SearchCap: Yahoo Directory, Google Lyrics & Santa On Christmas

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

From Search Engine Land:

• Yes, Steve Scalise, There Was A Google In 2002

  US House of Representatives majority whip says Google not being “available” in 2002 prevented vetting his speaking to group of white supremacists. But Google and other popular search engines did exist.

• Securing Investment In Content And SEO In 2015: 3 Keys To Unlocking Success

  So, you want some of those business dollars filtered into content and SEO in 2015? If so, defining these three key areas will help you put together a budget that looks at internal operations, the major issues hindering the website, and tracking results to keep those dollars filtering in. 1. Identify The Problems One of the […]

• Doubling Down On Audience-Centric Marketing

  After a banner year for audience marketing, it’s a great time to revisit the concepts I touched on earlier this year and explore some thoughts on what’s further driving audience marketing trends as we move into 2015. There are some major, exciting changes happening in the digital marketing space: the increasing importance of tracking and […]

• AdWords Scripts For Every Level: Part 2, Intermediate Tips For Editing & Troubleshooting

  This is the second in a three-part series on using AdWords Scripts. In the first part we covered how to read scripts. In part two, we go beyond the very basics and look at some of the issues that new scripts users run into. I asked scripts whizzes, Frederick Vallaeys, former Googler and co-founder of […]

• Quality (Score) PPC Content: Our Top 10 Paid Search Columns For 2014

  This past year brought many developments in search engine marketing (SEM), and our Paid Search columnists provided insights, tips and advice for adapting to these various changes. Search marketers briefly panicked when Google announced in April that it would be removing search query data from ad click referrer strings, fearing that this would mean the loss […]

• 5 Incredibly Practical Reasons To Do PPC In 2015

  The competition for visibility in the search results is fierce, which is all the more reason that big brands should stake their claim as a presence to be reckoned with online. Alongside search engine optimization, pay-per-click (PPC) can garner more real estate for your brand on the results page – and if you’re not there, your competition surely […]

• 10 Things I Learned About Local SEO In 2014

  We may not be in school anymore, but as we in the SEO business know, the education process never ends. With that in mind, I’d like to share with you some of the things I learned about this bizarre trade we practice over the past year: 1. Never Again, Google; Never Again First they came […]

• AdWords Scripts For Every Level: Part 1, Learning How To Read Scripts

  A primer on the fundamentals of Google AdWords scripts.

• Yahoo Directory Closes, Five Days Early

  The core service that launched Yahoo as an internet company — the Yahoo Directory — finally closes 20 years after it began.

• Why You Need To Make Dynamic Copy An Integral Part Of Your 2015 PPC Strategy

  As we head into 2015, advertisers and searchers are both suffering ad fatigue. Part of this fatigue has to do with the current state of paid search, including which features are considered necessary. The other part has to do with advertisers not adapting to a constantly changing PPC world. Larry Kim first touched on this […]

• Mapping It Out: Our Top 10 Local Search Columns For 2014

  Consumers have grown increasingly reliant on the web for discovering local businesses and determining which ones to patronize. In fact, a survey conducted by BrightLocal earlier this year revealed that 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations, underscoring the need for businesses to build and optimize an online presence. Local business owners and search marketers responded […]

• Search In Pics: Google Scream Room, Mr. Jingles & Jewglers Menorah

  In this week’s Search In Pictures, here are the latest images culled from the web, showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have, and more. Mr. Jingles On Holidays: Source: Google+ Jewglers Menorahs: Source: Google+ Mr. Jingles Baking Google+ Holiday Cookies: […]

• Google Music Video Search Results Now Contain Links To Lyrics On Google Play

  Google’s music video search results also contain lyrics snippets with a link to the full lyrics on Google Play.

• Google Translate Shows Santa Claus Picture As Easter Egg

  Google loves easter eggs and here is a special one for the holiday season. Search for Santa Claus on Google Translate.

• Where’s Santa? The 2014 Santa Tracker Review, From NORAD To Google

  Santa Claus is on his way — and there are two excellent services to track his progress. Our guide to getting the most of out NORAD Tracks Santa and Google Santa Tracker.

• Useful Links For Link Builders: Our Top 10 Link Week Columns For 2014

  When Google’s head of webspam, Matt Cutts, kicked off 2014 by denouncing guest blogging as a link building strategy, link builders knew they were going to be in for an interesting year. And indeed they were right. We saw major brands like Expedia and eBay get hit with manual penalties, and many speculated that these were related […]

• What I Learned In AdWords Can Help You

  I once moderated a focus group for Google where we split the participants into two groups: small agencies and large agencies. One key difference I saw between the groups was their willingness to share best practices. The small agencies seemed reluctant to share for fear of giving their competition an edge. The larger and more […]

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

• Online Browsing Remains Strong During Christmas Week, But Conversions Slow
• The Most Popular Social Media Marketing Columns Of The Year
• Report: Email Beats Internet & Social Media As The Most Important Tool For Workers
• 2014′s Top 10 Analytics & Marketing Columns On Marketing Land
• Report: 2.5X More App Installs On Christmas With Apple Device Activations Accounting For 51%
• Twitter Ads Make It Seem Like People Follow Brands, Even If They Don’t
• Best Practice Pros: How The NFL Scores Big In Email
• Mobile Apps, Beacons, SEO & More: Marketing Land’s Top 10 Mobile Marketing Columns Of The Year
• Top 10 Display Advertising Columns Of 2014
• General Motors Harnesses Facebook To Fuel Impressive Vehicle Recall Rate
• Promoted Pins Set To Make Debut To All Partners, Early Data Shows Suprisingly Effective Results
• The Year’s 10 Most Popular Content Marketing Columns
• 2014 In Email Marketing Columns: Marketing Land’s Top 10
• Arcade Claw Machine Calls Attention To Plight Of Homeless
• Planning For Success: 5 Affiliate Marketing Resolutions For 2015
• Top 10 Most Tweeted Live TV Events In 2014: Ellen’s Selfie Pushes Oscars To The Top Of The List
• 7 Resolutions For Higher Website Conversions In 2015
• Tracking Santa Through Social Media: Updates Via Twitter, Facebook & Google+
• The 12 Days Of Procurement
• Mazda Teams With Mogees To Turn Vehicle Into Musical Instrument
• Facebook To Launch YouTube-Like Playlists
• A CMO’s View: Porch’s CMO Says Analytics & Data Are At The Core Of Everything For The Home Improvement Network
• The Best Of Marketing Land’s Search Marketing Columns For 2014
• 10 Most Popular Marketing Strategies Columns For 2014
• Infographic: Brands That Have Been Naughty & Nice On Social Media
• Italian Authorities Fine TripAdvisor $610,000 For Not Preventing Invalid Negative Reviews
• An Inside Look At The Top Users On Pinterest & The Confusing World Of Paid Pinning

Search News From Around The Web:

Industry

• Behind the scenes with the Google doodlers, San Francisco Chronicle
• Google To Present At Webwinkel Vakdagen In Netherlands On January 21-22, 2015, Search Engine Roundtable
• U.S. Tech Firms Face Showdown With Russian Censors, Wall Street Journal
• A Google Gentrification Fight That Doesn’t Involve San Francisco, New York Times
• The Most Popular Bing Homepages of 2014, Bing Search Blog
• How Beating Cancer Inspired This Entrepreneur to Launch a Company, Inc.com

Local & Maps

• Ho Ho Ho! Track Santa around the world with Google’s Santa Tracker, Google LatLong

Link Building

• 11 Link Building Tactics Explained With Real World Examples, Search Engine People Blog
• How We Quadrupled a Client’s Rankings in 2 Months with Competitive Backlink Analysis, SEMrush Blog

Searching

• Custom Google News RSS Feed Not Working Properly, Search Engine Roundtable
• Search Challenge (12/24/14): Where’s the lake with the…, SearchReSearch
• Search Card for Google Trends, Google Operating System
• 3 Twitter Search Tricks You’ll Love Playing with, internetmarketingninjas.com

SEO

• Google Doesn’t Limit GoogleBot’s Crawl Behavior Manually, Search Engine Roundtable
• Google: Hidden Away Content On Mobile Not Necessarily Discounted, Search Engine Roundtable
• Google: Something New & Fun Coming To Webmaster Tools Search Query Report, Search Engine Roundtable
• The Massive Ranking Factor Too Many SEOs are Ignoring – Whiteboard Friday, Moz
• 11 Steps to Search Engine Saturation: Multiple Ways to Impact the SERPs, SEMrush Blog
• Google Webmaster Tools & Web Search Are Independent Beasts, Search Engine Roundtable
• Google: You Should Start A Brand New Web Site Because…, Search Engine Roundtable
• Majestic teams up with Semrush for Topical Page Rank Webinar, Majestic Blog
• SEO Using Force-Directed Diagrams, Portent
• Stopping SEOcentrism: What Lego Can Teach All Web Marketers, Moz
• Testimonials Should Not Have Google Rich Snippet Reviews Markup, Search Engine Roundtable
• Google Fetch As Google, Fetch And Render Generated Error, Search Engine Roundtable
• Google Wants You To Report Rich Snippet Spam, Search Engine Roundtable
• How to Rank YouTube Videos on the First Page of Google, SEMrush Blog
• What SEO Trends & Predictions Webmasters Are Making, Search Engine Roundtable
• Your Guide to Succeed in SEO, Ahrefs Blog

SEM / Paid Search

• 2 Important Ongoing PPC Agency Services, PPC Hero
• From Zero To Hero: Measuring PPC’s Impact On Brand Awareness, PPC Hero

Search Marketing

• The Ultimate Guide to 2014’s SEO Changes: How to Deal with a New Reality, SEMrush Blog
• Video: Google Pigeon Flies Globally, New Search Query Report & Duane Back At Bing, Search Engine Roundtable
• How to Migrate to HTTPS from the Google Chrome Team, The SEM Post