SearchCap: The Day In Search, May 12, 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:

• Examining Facebook’s “Smear Campaign” Concerns About Google Social Circles

  I read the news today, oh boy. The Facebook army had just declared a war. Well, a smear campaign against Google. For the record, Facebook denies that it actually ran such a campaign, but it does confirm it has issues with how Google is using some of Facebook’s social data. Do those allegations stand up? […]

• Zanran: New Search Engine That Unearths Data In Charts, Graphs & Tables

  A few days ago, I was looking for a very specific piece of data: the average age of professors in the US. I did a Google search for “average age of us professors” and, after the obligatory and unhelpful Wikipedia result at the top, found some data that was good enough further down the search […]

• The Importance Of Measuring Mobile Impact On Offline Conversions For Small Businesses

  How often do you perform a mobile phone or Internet search for a business and immediately call that business? I’m betting fairly often. You are not alone – your customers do this all the time! At Marchex, we specialize in digital advertising solutions for small businesses. Over the years, we have learned a lot about […]

• How To Increase Conversions For Organic Keywords

  Once your website starts getting at least some traffic from organic search queries, you can help increase conversions (inquiries, signups, purchases, phone calls etc) by investigating what happens once people reach your website from the search results. You can use Google Analytics to choose what keywords to focus on and to check the entrance pages […]

• Blekko Tightens Privacy Options, Will Keep User Data Only 48 Hours

  As part of a series of updates to its user and search privacy options, Blekko says it will hold on to personal data for only 48 hours — substantially less than major search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo. Blekko, like other search engines, creates a record of visits that typically includes a searcher’s IP […]

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• A customizable approach to administrative privileges, Official Google Enterprise Blog
• Google Promotes Google Accounts, Google Operating System
• Introducing Login Approvals, Facebook

Business Issues

• Zuckerberg And Sandberg "Fundamentally Disagree" Over Whether Facebook Should Go To China, Business Insider

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Bing Quietly Adds Bulk Uploads to Local Business Listings, Small Business SEM
• Google Maps Not Switching Between Satellite & Map Layers, Search Engine Roundtable
• Google Transit goes to Washington, Official Google Blog
• Showcase your business with a 360-degree perspective, Google LatLong

Paid Search & Contextual

• Site maintenance on Saturday, May 14, Inside AdSense
• Yahoo To Acquire Advertising Platform 5:1, TechCrunch

Searching

• Picture Of Google’s Foggy or Filmy Search Results, Search Engine Roundtable

SEO & SEM

• Hard-To-Find Is The New PageRank, localseoguide.com
• How SEOmoz and Majestic SEO Can Help Webmasters, SEO Theory
• Newsletters As A SEO Strategy, Search Engine People
• Search Engine Optimization and Chasing Keyword Unicorns, Online Marketing Blog
• Why you should treat PPC like SEO, Search Engine Guide

Social Media

• A better app for your mobile browser, Twitter Blog
• Facebook reportedly disables account of attorney Mark S. Zuckerberg, Los Angeles Times
• Facebook adds new user security features, CNET News
• Twitter for Mac update, Twitter Blog

Video, Music & Image Search

• The YouTube 100 music chart is live, YouTube Blog

Web Analytics

• New Google Analytics – Overview Reports Overview, Google Analytics Blog

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

• Facebook Busted in Clumsy Smear Attempt on Google – The social network secretly hired a PR firm to plant negative stories about the search giant: "Here were two guys from one of the biggest PR agencies in the world, blustering around Silicon Valley like a pair of Keystone Kops."
• Google Commercial Breaks Google's Terms of Service – When I asked Google about whether the “Dear Sophie” ad is actually against the Google TOS, a representative explained why it was exempt as follows, “This story is about a father who opens a Gmail account and uses the web to communicate with his daughter from birth into the future. This story is not about a parent opening a Gmail account for his child to use; our system will block users identified as under 13 years of age from opening an account.”