SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 6, 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:

• SMX East 2009 Day Two Live Blogging
  

  Day two of the SMX East 2009 show is just about done. Here is some of the live blogging coverage from the day. If I missed any, please comment below with those I missed.

  Ask the SEOs, outspokenmedia.com Iran & Michael Jackson – What Marketers Can Learn From How Consumers Search For Current Events, outspokenmedia.com Keynote [...]

• BusinessWeek Dives Deep Into Google’s Search Quality
  

  In a series of interviews and articles recently published online, BusinessWeek magazine tries to open up the curtains on Google’s search quality team — the ways team members evaluate Google’s search rankings and their decision-making process when changes are being made. Perhaps the place to start is with BusinessWeek’s interview of Google CEO Eric Schmidt, where [...]

• Manage PPC Risk With Multiple Match Types & Negative Keywords
  

  Choosing appropriate match types for PPC campaigns is one of the most important decisions an advertiser can make, having an impact on such diverse factors as costs, quality scores and ultimately overall success. Advertisers may choose to set their keywords to either “broad,” “phrase” or “exact” match types, each used for a different purpose. Generally, setting [...]

• Yahoo Search No Longer Uses Meta Keywords Tag
  

  Yahoo in the past few months has stopped using the META keywords meta tag as part of their ranking algorithm. We just learned this in a session at SMX East in the Ask the Search Engines session. I have the live blogging of this in the Q&A where Cris Pierry from Yahoo was asked this [...]

• SearchDNA Joins Crowded Field Of Link Analysis Tools
  

  At SMX East today, Linkdex is introducing its new SearchDNA tool — a link analysis tool that the company says goes deeper than the already crowded field that it’s competing against.

  While some link tools only show up to 1,000 links (think Yahoo Site Explorer), Linkdex says SearchDNA has a database of about one trillion [...]

• Google And Verizon Announce Sweeping Mobile Deal For Android
  

  Google and Verizon have announced a sweeping deal to cooperate around the development of services and devices that use the Android mobile OS (maybe Chrome too) on the Verizon network. What this actually turns out to mean in practice remains to be seen — sweeping and “groundbreaking” deals with limited outcomes have been announced before [...]

• Will Social Nets Replace Search For Content Discovery?
  

  Nielsen offers a blog post that shows the various ways that people discover content online. Search is at the top, followed by “portals” (which feature search boxes); at the other end are blogs and social networks. However Nielsen argues that certain categories of people are increasingly social media tools as content discovery sources: We saw the [...]

• Google Fades In The Home Page
  

  TechCrunch reported that Google is testing a new home page that fade in the various links and buttons after a second or two. Here is the video that demonstrates this limited Google test:

  I emailed Google, but have yet to receive a response as to why Google would test this type of home page. [...]

• Recovering From Link Building Mistakes
  

  No website is without linking related flaws. Whether it’s on-site or off, I can’t say that I’ve ever encountered a “perfect” website from a linking perspective. Some link building mistakes are unintentional and inconsequential, others are catastrophic. See When Link Rehabilitation Is A Viable Option. The idiom “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it“ is in [...]

• Merchants And Retailers On Twitter
  

  As we are on the verge of the fourth quarter, a make or break time for many merchants and retailers, I decided to take a look at how some large and small merchants and retailers are using twitter. BestBuy BestBuy has a multi-pronged approach, the main account @BestBuy provides interaction for BestBuy’s employees. A secondary account [...]

• Watch Your “Accents” When Doing International Paid Search
  

  Do accents in languages other than English have any relevance in search marketing? Could they be a goldmine of potential opportunity in certain languages especially with Google and what does Google gain? A study of French accent use shows there is more to this than meets the eye.

• Ask Launches New “Deals” Vertical Within Search
  

  Online coupons have been around for many years, at least a decade. Despite this no publisher or site has arisen to yet win the space. There’s no Facebook of coupons, no Twitter of coupons and, dare I say it, no Google of coupons. Google itself would seem to have missed or mishandled the opportunity with [...]

• Yahoo Search Marketing To Launch Desktop Tool, Rich Ads, Network Distribution Control & More
  

  The Yahoo Search Blog announced there are several features coming to Yahoo search ads, such as a desktop management tool, integrated rich ads, network bidding control and more. Specifically:

  Yahoo Search Marketing Desktop Tool, similar to Google’s desktop tool to manage AdWords, that will allow advertisers to manage their search campaigns offline. Trust me, this [...]

• Google Creates A New, Simplified Ad Unit For Local Business
  

  In December 2007 Google promised to develop a radically simplified version of AdWords targeted at the mass of small businesses who could not or would not take the time to set up an AdWords campaign. The working name of the program was “Simple Ads.” It was semi-formally announced at the Google Local Markets Symposium, a [...]

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Fall update on Google Health, Official Google Blog
• Google targeted in e-mail scam, BBC NEWS
• Update: Phishing scheme affecting some Hotmail customers, Windows Live
• What is a browser?, Official Google Blog

Business Issues

• Yahoo! to Hold Third Quarter 2009 Earnings Conference Call October 20, 2009, Yahoo Press Releases

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Increase your AdSense revenue with Maps Ad Unit and GoogleBar, Google Geo Developers Blog
• Mobile Madness is Upon Us, Bing Search Blog
• Stay tuned: Google-Verizon Wireless announcement on Tuesday, ZDNet

Paid Search & Contextual

• All Treats, No Tricks, Yahoo! Search Marketing Blog
• Google Decides to Find Its Creative Side, Wall Street Journal

Searching

• A New Web Tool to Take Control of Your Health, New York Times
• Pillbox: A New Prototype Database (Beta) from the National Library of Medicine, ResourceShelf

SEM Industry

• SEO Masterclass for Publishers at the DPA Conference, Site Visibility

SEO & SEM

• Does 301-Redirect Transfers the Penalty?, dailyseotip.com
• New parameter handling tool helps with duplicate content issues, Official Google Webmaster Central Blog
• 7 Best Things (Good) SEO’s Do, Search Engine Guide
• Google Webmaster Tools Patent on Crawl Rates, SEO By The Sea
• Google Webmaster Tools Verification Download Error, Search Engine Roundtable
• Search Does That. Social Does This. Give Me A Reese’s Cup Please, John Battelle’s Searchblog
• What is Google doing to combat the effects of comment spam?, YouTube
• Yahoo Obtains U.S. Patent For Human-Aided Search Ranking Method, TechCrunch

Social Media

• Announcing SEOmoz’s Guide to Social Media Marketing, SEOmoz
• Social Media at a Fortune 10 Company: Ford’s Scott Monty, Online Marketing Blog
• Twitter Data Analysis: An Investors Perspective, TechCrunch
• Who does social media best – marketers or PRs?, BlogStorm
• Why Don’t You Listen to Social Media?, Search Engine Guide

Video, Music & Image Search

• 10 Tips to Boost your Flickr Profile, SEOptimise
• Schmidt: We paid $1 billion premium for YouTube, CNET News