SearchCap: The Day In Search, March 8, 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:

• The Farmer Panda Impact Nobody Is Talking About

  I’ve seen a few hundred articles and columns and blog posts about the GFP update, ranging from small SEO blogs all the way up to the Wall Street Journal. The primary focus of all these articles has been two-fold. First, those who are operating what was deemed as “shallow” content have taken a hit in […]

• Enchantment: Guy Kawasaki On Why Your Focus Should Be On Working Magic

  Some business books aim to teach you how to take your game to the next level. Others, how to delight your customers and increase profits. Still others coach you on interacting with your peers, boss and other key “stakeholders” who are key to your success. Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions by […]

• Google Makes Mobile Instant Previews Official

  Google’s Instant Preview feature, which lets users view thumbnails of the Web pages in results, is now officially being rolled out to mobile for Android and iOS devices. The feature, which is accessed via a magnifying glass icon to the right of the search result, had been spotted as early as the end of January […]

• Google Confronting Spain’s “Right To Be Forgotten”

  In a case that could have EU-wide implications a Spanish court is asking Google to remove data about a private individual from its index. This is known in Spain and elsewhere in Europe as “the right to be forgotten.” The immediate case at hand involves a Spanish plastic surgeon who was featured in a critical […]

• Google Bans Itself Again By Banning BeatThatQuote.com

  Google both acquired and then penalized BeatThatQuote within a single day. Yesterday the financial price comparison site, BeatMyQuote.com was purchased by Google for £37.7 million. And within the same 24-hour period Google decided to slap on a penalty to lower it’s ranking due to violating Google’s webmaster guidelines. As the news came out that Google […]

• Engaging In Entertainment Social Networks

  Have you heard of GetGlue and Miso yet? They are the next big thing to hit geo-location social networking applications. And the best part? They don’t utilize your location at all. Instead, they focus on what you are doing. Think of it as if the Facebook status post and Foursquare had a baby, and it […]

• Mardi Gras Logos From Bing & Dogpile

  Danny has already shared the Google International Women’s Day logo, but did you know it is also Mardi Gras today? Bing and Dogpile have special logos and imagery for the celebratory day. Here is Bing’s special dragon theme for Mardi Gras: DogPile gets a bit more festive: I also posted a theme at the Search […]

• The 5 Pillars Of International SEO Forensics

  With all the talk of algorithm changes — do you have a robust method for undertaking effective forensics on your international site? There are 5 key aspects you should consider to achieve a safer and smoother ride to success starting with country-to-country ratios and turning to Donald Rumsfeld for help?

• Google Logo & “Pegwoman” Celebrate 100th Anniversary Of International Women’s Day

  Google’s sporting a special logo today, this one in honor of the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day. The company is also inviting people to celebrate through real-life and virtual events around the world. Plus, “Pegman” on Google Earth is being joined for the first time by “Pegwoman.” Pegman, Meet Pegwoman That’s Pegwoman at the […]

• First Angry Birds Product Integration To Tout Bing

  Are digital porkers continually outwitting your Angry Birds? Try Bing for the answer to vanquishing the porcine menace. In a first for Rovio, the developers of the hit mobile app, the company has struck a deal whereby Microsoft’s Bing search will be integrated into the Angry Birds game. Angry Birds, which boasts versions for the […]

Search News From Around The Web:

Business Issues

• Microsoft Is Said to Pay Nokia More Than $1 Billion in Deal, BusinessWeek
• Yahoo Loses Ad Sales Lead to LivingSocial, AllThingsD

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Google Profiles Coming to Local Businesses, eWeek
• Google Places Dashboard: Widespread Reports of System Error, Mike Blumenthal
• Post-earthquake images of Christchurch, New Zealand, Google LatLong

Link Building

• Link Building – Creating Exceptional Content for Boring Topics, Michael Gray

Paid Search & Contextual

• AdSense For Images Pixazza Now Seeing 20 Billion Image Views Per Year, TechCrunch

Searching

• Fox DMCA Takedowns Order Google to Remove Fox DMCA Takedowns, TorrentFreak
• Google to digitise Mandela archives, Mail & Guardian Online

SEO & SEM

• Will Google penalize sites which only link using the nofollow attribute?, YouTube Blog
• Google Testing Sitelinks With Descriptions?, Search Engine Roundtable
• How To Do An SEO Audit, seo-theory.com
• Hugo Boss; the next site on the Google chopping block?, Search News Central
• Integrate Social Media & Search Plus Social SEO Analytics Tools, Online Marketing Blog
• SEO is no excuse for "cre8ive" spelling and grammar, SEO Copywriting
• SEO Speak – what is bounce rate?, Vertical Leap Blog
• What to do if you can’t afford SEO, Econsultancy

Social Media

• Google’s Schmidt Puts Social Media Chips On Brazil And Orkut To Fend Off Facebook, Forbes
• Facebook Comments Box Plugin Includes Live Code for Google and Twitter Logins, Inside Facebook
• Facebook Users to Get Warner Bros. Movies, Wall Street Journal
• Real-Time Analytics For Social Plugins, Facebook Developers
• Taking the Search Advertising Advanced Exam, Search Marketing Sage

Video, Music & Image Search

• YouTube Buys Next New Networks, a Video Producer, New York Times
• Did you know? Searching for SVG images on Google Image search, SearchReSearch
• Google Voice Now Offers SIP Addresses For Calling Directly Over IP, Disruptive Telephony
• New Algorithms Match Police Sketches to Real Mug Shots, Helping Nab Suspects, Popular Science

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

• How To Do An SEO Audit – Fairly deep 10 step guide to performing an SEO audit.
• Case Study: Impact of Code Cleanup on Site Traffic – An interesting look at what speed optimization, broken link maintenance and redirect clean-up can have on search traffic.
• How to Build Links with Infographics – It should be no surprise that infographics aquire links. Although they’ve quickly become a saturated tactic, they still work. In this post, readers will be walked through the writer's process of creating and launching a successful infographic.
• SEO Remains A Viable Marketing Strategy For Anyone – SEO ain't dead, people!
• Your Site’s Traffic Has Plummeted Since Google’s Farmer/Panda Update. Now What? – This is pretty much a masterclass in SEO from Vanessa Fox for sites that are suffering from the effects of Google's recent algorithm changes.
• Skyrocket Your Productivity by Trimming the Fat – I can attest to the validity of this post via my own personal experience. Worth a read.
• Link Building 101 – WordPress SEO guru Yoast breaks down the basics of link building in light of the recent JC Penny slap with "Link Building 101"
• How Many Words In ALT Text For Google, Yahoo & Bing? – "How many words will Google, Yahoo and Bing count as part of ALT Text on a page? Someone asked me this on the other day and I wondered if a little simple test might offer an answer. This sort of post is usually a decent way of picking up natural forum links wether it’s right or wrong…."