• Exclusive: U.S. Spies Buy Stake in Firm That Monitors Blogs, Tweets, Wired
• LEAKED: Details of the Facebook Home Page Redesign [Screenshots], mashable.com

Video, Music & Image Search

• YouTube’s Bandwidth Bill Is Zero. Welcome to the New Net, Wired
• New camera promises to capture your whole life, New Scientist
• Photo-blogging Site DailyBooth Raises $1 Million, Wall Street Journal
• Spam Strangles YouTube, PC World

Web Analytics

• What Google Analytics Can’t Tell You – Part 1, ClickTale Blog

Other Items

• A Google partnership to save an Amazon tribe and rainforest, San Francisco Chronicle
• Flying in a WiFi wonderland: Free Internet from Google on Virgin America flights, Official Google Blog