January 2007: Search Engine Land’s Most Popular Stories

Below are
Search Engine Land’s 10 most popular
stories from January 2007:

1) Google Kills
Bush’s Miserable Failure Search & Other Google Bombs – After just over
two years, Google has finally defused the "Google Bomb" that has returned US
President George W. Bush at the top of its results in a search on miserable
failure. The move wasn’t a post-State Of The Union Address gift for Bush.
Instead, it’s part of an overall algorithm change designed to stop such mass
link pranks from working.

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2) 14 "Is Google
Evil?" Tipping Points Since 2001 – Earlier I wrote how Google seems to
have had a bad week, with some recent negative publicity making it seem like the
tipping point of Google becoming the big bad company they don’t want to be
happening — at least perhaps in the eyes of many opinion makers on the web.
Clearly I wasn’t alone thinking this. But then again, I can’t help but note that
I’ve seen people question whether Google has lost popular goodwill so many times
over the years. I thought it would be useful to actually list a number of these
"tipping points" that Google’s nonetheless survived.

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3) 25 Tips To
Optimize Your Blog For Readers & Search Engines – Everyone and their dog
have started up a blog these days, but many people just aren’t taking the steps
needed to optimize their blogs for both readers and search engines. Here are 25
tips to help you do better.

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4) 10 Google Feeds
You Should Subscribe To – Over the past years, Google has added feed
support to a number of services. I thought it would be fun to highlight some of
my favorites and others that allow you to get Google material delivered straight
to your newsreader. Below, a rundown of feeds offered ranging from Google Blog
Search through to Google Groups. Plus, a look at how the offerings could do with
some more standardization within Google.

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5) 2007 Guide To
Linkbaiting: The Year Of Widgetbait? – Way back in 2005 we started
talking about linkbait. The linkbait landscape of 2007 is different than two
years ago, requiring some rethink and reassessment of strategies. Linkbait is
the smart move everyone needs to be doing. However, the linkbait of 2005 may not
cut it with today’s more desensitized audiences. The smart linkbaiters will
pursue the holy grail of widgetbait.

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6) Beyond Google:
Social Media Engines First, Other Search Engines Second – I’ve never
encouraged a "Google First" or "Google Only" mentality for search marketers to
follow. This is where you focus only on Google, figuring the other major search
engines don’t matter. Instead, I’ve said that all the search engines are
important traffic channels to pursue. Don’t forget the search engines beyond
Google! But over the past few weeks, I’ve found myself more and more thinking
that if you want to go beyond Google as a search marketer, the other search
engines that matter first are the "social media search engines" such as Digg or
StumbleUpon or Reddit.

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7) 3 Ways To Use Your
Competition To Build Links & Targeted Traffic – The idea of using your
competition to build links, trust and reputation and benefit from the knock on
effect of better search engine rankings as a result may seem alien to many.
Savvy web marketers have been doing this for years, however. Bloggers often do
it without even realizing it due to the inherent social functionality of the
medium. Today, I’m going to show you three simple ways to become the center of
focus within your niche, gain highly targeted link traffic and boost your search
engine rankings.

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8) Q&A With Marissa
Mayer, Google VP, Search Products & User Experience – Marissa Mayer has
been the driving force behind Google’s Spartan look and feel from the very
earliest days. In this wide-ranging interview, I talked with Marissa about
everything from interface design to user behavior to the biggest challenge still
to be solved with search as we currently know it.

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9) Google No Longer
Linking To Yahoo, MapQuest Maps – Search Engine Land got an email this
morning alerting us to the apparent fact that Google had removed links to Yahoo
and MapQuest maps

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10) New Google
Checkout Promo; New Google Trust Worries – Gary Price pointed out
something new to me on Google, the ability to filter product search results from
merchants using Google Checkout. But more important, Google’s promoting this new
feature right within its main search results. That move, along with just having
dropped map links to competitors and in the wake of last month’s tips fiasco,
rings alarm bells that Google’s not thinking clearly about the best way to
balance promoting its own products and the trust of users.

To see all of our most popular stories over time, visit our
Most
Popular Stories page.