SearchCap: The Day In Search, July 6, 2011

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

From Search Engine Land:

• Facebook Announces Video Calling, Group Chat & Redesigned Chat

  Facebook announced three new “awesome” changes to the Facebook platform during a press event today. A great deal of Facebook information was displayed along with the announcement of three new elements . The new features and functionality include: Video Calling Facebook’s biggest announcement today was the partnership with Skype which will allow for video calling from within Facebook. This […]

• 3 Ways To Evaluate Your B2B Web Presence

  Organic conversions are the bread and butter of many B2B organizations, yet many companies forget to keep an eye on the small details that can affect them. Instead, B2B organizations should evaluate their Web presence periodically from an organic user’s perspective, as a “set it and forget it” frame of mind is not reasonable in […]

• Ghost of Google+ Haunts Facebook-Skype Event

  Does Google+ make Facebook nervous? It seems that way. A distinct feeling of nervous energy — perhaps it’s just me after getting pulled over by a cop on my way to Facebook — pervaded the press event this morning, which announced group chat and one-on-one video calling with Skype. Danny did a live blog of the event. […]

• How To Increase Organic Keyword Conversions – Part II

  Previously in How To Increase Organic Keyword Conversions, we covered how to use Google Analytics to determine the entrance pages people are landing on after clicking through from organic keyword listings in search engines. We showed you how to look for typical issues with entrance pages that hurt conversions such as files with no navigation, old […]

• Think You Have To Outsource SEO To An Expensive Firm? 5 Things You Can Do In House

  Once upon a time, I had a lot of faith in SEO firms. I sought out top companies in the industry and paid thousands of dollars. What I got in return were minimal results, and what turned out to be minimal effort. If you’re an e-commerce manager, you might be surprised to find out how […]

• Facebook Hits 750 Million Users; Zuckerberg Yawns

  During today’s ongoing product announcement at Facebook headquarters, CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg somewhat casually mentioned that the site now has 750 million users … and also mentioned that he doesn’t care. Zuckerberg said Facebook didn’t bother to report when it hit the 750 million mark because it’s a metric that really doesn’t matter. “You […]

• This Is Facebook’s “Awesome” News: Group Chat & 1-to-1 Video Calling

  Today, Facebook has promised us something “awesome.” The press has assembled. I’m here with them, and the live blogging will soon pour forth from my finger tips! The event is supposed to start at 10am Pacific, but I think it will be a bit late. When it starts, you can tune-in through the live stream […]

• One Week In, Google+ Users Are Growing Followers, Getting Traffic

  Just over a week old, how’s Google+ doing? Comprehensive stats are hard to come by. But from our own experience, along with some other stats out there such as a new top Google+ accounts list, it seems to easily be eclipsing its Google Buzz predecessor. Google Buzz Never Really Buzzed Search Engine Land has been […]

• comScore: Android And RIM Smartphone Share Heading In Opposite Directions

  ComScore came out with May mobile data for the US market this afternoon. The story line is largely the same as we’ve been hearing for the past several months. Android is up, everyone else is down and the iPhone is holding or slightly growing in its second place position. (However total iOS reach is greater […]

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Google Multiple Sign-in Supports 10 Accounts, Google Operating System

Business Issues

• Google Hires Microsoft Product Veteran Sanaz Ahari, TechCrunch
• Google Searching for Patents After Nortel Loss, Bloomberg
• Google, Microsoft, AOL sued over Street View patent, ZDNet

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Google Maps 5.7 for Android introduces Transit Navigation (Beta) and more, Official Google Mobile Blog

Paid Search & Contextual

• New insight into how users are accessing your site, Inside AdSense

Searching

• Blue Coat Examines Malware Ecosystems in 2011 Mid-Year Web Security Report, Blue Coat
• Google Real Time Search Still Available In Navigation Bar, Search Engine Roundtable

SEO & SEM

• Why the Daily Deals Business isn’t as Simple as it Appears: an SEO Perspective, BruceClay.com
• ‪Why aren’t the Google Toolbar PageRank values updated more often?‬‏, YouTube
• Experiments on Google and Twitter Influencing Search Rankings, SEOmoz
• How To Get More SEO and AdWords Clients in 2011, Search Engine Journal
• How To Implement rel=”canonical” HTTP Headers, Search Engine People
• July 2011 Google Webmaster Report: More Updates?, Search Engine Roundtable
• More On Google SEO For CDNs & Cloud Computing, Search Engine Roundtable
• Simplify Your Keyword Research, dailyseotip.com

Social Media

• Keep up with the conversation. It’s a new notification tray!, Foursquare Blog
• Google: Engagement Numbers On Google Surprisingly Great, Search Engine Roundtable

Video, Music & Image Search

• Google switches on to prime time TV, business-standard.com
• Online Music: Spotify Announces Plans to Enter U.S. Market; Register Now For a Beta Invite, infodocket.com

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

• Discussion: Should SEOs Provide Ranking Reports To Clients? – Businesses of all sizes love to see their websites ranking high on Google and Bing. For years, SEO consultants have been providing ranking reports to clients to show the success of the SEO work. But some SEOs have stopped providing ranking reports, saying it's not a true measure of success. In our "Discussion of the Week," we want to know what your stance is on ranking reports. Should SEOs be providing this data to clients, or is that time better spent on other reports/projects? This could go in a few different directions, so feel free to take the discussion where you want. The floor is open!
• You Can’t Buy More Conversions – Arguing that "overmanagement" of PPC accounts can hurt your ROI.
• Using Google Analytics to Monitor Your Brand – This post and video will take you through different methods that you can use to monitor interaction with your brand through Google Analytics.
• Adwords Management – Why Bounce Rate Can Save You Money – A hugely important stat that is often ignored by Adwords management agencies is bounce rate. It makes or breaks new campaigns and can save you big…
• The Challenges & Benefits Of Attributing Incremental Value – Using sports examples to talk about different PPC attribution models.
• Top 15 Free Things Every E-Commerce Website Should Do After Launching – Here is a list of the top 15 things every e-commerce owner/marketer should do after launching their new site. I am not including anything like keyword research, competitive analysis, on-site SEO, creating unique/keyword rich content, or anything else that is generally done before a site is launched.
• Structuring an SEO Project: Moving Away from the Retainer Model – Writing for State of Search, Sam Crocker tells us why, as SEOs, we should move away from the retainer model and grow up.