SearchCap: The Day In Search, February 25, 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 Forecloses On Content Farms With “Farmer” Algorithm Update

  In January, Google promised that it would take action against content farms that were gaining top listings with “shallow” or “low-quality” content. Now the company is delivering, announcing a change to its ranking algorithm designed take out such material. New Change Impacts 12% Of US Results The new algorithm — Google’s “recipe” for how to […]
• OneRiot Brings Social Targeting to Mobile Device

  Social ad network OneRiot is introducing the ability to target mobile audiences by interests, demographics and influence on its ad network of Twitter clients. The company produces an influence score for individuals and organizes them into buckets based on several targeting variables. Advertisers can then buy audiences according to those groupings. In a case study […]

• Designed To Fail: Why Many Tests Give You Meaningless Results

  You built out your new ad copy, tested out a bidding strategy, measured web and store sales to measure the online to offline effect; however, in the end you got the worst outcome possible – inconclusive results. A negative result would have been better; at least you would have known that your hypothesis was wrong […]

• Report: Google Negotiating With DOJ To Prevent Suit To Block ITA Deal

  Politico is reporting, as have other outlets, that Google and the Justice Department (DOJ) are now negotiating intensely in the waning days of its investigation into the anti-trust implications of Google’s potential acquisition of travel software company ITA. According to the Politico article: The Justice Department has made it clear to Google that it’s willing […]

• Demand: Google Changes Have Produced “No Material Impact” Yet

  Last night, Google released the Farmer Update, which was Google’s response to improving the quality of the search results, particularly removing sites “which are low-value add for users, copy content from other websites or sites that are just not very useful.” Many suspect that this was aimed at “content farms” and some labeled properties from […]

• How To & When To Use Google Ad Extensions: Phone & Local Extensions

  Over the last year or so, Google has been steadily adding features to the AdWords interface that on the surface seem wonderful, unless managing and learning AdWords isn’t your full time job. It seems like just keeping up with what remains and what is gone and how to work the new stuff is a 40+ […]

• Interview With Hampus Jakobbson Part II: Plugging Into The Grid

  In part one of my interview with Hampus Jakobbson, TAT Co-Founder and now Strategic Alliances EMEA at Research in Motion, we talked about user experiences designed for Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants. As we continued to chat, we went into some fascinating territory that is literally right out of science fiction. TAT (short for The […]

• Google’s Mobile Search Adds “Open Now” Filter

  When you’re on the move, there’s often no sense finding local businesses that are closed. That’s the impetus behind a new feature that Google has added to the iPhone and Android-powered devices: a tool to filter results that are open now. After doing a search, the new “Show only businesses open now” filter shows up […]

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Google Toolbar Explains Toolbar as Identity Tool, Not "Google 1", Read/Write Web

Business Issues

• Myspace to Open Books to Prospective Buyers, Wall Street Journal
• On hiring spree, Google expands in Seattle and Kirkland, Seattle Times Newspaper

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Imagery Update – Week of January 24th, Google LatLong
• New Google Places Review Bug, Mike Blumenthal

Link Building

• Outreach for Linkbuilding – Whiteboard Friday, SEOmoz

Paid Search & Contextual

• Announcing the next AdWords API Workshops in March, AdWords API Blog

Searching

• Discover the new LinkedIn Company Search, The LinkedIn Blog
• Google drops reverse phone number lookup, Google Blogoscoped
• New Features for Students of Complex Analysis, Wolfram|Alpha Blog
• Testing Google’s New Algorithm: It Really Is Better, The Atlantic
• Yahoo! Scientists Explore the “Three Dimensions of Search”, Yahoo Search Blog

SEO & SEM

• Free Excel Template For Optimal PPC Keyword Organization, Search Engine People
• Improve Your Organic Rankings With Google Places, Part 1, Search Engine Watch

Social Media

• 6 Things NOT to Do On Facebook As a Brand, outspokenmedia.com
• Apple Reveals "Places" – A Social Networking Related Trademark, Patently Apple
• Facebook Acq-Hires Career Recruiting Service Pursuit, TechCrunch
• REPORT: Facebook Profiles Are Now Part Of 80% Colleges’ Admissions Outreach, All Facebook

Video, Music & Image Search

• Apple, Google and Spotify race to music market, FT.com
• Google face search to use social network photos, Computerworld Blogs
• Google Video’s Strange Disclaimer, Google Operating System
• Hit Fast-forward: Goole eyes UK launch of YouTube movie service, NYPOST.com

Web Analytics

• Mastering Unique Visitors in the API, Google Analytics Blog

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

• Google Penalizes Overstock for Search Tactics – Google Inc. is penalizing Overstock.com Inc. in its search results after the retailer ran afoul of Google policies that prohibit companies from artificially boosting their ranking in the Internet giant's search engine.
• Google Forecloses On Content Farms With “Farmer” Algorithm Update – In January, Google promised that it would take action against content farms that were gaining top listings with “shallow” or “low-quality” content. Now the company is delivering, announcing a change to its ranking algorithm designed take out such material.