SearchCap: The Day In Search, September 15, 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:

• The New Twitter & Search, An Illustrated Guide

  Twitter’s rolling out a new design to users that makes the site more interactive and shows more information than before. What’s new for searchers? Here’s our guide!
  The Search Box Moves Up

  In the “old” Twitter — or the current version for many people — the search box was easy to overlook, stuck down and to […]

• Assessing Google Instant’s Effect On B2B Marketers

  As Google moved from Google Suggest to Google Instant last week, I began to wonder what impact it may have on B2B marketers and how to assess that impact. As with any significant change, the results will be positive for some, negative for others. Here are some things B2B marketers should watch to determine the […]

• Google Health Redesign Focuses On Wellness Tracking & Data

  Google announced they have redesigned Google Health. The redesign primarily focuses on providing the user with access to wellness information.
  Users can track progress with their blood pressure, cholesterol, coffee intake, weight, and so on. Even more, users can set goals and watch their progression to meeting those goals. So if […]

• Google Fired Two Employees For Breaching Google User Privacy

  Gawker wrote a story on how one Googler was fired for allegedly “stalking” and “spying” on a 15-year-old’s Gmail Chat conversations. Gawker said the “stalking” was not “sexual” in nature but it was still a breach of privacy.
  Later, Google confirmed that this Googler was dismissed due to “breaking internal privacy policies.” […]

• Google AdWords Releases New AdWords API: v201008

  The Google AdWords API Blog announced a new version of the AdWords API. The new version is v201008 and it adds missing features of the previous version, where advertisers/developers had to reply on the older v13 API.
  What’s New:

  Reports: Now out of beta, the ReportDefinitionService service has what you need to receive detailed reporting for […]

• Good News, Lesbians — Google Instant May Soon Suggest You!

  As you know, Google won’t show certain search results in Google Instant for search results that seem pornographic, violent or hateful. The includes the word “lesbian,” even though few would consider it to be pornographic on its own.
  I reported this morning at the Search Engine Roundtable that Google said they will try to fix lesbian […]

• Small, Site-Wide Conversion Changes To The Rescue

  Ever feel like a marketing castaway? You know what I mean: you want to improve conversion rates, but your site is trapped on a desert-island CMS and surrounded by hostile IT and C-level natives. The budget supply is running low and the only site elements within your reach are a few global images and CSS […]

• Report: Google To Leverage Other Social Networks To Make Itself More Social

  The unconfirmed “Google Me” appears not to be a product per se rather a placeholder for a broader social strategy. According to reports coming out of Google Zeitgeist (Danny’s there so he can expand on this) Google is going to integrate a “social layer” into more and more of its products over time. According to […]

• Czechs Say “Zastavit” To Google StreetView

  Zastavit means stop or halt. And that’s what the Czech government has told Google regarding StreetView image collection in the central European country. The stated reason, according to the Czech Office for Personal Data Protection, is that Google did not have the required license/registration to conduct the activity.
  It’s not the case that Google failed to […]

• A Battle To Avoid: Search Team Vs. Affiliate Team

  Lack of coordination between your search and affiliate marketing efforts can create internal revenue wars.
  Keywords that contain your brand are extremely valuable both because conversion rates are typically higher due to the high relevance between queries using brand terms and search results, and costs-per-click are often less expensive than those for generic keywords. […]

• Live Blogging BIA/Kelsey’s DMS ’10 Conference – Day 2

  I’ll be live blogging Day 2 of the Directional Media Strategies 2010 (#DMS2010) conference here, starting at about 8:30 AM, CST, September 15. (See Day 1 here.)
  —————————————————————————————-
  (Sorry – started late due to large traffic jammage on the tollway)
  DMS ‘10 Spotlight: The ‘Deal a Day’ Phenomenon
  Perry Evans of Closely is up:
  – We’ve discovered what I call […]

• Live Blogging Twitter Anouncement (The New Twitter.com)

  I’m at Twitter HQ in San Francisco eating cheese and guacamole in anticipation of the announcement. No one will talk but TechCrunch has reported that it’s video and inline images. I’ll make an attempt at live blogging, though I don’t like it much.
  The room is full of press. Ev Williams and Biz Stone have just […]

• Forget Phones, Google Gives Top Advertisers Google TV

  Google’s gained quite a reputation for surprising attendees at conferences with an “Oprah” moment of giving them free Android phones. But phones, that’s so last year. With Google TV about to launch, Google’s upped the giveaway ante — handing out Google TV units for attendees at its Google Zeitgeist conference.
  Zeitgeist is billed as Google’s “Partners […]

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Revisiting Domestic Trends, Google Finance Blog
• SCRAM SPAM!, Yodel Anecdotal

Business Issues

• Exclusive: Facebook and Microsoft Deep in Talks About Deepening Search Ties, AllThingsD
• Revealed: Google’s new mega data center in Finland, Royal Pingdom
• Yahoo: Not Looking To Sell Alibaba Stake, Wall Street Journal

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Introducing the Mobile Bookmark Bubble, Google Open Source Blog
• Is Geo-Local the Answer to the Local Advertising Quandary?, gigaom.com
• comScore Reports July 2010 U.S. Mobile Subscriber Market Share, comScore
• Google Shows off Voice Search in New Series of Videos, phandroid.com

Link Building

• Bush Links. The New Name For Paid Links, The Link Spiel

Paid Search & Contextual

• 10 Facts and Trends about Contextual Advertising, Search Engine Journal
• Goodbye, Yahoo: 4 Things I’ll Miss About Panama, Search Engine Watch
• Yahoo! economist rebuilds ad empire with ‘Magic Formula’, The Register

Searching

• Exploring Trends in U.S. Retail Sales with Wolfram|Alpha, Wolfram|Alpha Blog
• Google News Search Bug or Feature?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Prediction API: Make smart apps even smarter, Google Code Blog

SEM Industry

• With a Heart Full of Thanks, One Blogger’s Farewell, BruceClay.com
• Agatha Christie Google Logo & More Doodles For Today, Search Engine Roundtable
• Bing Webmaster Centre blogs to be overhauled, BigMouthMedia

SEO & SEM

• Google Instant AdWords Trouble, Search Engine Journal
• Is it Worth Optimizing for more than Google? You Bet it is, Conductor Blog
• Overall Conversion Rates are Useless, Brad Geddes
• Tips for getting help with your site, Official Google Webmaster Central Blog
• Top Tips for Search Engine Marketing in Germany, Part 1, Search Engine Watch

Social Media

• Delicious in iTunes?, delicious blog
• Facebook Page Growth Rates Return To Pre-Places Launch, All Facebook
• 4 Ways I Compose Posts to Drive Millions of Pageviews to Blogs Through Digg, ProBlogger
• How to Use a Facebook Fan Page – 5 Ways to Get You Started, Michael Gray
• What You Can Learn About Social Media Marketing from TLC, Techipedia

Video, Music & Image Search

• Yahoo! Connected TV Enhances TV Viewing Experience for Millions of Toshiba Consumers with the Best of the Web, Yahoo Press Releases

Web Analytics

• Build Your Own Weighted Sort (GA Style), SEOmoz
• Motion Charts: A Hidden Gem in Google Analytics, Vertical Measures

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

• Why We React Strongly When Web Sites Change – "When Sphinn Editor-At-Large Danny Sullivan announced Sphinn Says Goodbye To Voting, reaction wasn’t long in coming—much of it negative. Was Danny prepared for the backlash? Yes. But what about the hostility? What could have possibly warranted that?"