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SearchCap: The Day In Search, November 4, 2008

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 Need for HTML Knowledge in Link Building When you think about the skills it takes to do link development your first thought probably isn’t “coding” is it? However, as we […]

Barry Schwartz on November 4, 2008 at 5:09 pm | Reading time: 7 minutes

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 Need for HTML Knowledge in Link Building
When you think about the skills it takes to do link development your first thought probably isn’t “coding” is it? However, as we see more template-based sites and sites administered by people who don’t have much coding knowledge gain authority, you’ll potentially want to think about paying a bit of attention to at least basic HTML. As you may have gathered, particularly if you’ve been link building and needed to approach a blog owner, not everyone has a site because he or she is adept with code. Now, you will find some blog owners who’ve chosen a blog package for various reasons, people who are quite fantastic coders but simply wanted to set something up quickly, have ease of maintenance, etc. What you will mostly find, at least according to my experience, is people whose knowledge of HTML isn’t all that fantastic, which isn’t at all surprising, considering the fact that these blog systems have been developed for ease of use, even for the least technical beginners. They are the great equalizer.
What Google AdWords Really Changed Last Night
This morning I reported that the “fairer” AdWords quality score changes went live. In that post, I asked you to submit your questions, because I had scheduled a call with Google’s Nick Fox to answer some questions I had over this quality score change. The call is now over and I have some pretty transparent answers from Mr. Fox of Google. Did you know that the way Google normalized the click-through rate data in the past was to test lower placed ads in higher ad positions? They did, but now they no longer do.
Jeeves Returns To Ask Jeeves; Ask.com Still Shuns Him
Try it, go to askjeeves.com, notice how it redirects you to ask.com and then shows you the old Jeeves character.
Election Results From The Search Engines & Beyond
Today, the United States is electing a new president, voting on one-third of the seats in the U.S. Senate, and voting on all 435 seats in the House of Representatives. An important election? To say the least! And interest in the election results is higher than many of us “experienced” voters can ever remember. Tonight, while most of us will be glued to the television to watch election results come in across the U.S., millions of people won’t have access to a TV, or will be away from home and unable to get local election results on TVs where they are. Not to worry, though. The internet, and the major search engines, in particular, will have you covered. Here’s a look at how the search engines are planning to help you get the real-time election results you’re looking for tonight.
Now A Yahoo Board Member, Icahn Continues to Pitch MSFT Search Deal
Billionaire inventor/corporate gadfly Carl Icahn, who owns 5 percent of Yahoo and is now a board member, continues to publicly advocate a MIcrosoft deal for the portal site. Icahn has at least two board members aligned with his positions (former Viacom CEO Frank J. Biondi Jr. and former Nextel CEO John H. Chapple) based on an earlier settlement that saw him and the two handpicked others added to the Yahoo board.
Google’s New AdWords Quality Score Changes Now Live: Got Questions?
The new, improved and billed as “fairer” quality score changes made to the AdWords algorithm are now live. In short, Google made two changes: (1) Improved how they normalize the formula for taking into account ad position when calculating an ad’s click-through rate. (2) Enabled more ads to reach the top ad spot, through a revised ad promotion algorithm. Have questions?
Google & Yahoo Try Again With New Ad Deal
Faced with continuing opposition to their original search ad partnership, Google and Yahoo have changed the terms and submitted a new agreement to the U.S. Justice Department. According to the Wall Street Journal, the new deal changes the agreement from 10 years to two years and limits the amount of money that Yahoo can collect up to 25% of its search revenue. The new plan also includes an opt-out mechanism for Google advertisers who don’t want their ads to show on Yahoo.
Search Month: October 2008 Search News, In Review
Search Month is a monthly newsletter that recaps stories covered on Search Engine Land over the past month. It’s also available by feed here. Below, news about Search Engine Land itself, then our 10 most popular stories from October 2008, then a major story for various search topics along with other stories related to those topics covered during October.
October 2008: Search Engine Land’s Most Popular Stories
Below are Search Engine Land’s 10 most popular stories from October 2008: