SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 20, 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 Growing Need For SEO In Political Campaigns

  It’s going to be a while before we see a political campaign that’s “less digital” than the last one. Budgets keep getting bigger, and investing in online outreach continues to provide candidates with the biggest bang for their buck. But selling voters on politicians and policies isn’t remotely similar to selling, well, anything else. But […]

• Post-Click Activity Offers Key Mobile Attribution Insights

  I wanted to take a deeper dive into mobile this month. It’s a hot topic that’s here to stay, and leading mobile ad network xAd recently shared some interesting and relevant stats. xAd’s local mobile ad network generates, on average, a click-through rate (CTR) of 5% to 8%, compared to an average general mobile network […]

• Forty Million Mobile Users Access Social Nets Daily — comScore

  In the US roughly 40 million mobile users access social networks (broadly defined to include blogs) on their handsets on a daily basis, according to comScore. The large number of mobile-social users comes as no surprise. Facebook previously announced it had 350 million active mobile users globally. Google also sees mobile as a strategic front […]

• Five Action Steps To Take In B2B Reputation Management

  You’re actively monitoring the online chatter about your company. You’re utilizing a powerful social monitoring tool and have plenty of data. But are you truly prepared to respond when negative commentary about your business hits the web? One of the most effective ways to handle negative opinions in the marketplace is to proactively provide positive […]

• Report: The Top Brands On Facebook & Key Brand Success Factors

  In a new whitepaper from Covario, a search marketing firm and SaaS SEO provider, Facebook brands were analyzed and monitored in a quest to find the top brand. Additional stats were provided including brand goals, and key success factors and Facebook search for brands.. Social Media Goals One of the most interesting tidbits in the report was the […]

• Google+ To Allow Pseudonyms & Will Support Google Apps Accounts

  It appears that Google is listening to feedback on their new social networking site and acting accordingly. Google+ had a bit of a rocky launch with issues around brand accounts, and a total lack of Google Apps support. Even a Google Engineer recently called the service a “knee-jerk” response to Facebook. During the Web 2.0 conference […]

• Survey: UK SMBs Struggle To See Value In AdWords

  A new survey of roughly 500 small businesses (SMBs) in the UK reveals that only a minority perceive AdWords to be delivering a positive ROI. The online survey was conducted by Workbooks.com and YouGov. The question asked was: “Do your sales exceed the cost of AdWords?” Only 18 percent said “yes,” 45 percent said “no” and 37 […]

• Google Intros Dynamic Search Ads

  Google is opening wider a beta test of Dynamic Search Ads, an interesting new type of AdWords ad for larger advertisers that eliminates the need for keywords. With this ad type, designed for retailers or other advertisers with large, often-changing inventory, Google automatically generates ad copy — based on the advertiser’s template — by looking […]

• Not Just Google: Siri Searches Bing And Yahoo Too

  Earlier tonight Danny Sullivan discovered that Siri will also search Bing and Yahoo, though it searches Google by default. If you say, “Search the web for . . .” or you ask Siri a question it can’t answer it will search Google (the iPhone’s default search engine). But if you say, “Search Bing for Steve […]

• U Can’t Make This Stuff Up: MC Hammer Announces Wiredoo Search Engine

  “If you want to swing the bat, why not swing for the fences?” With that statement, MC Hammer — yes, that MC Hammer — announced his new search engine, Wiredoo, during the Web 2.0 Summit today. The website says that Wiredoo is in pre-Beta right now, but there’s a sign-up form for anyone interested in […]

• Taylor: “The Majority Of People On Facebook Have Modified Their Privacy Settings”

  Speaking at Web 2.0 Summit today, Facebook’s chief technical officer Bret Taylor said that people do change their default privacy settings on Facebook — most of them, in fact. “The majority of people on Facebook have modified their privacy settings,” Taylor said. “If you talk to a college student, they know exactly what their parents can see […]

• Brin: “I’m Not A Social Person” But “Google+, I Instantly Found Compelling”

  Google cofounder Sergey Brin made a surprise appearance at Web 2.0 Summit today, and in talking about Google Plus, he said despite not being social himself, he found the service compelling. “I’m not a very social person myself,” Brin said to interviewer John Battelle, adding that he tried a number of social services “because I feel […]

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• A New Look for Gmail, Google Operating System
• And the Emmy Goes To… The Yahoo! Connected TV team!, www.yctvblog.com
• Bing Translator to be integrated with eBay, Trip Advisor and more, www.liveside.net
• Google Publishes Google News Publisher FAQs In Forums, Search Engine Roundtable
• This Is The Google Music "Twist": You Can Share Songs After Buying Them, www.businessinsider.com
• Upcoming changes to Reader: a new look, new Google+ features, and some clean-up, googlereader.blogspot.com
• Why Google Wants to be in Your Wallet and Drive Your Car, www.wolf-howl.com

Business Issues

• Groupon Scales Back IPO, Wall Street Journal
• Bidders balk at Yahoo’s no cross talk provision: sources, Reuters
• Google Hits Space Bars, Wall Street Journal
• Jerry Yang Admits Microsoft Deal "Hasn’t Gone The Way They Wanted", www.businessinsider.com
• Sergey’s secret Google projects, and the challenge of 1,000 blooming flowers, Reuters
• Silver Lake, Microsoft and Canada Pension Plan Mulling Bid for Yahoo, Wall Street Journal
• Why can’t we be friends? Facebook and Google+ relationship remains complicated, VentureBeat
• Why Jerry Yang buying Yahoo might be a good thing, GigaOM
• Yahoo’s Jerry Yang: There Are Plenty of Options Beyond Sale, allthingsd.com

Link Building

• Use Ads To Push Link Marketing, www.linkspiel.com

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Google’s Street View takes to the rails in Switzerland, www.engadget.com
• Android Chief Andy Rubin Says Your Phone Should Not Be Your Assistant, allthingsd.com
• Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley: "The Daily Deal Companies Are Version 1.0", TechCrunch
• If I Had 1 Hour to Get Visible in Google Places, www.localvisibilitysystem.com
• Street View hits the stunning Swiss Alps railways, Google LatLong

Paid Search & Contextual

• Making local online advertising easy with Google AdWords Express, Inside AdWords
• The power of search ads, now in mobile apps and sites, googlemobileads.blogspot.com

Searching

• Look out, Google: Siri is poised to take Apple into search (q&a), news.cnet.com
• To pitch a perfect game, teach yourself online, Official Google Blog

SEM Industry

• Interview with Aaron Wall: No Room for Freetards, smallbiztrends.com
• Rand Fishkin’s Beard – The Halloween Mask All SEO’s Need, www.markrushworth.com
• SEO Movember – Matt Cutts & Duane Forrester for Movember, michaelhalvorsen.com

SEO & SEM

• Our Response to Google’s Query String Security Announcement, blogs.webtrends.com
• Retail Wonderland: 5 Local Search Optimization Tips For The Holidays, www.openforum.com
• SEO Catchphrase, www.distilled.net
• SEO: Convert More Before Driving More, www.practicalecommerce.com
• Should I Change My URLs for SEO?, SEOmoz

Social Media

• Facebook’s Bret Taylor calls Google+ a "really good strategy", thenextweb.com
• Most-Liked Facebook Pages: Why Are They Winning?, www.fathomdelivers.com
• Experian Analysis Highlights Which Countries Spend Longest Time on Facebook, socialmediatoday.com
• The 5 Crucial Rules of How to Handle A Social Media Crisis, Search Engine People

Video, Music & Image Search

• How To Use Internet Video Successfully, www.webanalyticsworld.net
• Search Engines Can Save the Podcast: Lessons From ‘The Office’, Search Engine Watch

Web Analytics

• Google Analytics User Conference in Spain – October 27, Google Analytics Blog

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

• 25 Tips For Giving Your PPC Campaigns a Boost – Good post with ideas and areas to look into to improve your pay per click campaigns.
• The 60-30-60 Framework: A Non-Writer's Help Guide – An interesting view about how to write for the web.
• How Many of Your Visitors Are Logged In to Google? – A real world test shows that 11% of users were logged in to Google. The question is not about size but about whether these users display different behavior and conversion rates.
• Should I Change My URLs for SEO? – Dr. Pete offers an excellent overview on the topic.
• What Are Mobile Marketing Opt-ins and Why Are They Important? – An interesting look at how some companies are enticing customers to sign-up for text alerts and other mobile marketing offers.