SearchCap: The Day In Search, April 30, 2013

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web.

From Search Engine Land:

• Google News Sources Grow 15% In 2012 & Continue To Climb With Patch.com In The Lead
  After seeing a 15 percent increase in Google News sources last year, a recent study conducted by SearchMetrics discovered that a majority of the News integrations displayed in Google Universal Search results are coming from AOL-owned Patch.com. After analyzing several hundred thousand keywords, the study found that Patch.com made an appearance in the News integration […]
• Google Rewards App Developers Using Google+ Sign-In With Better Visibility On Google Search
  What are the most popular activities done or content consumed by apps? Google’s now bringing that information to its search results, assuming the app developer makes use of Google+ Sign-In, that is. Google+ Sign-in was launched in February as an easy way to let anyone sign into a site or app using a Google+ account. […]
• Samsung, Intel Invest In “Anticipatory Search” Startup Expect Labs
  Expect Labs, which is a small startup in the San Francisco Bay Area, has a very impressive list of investors. Today the company announced a new funding round, though the figures weren’t disclosed. Investors are the venture or investment arms of Intel, Samsung and Telefonica. Telefonica is the world’s fourth largest telco and owns mobile […]
• How To Get Links By Writing About Other People
  People usually love talking about themselves, and most people are naturally interested in the intricacies of others, whether it’s business or personal. When you do an interview or put together a crowdsourced piece (and yes, I know many of you hate that term!) you’re linking to the people involved. At first, this may seem counter-intuitive […]
• Is Multinational SEO Dead? No, But It’s Changing…
  I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the term “SEO” and what it really means today. After a record run of attending conferences ranging from San Jose, Toronto, London and Leeds (soon to be joined by Seattle and Riga), I’ve become very conscious of a cloud of what can only be described as “SEO Depression” unfolding over conference […]
• Avoiding The Keyword Research Checkmate
  Chasing after one specific keyword set can not only be frustrating, but also inefficient. The marriage of keyword research and content can result in strong, targeted pages that perform, reach the ideal demographic, and result in conversions — if you’re willing to test and think “outside the box.” Targeting keywords solely because they have a high […]
• Take Our Survey & Help Update The Periodic Table Of SEO
  The only constant in search is change. The Periodic Table of SEO was created in 2011 to summarize the major factors that comprise search engine optimization. But, it’s time to update the table to review those ranking factors and make sure we’ve got the right combination. This year, we’re asking the SEO community to provide their […]
• Live @ SMX Advanced: Top Social Tactics For The Search Marketer
  As search marketers, we’re used to operating “behind the scenes,” crafting great content and engaging in one-on-one link building efforts and other subtleties to build out a comprehensive SEO strategy. Or, we spend hours with our AdWords editor or other paid search tools building and managing campaigns that will touch individual searchers briefly, without revealing […]

Recent Headlines From MarTech, Our Sister Site Dedicated To Internet Marketing:

• New: Real-Time Conversions Now Live In Google Analytics
• Twitter Rolls-Out Self-Service Ad Platform To All U.S. Users
• Foursquare Set To Sell Check-In Data For Ad Retargeting
• Remix Culture: Rethinking What We Call Original Content
• Display Campaign Success: Looking Beyond The Click
• How Google+ Interactive Posts Push CTAs & Deep Linking Directly Within A Post
• PC Free: 46% Used Only Mobile Devices In Purchase Process According To New Study
• Followgen Founder Tells Twitter They Should Shut Down His Biz
• New Yahoo Stream Ads Fit Right In Line With The New Yahoo Experience
• Oreo Daily Twist Campaign Wins The 2nd Annual Facebook Studio Blue Award

Search News From Around The Web:

Business Issues

• Google Called Out On Ethnic Issue, Forbes
• Google Granted Patent on Mobile Machine Learning, SEO By The Sea

Local Search & Maps

• Foursquare’s Getting Aggressive in Asking For User Tips, Reviews, Etc., Small Business SEM
• Jack Dorsey Talks Square and Wearable Devices, New York Times
• Next Up: Our Yahoo! App for Android, Yodel Anecdotal
• Places Link Removed From Google More Menu, Mike Blumenthal
• With few other outlets for complaints, inmates review prisons on Yelp, Washington Post

Link Building

• What is the Current State with Directories?, Daily SEO Tip
• Link Removal Fees Adding Up To $12,000 Or More, Search Engine Roundtable
• Old Fashioned Link Building: Is it Still Effective?, growmap.com
• Seeing Top Back links: New and Lost, blog.majesticseo.com

Searching

• A Tale of Two Search Engines: Why Google Is Winning, Baidu Isn’t, Bloomberg
• Austrian National Library Releases 100,000 Full Text Books Online, Digitization by Google, LJ INFOdocket
• Travel Sites Merge, Which Some See as Boon for Consumers, New York Times

SEO & SEM

• 16 marketers on the metrics that matter, raventools.com
• 16 Ways to Create Unique “Local” Content for Cities Where You Want to Rank, LocalVisibilitySystem.com
• Bamboo! A Successful Google Panda Recovery Story, Search Engine People
• Brand Search As A Ranking Signal – A Study, David Naylor
• Bruce Clay on Penguin Updates, BruceClay.com
• Choosing an SEO Company in 2013, Search Engine Journal
• Content Marketing Strategies, Betadac Media
• Google Says, Don’t Repeat Keywords Over & Over Again Unnecessarily, Search Engine Roundtable
• Image Optimization Tips For Online Stores, SEO.com
• Mobile SEO Springs Forward in 2013, Covario
• SEO Steps and Processes You Can Do Without, Search Engine Journal
• Social Signals, Schmochal Smignals?, State of Search
• Web Design vs. SEO: It Doesn’t Make Much Sense, Search Engine Journal
• Why SEO Is Like An RTS Game (and why you should care), SEOmoz