SearchCap: The Day In Search, July 15, 2013

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 Logo Marks The 407th Birthday Of Rembrandt van Rijn
  Google has dedicated today’s homepage to Rembrandt van Rijn, marking the Dutch painter and etcher’s 407th birthday. The Google logo includes a self portrait of the artist standing in front of a “Google” etching. With more than 40 remaining self portraits, Rembrandt was known for the images he painted of himself along with portraits of […]
• Google To Take Action Against Fake Search Results Injected Into Browser History
  Google made a clear stance late Friday on the Google Webmaster blog that they will not tolerate webmasters pushing deceptive search results to searchers through the use of browser history spamming techniques. The technique uses a method of detecting a click on the browser’s back button. When clicked, a user is not sent back to […]
• 5 More Landing Pages Tests To Improve Performance
  Now that you’ve had a chance to implement 7 Landing Page Tests You Can Run Tomorrow, I have a few more weapons you can add to your SEM testing arsenal to improve landing page performance. 1. Don’t Provide Too Many Options In the last 10 years, I’ve only seen a home page convert better than […]
• Use Twitter Cards For Branding & Local SEO
  I’ve written before about the benefits of using various semantic protocols to improve your search engine optimization efforts. Using Schema.org markup and geotagging webpages can help search engines associate your website with online business listings, and a variety of semantic markup types can help your site’s listings appear more attractive in search engine results with […]
• Best Rates for Search Engine Land’s SMX East Expiring Soon – Register Today!
  Optimize your paid search, SEO and internet marketing campaigns. Attend Search Engine Land’s SMX East in New York City, October 1-3. Register before Super Early Bird rates expire next week. Build your own program by selecting tactical sessions across our multi-track agenda including: Penguin-proof Link Building Google Enhanced Campaigns: What We’ve Learned So Far Maximizing […]
• Desktop Search Activity Up 12% YOY In June, 4th Straight Month Of Double-Digit Gains [comScore]
  Desktop search activity continues to rebound, and was up 12 percent year-over-year in June according to the latest comScore qSearch data just out today. ComScore estimates that there were 19.2 billion “core” desktop searches last month. That’s down four percent from the 20 billion searches in May. But it’s a 12 percent increase from June […]

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

• Quantcast’s FBX Integration Goes Beyond Retargeting, Lets Advertisers Target Prospects At Scale
• Major Ad Networks Sign Anti-Piracy Best Practices Aimed To Starve Piracy Sites Of Ad Revenues
• (Steve) Jobs Filmmakers Debut New Trailer On Instagram
• Google Slows Down Bay View Campus Construction
• Reddit Insight Gives Users A Detailed Glimpse At Profiles, Posts & Statistics
• Does In-Store Location Tracking Cross The “Creepy Line”?
• The Most Important KPI For A Performance Marketer
• International E-Commerce Heating Up: Where To Go & What You Need To Know To Grow
• Best Rates for Search Engine Land’s SMX East Expiring Soon – Register Today!
• Project Glass Officially Becomes Google Glass, Says Consumer Launch “Many Months” Away

Search News From Around The Web:

Industry

• Google invests in YouTube studio in LA, FT.com
• Google’s China head Dr John Liu steps down after six controversy-filled years in the role, The Next Web

Local & Maps

• New Google Maps in Your Mobile Browser, Google Operating System

Link Building

• 7 Reasons to Remove “Link Building” from Our Vocabulary, Moz
• MajesticSEO Beginners Guide to Correlation: Part 4, Majestic SEO Blog
• Page Rank Is So 2012, Search Engine Journal
• Stop Link Building For Penguin, Marketing Pilgrim

Searching

• Google Play appears to confuse Mickey Mouse with gay erotica, CNET News
• Why Google No Longer Needs Google Toolbar, Google Operating System

SEO

• Does an In-House SEO Have a Fool for a Client?, Search Engine Guide
• Advanced SEO For Ecommerce: Maximizing Keyword Spread, SEO Nick
• Duplicate Content: the symptoms, the causes, the treatments., RankAbove
• Essential SEO Skills for the Future of Online Marketing, Luna Metrics
• The Quest For The Golden Shoes: An Adventure In Google Image Search, koozai.com
• Wake up! It’s time to take control of your SEO content, SEO Copywriting
• We Shouldn’t Care About PageRank, seogadget.com

SEM / Paid Search

• Build Out Your Account With 3 Time-Saving Tips, PPC Hero
• Editorial rejections: Understanding the error messages per market, Bing Ads Blog
• Get More Bing Ads Traffic with Sitelink Extensions, Bing Ads Blog
• Google’s New AdWords Extension: Review Extensions, Search Marketing Standard
• Simple tests can overstate the impact of search-engine advertising, economist.com
• Understanding & Using Google AdWords Ad Extensions, SwellPath
• Why Most Keyword Research Doesn’t Help You Sell… and What to Do About It, Search Engine People

Search Marketing

• Google’s Secret Search Ranking and Quality Score Formula Revealed, bryaneisenberg.com
• Google, Yahoo and other ad networks announce new anti-piracy steps, SiliconBeat
• Walmart Leads Industry in Product Listing Ads, adgooroo.com

Strategy

• Be smart, make the summer months count, State of Search