SearchCap: The Day In Search, June 21, 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:

• Google Street View Collected Emails, Passwords (Social Security Numbers, Your Dog’s Name….)

  Google’s Street View cars that were logging wi-fi locations also collected private information such as email messages and passwords, a French data protection agency has found. Guess what. Without even seeing the data myself, I can tell you that those cars also logged private information such as social security numbers, telephone numbers, medical conditions and […]
• Google Is Top Shopping Site, TheFind Passes Yahoo As The New Number Two

  According to comScore data, Google Product Search has become the top comparison shopping engine online. Number two is now TheFind, which moved in front of Yahoo Shopping in terms of average daily users:

  TheFind has been quietly moving up the ladder over the past couple of years and now has surpassed all longer-established competitors except Google. […]

• SMN This Week: Vanessa Fox On SEO & Hosting (Tues); Yahoo!-Microsoft On Search Alliance (Thurs)

  Search Marketing Now hosts two free webcasts this week, both at 1 PM Eastern.
  Tomorrow, Tuesday June 22, Vanessa Fox will deliver a presentation “SEO & Hosting Issues: What You Should Know.” She’ll explain what every serious SEO need to know about hosting—from understanding which database to use, to the impact of hosting issues on SEO. […]

• Dell: We’ll Be “One Of The Leaders” With ChromeOS, Android

  Dell, which already has Android-based smartphones in China, will reportedly be releasing a ChromeOS “laptop” in the not-too-distant future. That future is likely “holiday 2010,” when the first ChromeOS netbooks/laptops in general will be out. Dell says it wants to be “one of the leaders” with Android and Chrome devices.
  The previously announced ChromeOS hardware partners […]

• Google’s First Day Of Summer & Winter 2010 Logos

  Today is the first day of Summer in the northern hemisphere and first day of Winter in the southern hemisphere. Google has four Google doodles for those accessing Google.com in both the northern or southern hemispheres.
  Here is what most of you will see, Google’s Summer logos:

  Here are the four winter Google logos:

  I should note […]

• Double Your Traffic Using Optimal Category Names

  Most business owners do not spend enough time considering their business category names. Categories are used by internet yellow pages directories and local search engines to classify types of businesses. When consumers are not looking up a particular company by name, they first seek out businesses by type. If your company isn’t associated with the […]

• When A .0001% Conversion Rate Means Branding Success

  Are your branding campaigns effective? Are they wasting money? Is it possible for a campaign to have fifty thousand impressions, absolutely no clicks and yet be successful?
  It all depends on what you are measuring. If you are only measuring clicks, then the campaign looks like a failure. If you are looking at holistic metrics, […]

• A Turning Point In The Field Of SEO

  We are at a turning point in the field of search engine optimization (SEO)—a positive turning point. For those of us who have been around for a long time, it’s an interesting (and very good) time to be involved in search. But it must be daunting for those outside the industry, or just getting started […]

• Happy Father’s Day 2010 Logos From Google & Others

  Today is Father’s Day in many countries and we wanted to wish you a Happy Father’s Day. Here is a collection of the various logos from the search industry celebrating the day.
  Google:

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Gmail’s Redesigned Contact Cards, Google Operating System
• The Iterative Web App: New Compose Interface for Gmail on iPad, Official Google Mobile Blog

Business Issues

• AdMob Deal Breakdown: $530 Million In Stock, $220 Million In Cash, TechCrunch
• Google’s Street View Wi-Fi data included passwords, email, InfoWorld
• Blumenthal to Lead Multi-State Probe of Google, Wall Street Journal

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Foursquare Check-In Stickers Coming To A Store Window Near You (Video), TechCrunch
• Get $50 Off GetListed Local University – Cleveland, Small Business SEM

Link Building

• Quality links to your site, Official Google Webmaster Central Blog

Paid Search & Contextual

• Publishers Giving Microsoft pubCenter Second Chance, Search Engine Roundtable
• Search Alliance Update #2, Yahoo! Search Marketing Blog
• The Officially Supported AdWords Seminars are Coming to New York City, Brad Geddes

SEM Industry

• Shashi Seth on the Future of Yahoo! Search, Stone Temple

SEO & SEM

• W3C Validation & SEO, Yoast
• SEO Flows Through Everything, SEO Book
• 3 PPC Management “Shortcuts” to Avoid, KoMarketing Associates
• 31 Character Google AdWords Titles, Search Engine Roundtable
• Choosing the Right Keyphrases – Especially for the Smaller Sites!, SEOmoz
• Google Warns Against NOSCRIPT Element, Search Engine Roundtable
• How do you protect your blog from hackers?, YouTube
• Is Productisation the Future of SEO?, Site Visibility
• What Google Thinks of Your Site, Search Engine Watch
• You’re Doing it Wrong, Yahoo! Search Marketing Blog

Social Media

• Twitter Places: Good potential for local search — and for bloopers, CNN.com
• Big Goals, Big Game, Big Records, Twitter Blog
• Might Threaded Conversations Be Coming To Twitter?, TechCrunch
• LinkedIn Tops 70 Million Users; Includes Over One Million Company Profiles, TechCrunch
• Facebook hack day: Zuckerberg talks up merits of personalisation, The Guardian

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

• 2010 Sphinn Member Survey: Now Open
• A Turning Point In The Field Of SEO
• 9 Things That SEO Clients Must Understand