SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 8, 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:

• Is Choosing Search Engines Over Users A Fatal Flaw In SEO?
  

  I recently read an article by Rand Fishkin of SEOmoz, entitled “Terrible SEO Advice: Focus on Users, Not Engines” that could potentially set SEO back at least at decade, in my opinion. In the article, he apologized to his audience of budding SEOs for having ever told them to do what’s right for their users. In [...]

• Be Wary Of Call Tracking Numbers In Local Search
  

  Call-tracking phone numbers are often hailed as a best practice strategy in paid search campaigns thanks to their ability to demonstrate a specific number of conversions or inquiries generated by the campaign. The kind of at-a-glance analytics these numbers offer make it easy for businesses and search agencies to calculate Return On Investment, a desirable metric [...]

• Google Brings Search Options To Mobile Search
  

  The Google Mobile Blog announced that now if you search using Android, iPhone or Palm WebOS you will see the search options at the top right corner. Search Options officially

• UK Report: 1 in 3 Kids Think Top Search Rankings Most “Truthful”
  

  A new and wide ranging report from the UK regulatory agency Ofcom about media literacy finds that 32 percent of UK kids aged 12-15 years old believe that the links/listings shown at the top of search results are the most “truthful.” Here’s how the report summarized this finding: Among children aged 12-15 who use the internet, [...]

• Yahoo Upgrades Mobile Homepage
  

  Yesterday at the CTIA mobile conference, Yahoo Mobile SVP David Ko announced a range of upgrades to its mobile homepage. The new homepage was launched this past April. According to the statement that Yahoo put out yesterday, the homepage has been optimized for 1,900 devices. Video is also a bigger part of the experience now [...]

• Google Now Enables Maps Users To “Report A Problem”
  

  Google has pushed more deeply into “crowdsourcing” with Maps, now enabling users to “report a problem” in addition to making edits themselves on maps. According to the Google LatLong blog: You’ll find this “Report a Problem” link on the bottom right of Google Maps (you can also find it by right-clicking on the map). Has that [...]

• Online Music Videos Make A Comeback
  

  I want my, I want my, I want my OMV (Online Music Video)… Yes, that’s right! Popular music videos are about to make a comeback, not on the original music TV station per se, but on the most popular online video web site, YouTube. With just a quick query search and a click of the [...]

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Extreme Racist Anti President Obama iGoogle Theme Available, Search Engine Roundtable
• Google Apps: A Long Road Ahead, New York Times

Business Issues

• In Turnabout, Yahoo Snags a Microsoft Exec, Seth Dallaire, for Sales Team, AllThingsD
• Judge Tells Google to Revise Its Book Pact by Nov. 9, New York Times

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Google is rolling out LBC Dashboard across Europe, Mike Blumenthal
• Google Lures Local Advertisers With Auction-Free Ad Buying, Ad Age

Paid Search & Contextual

• Google AdSense Login Issue Two Different Issues?, Search Engine Roundtable
• New additions to the Google Conversion Professional network, Conversion Room

Searching

• Google Flu Trends expands to 16 additional countries, Official Google Blog
• Google Forces Web Standards Issue Using Sexy Buttons, TechCrunch
• Google’s vision for the future of journalism, The Guardian
• Join the Minimalist Google Homepage Prototype, Google Blogoscoped

SEM Industry

• Where Are All the Women SEOs?, Search Engine People

SEO & SEM

• Search engines should make shortened URIs somewhat persistent, sebastians-pamphlets.com
• 7 Best Things (Good) SEO Clients Do, Search Engine Guide
• Google AdWords Plusbox Revisited, Rimm Kaufman
• Google Keyword Tool [External vs Beta] – What’s the Difference?, seogadget.co.uk
• Google Webmaster Tools Verification Files Now Accepted With Hidden HTML, Search Engine Roundtable

Social Media

• Scribd tries to help newspapers share documents, The News Tribune
• Ozzie creates new Microsoft social computing lab, Seattlepi.com
• Social Media Has Direct Influence on Brand Search, MediaBuyerPlanner