SearchCap: The Day In Search, January 14, 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:

• Shashi Seth Now At Yahoo From AOL, Cooliris & Google

  Yahoo announced that they named Shashi Seth as the new Senior Vice President of the Yahoo Search Products team. Shashi Seth will be managing Yahoo’s Search team and all things related to Yahoo Search. Of course, in the wake of the Microsoft deal – exactly what his role will be if/when that deal […]

• Google Integrates “Real-Time” Messages Into Place Pages, Makes BlackBerry Mobile App More Useful

  Taking a page from Facebook or Twitter, Google is putting a bit of real-time functionality on local business Place Pages. Google is promoting the idea that small businesses can use their Place Pages to promote time-sensitive (real-time) events. Here’s the Google LatLong blog discussion of how they envision its use:
  Holding a special event today? Want […]

• Experian Hitwise: Google Passes 72% U.S. Market Share

  Google surpassed 72% U.S. market share in December according to the latest numbers from Experian Hitwise. For Google, that represents a slight gain over November’s share of all U.S. searches. Yahoo, Bing, and Ask.com all saw their search share drop from November to December.

  In a separate blog post, Hitwise’s Bill Tancer says Bing’s search “success […]

• Small Business Keywords On Google Maps

  In a previous column, we saw that about 20% of Orlando businesses show up on Google Maps’ first search engine results page (SERP) for at least one local keyword, and that 61% showed up in one of the first 50 SERPs. These figures surprised many, as they imply that one in five local businesses is […]

• Tracking Your SEO Success With Charts

  With how much information SEO’s have available to them, it is easy to get lost in analysis paralysis. The opportunities are virtually endless. The only limits are time and capital. And markets keep shifting.
  Given that, sometimes seeing a visual abstract of the market can help you better understand your market position (or at least allow […]

• Yahoo Adds Network Distribution & Improved Importing To Search Ads

  After about a quarter of Yahoo Search Marketing not announcing any major product updates, Yahoo has announced two new features to the search ad product. The first feature is named Network Distribution and allows advertisers to select if they want to advertiser on Yahoo’s entire network or if they want to advertise just on […]

• Chinese Gov’t Offers Bland Statement On Google, Google.cn Employees Given Indefinite Holiday

  It’s an open secret that the Chinese government and related Chinese companies conduct espionage against Western governments and companies operating both in and outside China. The Google GMail attacks represent a kind of “last straw” scenario. And it’s all but certain that this episode was either initiated by the government or done with government knowledge […]

• 100 Day Reminder: AdWords API v13 Sunsetting

  The Google AdWords API blog posted another warning that on April 22, 2010 there will be a major sunsetting of the version 13 API features.
  As of April 22, 2010, the following v13 services will no longer be accessible:

  CampaignService AdGroupService CriterionService AdService InfoService KeywordToolService SiteSuggestionService

  However, the AccountService, TrafficEstimatorService, and ReportService will remain available until they replace it with v200909.

• The Five Most Frequently Asked Questions About Paid Search

  There are many frequently asked questions lists floating around the web for paid search. Here are the five most common questions that will help you understand this powerful advertising medium better.
  What’s the difference between organic and paid results?
  On a search engine results page (SERP), the organic (also called natural) results are determined by the […]

• After The Hack, Should I Still Trust Google & The Cloud With My Data?

  Over the past year, I’ve moved more and more of my data over to the cloud — in particular, to being stored with Google. I’m rethinking that, in the wake of Google’s statement that it was the target of a sophisticated hacking attack. Further, I’m wondering if this entire episode — GoogleHack, for want of […]

• Baidu: The Official Google Blog You Seek Does Not Exist (& Don’t Even Try Looking For It)

  Looking for the official Google blog post about Google deciding to to leave China over censorship? Don’t try finding it on China’s leading search engine, Baidu. It doesn’t appear to exist.
  Google’s post was titled “A new approach to China.” A good search engine, at least the American-based ones that I’m familiar with, will generally find […]

• Online/Offline Integration: 5 Tips For Strengthening Your Brand Experience

  With another holiday season behind us, retailers are busy crunching sales data to measure success and year over year revenue. However, this is also a good time to assess your company’s brand experience. And if yours needs improvement, integrating offline and online marketing can help.
  How integration strengthens your brand
  Integrating your offline and online marketing efforts […]

• Nominations For 2010 SEMMY Awards

  Our very own Matt McGee announced the nominations for the 2010 SEMMY awards is now live. Respected judges in the SEM industry will vote on articles from 17 categories. The articles that win the judges votes will then move to the next stage of the awards contest, where general public voting will be […]

Search News From Around The Web:

Business Issues

• AP, Yahoo Near Deal on Content Use, Wall Street Journal
• Sue James Elected to Yahoo!’s Board of Directors, Yahoo Press Releases

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Cool! MedlinePlus Goes Mobile, ResourceShelf
• Google Local Business Listings are Being Hijacked Again, Search Engine Guide
• Google Maps partners with eFax to Promote Local Business Center, Mike Blumenthal
• USA Today Mashup: Earthquakes With 1,000 or More Deaths Since 1900, ResourceShelf
• Your Business & Yelp In 2010, Search Engine Journal

Link Building

• Link Building in 2010, Search Engine War

Paid Search & Contextual

• If Microsoft / Yahoo Deal Goes Through: adCenter Will Replace Yahoo Search Marketing, Search Engine Roundtable
• MSN AdCenter Desktop PPC Tool Leaves PPC Mac People In The Dark, SEM Geek

Searching

• Google UK Showing US Based Spelling Suggestions, Search Engine Roundtable
• Solving Equations with Wolfram|Alpha, Wolfram|Alpha Blog

SEO & SEM

• Forget SEO, You Need SPO: Search Person Optimization, Search Engine Guide
• How important is Google PageRank to site success?, Royal Pingdom
• Peer Review – SEO Best Practices; Title Tags, URLs and External Links, SEOmoz
• What’s The Hold Up With The Google Caffeine Index?, Search Engine Roundtable

Social Media

• How do you rate links from sites like Twitter and Facebook?, YouTube

Web Analytics

• Find Invisible Pages Using Google Analytics, SEOmoz

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

• Building Social Bookmarking Networks 101, Sphinn
• Google Changes Search Results to Favour US Spellings, Sphinn
• How brain-amputated developers created the social media plague, Sphinn
• How to Back up Your Social Media Accounts, Sphinn
• SEO is a Brick not a House, Sphinn
• UK proposal gives copyright immunity to Google, Sphinn
• Using Real-Time Analytics to Incubate Viral Campaigns, Sphinn
• What You Can Learn From The Most Tweeted Blog Posts Ever, Sphinn
• Your Business & Yelp In 2010, Sphinn

About The Author

Barry Schwartz

Barry Schwartz is Search Engine Land's News Editor and owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on SEM topics.