SearchCap: The Day In Search, November 11, 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:

• Bing For Android Now Available To Everyone

  Bing for Android was previously only available on selected Verizon Android handsets. Now, according to Microsoft, it’s available to everyone with an Android handset, from the Android market: We are pleased to announce that we have just released the Bing App to all major U.S. mobile operators through Android Markets. As we highlighted in August, […]

• Google Starts Using Promoted Accounts On Twitter; Microsoft Uses Promoted Trends

  It looks like one of the early adopters of Twitter’s “Promoted Accounts” advertising program is … Google. I took the screenshot at left just moments ago when I visited my Twitter home page. Right at the top, under the “Who to follow” heading, is an ad encouraging me to follow Google Mobile’s Twitter account, @GoogleMobile. […]

• Google Product Ads Available To All Advertisers

  Google Product Ads are now being offered to all advertisers over the coming week. They are a way for advertisers to give Google a feed of products, have images of those products appear in the ads, and to pay on a cost-per-acquisition basis. Google has been offering the ads since last year, in a closed […]

• The Google Street View Scorecard

  It seems not a week goes by without news of a new investigation into Google’s Street View service, or into Google’s collection of personal data via unencrypted WiFi networks that occurred over three years as Street View vehicles drove the world’s streets. It seems like one country opens an investigation just as another country ends […]

• Dex One To Shutter Business.com

  Here’s another hit on the availability of directories as link building tools: Dex One has announced plans to shut down Business.com, a national directory of business listings, and fold it into its Dex One business, which includes the DexKnows.com online yellow pages site. Business.com was ostensibly a B-to-B directory, but had often been referenced as […]

• Dear Bing, We Have 10,000 Ranking Signals To Your 1,000. Love, Google

  Back in October, Bing announced that it uses over 1,000 signals used to determine how to rank pages. Google has typically quoted using more than 200. Game on! I predicted Google would quickly find a way to match Bing’s figure. Yesterday, it did. Google’s 200 Factors For several years now, Google has said that it […]

• Vurve Advances Trend Toward Online Marketing Automation For SMBs

  This past Monday Vurve launched. The CEO is Amit Kumar, who built SearchMonkey at Yahoo and then was at Dapper, which was recently acquired by Yahoo. The company’s tagline is “advertising on autopilot for your online store.” Vurve is targeting small businesses (SMBs) with e-commerce stores that spend up to $10,000 per month. The minimum […]

• Key Takeaways From Google’s Matt Cutts Talk At PubCon

  Last night, Matt Cutts of Google gave a talk to the attendees at the PubCon. I was in the audience and I wanted to share my personal key takeaways from the talk. Specifically items Matt mentioned that I found to be new or interesting. Spam reports get 4 times priority in the spam queue at […]

• How Much SEO Does A Brand Manager Need To Know?

  If you are a Brand Manager, or you work in a similar discipline – how much do you really need to know about SEO? You may hear the term “SEO” and immediately think about the tactics and technical mumbo jumbo, right? But – what if I were to tell you that SEO can play a […]

• Veteran’s Day & Remembrance Day Logos At Google, Bing & Ask.com

  Today is Veteran’s Day in the United States and Remembrance Day in the United Kingdom. Google, Bing and Ask.com have special logos for both, while Yahoo has decided to not participate. Here are the various logos from these search engines. Veteran’s Day Logos 2010: Google: Bing: Ask.com: Remembrance Day 2010: Google UK: Bing UK: Ask […]

• The Networks vs. Google: Fox Now Blocking Google TV Too

  Fox Broadcasting has become the fourth major US network to block Google TV from accessing its programing. The Rupert Murdoch-owned entity joins ABC, CBS and NBC, which all previously blocked Google TV access to their shows. Google has said it’s “actively negotiating” with ABC, CBS and NBC to restore access to the programming. Add Fox […]

• How To Stay Current With The Swiftly Changing SEM World

  Well, my friends, this column, a one-year search course is coming to an end soon. Hopefully, you’ve learned enough to manage and steward your own paid search accounts. For those of you already engaged in search engine marketing, maybe you learned a few extra tips and tricks that have helped you out through the year. […]

• FCC Now Investigating Google Over WiFi Data Collection

  Although the FTC ended its investigation into Google’s collection of personal data via unsecured WiFi networks, Google’s not necessarily in the clear with the Obama administration. According to the Wall Street Journal, the FCC is looking into whether Google broke the law when its Street View cars collected personal data between 2007 and May, 2010. […]

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Yahoo! Groups is house cleaning!, Yahoo! Groups Blog

Business Issues

• Google pours another $3.2M into genetics startup, Forbes
• Google Hires Mark Lopez to Head U.S. Hispanic, Ad Age
• Google forces Australian entrepreneur to change his site’s name, TopNews United Kingdom
• JACK IS BACK: Twitter Inventor Jack Dorsey Is Working For Twitter Again, businessinsider.com
• The Brutal Decline of Yahoo [Infographic], scores.org

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Google Business Map – 21 Countries – 21 Opportunities, Google Barometer Blog
• Samsung’s New Android Tablet Is Gorgeous and Expensive, New York Times
• Google Street View helps capture heroin drug-ring suspects in East Williamsburg Brooklyn, NYPOST.com
• Latest Update for MapQuest Open Sites, MapQuest Blog

Paid Search & Contextual

• Microsoft Advertising adCenter Desktop Fall 2010 Upgrade: Improvements in Targeting, Distribution and More, adCenter Blog
• Valuing Facebook’s Ads, Wall Street Journal

Searching

• Announcing Google Refine 2.0, a power tool for data wranglers, Google Open Source Blog
• Google News Preference Bug: Stories Not Opening In New Windows, Search Engine Roundtable
• 7 Search Engines Google Obliterated, Search Engine People
• Google Tools: Top 6 Annoyances, PC World
• Helping you find emergency information when you need it, Official Google Blog

SEM Industry

• Attention Sales Teams! PPC Marketers are More Than Just Geeks!, SEM Geek

SEO & SEM

• Google Places – 12 Step Checklist for a Great Listing, Mike Blumenthal
• Search Power Plays, And How To Avoid Getting Crushed, SEO Book
• How Website Owners and Publishers Can Use Foursquare, Michael Gray
• The Optimizers Guide to Adwords: Ad SiteLinks, blog.performable.com
• Using Canonical Tag to Get More Than One Anchor Text Value, SEOmoz

Social Media

• Facebook Holding Yet Another Event Next Monday In San Francisco. Inbox Related?, TechCrunch
• Google denies building ‘Google Me’ Facebook rival, Telegraph
• Social Media in the Industry: Customization is the Key to Success, Techipedia
• Why Facebook Will Launch Mobile Chat, gigaom.com
• 10 Practical Twitter Tips for Publishers, Adam Sherk
• Digg Adds Editors to Break News Faster, Read/Write Web
• Fortune 500s Flock to Twitter, AllTwitter
• Twitter Ping = Discovering More Music, Twitter Blog

Video, Music & Image Search

• Google TV Product Lead: “We’re Not Trying To Replace Cable”, TechCrunch
• Great Scott! Over 35 Hours of Video Uploaded Every Minute to YouTube, YouTube Blog

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

• The 10 Business Implications of Google Instant Previews – In Google's announcement, they've talked vaguely about lean page designs that make for a terrific preview on their SERPs. Ruud Hein's article goes far beyond that. He explains what's Ok, shows what to avoid, and why. Go read it and then check out your own site's previews, maybe you want to consider some tweaks then.
• Microsites VS One Large Website: An SEO Argument For Each – Should I develop multiple microsites or create one big website? This seems to be the big question in the last couple of months. Does each one of these techniques offer a unique value? What’s best for short term? What’s best for the long term? Is there a simple answer to this question? You may think you know the answer to these questions but let's break each down a little further. Before we do that though let's come up with a hypothetical situation to work with.

About The Author

Barry Schwartz

Barry Schwartz a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land and a member of the programming team for SMX events. He owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry's personal blog is named Cartoon Barry and he can be followed on Twitter here.