SearchCap: The Day In Search, December 17, 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:

• Retailers Spending Record Levels On Paid Search In 2013 Holiday Season
  An early look at the paid search performance this holiday season shows retailers invested at record levels, beginning earlier, and are realizing new levels of revenue from their paid search efforts this year. The record highs in paid search activity set in 2012 were surpassed this year as clicks increased 27 percent, impressions rose 12.5 […]
• Bing Dresses Up For Christmas
  Bing has added a new set of decorations to their search results for the holidays. If you search for [christmas] at Bing, you will see a new wintery top area that counts down to Christmas day, lets you swap out different snowmen and also sends you to the Santa Tracker. Here is a picture of […]
• Nelson Mandela Ranks #1 On Google’s Top Trending Searches For 2013
  Google has published its top ten global trending searches of 2013, with the recently deceased South African leader Nelson Mandela ranking No. 1 for this year’s top global searches: It’s perhaps unsurprising that the #1 trending search of 2013 was an international symbol of strength and peace: Nelson Mandela. Global search interest in the former […]
• “Let’s Go Caroling” Google Easter Egg Gives Mobile Users Their Very Own Christmas Carol Karaoke Machine
  Phandroid.com, a website devoted to Android news and updates, has discovered Google’s latest holiday-themed Easter Egg. When performing a Google search for “Let’s go caroling” on an Android or iOS device, the first result includes the question “Which carol would you like to sing?” along with a list of the following five carols: “Jingle Bells” […]
• 5 Increasingly Commodified SEO Solutions That Confuse B2B Marketers
  While discussing the changes in the search industry with a B2B marketing colleague earlier this month, he mentioned that many marketing professionals may be confused about SEO, particularly when it comes to advising clients on search initiatives. Jargon, conflicting “expert” opinion, and technological changes (like search algorithm updates) all add to the confusion. B2B marketers […]
• Breaking The Mobile Speed Barrier For SEO Gold
  2014 will offer a new killer SEO technique or two, it’s my bet that leading the charge will be changes to the mobile SEO algorithm in Google. Or, more specifically, changes to the algorithm’s sensitivity to your site render speed on a smartphone device.

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

• Google Glass’s XE12 Software Update Adds iOS Support, YouTube, Hangouts & More
• Rosy Outlook For Digital Publishers: Q3 Ad Revenues Climb 18 Percent In The UK
• Apple’s “Misunderstood” Holiday Video Ad Offers Fresh Look At How Teens Are Using Their iPhones
• 100+ Ad Agencies To Follow On Twitter
• Apple: Games, Social And Video Dominate Top Apps Lists
• Influencer Marketing: How Google Will Change The Game
• Earning Your Right to Invest More in Content
• Bring On The News Feed Commercials: Promoted Video Ads Officially Land In The Facebook Feed
• Twitter Rumor Roundup: 3 Active Tests & Enhancements Currently In The Works
• WSJ: Facebook Launching Video Ads This Week
• Help A Cause While Surfing Your Feed: Nonprofits Get New ‘Donate Now’ Facebook Buttons
• Apple Building Mobile Exchange, Shifting Focus To Radio

Search News From Around The Web:

Industry

• A Breakout Year, Bing Search Blog
• Deconstructing An SEO Job Posting, Infolific
• Google, Facebook Push to Control Web’s Pipes, Wall Street Journal
• The Best of Internet Marketing 2013 – God of SEO Awards, godofseo.co

Local & Maps

• Google Search Quality Issues Dogging Local Results, Mike Blumenthal

Link Building

• Link Detox Boost™ – Get rid of a Google Penalty in 3 days, linkresearchtools.com

Searching

• Google tests hide some search tools, allgoogletesting.blogspot.com

SEO

• 6 Ways to Accelerate Your Local SEO Success in 2014, Search Engine Watch
• Do You Have a Named Entity Strategy for Marketing Your Web Site?, SEO By The Sea
• Has Google Softened The Exact Match Domain (EMD) Algorithm?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Holiday Ecommerce SEO: The (Almost) A to Z Guide, Search Engine Watch
• How to Show Up in Local Searches Using Schema.org Markup and Citations, poweredbysearch.com
• SEO Skills For Sucess In 2014 And Beyond, internetmarketingninjas.com
• The Google Hummingbird Update – An Expert Overview, Vertical Measures

SEM / Paid Search

• 4 Ways to Determine Your Your New Account’s Starting Bids, Certified Knowledge
• Remarketing for Search Ads, Portent
• The 15 Ad Networks to Use Instead of AdWords, PPC Hero
• The World of Pay Per Click in 2013, ppcchat.co
• Year-in-Review: Top 10 Campaign Management Enhancements, Bing Ads Blog

Search Marketing

• Did Walmart or Target miss out with their Black Friday SEM strategy?, 3Q Digital