SearchCap: The Day In Search, July 5, 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:

• Microsoft Adds Ad Rotation Option To adCenter

  Microsoft announced they are adding a new ad serving feature to adCenter. The new feature is ad rotation and will allow advertisers to either (1) rotate the ads by to optimize for clicks or (2) rotate ads more evenly despite clicks or conversions. Here is a screen shot of the feature which is found under […]

• Matt Cutts: Don’t Write The Epitaph For Links Yet [SMX Advanced 2012 Video]

  Will social signals replace links as a primary SEO signal affecting Google’s rankings? Have social signals already replaced links in that way? That topic came up last month during the keynote conversation with Google’s Matt Cutts at our SMX Advanced conference in Seattle. Danny Sullivan, Search Engine Land’s Editor-In-Chief, asked a series of link-related questions […]

• Are You A Strategic SEO Thinker?

  Today, I want you to think about how a set of search engine optimization recommendations may be perfect for one website while lacking or wrong for another. I want you to think about strategic decision making. We know there is more to Internet marketing than search engine optimization and there’s a lot more bells and […]

• “Search” Beyond The “Engine”: Alternative Search Sites

  By now, you’ve all heard about this new whatchamacallit – the Googles. We all use the Googles quite a bit in our daily routines, and some of us even do a bit of marketing on them, too. However, as search evolves and continues to be fused with display, it’s important for marketers to take a […]

• Test Then Invest: Putting Innovation Into Your B2B Search Program

  As we move toward the halfway point of 2012, now is a great time to ask ‘how successfully has my B2B search campaign performed?’ We still have the second half of the year to realize our goals, and for those who are on track, it is highly likely that your efforts are fueled by innovation […]

• YP: Restaurants Remains Top Local Search Heading, Medical The Top-Spending Ad Category

  Local publisher and ad network YP (the private-equity owned combination of AT&T Interactive and AT&T Advertising Solutions) has released its US-focused Q2 “Local Insights Report.” The data in the report are derived from searches conducted across the company’s multi-platform network: “563 million searches and nearly 11 billion impressions in Q1 2012 across the YP Local Ad Network’s 300+ online, mobile, […]

• Google Testing Sitelinks Tabs By Category

  The SEO Consult blog noticed Google testing a new Sitelinks format. This new format shows the same number of sitelinks to the search listings but adds tabs above the sitelinks to enable users to see relevant sitelinks for the site by category. For example, here are the sitelinks for SEOBook: Google added tabs for “top […]

• Google’s Happy July 4th Logo

  Today is independence day for the United States and to commemorate the special day, Google has a special logo on the US versions of Google.com. The logo is made up of red, white and blue colors with the words of the song, “this land was made for you and me.” The song was written by […]

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

• Report: Malicious Android Apps Have Quadrupled In 2012
• How To Get Serious About Your Facebook Reach
• Seven-Inch Tablet Category Heats Up With Nexus 7, Coming Kindle Fire 2 And Rumored iPad Mini
• Ten (Or So) Services To Make Your Site Mobile Friendly
• Chrome Web Store Integrates With Google+, Ad Social Recommendations

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Google Fans Revolt Over iGoogle Shutdown, Search Engine Roundtable

Business Issues

• Charles Carreon Drops Bogus Lawsuit Against The Oatmeal Creator, Electronic Frontier Foundation
• Rumor: Twitter To Acquire Sense Networks To Better Target Local Ads, TechCrunch
• Apple and Samsung drop additional claims against each other ahead of U.S. trial, FOSS Patents
• Google Revamps Its Workforce Education Programs, Wall Street Journal
• Google UK privacy manager worked for ICO during Street View probe, The Guardian
• Patent troll stalks travel site Hipmunk, GigaOM
• Yahoo CEO Search in Final Stages, With Levinsohn and Kilar in Lead, AllThingsD

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Apple Said to Pick AutoNavi to Offer IPhone Maps in China, Bloomberg
• Citysearch 2.0: Recommendations, Not Reviews, Local Search Insider

Link Building

• Understanding Your Link Profile – Part One, State of Search
• 7 OTB Link Building Tactics You Didn’t Think Of, pointblankseo.com

SEM Industry

• Euro 2012 – Interview with 6 SEOs in Florence, State of Search

SEO & SEM

• Fifty Shades of Grey Hat SEO, koozai.com
• Google SEO Guidelines, John Andrews
• Be careful of using tools in SEO, State of Search
• Google’s New Shopping Placement Gives More Prominence To Organic Listings, Search Engine Roundtable
• How Twitter’s Bad SEO Affects Reputation Management, SEOmoz
• Listening to the Search Engines – the Key to SEO, Holistic Search Marketing
• Will Google Add Categories to Search Results, and Let You Edit Them?, SEO By The Sea

Social Media

• 10 Must Have Social Media Resources for Marketing Local Business, Search Engine People
• Social Media Etiquette at Parties: When Facebook, Twitter and Instagram Are the Guests, Wall Street Journal

About The Author

Barry Schwartz

Barry Schwartz a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land and a member of the programming team for SMX events. He owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry's personal blog is named Cartoon Barry and he can be followed on Twitter here.