SearchCap: The Day In Search, March 15, 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:

• How To Create An SEO Positive Company Culture

  My message today is to tear down the walls: not the ones in your website but in your company, between and within divisions. Too many businesses, especially larger companies, divide website responsibilities throughout different parts of the organization chart. Without strong central leadership, this can slow-down critical functions as each department fits their Web work […]
• 3 Search Opportunities Retailers Can’t Afford To Miss

  As competition intensifies, it becomes increasingly more difficult for retailers to thrive, with big retailers like Sears, JC Penney and Macy’s resorting to Every Day Value Pricing. To succeed, retailers must avoid missed opportunities. This article identifies three opportunities retailers can take advantage of: (1) use every available local search tactic, (2) have your site […]

• SMX West: Where Search Marketers & Fire Alarms Meet

  The sirens suddenly sounded, shattering my concentration and halting the flow of my presentation. “Please evacuate the building immediately”, the robotic recorded male voice advised. More blasting sirens. “This is the emergency response system. Please evacuate the…” Was this really happening? I’d been preparing all morning and patiently waiting my turn to speak as the […]

• 6 Interview Questions For Conversion Optimization Hires

  So you’re looking to hire someone to do conversion optimization on your team? Here are six interview questions that you might consider asking. The answers aren’t necessarily black-and-white, but these kinds of questions can help reveal how a candidate thinks about conversion optimization. 1. How would you approach deciding what to optimize first? For most […]

• Google Expands Flight Search Outside US To 500 Cities

  Google Flight Search is taking off to international destinations. Starting today users can search for flights to 500 airports outside the US. Google hasn’t provided a comprehensive list of destinations, but most European and Asian cities I searched for were available. It’s not clear how well flight search is doing or whether people are using […]

• TheFind Joins FairSearch.org To “Restore Balance” To The Search Markeplace

  In this corner is Google, about to make “major changes” to its algorithm and presentation of search results according to a much-discussed article in the Wall Street Journal. In the other are Google’s critics who now scrutinize and critique the company’s every move. The WSJ-Google article speaks about new innovations to search in an effort […]

• Bing Maps Updates Map Pins, Adds Drag & Drop Routes & More

  The Bing Maps Blog announced several enhancements to Bing Maps. In summary, the changes include: A refresh to the Pushpin buttons and Popup menu Transit symbols and icons were improved Added sharing options to transit directions Ability to now drag to modify your route The explore venue maps option is easier to find The most […]

• Twitter Trends: Now Showing In Bing Results?

  Bing has been very upfront about the fact that people and social stats can power search results. A new implementation of social data was spotted in the wild by techie-buzz.com who found Twitter trends making their way into the search results pages. The query in question was for a hot topic (Pepsi Next) that had quite […]

• WSJ Says Big Google Search Changes Coming? Reality Check Time!

  The Wall Street Journal is out with a story saying that Google is about to make one of the biggest changes in its history of offering web search, providing more direct answers and gaining “semantic” smarts to understand more about what words mean. I’m scratching my head, since Google already does this. Methinks Google’s PR […]

• Google Search Now Highlights “Latest Posts” From Google+ Pages & Profiles

  It’s not your imagination. Google is showing a new “Latest Posts” section for some Google+ pages and profiles alongside its regular results, in the space where ads have traditionally resided. The format allows people and brands on Google+ to occupy more of the top-half of the search results page. Google told us about the change: […]

• Google Opens Kimono (Slightly) On AdWords Screening Measures

  Followers of news about Google AdWords know that problematic errors — instances in which ads that violate the company’s own advertising standards slip by — come up quite regularly. Most recently, Google, along with advertiser ProFlowers, was roundly and publicly criticized for AdWords that seemed to indicate that local florists were sold out in advance […]

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

• American Tablet Owners Buy Entertainment; Europeans Buy News
• Microsoft, AOL And Yahoo Begin Selling And Delivering Ads In Display Partnership
• Report: Digg Founder, Kevin Rose To Join Google; Google Says “No Comment”

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Star and label messages before you send them, Official Gmail Blog

Business Issues

• Yahoo board battle may begin within the next week, The Associated Press
• Yahoo held liable for search results in defamation case, OzSoapbox

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Google Places Post To Your Place Page Broken Again, Search Engine Roundtable
• Man Utd Wants Its Crest Stripped From Google Play, paidContent.org

Paid Search & Contextual

• Alert! Facebook Ads Game Changer: Cool Internal Destinations, AIM Clear Blog

Searching

• Wolfram|Alpha App for iOS Adds Image as Input, Wolfram|Alpha Blog

SEO & SEM

• Google: New Top Level Domains (TLD) Will Not Help Rankings, Search Engine Roundtable
• How Garbage Ranks in the SERPs: a Case Study – YouMoz, SEOmoz
• March 2012 Google Update: Is It A Panda Refresh?, Search Engine Roundtable
• What Title Tags Are, Why They Matter To Your Business, And How You Can Optimize Them, Search Engine People

Social Media

• Facebook adds recommendations box to Timeline pages associated with locations, Inside Facebook