SearchCap: The Day In Search, February 17, 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:

• Google Congratulates Watson On Twitter; IBM Says Thanks

  Among those watching IBM’s Watson win Jeopardy last night were folks at Google, which just tweeted congrats over to IBM. In response, IBM has said thanks. Ah, sweet. The Google tweet: The IBM response: For more about the Jeopardy match involving Watson, see our post from yesterday: Could Google Play Jeopardy Like IBM’s Watson?
• Redesigned Bing Bar Toolbar More Like A “Dashboard”

  Bing is introducing a totally redesigned version of its toolbar, called the “Bing Bar.” Apparently it has been “rebuilt from the ground up,” says Microsoft’s Stefan Weitz. Indeed, it operates more like a kind of “dashboard” than a conventional toolbar with links to various sites. And yes, the Bing Rewards loyalty program is still in […]

• Exceptional Content, Invaluable Networking – Customize Your Experience at SMX West

  Search Marketing Expo – SMX West kicks off March 8 at the San Jose Convention Center in the heart of Silicon Valley. With more than 60 educational sessions and keynotes, multiple networking activities and presentations from leading solutions providers, you’ll leave a more informed, effective and inspired internet marketer. SMX West offers flexible pass options […]

• Deconstructing Microsoft AdCenter’s Missed Opportunities

  I recently had an interesting conversation with Microsoft adCenter support which left me feeling sad about how Microsoft is missing out on opportunities to expand their market share in search advertising. Let me start by saying, I’m a fan of adCenter because it provides high quality traffic and a solid return on investment for many […]

• Listen Up, Small Businesses: Your Customers Are Telling You Something

  Last week’s inaugural Conversational Commerce Conference (C3) was dedicated to bringing together relevant groups and influencers to discuss the growing connection between marketing and customer service. Core to this discussion was the rapid adoption of social media and mobile Internet-enabled devices, and how these trends are being leveraged by businesses both large and small, to […]

• Presidential Hopeful Rick Santorum Stymied By Search Problem

  As former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum sets his sights on the White House, he has a lot of awareness-raising to do, and he desperately needs some help with search, a Roll Call piece this week shows. Currently, when you search for Santorum, the first result is a blog apparently started by gay syndicated sex columnist […]

• Google’s Search Results Get More Social; Twitter As The New Facebook “Like”

  Your friends’ activity on Twitter, Flickr and elsewhere — but for now, not Facebook — will soon be a lot more visible in Google’s search results, including having an impact on how pages rank. Google has announced an expansion of its Google Social Search results that’s beginning to roll out today on Google.com. Here’s a […]

• Once Condemned Google Now Hailed By Publishers For “One Pass”

  Earlier this week Apple introduced its long-awaited in-app subscription service for publishers. As part of that arrangement Apple wants its standard 30 percent cut of iTunes/app revenue. However it threw a bone to publishers by allowing all revenue from subscriptions initiated outside the iTunes environment to be kept by publishers. Many publishers are now angry that […]

• Official: More Are Seeing Google’s New Navigation Bar

  A week ago, we reported on a new top navigation bar Google began testing. Now it’s official. Google tells Search Engine Land that the new navigation bar is being rolled out to everyone.Google told us: Last week we tested a new top navigation bar, which increases consistency across most of Google’s properties and is a […]

• Automated Rules For AdWords Released For All Accounts

  Set it and forget it AdWords? Um, no. But Google announced changes today to roll out its AdWords automated rules, in limited release since December, which it says will help make things just a little less manual. Maybe you could even take a day off. Automated rules let advertisers set up certain actions — pausing […]

• Could Google Play Jeopardy Like IBM’s Watson?

  Like many people, I was amazed to watch IBM’s Watson supercomputer playing Jeopardy this week against past human champions. But could Google have done the same thing? Let’s go behind the scenes of these two search masters to understand what they can — and can’t — do. Which Clue Should I Take? Watson has been […]

• After Google Warning, Forbes Comes Oh So Close To Cleaning Up Its Paid Links

  What do you do if Google warns you about a violation of its paid links policy and you can’t find any such links on your web site? If you’re a small webmaster you might go to Google’s Webmaster Help forums and ask for help. But if you’re part of the website team at a major […]

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Updates to the Google Reader app for Android, Official Google Reader Blog

Business Issues

• Google to Buy Dublin Office Building, Wall Street Journal
• Is Yahoo Getting Close to Selling Its Lucrative Yahoo Japan Shares?, TechCrunch
• Steve Jobs, Eric Schmidt and Mark Zuckerberg to Meet With President Obama Thursday in San Francisco, Political Punch

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Google Places Bug Alert: Your Name No Longer Exists, Mike Blumenthal
• More Details On Google Places Hotel Booking Feature, Mike Blumenthal

Link Building

• Paid Links SEO: A solution for Google’s Paid Links problem, hugoguzman.com
• Poll: Can You Pay For Links & Never Get Caught?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Turn Stolen Copy Lemons Into Link Lemonade, The Link Spiel

Paid Search & Contextual

• Google AdWords: Below First Page Bid Amounts Missing, Search Engine Roundtable

SEO & SEM

• Is there any advice that you want to change from what you’ve said in the past?, YouTube
• More Ways a Search Engine Might Identify Synonyms to Expand Queries With, SEO By The Sea
• 12 Questions to Ask When Performing SEO Keyword Research, KoMarketing Associates
• 4 Point Local Listings List, Search Engine People
• Evidence Google is Ignoring the Title Tag, SEO.com
• Implementing In-House SEO: What You Need to Succeed, BruceClay.com
• Is Your Search Firm’s Hat White, Black or a Shade of Gray?, Ad Age
• SEOs Concerned With IPv6 Compatibility, Search Engine Roundtable
• What It Takes To Be an Independent Search Marketer, SEOmoz
• Worried What Your SEO Guys Are Up To? BrightEdge Will Tell You, TechCrunch

Social Media

• How to Salvage a Taken Twitter Name, directmatchmedia.com
• Twitter Releases YouTube Video Guide on How to Buy Ads on Service, AllThingsD

Video, Music & Image Search

• YouTube Offering Millions for Celebrity-Created Content, nymag.com

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

• A Tweet's Effect On Rankings – An Unexpected Case Study – A case study on tweets as a ranking and citation source.  >>>  Last Monday while I was checking the morning tweets, I noticed a ton of tweets about our Beginner's Guide to SEO. It didn't take long to realize that Smashing Magazine had tweeted about it and the retweets were seriously rolling in.
• 10 Facebook Page Upgrades We “Like” – Highlights of the new Facebook Page upgrades. The changes open up new ways for administrators to manage and market their pages. Good stuff here!
• How To Use Param1 and Param2 in AdCenter to Customize Paid Search Ads [Tutorial] – A step by step tutorial for how to use params in AdCenter to customize paid search ads. Params are unique to AdCenter and can help search marketers provide the most relevant ad text possible, while also driving users to custom landing pages.
• Appsumo Reveals its A/B Testing Secret: Only 1 Out of 8 Tests Produce Results – A nice reminder that you are not alone in failing 7 out of 8 times as not not all split tests will be positive.  >>>  Only 1 out of 8 A/B tests have driven significant change AppSumo.com reaches around 5,000 visitors a day. A/B testing has given us some dramatic gains such as increasing our email conversion over 5x and doubling our purchase conversion rate.
• How does Google handle reviews and sentiment? – David Harry digs in yet again and examines how Google handles reviews (and sentiment.)
• Forbes Busted For Selling Links by Google – JC Penny and now Forbes…AGAIN! I personally feel Google is outing a few big dogs to validate they actually are trying to fight SPAM more effectively and serve as a warning to small guys that no one is safe. To bad their alog cant handle this on its own.
• SEO Confessions of a Former “Dirty Little Secret” Keeper – Marty Weintraub shares how he used to game the search engines…back in the good ol' days :.)