SearchCap: The Day In Search, January 12, 2012

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

From Search Engine Land:

• To Understand Google Favoritism, Think “If Google+ Were YouTube”

  Google’s favoritism of Google+ in its new Search Plus results is just the latest in the line of favoritism it has done with vertical search? It’s not, because Google hasn’t really favored itself with vertical search. It is favoring itself with Google+, and that’s why things are so disturbing. Vertical Search Is What Search Engines […]

• Foursquare Launches “Personalized Search For The Real World”

  Foursquare is introducing what it calls “personalized search for the real world” on its recently redesigned website. What that means as a practical matter is the introduction of the “Explore” feature, better keyword search and several new filters that enable users to drill down in search results. We can now, without hesitation, now call Foursquare […]
• Google Swallows Hard, Renews Effort In China

  Google has had a tumultuous and ambivalent relationship with China, reflecting an internal debate about the importance of the vast market to Google’s future revenues and the compromises involved in operating there. Yet the literal and figurative bottom line is that it’s all but impossible for a US public company to resist the lure of […]

• Big Chains Launch “Hulu For Hotels”

  Several major hotel chains have launched what might be described as “Hulu for hotels,” a new travel search site called Roomkey. According to Tnooz, the consortium includes Choice Hotels, Hilton, Hyatt, InterContinental, Marriott and Wyndham Hotels. Starwood, operator of Sheraton and W hotels, is not among them. Hotels have been struggling for years to get […]

• Google Search App For Android Updated

  Google announced on the Google Mobile Blog that they have updated the Google Search App for Android. The new update makes it easier and faster for searchers to use. The new additions include: New color scheme and simplified UI Faster Enhanced suggestions and query editing Better localized suggestions and search results for more countries Long […]

• 5 Tips For Optimal Mobile Site Indexing

  It’s probably a sign of the times, but lately I have been fielding a lot of questions regarding SEO for mobile websites. Because there are so many ways to build a mobile site and because there are such a variety of mobile devices, one area that really piques my interest is mobile site indexing. There […]

• SearchWeek: January 9, 2012

  Search Week is an exclusive weekly newsletter for Search Engine Land premium members that recaps stories covered on Search Engine Land over the past week. Below are top stories organized by topic that happened over the past week. Each topic (or Search Engine Land column) is also a link, where you can click through and […]

• Google “Search Plus” Impact on Local: Limited So Far

  Amid all the controversy that has erupted over Google’s new search personalization (Search Plus Your World), I’ve been doing local searches to see what if any impact it’s having on that arena. So far, in my unscientific query survey, the impact seems to be minor. Below are some examples where I toggle between personalized and […]

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

• Privacy Watchdog EPIC Asks Federal Trade Commission To Investigate Google
• Create A Mobile App And Increase Your Visibility
• Satisfaction Lower With Mobile Than PC Websites, May Impact Brand Perception
• Schmidt On CES: “There’s Always Android Products That We Don’t Know About”
• 8 Things I Hope Are On Twitter’s 2012 To-Do List
• What You Need To Know About The New Top Level Domains

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Blogger Adds Threaded Comments, Google Operating System
• Improvements to the Gmail offline Chrome app, Official Gmail Blog

Business Issues

• Google appoints Diane B. Greene to its Board of Directors, Google

Link Building

• Broken Link Building for Content Promotion, Search Engine Watch
• How Googlers Respond To Link Exchange Requests, Search Engine Roundtable
• How to use OpenApps, Majestic SEO Blog
• Look at everything with link building eyes, linkspiel.com

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Hotel giants come together to launch Room Key search site, tnooz.com

Other Items

• Ask your question in the 2012 Google Science Fair, Official Google Blog
• Lights, Camera, Action: Experience The Sundance Film Festival with Bing, www.bing.com

Paid Search & Contextual

• AdSense Management API and Chart Tools week: Thursday, Google Ads Developer Blog
• AdWords, DFA and DFP Client Library Updates, googleadsdeveloper.blogspot.com

Searching

• EPA Releases Comprehensive Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Online Database and Dataset Available, infodocket.com
• Google Search+ – You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink, www.holisticsearch.co.uk
• New Test Results: Google Rewires Search with Personal Touches, Read/Write Web
• Candidate searches in South Carolina, googlepolitics.blogspot.com
• Google’s Black Navigation Bar Is Back, Google Operating System
• Google’s new social search: How far can you trust it?, VentureBeat
• Understanding Tangets and Normals with Wolfram|Alpha, Wolfram|Alpha Blog
• When Search & Social Act Like Children, Users Lose, Outspoken Media

SEM Industry

• Goodbye To An Old Friend: Marketplace, SEOmoz
• Search Industry Call to Arms: SOPA, Keyword Not Provided and Lying SEOs, Search Engine Watch

SEO & SEM

• 5 Reasons Why You Need to Use Rel=Author on Your Content, HighRankings Forums
• Better page titles in search results, Official Google Webmaster Central Blog
• Does the New “Freshness” Update Mean an SEO Strategy Rework?, dailyseotip.com
• Heading Elements and the Folly of SEO Expert Ranking Lists, SEO By The Sea
• Open Source Ecommerce Platforms – No Such Thing as A Free Dinner, www.stateofsearch.com
• Ring in the New Year with New Moz Features!, SEOmoz
• SEO website review re-visited, Search Engine People
• Supercharging Your Video Strategy, seogadget.co.uk
• The Importance of Negative Keywords, PPC Hero
• Three Ways a Test Crawl Could Uncover Hidden SEO Dangers, Search Engine Journal
• What Signals Are Google Sending About Image Search?, SEOptimise

Social Media

• Using Social Media Releases to Spark Online Engagement, Vertical Measures

Video, Music & Image Search

• Google Plus Infused Search Doesn’t Extend To Google Video Search, www.reelseo.com
• The New SEO: Video, blah-the-blog.socialdesignstudios.com
• YouTube aims to seize Web video growth with Hollywood content, ces.cnet.com