SearchCap: The Day In Search, January 12, 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 Docs Adds Files Storage, AKA GDrive
The Google Docs blog announced a new feature that allows you to upload files and share those files with friends, co-workers and colleagues. Google is limiting the file upload to 250 MB per file, with a maximum total of 1 GB of free storage. Of course, you can always buy more storage at […]
- Bing Adds More Health Data To Search
Bing announced that they have added new content partners for health and medical related queries. The health related queries are related to sicknesses, medicine, medical facilities, in addition to more generic health and fitness related queries.
Here are some screen shots of queries that show off the new content at Bing.Many of the […]
- Google Book Scanning Faces Chinese Challenges
Google issued an apology to Chinese authors, according to China Daily, for scanning their books without permission. Google has also been sued in China for copyright infringement in connection with unauthorized book scanning. Meanwhile the amended US Book Scanning litigation settlement still awaits final court approval.
There are several private Chinese groups that seek apologies and […] - Google Hires Ex-McCain Spokesperson For Top Communications Job
The Wall Street Journal and Reuters are reporting that Google has hired Jill Hazelbaker to replace Matt Furman as head of corporate communications. Most recently Hazelbaker worked for New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg during his successful re-election campaign.
Google has historically hired people with Washington experience, but bringing on Hazelbaker may anticipate a somewhat more […] - Proposed UK Law Would Immunize Search Engines Against Copyright Claims
There’s been enormous debate in the US over the years about whether Google and other search engines violate copyright laws by indexing content of various sorts. The Google book scanning litigation was a copyright lawsuit. And the newspaper industry has repeatedly accused Google of building its news site on the back of their copyrighted material. […]
- Baidu Hacked By Iranian Cyber Army
Reuters reports that China’s popular search engine, Baidu, was hacked for about four hours by the Iranian Cyber Army. Baidu sent Reuters a statement on the hack:
This morning, Baidu’s domain name registration in the United States was tampered with, leading to inaccessibility.
Here is a picture of the hack from @mranti:This is the same group […]
- 11 Months Later, Google Removes Google Japan’s PageRank Penalty
On February 11, 2009, we reported Google penalized Google Japan for selling links. It resulted in Google.jp having their toolbar PageRank score drop from a 9 to a 5. Shaun Anderson noticed today that Google.jp now returns a toolbar PageRank score of 8. He said prior to December 31st, it was still […]
- Netconcepts Acquired By Covario
Netconcepts, a Wisconsin-based SEO company, has been acquired by San Diego’s Covario, Inc. Many of you know the name Stephan Spencer, he is the Founder and President of Netconcepts. Wanted to wish Stephan and the whole Netconcepts team a huge congrats from us.
Here are some quotes from the press release:
“With the acquisition of Netconcepts […] - Link Building With Interviews: How Thought Leadership Builds Links & Leads
In 2009 we found that visitors from our two blog interviews converted to inquiries 3X more than visitors from our SEL articles. We also discovered, in the link building query group interview we conducted with 21 link builders, the “share-power” that interviews can have. That piece received 443 tweets, 238 Delicious saves and over 4k […]
- VigLink: Fire & Forget Solution To Turn Outbound Links Into Affiliate Earners
VigLink is a new service with venture capital backing from Google that aims to make it easy for publishers to earn through affiliate programs. It promises to turn any outbound link on a web site into an affiliate link after the installation of a small bit of JavaScript code.
VigLink is in the news today primarily […] - Social Media Power Profiles: Is Google In Your Mix?
Building up an authoritative status on social media profiles is a very important element that users spend hours doing daily. Usually it’s with some of the most popular social communities like Digg, Flickr, YouTube, Facebook, etc. How many social media enthusiasts and search marketers actually stop to consider their Google profiles though?
When I discuss […]
- How To Use Google Analytics To Maximize B2B ROI: Part II
Previously, I covered the basic steps involved in setting up a Google Analytics account. In this column, I’ll focus on four GA reports to help you better manage your PPC campaigns.
If you are like most search marketers, you’ve often wished for more insight into your campaigns than what AdWords alone can provide. You may also […] - Is Facebook A Global Threat To Google?
Does Facebook pose a threat today or in the future to Google by swallowing advertising dollars – and will the inclusion of web search speed that process? Google and Facebook actually many historical similarities – including the shape of their global roll outs.
- German Govt. Says Google Becoming ‘Giant Monopoly’
Germany’s justice minister has shot a bow at Google, saying that the company is becoming a “giant monopoly” and threatening government action if it doesn’t become more transparent.
According to a Reuters report over the weekend, Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger shared her concerns about products like Google Earth and Google Books with the German magazine Der Spiegel:
[…] - 7 Ways To Conquer Natural Search When Google & Bing Face Off In 2010
7 Ways To Conquer Natural Search When Google & Bing Face Off In 2010
When it comes to search marketing, the Big Three is about to become the Big Two.
The deal heard round the world this past July comes to fruition in 2010—and the much-anticipated partnership between Microsoft and Yahoo! will have significant implications for search […]
Search News From Around The Web:
Business Issues
- AOL ‘Significantly Reducing UK Staff’; Closing Sweden, Spain, Germany, Paris, paidContent.org
- Confirmed: Yahoo Sells Zimbra To VMWare, paidContent.org
- Friendster Strikes Deal With Yahoo Southeast Asia, TechCrunch
- Google lists job with a Star Trek-like mission, www.computerworld.com
- Yahoo is the Online Version of the Paper Box Manufacturer, Marksonland
Local, Maps & Mobile
- Google Plans to Upgrade Old Billboards in Street View, Read/Write Web
- MapQuest and Send to SYNC from Ford, MapQuest Blog
- Mucho Cool for iPhone Users from OCLC! RedLaser iPhone app and WorldCat, Find Books in Local Libraries, ResourceShelf
- Why Did Google Build a Phone and a Browser?, Design By Gravity
- Yell Introduces New Maps, Screenwerk
Link Building
Paid Search & Contextual
- Google AdWords Refund Bug for Pre-Pay Advertisers, Search Engine Roundtable
- Navigating Your Way to Better Quality, Yahoo! Search Marketing Blog
Searching
- Cars Cars Cars…Bing Bing Bing, Bing Search Blog
- Google Flu Trends in 121 U.S. cities, Official Google Blog
- New from GPO: XML Version of Code of Federal Regulations, ResourceShelf
- Red-Carpet Baby Names, Wolfram|Alpha Blog
SEM Industry
SEO & SEM
- Cleaning up the SEO Cesspool, Search Engine Journal
- Creating Good Localized Copy, Without Much Hassle, Search Engine Guide
- Google Adding Favicons to Webmaster Tools Site List?, Search Engine Roundtable
- Google Webmaster Tools Sends Out Google Ad Planner Ad?, Search Engine Roundtable
- How to Predict Traffic from Google, Search Engine Journal
Social Media
- Google Brings Friend Connect, Social Features to Drupal & Joomla, Read/Write Web
- Google’s Approach to Social for 2010, gigaom.com
- Replying to Comments through Email, Facebook
Video, Music & Image Search
- Google SafeSearch May Block Graphic Dental & Surgery Images, Search Engine Roundtable
- Subscriptions Enhanced With Bulletins, Progress Bar & Ability to Remove Videos, YouTube Biz Blog
Other Items
- 2009 Word of the Year is “tweet”; Word of the Decade is “google”, American Dialect Society
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