SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 27, 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:

• AdSense Publishers Get Display Reporting By Network

  Google has long allowed approved third-party networks to serve inventory into its AdSense display network, and now it says publishers will begin to get reporting on impressions served, earnings and performance by network. The third-party networks in AdSense are enabled via Google’s DoubleClick Ad Exchange, and the system aims to let publishers to serve the […]

• Google+ Adds Popular Stories, Post Analytics, Photo Filter Kits & Begins Supporting Google Apps

  Today Google announced a flurry of new features for its fledgling social network, Google+. The new additions include popular content on Google+, analytics for public shares called “Google+ Ripples,” creative kits for photos and accounts for Google Apps users. Here’s a bit of info on each of the new items: “What’s Hot” – Popular Content […]

• How To Devise A Psychology Based SEO Strategy

  SEO consultants like me usually get called in at an advanced stage of website development. Design elements are already in place, graphics created, page structure determined, even selling and lead generation processes finalized before the owner or manager invites us over to “slap SEO on” to their creation! Is that because to many of our […]

• Performics: Mobile To Drive Almost 20% Of Paid Search Clicks In December

  Performics is anticipating mobile to be a significant platform in holiday shopping for US consumers. The firm said that “Google search clicks from mobile devices are now 14.2 percent of all search clicks.” Performics expects the paid clicks coming from mobile to grow to 17.3 percent this December. For its part, Google has projected that […]

• 10 Industry Benchmarks For Your Call Tracking Conversion Rate

  When launching a new marketing initiative, you often set a benchmark or baseline against which you measure success. You can gather a “baseline” before you make improvements, pick a number out of thin air or compare yourself to the industry average. Since neither picking a number out of thin air nor delaying improvements while you […]

• Mobile Holiday Shopping: New Opportunities & Top Tactics For Success

  To get us in the holiday spirit, let’s start with some stats: Mobile shopping is expected to grow by 40 percent year-over-year, and according to the latest Google trends data, 15 percent of search queries during the holiday season are expected to come from mobile devices. Based on a study conducted by Admob and featured on […]

• Search Dominates Other Sources For Local Information — Study

  A new survey from Harris Interactive, sponsored by CityGrid Media, confirms what many already know: Search is the dominant way people look for local business information — online. On mobile devices, review sites have equal influence. The telephone survey was conducted in August among just over 1,000 US adults. Slightly less than 60 percent (59 […]

• Google Tests Tabbed Navigation Design For Tablets

  Google Operating System blog reports Google search is testing a new design for tablets. The new design places the various search vertical options across the top instead of placing them in a drop down menu. The new interface also has a settings button to access advanced search and SafeSearch settings. In July, Google launched a […]

• Judge Throws Out Class Action Lawsuit Against Yelp

  Yelp is off the hook, again. A judge has thrown out a class action lawsuit filed against Yelp that alleged the company tried to extort small businesses by promising to remove negative reviews in exchange for money. As we reported when the suit was first filed in February 2010, the plaintiffs — which included a […]

• Tips For Checking Your Holiday Retargeting List Twice

  Every holiday season for retailers is filled with trepidation. There’s what retailers know. And then there’s what they think they know. This year, retailers know e-commerce sales will be up. What they think they know (or admit they can’t predict) is how the huge shadow of the sluggish economy will impact their season. It’s the […]

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Click Click: The Signs of the Google Reader Protest, DCist
• YouTube ‘Channels’ Could Be Announced Soon, Wall Street Journal

Business Issues

• Oracle v. Google trial date pushed off to 2012, ZDNet
• REVEALED: Google Paid $151 Million For Zagat, Business Insider
• Yahoo Board Member David Kenny Steps Down From Akamai Job, AllThingsD
• Google Paid More Than $1.4B for 57 Acquisitions in 2011, eWeek.com
• In My Own Words: Yahoo! For Good, Yodel Anecdotal

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Google Maps rolls out business interiors in Street View, VentureBeat
• Spain leading the smartphone revolution in Europe, Google Mobile Ads Blog
• Introduction of usage limits to the Maps API, Google Geo Developers Blog
• More local deals, personalized to your interests, Official Google Blog

Link Building

• How to Help New Link Builders Evaluate a Link Prospect, Search Engine Journal
• Tricks with Anchor Text-Rich Links for Foreign Language Internet, Search Engine Journal

Paid Search & Contextual

• Retiring support for Internet Explorer 6, Inside AdWords

Searching

• Answer: Where did that crazy uniform come from?, SearchReSearch

SEM Industry

• Never Share Your SEO Discovery Publicly, Search Engine Roundtable
• Spam? Affiliate is a 4 Letter Word, SEO Book

SEO & SEM

• The SEO Impact of Losing Search Query Data, and Some Proposed Solutions, Rimm Kaufman
• 8 Best Ways to Find Negative PPC Keywords, SEOptimise
• A Framework for Site Reviews (with Examples), SEOmoz
• Backlink Analysis: Where do Famous SEO Bloggers Get Their Links From?, Search Engine People
• Black Hat SEO: Killing Your Rankings [Infographic], SEO.com
• Build an SEO Moat in 5 Easy Steps, distilled
• Do You Use Data Providers To Boost Your Local Search Results?, SEO.com
• Does your Website copy suck the life out of your conversions?, SEO Copywriting
• Google Introduces New Encryption Process for Organic Search Queries: Results May Vary, Covario Blog
• Google Penalty? How to diagnose and respond, Vertical Leap Blog
• Google: Exact Match Domains Doesn’t Mean Top Rankings, Search Engine Roundtable
• How Google May Identify When Sites Transform into Doorway Pages, SEO By The Sea
• How To Design A Successful PPC Management Process, PPC Hero
• I Need Mobile SEO!, Search Marketing Standard
• Ranking On Image Search, Search Engine Watch
• Set up authorship using just your email address, Inside Search
• The value of organic rankings – A CTR study, Bruce Clay Australia

Social Media

• Klout’s scoring changes incite a riot of complaints, thenextweb.com
• Why we’re not using Google+ to reach consumers, so far, GeekWire
• 5 Facebook Privacy & Security Tips You Ignore at Your Own Peril, Marketing Pilgrim
• 50 Kloutless Ways To Get Value From Twitter, Outspoken Media
• Google+ is now available with Google Apps, Official Google Enterprise Blog
• How to become more effective with your social media efforts, Search Engine People
• I Don’t Have Time For This Social Media Thing!, Search Engine People | Toronto
• National Cybersecurity Awareness Month Updates, Facebook
• Notice: Can’t Respond To Google + Discussions, Barry Schwartz
• Sometimes, A Simple (Social Media) Reply Is All It Takes, Small Business SEM

Video, Music & Image Search

• From the desert to the sea: Google Voice Search experiments, Official Google Australia Blog

Web Analytics

• Is (not provided) Driving You Crazy? Get Some of Your Data Back, SEER Interactive
• Non-Interaction Events! Wait… What?, Google Analytics Blog
• Google Analytics Privacy Concern, pleer.co.uk

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

• How to help new link builders evaluate a link prospect – Some great instructions and an awesome list of resources for those of you tasks with teaching new or inexperienced link builders how to evaluate a link.
• Is (not provided) Driving You Crazy? Get Some of Your Data Back – Good Google Analytics solution for gauging your "Not Provided" keyword traffic based on landing page visits.
• 7 Really Great Social Media Tricks You Should NEVER Use – There are countless tools and apps for social media professionals out there. Some enable you to greatness, while others set you up for [potential] embarrassment.