SearchCap: The Day In Search, August 9, 2010

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 AdSense Updates Ad Layouts

  The Google AdSense blog announced they have updated the layout of some AdSense units. The main changes were to make the ads “more space-efficient and visually pleasing,” said Google.
  Specifically:

  Leaderboard (728×90): the title, description, and URL are now arranged in rows instead of columns (except in the case when only one ad is showing)
  Medium and […]

• Live Blogging The Google-Verizon Net Neutrality Press Conference

  Google and Verizon have announced that they’ll be hosting a conference call today at 10:30 AM Pacific Time. Topic? Not said, but probably related to the rumor last week that the two companies have cut a deal to ensure Google’s content has preferential treatment in Verizon’s network, something that made many wonder if Google’s abandoned […]

• Video Sitemaps Errors Now In Google Webmaster Tools Labs

  Google has added a new report to the Google Webmaster Tools Labs section. The new report is named “Video Sitemaps” and it should include errors specific to Video Sitemaps files.
  Google’s Matt Cutts has said at SMX Advanced not once and but twice that video sitemaps is one, of many, areas Google’s […]

• Yahoo News Testing Related Search Results On News Stories

  Yahoo has shared a sneak preview of a new content module that some users will see below individual stories on Yahoo News. The module shows related Yahoo content — news articles, photos, and videos — and also includes a handful of related search query links.

  The module is currently only being shown to a “fraction” of […]

• 10 Great Local Search Tools That Don’t Exist Yet

  Here’s a look at some fundamental local search features/tools that seem obvious, and that should be fully functional—but don’t exist, or don’t work. At least I think they don’t exist yet. Feel free to prove me wrong in comments, tweets, Molotov cocktails, etc.
  Change the name of your Facebook business page. Perhaps your business’ […]

• Mobile Paid Search Advertising Strategies

  In my last article on mobile PPC called Getting Started with Mobile Paid Search Advertising, I covered some basic tips related to mobile paid search marketing. In this article, I’ll build on these and cover some strategies related to mobile PPC advertising. With mobile PPC advertising, opportunities are slightly more limited so it’s even more […]

• Demand Media’s IPO: The Google & SEO Aspects

  Demand Media has filed for an IPO. The company, known as a content farm to some, produces much of its content on sites like eHow and others in direct response to what it determines people are searching for on the web. Its filing shed new light on how much it depends on SEO and Google, […]

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Convert files in the documents list to a Google Docs format, Official Google Docs Blog

Business Issues

• The Irish Red Cross Sues Google To Silence Anonymous Blogger, Amplifying That Blogger’s Message, TechDirt
• Facebook on ‘lockdown’ as it prepares for war with Google, VentureBeat
• To Be Clear: Google IS Fighting Real Net Neutrality Rules – Knows which side their Android bread is buttered…, dslreports.com
• A Net Game for Google?, New York Times
• Google To Buy Social Payment Provider Jambool, paidContent.org
• Shopzilla Q2 2010 Revenue down 8.6% Y/Y, comparisonengines.com
• Twitter Hires First Ad Sales Executives, ClickZ

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Whither Google Maps Traffic? Are Google Maps and Mapquest Once Again Vying for the Lead?, Mike Blumenthal
• Google Tags Review – Increasing Actions by 84%, smallbusinessshift.com
• Quintura Search for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, Quintura blog
• Take a Tour of the New MapQuest, MapQuest Blog

Link Building

• A simple guide to creating linkbait, SEOmoz
• Are Link Exchange Emails Dead?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Simple But Catastrophic Errors With Canonical Links, Daily SEO Tip

Paid Search & Contextual

• Geo vs. Geo, Yahoo! Search Marketing Blog
• Yahoo! Bing Microsoft adCenter Search Deal Video, Mel Carson

Searching

• New support for non-English content, Hunch Blog
• Google Custom Search Engine Layout Chrome Bug, Search Engine Roundtable
• Google’s count of 130 million books is probably bunk, Ars Technica

SEM Industry

• Best SEO Blogs: Top 10 Sources to Stay Up-to-Date, SEOmoz
• 10 Most Subscribed Search Marketing Blogs, Online Marketing Blog

SEO & SEM

• Yahoo’s Social Search Answer to Google’s Aardvark?, SEO By The Sea
• It Isn’t "Old School SEO" If It’s Just Nonsense SEO, Search Engine Guide
• Google falling prey to search-engine tricks John Dvorak’s Second Opinion, MarketWatch
• 5 steps to a great meta description, Vertical Leap Blog
• An In-Depth Look at Search Auto-Suggestions, blueglass.com
• How to Cut Through the Clutter in Branded Search, Search Engine Watch
• Local Citation Finder: Must-Have SEO Tool, Small Business SEM
• Man vs. Machine: the automation of PPC campaigns, econsultancy.com
• The Challenges of Measuring SEO Success, Part 2, Search Engine Watch
• Why doesn’t search query data in Webmaster Tools appear to match what I see when searching?, YouTube

Social Media

• Google’s March Toward Social Networking, Yahoo! News
• 5 Ways The Intern Mind Trumps You at Social Media, outspokenmedia.com
• Heavy Twitter Users Bring Social Activity to New Heights, eMarketer
• Six core tactics for social media managers, econsultancy.com

Web Analytics

• 5 Useful Google Analytics Features You Probably Don’t Use, saadkamal.com
• Track Your Twitter Branding Effectiveness In Real-Time With Yahoo! Web Analytics, Yahoo! Web Analytics Blog

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

• Using Excel for SEO – the Grand Collection of Tips – Another brilliant how-to article by Ann Smarty.  This time she breaks out the Excel power tips – if you're weak-kneed or don't like the idea of being called a power-user, you may want to skip this article.  Otherwise, WOW…
• 3 Tips For Leveraging Your Google Analytics Data – Google Analytics can give you a huge amount of information about your existing and potential customers. By analysing your site stats, you can make informed decisions about the site itself, as well as your business as a whole.Like most site analytics packages, Google Analytics collects a huge amount of data, but there is no need to try to tackle it all at once. The three techniques we have gone through here will get you well started towards using Analytics in an intelligent way that relates to your company’s goals, targets and KPIs, without getting bogged down in a mire of data.
• How an Online Magazine Grows into a Million Dollar Business – This case study shows how a blog that was launched 9 months ago is being built into a million dollar business.

About The Author

Barry Schwartz

Barry Schwartz a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land and a member of the programming team for SMX events. He owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry's personal blog is named Cartoon Barry and he can be followed on Twitter here.