SearchCap: The Day In Search, December 20, 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 Webmaster Video Reconfirms Use Of Social Signals

  What Social Signals Do Google & Bing Really Count? from earlier this month confirmed that Google and Bing were both using social signals from Facebook and Twitter in their search algorithms. Today, Matt Cutts, a Google engineer, posted a new video on the Google Webmaster YouTube Channel reconfirming Google uses social signals. The key takeaways […]

• Google To Replace Base API With Two Shopping APIs

  Google is retiring its Base API and replacing it with two shopping-centric APIs, requiring developers to modify applications that manage and search product data. Google Base will be shuttered permanently as of June 1, 2011. The Content API for Shopping will be used for uploading data, and the Search API for Shopping for accessing product […]

• Welcome, Pamela Parker! Congrats, Elisabeth & Matt!

  I’m happy to welcome Pamela Parker to the Search Engine Land team! Pamela is a new corresponding editor who will focus on paid search coverage as well as search news coverage in general. Pamela has been covering digital marketing since 1998. She’s worked as managing editor of ClickZ and moved on to help monetize independent […]

• Foursquare Adds Photos, Comments For More Social Engagement

  In a bid to continue momentum and broaden utility and engagement Foursquare released a new version of its iPhone app. The new app contains two big new features: photos and comments. (Android and BlackBerry are coming shortly.) Both have been on the white board for some time according to Alex Rainert, head of product for […]

• Google Sued Over Street View Showing Woman’s Underwear On Clothesline

  The Telegraph reports Google was sued by a Japanese woman because its Google Street View service displayed an image of her home with her underwear hanging in clear sight. The suit is for over $7,000 US dollars or 600,000 Yen. The woman is claiming psychological distress that has worsened her existing obsessive-compulsive disorder. “I was […]

• Blekko, Bing & How Facebook Likes Are Changing Search

  Bing has received a good deal of coverage for its integration of Facebook Likes into search results. In its Bing Search Summit last week, Microsoft said that Likes will influence ranking and create more personalized search results over time. As Microsoft’s Satya Nadella said, it’s “search quality foundationally influenced by the social graph.” Despite its […]

• Digital Marketing Trends & Predictions For 2011

  For search marketers, the holidays are all about giving—that is, giving an ever-increasing share of your advertising budget to Google. But for columnists, we get to give the gift of predictions. In this Industrial Strength column last year, I examined a number of trends in the paid search industry and even made several bold predictions. […]

• Paid Search: Man Vs. Machine

  An often debated question in our industry is “Which is more important: the bid management tools used or the person who does the managing?” Sometimes the argument becomes self-serving, with artisans who manage their programs manually saying it’s all about the person, and tool providers arguing that it’s all about the algorithms, analytic power and […]

• From Clicks To Calls

  As 2010 closes, I believe we are seeing the beginning of a transformation in digital marketing: what we at Marchex call “the call economy.” Although built on the backs of established online marketing tactics, the advent of a market for leads delivered through phone calls under a performance-based model represents a massive shift in how […]

• Are You A Search Geek? You Could Win A Trip To SMX West 2011

  It’s that time of year again—and we don’t mean the holidays, NORAD Santa, or egg nog. No, it’s the official opening of the Third Annual Biggest Search Geek Contest sponsored by Marin Software. Grand prize is an Apple iPad plus a trip for two to the upcoming search marketing conference in San Jose, CA, March […]

• Bing Webmaster Tools Launches New Link Reports; Google Webmaster Tools Changes Theirs

  Bing Webmaster Tools has relaunched inbound link reports for verified site owners (as announced at SMX East back in October). I dove in to check out what the new reports include. Google has recently revamped their inbound link reports, so I made note of those changes well. Read on for more details. Want a quick summary? […]

• When OCR Goes Bad: Google’s Ngram Viewer & The F-Word

  Google launched its Google Books Ngram Viewer this week, a tool that lets you research how popular words and phrases have been over several centuries, based on their appearance in books. But can you trust it? In the case of the F-word, no — and perhaps in many other cases, as well. I read several […]

• Connecticut Attorney General Threatens Legal Action Over Google WiFi Data

  Connecticut’s outgoing Attorney General says legal action is a possibility after Google refused to turn over personal data that it’s collected via unsecured wifi networks. Richard Blumenthal tells the Wall Street Journal that he’s “disappointed” by Google’s decision not to respond to recent demands to review data that Google collected from Connecticut businesses and residences. […]

• Keywords, Text Links & Navigation Design

  What is the best approach to utilizing keywords in site navigation? Balance is the key to successful keyword placement in a search-engine friendly website.

• Yahoo, You Flubbed News About The Future Of Delicious, Not The Press

  Yesterday, like many news outlets, we saw a leaked slide that suggested that Yahoo might be closing Delicious. We didn’t publish until we had a statement from Yahoo. That statement clarified nothing. So it’s galling to have Yahoo today acting like the press got it all wrong. Yahoo “Disappointed” Over “Little Context” On the Delicious […]

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Free calling in Gmail extended through 2011, Google Talkabout

Business Issues

• Google To Invest Millions in Palestine, Bazigna! Blog
• Yahoo’s Head Of Engineering For Communication Products, An 11 Year Vet, Latest To Sign Off, TechCrunch
• Yahoo’s Layoff Bill: Up To $34 Million, paidContent.org
• Booyah!, Tony Conrad’s Photo Blog
• Exclusive: Google Poaches Paramount Executive For Content Role, paidContent.org
• Tech Revival Lifts Silicon Valley, Wall Street Journal

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Ending my silence: Yahoo! local and ‘observational journalism’, Anthony Moor Blog
• Imagery Update – Week of December 12th, Google LatLong
• Sony Optimistic About Google TV Despite Setbacks, New York Times
• When Will Google Places Fix Reviews?, Mike Blumenthal

Link Building

• 5 Link Building Predictions for 2011, Search Engine Journal
• Non-Geeky Link Building Tips for Small Business Owners, dailyseotip.com

Paid Search & Contextual

• Dive deeper with the reference documentation sidebar, AdWords API Blog

Searching

• This week in search 12/17/10, Official Google Blog

SEM Industry

• Google Sends Personalized Video Thank You To Advertisers, Search Engine Roundtable

SEO & SEM

• A 10 Day Plan to Overhaul Your PPC Campaigns, Part 2, Search Engine Watch
• A Helping Holiday Hand: Website Clinic for Non-Profits, Official Google Webmaster Central Blog
• Excel For SEOs: Manipulating URL Strings with Functions, SEOmoz
• Testing, testing: How does your SEO copywriting fare out there?, SEO Copywriting

Social Media

• Facebook Military & Congressional Gays Who Do Ask & Tell, AIM Clear Blog

Video, Music & Image Search

• Context Is King, YouTube Blog
• "Science.gov Debuts Image Search", ResourceShelf

Web Analytics

• Advanced Web Analytics Visitor Segments: Non-Flirts, Social, Long Tail, Avinash Kaushik

Other Items

• The 2010 Yahoo! online holiday card has arrived–check it out now!, Yodel Anecdotal
• The Google Rap, Boy Genius Report

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

• The Top 7 Pitfalls of Affiliate Marketing for Publishers – A list of traps to avoid for people getting into the affiliate marketing space.
• Watch out for bad neighbors in your data center – When you've read Wired's piece "FBI Defends Disruptive Raids on Texas Data Centers" you may want to check out your hosting service for "bad neighborhoods". In 2009 the feds raided two data centers and seized everything, including co-located servers.
• Thinking Out Loud: What's Driving Groupon? – John Battelle explains the power of Groupon's model. It has built a new channel into the heart of the the world's economic activity: Small businesses. And it is that channel where the true power lies.
• Facebook LikeBaiting? Is Social Rank Dying Already? – Aaron Walls take on the controversial 'Social Rank' and how he believes it will affect the social/seo world.
• Google vs Facebook in 2010 – A play by play of how the battle between Google and Facebook unfolded in 2010.
• The Decline Of Web 2.0 – Niall Harbison looks at how some of the biggest sites from the “Web 2.0 generation” are either on a massive decline, facing huge competition or about to be closed down.
• How to Get & Influence Google Sitelinks (Organic) – Since 2006 webmasters have been trying to figure out how to 'get' and optimize for organic sitelinks in Google. This post has a case study, some candid pointers, references to a patent, and links to other great authority resources in an attempt to help new SEOs figure out the sitelinks conundrum for themselves in bite-size chunks.