SearchCap: The Day In Search, December 27, 2011

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

From Search Engine Land:

• The Most ‘Liked’ Search & Social Posts Of 2011

  The social media experts who write for this column week in and week out don’t just talk – they walk the walk in social media and search marketing. In 2011, we saw interest spike in our Let’s Get Social* column as social media became a significant ranking factor in organic search results, following Danny Sullivan’s […]
• Bing’s Travel Search & Kayak Favoritism Angers No One, While Google’s Gets Headline Attention From WSJ

  Bing’s not-so-newest push into online travel hasn’t begun to roil the industry, the latest example of where if Bing does something, no one cares, but if Google does it, it’s time for a Wall Street Journal story examining the potential evilness of the move. In case you missed it, the Wall Street Journal has a […]

• 9 New Year’s Resolutions For Link Building In 2012

  Wow, it seems like only yesterday we were all obsessed with the first (of what became many) Panda updates (which was initially called the Farmer Update) from Google and the New York Times story on JC Penney’s Holiday 2010 foray into buying paid links. Oh, yeah, good times. But 2012 is now staring us in […]

• Share the Experience: Send Your Team to SMX West…and Save

  Shared knowledge, experiences, vocabulary…they’re all part of building an effective internet and search engine marketing team. And Search Marketing Expo – SMX West provides an exceptional opportunity for teams to learn and network. Choose from nearly 60 sessions covering SEO, PPC, social media marketing, local/mobile, analytics and more. See the agenda. Is your team experienced? […]

• Digital Marketing Trends To Watch Out For In 2012

  As you put the finishing touches on 2012 budgets and plans, it’s important to build a point of view on the future. While it’s impossible to predict what will happen or when, running through a few what-if scenarios makes you more prepared for changes as they come. In this column, we’ll highlight some of the […]

• SEO Considerations For Google Mobile Search In 2012

  Mobile search has never been just one result type. It provides different results and presentation formats, depending on whether the search query is from a feature phone, smartphone or tablet. Google has just announced a specially designated crawler for smartphones apart from what it uses currently for feature phones, which foreshadows a deeper divergence of […]

• Canonical Form: The Hidden Keywords In Paid Search

  In this post, let’s look at the Canonical Form that Search Engines use behind the scenes when matching our paid keywords to actual user queries. What is it? Why do they do it? So what? Or, more importantly, how can we use it to our advantage? We will answer each of those in turn. First […]

• Mobile: The Ghost Of Future Local SMB Marketing

  “If I could work my will, every idiot who goes about with ‘Local Online Marketing” on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart. He should!” – Ebenezer Scrooge Tis the season to contemplate the future of the local Web marketing for small businesses […]

• Where’s Santa Claus? The 2011 Santa Tracker List, From NORAD To Your Phone!

  It’s Christmas Eve! Santa Claus is on his annual trip of delivering presents to good little boys and girls around the world. Time also for our annual tradition, telling you how to track Santa using the internet, by smartphone and even through good old-fashioned voice telephone calls. NORAD: One-Stop Shopping For Santa Tracking This is […]

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

• Infographic: All Visitors Aren’t Alike, So Why Target Them That Way?
• Google+ Holiday Commercials With The Muppets
• Stumbling Through 2011: The Year According To StumbleUpon
• Social Media Marketing Of The Future
• A Look Back At 2011: We’re Wrong About Data
• Siri Can’t Find Santa Claus, But Android Can

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Google Books for Chrome gets offline support, one less excuse for not reading the ‘classics’, Engadget

Business Issues

• Google tries to kick Authors Guild out of court in book case, Ars Technica
• Three reasons Microsoft’s Bing will gain ground against Google in 2012, Computerworld Blogs
• Google Doesn’t Have to Filter Sites for Violations, Courthouse News Service
• Why Google Just Can’t Quit the Muppets, StevenLevy.com

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Study: Apple’s iPhone, iPad account for 90 percent of mobile purchases, gigaom.com
• Foursquare’s Dennis Crowley talks of check-ins, San Francisco Chronicle
• Holiday Drives Apple Higher; Android Leads in More Countries, Localytics
• iOS & Android Shatter Records on Christmas Day, blog.flurry.com

Link Building

• How to Get Links from Customers & Vendors, Search Engine People
• Tricks To Personalize Link Requests: Whois + LinkedIn + Bing/Google + Company Data, seoroi.com

Searching

• Using Google’s Data to Sell Thermometers to Mothers, New York Times
• Google News Weird Taylor Swift Bug, Search Engine Roundtable

SEM Industry

• Googlers Helping Webmasters On Christmas Again, Search Engine Roundtable
• Shalom #SMX Jerusalem! Search, Connection & Belonging, AIM Clear Blog
• Conferences and Events – Best of Search Conferences 2011: The Agenda, BruceClay.com
• SearchFest 2012 Mini-Interview: Marty Weintraub, sempdx.org

SEO & SEM

• Merry Christmas Rich Snippet, thenextcorner.net
• Google Webmaster Tools API Different From Web Interface?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Google: XML Sitemaps Not Necessary For Small Web Sites, Search Engine Roundtable
• Grassroots SEO – Strategy, Process & Life Cycle, SEOmoz
• Looking Back on the Year of the Panda: Google Algorithm Changes, Techipedia
• Search & Mobile Marketing Trends: SEO Apocalypse 2012, Search Engine Watch
• The Potential Pitfalls of Competitor Analysis, distilled

Social Media

• How Social Affects Search, WhiteFireSEO
• Social Media Marketing Misconceptions [stats, Search Engine People | Toronto