SearchCap: The Day In Search, December 5, 2008

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Why User Experience Is A Crucial Part Of Good SEO Have you ever heard a search engine optimization (SEO) professional use the term user experience during a presentation, in an article […]

on December 5, 2008 at 2:52 pm | Reading time: 6 minutes
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Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.

From Search Engine Land:

  • Why User Experience Is A Crucial Part Of Good SEO
    Have you ever heard a search engine optimization (SEO) professional use the term user experience during a presentation, in an article or as part of a sales pitch? On the web, user experience (commonly abbreviated as UX or UE) is a term used to describe the overall perception, experience, and satisfaction that users have as a result of their interactions with a website. Search engine optimization is all about the user experience, because the idea behind SEO is to get users to their desired information and destination(s) as quickly and easily as possible by using the users’ language (keywords). Searchers type in keywords at a commercial web search engine. Searchers’ expectations are validated in search results pages and, hopefully, after they click on links within those search results…a perfect, seamless user experience.  On the surface, an SEO professional’s presumed knowledge of user experience might sound impressive. However, if you do a little digging, you might discover that search professionals have their own preconceived notions as to what constitutes a positive user experience, notions that have little or nothing to do with users at all.
  • Dear Santa, All I Want For Christmas Is A SEM Super Tool
    In today’s In the Trenches column, Josh Dreller puts together a wishlist of features for the perfect SEM tool, an all in one tool that takes the best components of currently available tools.
  • Search In Pictures: Yahoo Breakdancing, Ask.com Indoor Paintball & Coldplay Rocking
  • Google Cancelled Yahoo Search Deal To Avoid “Monopoly” Designation
    Fearing a protracted legal battle, damage to its reputation/brand and perhaps even to its stock price, Google abruptly pulled out of the proposed Yahoo paid search deal. It was revealed at the time that the US Justice Department was planning to file an action against the deal. Now in an interview in AmLaw Daily, the attorney spearheading the potential case against Google, Sanford Litvack discusses what happened.
  • Google Reader Gets Cleaner, So Does iPhone Version
    Yesterday, Google Reader team announced that they have released a cleaner and fresher look to Google Reader. The change incorporates a less blueish color scheme and a more whitish scheme. Google has consolidated some of the features, added collapsible navigational links on the left and rounded some of the corners. But to my surprise, the whitish color scheme is not just available on the main Google Reader, it has been ported to the iPhone version.
  • Google Webmaster Tools Adds Settings Section & Enhances Crawl Rate Controls
    The Google Webmaster team announced three main things at their blog over the past day or so. The first we covered, was the new Google help discussions area. The second was adding a new settings link in webmaster tools to consolidate some features. The third item is enhancements to controlling your crawl rate. Let me take you through the last two in more detail.
  • Live Search Discusses Good & Bad Links
    Jeremiah Andrick from the Microsoft Live Search team has written a detailed blog post named Getting the right kind of links. In this blog post, Jeremiah explains the issues Microsoft sees with link exchanges and then gives tips on how to get “the right kind of links.” Those tips include to be the “subject matter expert” in your field, give stuff away as a “free service,” work closely with “industry or professional associations” to get links from their pages, and leverage Social Media. If you are in a linking drought, check out that post and also read through …
  • Google Webmaster Help Group: Version 2
    Today, Google relaunched several of their help forums, moving them from Google Groups to a new help-specific platform. The English and Polish Google Webmaster Help group have made the move to this new format, with the other languages soon to follow. Below, more details about how this change will benefit site owners and a bit of history about the start and evolution of the Google Webmaster Help group.
  • Yahoo Upgrades Flickr Mobile; Google Upgrades Picasa
    Photo search took a couple steps forward today with announcements from both Yahoo and Google. The news from Yahoo is a mobile makeover of its Flickr photo sharing site, while Google announced a variety of improvements to its Picasa photo service. Here’s a look at the two announcements:
  • Dr. Qi Lu Named To Run Microsoft’s Online Services Group; McAndrews Departs
    The rumor becomes reality. Microsoft has named Dr. Qi Lu, formerly of Yahoo, to run its Online Services Group. And Brian McAndrews, as AllThingsD highlights, is leaving Microsoft. More details in the release below:

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About the author

Barry Schwartz
Staff
Barry Schwartz is 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 can be followed on Twitter here.

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