SearchCap: The Day In Search, September 10, 2012

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.

From Search Engine Land:

• Google Removed The Pirate Bay From Instant Search

  TorrentFreak reports Google has removed The Pirate Bay from showing up in Google’s search suggestions within Google Instant Search. Google Instant Search will auto-complete the search phrase based on search popularity and other factors. Prior to today, Google would auto-complete for the domain thepiratebay but now, Google has added that to their piracy filter list. […]

• Google, Yahoo Agree: Democrats Searched More Than Republicans During Political Conventions

  The dust has settled on both the Republican and Democratic national conventions and, while we don’t know who’ll ultimately get the most votes, it’s clear that Democrats won the day where search activity is concerned. Both Google and Yahoo have analyzed their users’ searches during the two conventions, and both show that search activity spiked […]

• Google Wins Major Antitrust Victory In Brazil, Does It Foreshadow Broader EU & US Wins?

  In addition to the various government antitrust investigations against Google going on around the world, there is a parallel world of private lawsuits by Google rivals and critics that make similar unfair competition or antitrust claims against Mountain View. They generally allege, among other things, that Google is unfairly referring traffic to its own “vertical […]

• Amazon Refuses To Pay-To-Play In Google’s New Shopping Search

  As Google shifts its Shopping search to a pay-for-play model, one key commerce company appears to be sitting on the sidelines — Amazon. As noted in a New York Times feature that ran over the weekend, consumers who search on Google Shopping can find Kindles from a variety of stores via the listings, but Amazon isn’t […]

• 10 Simple Tips For Effective Mobile SEO

  There is little doubt that mobile search is the hot topic in the SEO world at the moment. Some brands are now finding that more than 30 percent of all searches come from mobile devices, according to Mobile Marketer. It’s fair to say that mobile search is quickly moving out of the Stone Age and […]

• How To Build An Authority Strategy For Your Company

  On June 7, 2011 Google announced rel=author. There are many articles that explain the mechanics of how to setup rel=author tagging, including this excellent one by Rick DeJarnette on Search Engine Land. While this announcement got people thinking about author authority, an “authority strategy” for your business involves a lot more than rel=author. It invoves […]

• 5 Steps For A Flawless Paid Search Launch

  Why does it seem like a paid search launch has as many moving parts as launching a space shuttle? To make sure that everything gets taken care of, I adhere to a five step launch process when building a new paid search program. This process makes it easier to divide and conquer developing each part […]

• Factual Global Products: Data About Over 500,000 US Consumer Packaged Goods

  Looking for facts about consumer product goods in the US? Open source data platform Factual has just launched its Factual Global Products with information on more than 517,000 consumer products. Records for each product include product name, brand, category , size, and UPC. Direct links to images for many products are also included as well as a Factual ID […]

• Microsoft adCenter Now Bing Ads Under Yahoo Bing Network

  Microsoft posted and then retracted their announcement of renaming the search alliance between Microsoft and Yahoo to the Yahoo Bing Network. Part of that announcement is that Microsoft adCenter, the name of Microsoft’s search ad network, is now being renamed to Bing Ads. You can see the retracted blog post on the new Yahoo Bing […]

• Google Testing Search Options Listed Above Results, Rather Than To Side

  Google appears to be testing out a new navigational layout, one that takes the search options that normally show in the left-hand column of a search results page and moving them to above the search results. It seem similar to one that surfaced in June. This is how things normally look: The arrow points to […]

• Google Faces Autocomplete Lawsuit From Former First Lady Of Germany

  Google may be in trouble again over the automated suggestions that its Autocomplete feature provides to searchers. According to the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung (and also reported by TechCrunch), Bettina Wulff — wife of the country’s former president, Christian Wulff — is suing Google because Autocomplete suggests prostitution-related terms when a searcher types her name […]

Recent Headlines From MarTech, Our Sister Site Dedicated To Internet Marketing:

• Display Advertising: Who’s Who And What’s What In This Ever-Changing Space
• Twitter Prompting Users To Advertisers On Twitter
• Find And Reward Your Social Media Superfans
• Google Glass Meets Fashion, Smart Glasses Part Of DVF Fashion Show

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Google Drive: Updates for iOS and Android, Official Google Blog

Business Issues

• 3 years later, hackers who hit Google continue string of lethal attacks, Ars Technica
• Chinese Software to Challenge Android, Wall Street Journal
• Google backs Alan Turing Monopoly game, CNET
• Google Search: A Discussion About The Past, Present And Future With Jack Menzel, TechCrunch
• China’s Alibaba to pass Amazon, eBay in transaction value: executive, Reuters
• Google To Discontinue Its Prepaid Cards In Google Wallet On October 17, TechCrunch
• Mystery Google Device Appears in Small-Town Iowa, Wired
• Video Infographic Reveals The Most Impressive YouTube Statistics Of 2012, SocialTimes
• Yahoo’s Culture Problem? It’s Already Fixed, Forbes

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Google Maps uses Ground Truth project to battle Apple, BBC News
• Google Maps: HTML Showing In Google+ Local Pages, Search Engine Roundtable
• Toys ‘R’ Us Rolls Out Its Own Tablet, Wall Street Journal

Link Building

• 4 Methods for Linking Online Ad Dollars to Offline Sales, RKG Blog
• Link Building Via Direct Client Link Requests, Search Engine Roundtable

Paid Search & Contextual

• Microsoft Advertising UK unveil 2 new MSN ad formats: Magnetic Canvas and Swell, Microsoft Advertising Blog

SEM Industry

• Meet My New Company: Delightful Communications, Mel Carson
• Mel Carson joins Majestic SEO from Microsoft, blog.majesticseo.com

SEO & SEM

• Use Close-Ups in Small Format Images, PPC Hero
• Selecting an SEO Firm: The What, How, and Who, Search Engine Watch
• 5 Minute SEO Tips: Check Your Indexed Pages, VerticalLeap
• A Day in the Life of an SEO, Search Engine Journal
• Common Technical SEO Problems and How to Solve Them, SEOmoz
• Content is King & Other White Lies We Tell Ourselves, Search Engine Watch
• Expand Your AdWords Remarketing Strategy with YouTube TrueView Video Ads, Search Engine People
• How To Make Broad Match Profitable, PPC Hero
• How to Write an Effective SEO Case Study that Converts: 8 Killer Tips to Seal the Deal, Search Engine Watch
• Keyphrases: why synonyms are your friends, SEO Copywriting
• Mobile Search – 5 SEO Best Practices, koozai.com