SearchCap: The Day In Search, March 9, 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:

• Building Empathy For Googlebot

  With one persona, copywriters and designers will gain a better understanding of Googlebot and do a better job of creating a site that will appeal to him.
• An Alternative To Ranking Reports

  Last month I wrote Ranking Reports Rant, a diatribe against using ranking reports to evaluate SEO success. The reasons are many and include personalization of results, taking your eye of the long tail, increased clutter and testing on SERP pages, and the danger of having agency compensation tied to ranking reports. There were more than a […]

• Using Influence To Tune Signal To Noise On The Social Web

  In this article, we will explore how influence can be used to extract signal and remove noise from search results. With realtime results showing up in lots of publishers’ pages, it’s important to maximize the signal-to-noise ratio in social streams so consumers are exposed to only the most valuable social content. Using influence is the […]

• Microsoft AdCenter Intros Quality Score That Mimics Google’s

  Microsoft has announced it will be rolling out a Quality Score feature within adCenter aimed at giving advertisers feedback on how their keywords are performing — very similarly to Google’s Quality Score. Interestingly, Microsoft says scores won’t directly — stressing the word directly — influence how ads are ranked, but it’s more of a reflection […]

• Federal Appeals Court Allows Keyword Bidding On Competitor’s Names

  paidContent reports a California federal court ruled that it is allowed to bid on a competitor’s name for search ads. The ruling was done in an appeals court in the case between Network Automation and Advanced Systems Concepts. Both companies sell scheduling and management software and Network Automation purchased the keyword “ActiveBatch,” a trademarked product […]

• Why Brand Trumps ROI: 3 Tips To Build Your Brand Online

  ROI. ROI. ROI. It’s the mantra for most direct response marketers. But to remain competitive, marketers must look beyond direct ROI, and invest in programs that will enrich their overall brand. Let’s take a look at why. Understanding The Shift There are more brands competing in search than ever, but the playing field is hardly […]

• Search Technology Behind iPad Magazine “Zite”

  Discovery Engine Worio has taken its search technology and reinvented itself as an iPad magazine along the lines of Flipboard. Called Zite (after Zeitgeist), the iPad app uses the same search and machine learning capabilities developed at the British Columbia-based Worio to create a personalized magazine that “gets smarter” as you use it. (CEO Ali […]

• Twitter Awareness At 92%, But Usage Just A Fraction Of That

  New research suggests that most Americans are well aware of Twitter … they’re just not using it. According to an Edison Research/Arbitron study, Twitter awareness in the U.S. among people 12 years old and older is at 92% — that’s up from 87% a year ago. But adoption is a different story; the Edison/Arbitron study […]

• B2B Lead Generation Tips Part II

  In my last article, we discussed B2B marketing challenges such as the need to generate high quality leads while driving a high volume of leads, and B2B marketers’ increasing focus on post-click website improvements. Today, we’ll continue our market analysis with a look at how B2B search marketers are scoring and tracking leads, interacting with […]

• The Farmer/Panda Update: New Information From Google and The Latest from SMX West

  Today at SMX West, the subject of the day was content farms. One session included the founder of (sometimes-called content farm) Associated Content, Luke Beatty, and focused on the good that can be learned from content farms, as well as what sites who have been hit by Google’s Farmer aka Panda update can do to regain […]

• SMX West 2011 Day One Recap

  The SMX West conference is underway and day one is now over. SMX West is taking place in San Jose, California at the San Jose Convention Center. Below you will find links to the “live blog” coverage of the event that I found throughout the day. “Content Farms” Or The Smartest SEOs In the World? […]

• Foursquare 3.0 Aims To “Redefine Loyalty”

  Today Foursquare announced “Foursquare 3.0,” an enhanced version of its mobile applications that adds new content, features and options for users. There are new recommendations (“explore”) that take into account your check-ins and those of your friends and network. There has also been “a major overhaul to the leaderboard.” Finally the company hopes to “redefine […]

• Google Ventures Backs Another Marketing Company, Hubspot

  Hubspot, a software company that makes tools for online marketing, has garnered a $32 million series D funding round from Google Ventures, along with Sequoia Capital and Salesforce.com. The firm’s original investors also participated in the round. Hubspot, founded in 2006 by two MIT alums, offers businesses a suite of software to help them attract […]

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• New in Gmail Labs: Smart Labels, Official Gmail Blog

Business Issues

• Google Fined In French Court For Not Stopping Video Copyright Abuse, paidContent.org

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Bing Bing Maps Tip of the Week: Shift-click and Right click, Bing Maps Blog
• Do Directories Really Matter for Local Search Rankings in Google?, Thunder SEO
• Find electric vehicle charging stations on Google Maps, Google LatLong

Paid Search & Contextual

• Update to reporting service in AdWords API v201101, AdWords API Blog
• New Interface Wednesdays: Bulk edit, Inside AdSense

Searching

• More Dynamic Calculators in Wolfram|Alpha, Wolfram|Alpha Blog
• Search Behavior Shines Spotlight on Organic Results, eMarketer

SEO & SEM

• 5 Ways to Fail at Content Marketing & Tips to Succeed, Online Marketing Blog
• 6 Ways to Structure Your In-House SEO Team for Success, Search Engine Watch
• Duplicate Content Phantom: Don’t Be Duped, Be Informed, Search Engine Journal
• How important is it to have keywords in a domain name?, YouTube
• How To Find Websites to Fuel Your Local SEO Efforts, Search Engine People
• London Site Clinic, Google
• March 2011 Google Webmaster Report: Panda/Farmer & Penalties, Search Engine Roundtable
• Product URLs – a Duplicate Content Minefield, SEOptimise
• Why You Should Never Duplicate Your Competitor’s SEO Strategies, Search Engine Guide

Social Media

• 4 Steps To Spring Cleaning Social Media Style, Search Engine People
• Facebook Technical Change May be Boon for Outside App Creators and Hosts, AllThingsD

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

• DOTW: The Most Underrated SEO Tactic? – Algorithm changes come and go, but the basics of SEO mostly stay the same year-in and year-out. In this week's "Discussion of the Week," we want to know what you think is the most underrated or under-appreciated SEO tactic. It could be something that you still find effective after so many years, or something new. It could be something that you're glad is effective, or something you wish didn't work. The floor is open.
• Manipulating Google Suggest Results – An Alternative Theory – Seems Rishi has been playing with Google suggest. There are some sound theories and ideas here for sure. Good geeking all around.
• The Farmer/Panda Update: New Information From Google and The Latest from SMX West – At SMX West, the subject of the day was content farms. Vanessa Fox reports the current state of known facts, conclusions, as well as educated guesses and speculation based on Google's latest statements.
• A Clients Guide to Usability – Ensuring your website is usable is one of the biggest challenges you will face, however, due to its massive return on investment it is something that is very worthwhile doing. Usability can always be improved and, like many things related to your website, it is an ongoing process. Having a good understanding of usability will provide you with a loyal online customer base that keeps coming back and recommending you.
• Do Directories Really Matter Anymore for Local Search Rankings in Google? – This is the result of a recent research analysis we conducted for Google Place Pages and factors that might "predict" rankings in map results on Google.com. It takes into account Google Place Pages information, along with citations (using Whitespark's Local Citation Finder Tool), anchor text (using OpenSiteExplorer) and city/vertical relevancy of the inbound linking URLs. One of the more interesting observations is that citations (focus on Name, Address & Phone) aren't really a conclusive predictor of map rankings. Exact-match anchor text, overall URL authority (e.g., quanlity inbound links) and links from URLs about the business city and industry…these appear to be the largest predictors of rankings. This all makes sense given the "blended" search results Google shows for local/regional searches.
• Microsoft Advertising adCenter Quality Score Coming Soon – What You Need to Know – An major adCenter change was just announced. – Beginning this spring, advertisers will be able to leverage a new adCenter Quality Score for optimizing campaigns in the Bing+Yahoo search marketplace…
• Why Fans Stop Liking & Following You on Facebook & Twitter – Good findings from an ExactTarget survey on why people aren't following brands on Facebook or Twitter any longer.