Highlights from the SEW Blog: September 10-14, 2007

We’ve collected all the search marketing news from selected posts to the Search Engine Watch blog in the past week, along with recent search-related headlines from around the Web.

From the SEW blog:

Organic Search

• Using Google’s Date Parameters to Find Newly Indexed Pages
  Matt Cutts recently posted about better date searching on Google. It was pretty intriguing, because there are some interesting things you can do with this from an SEO perspective.
• SEW Experts: Surfers, Crawlers Find Bloated Pages Hard to Digest
  Eric Enge discusses page bloat. How fast a page loads still clinches whether a visitor stays or clicks away. Can page bloat also deter search engine crawlers and raise ranking issues?
• SEW Experts: Reach Today’s Search Users With Long-Tail Optimization
  Mark Jackson discusses the evolution born of necessity which has led search users to come so far in such a short time. He tells you how you can reach today’s educated search engine user by optimizing for the long tail.

Search Advertising

• Forbes Looks at Click Fraud – and Doesn’t Sensationalize It!
  Most of the time, when a mainstream media publication writes a story about click fraud, it’s filled with sensational attempts to instill FUD.
• Google Mobile to Start Running AdWords
  Google will begin showing AdWords ads within Google Mobile Search in the next few days.
• SEW Experts: Everything You Assumed About Search Is About to Change
  Matt Spiegel ponders the constant change in the world of search marketing. Sometimes it’s as simple as a search engine algorithm update. More often, people drive change by challenging the assumptions we make about search ads.

Linking Issues & Social Media

• AOL Moves Social News from Netscape.com to Propeller.com
  According to Netscape, this move is to empower users to choose how they want to consume news.
• SEW Experts: I, Google: No Halo for Aggressive Linkers
  Sage Lewis asks, “If you were Google, would paid links be tagged as resident evil?”
• Online PR roundtable finds identifying online influencers is key
  There is an important difference between popularity and influence online. There is a tendency for people to over-value popularity and under-value influence.

Local & Mobile Search

• SEW Experts: Real World Trumps Online in Local Search
  Gregg Stewart reminds you that if you don’t know what your customer is doing, your customer will probably end up someplace else. Tracking local search online and offline is key.
• AmericanTowns Gets Idearc Backing, Sells LocalSearch.com
  IYP publisher Idearc has invested in AmericanTowns, a collection of local city guides, and has purchased the LocalSearch.com domain from AmericanTowns.
• A Look at the Local Search Landscape
  Marchex has published a new primer on the local search space, outlining the landscape of ad providers and publishers.
• The Year for Mobile Ads is Here…Really
  According to a Kelsey Group report, a confluence of factors may mean that now really is the time for mobile advertising to take off.
• Gary Price on Mobile Search
  Eric Enge talks with Price about a range of topics, including the decision to not include a search box on the initial screen of Ask’s Mobile Search.

Vertical & Specialty Search

• Yahoo Acquires News Aggregator BuzzTracker
  Yahoo will use BuzzTracker technology to help improve the breadth and relevancy of Yahoo News content, regardless of the source.
• Affordable video production for search marketers – interview with TurnHere
  Founder and CEO Bradley Inman elaborates on project management aspects of preparing online video content for search engine distribution.
• blinkx and Utarget partners in online video advertising deal
• Newsknife finds dramatic changes in Google News ratings
  Google’s recent decision to host material produced by The Associated Press (AP) and three other wire services on Google News is having an impact on rankings of news sites.
• TurnHere announces new video distribution partnerships and products
  TurnHere, the online video enterprise, announced distribution partnerships with book-centric sites and an enhanced video gadget for improving on the book search experience.

Small Business/Big Brand SEM

• The Benefits of Centralized SEM Management in Large Organizations
  What would you need to do to convince the necessary people in your large organization that a unified, integrated approach to paid search marketing will have a stronger financial impact if centrally managed?
• SEW Experts: Should You Worry About Site Speed?
  Aaron Shear explains that concerns about page load times are not a thing of the past. Optimizing your site and addressing site speed can make a big difference in your search rankings.

In-House & Outsourcing

• SEW Experts: Baking SEO into a Full Fledged Interactive Work Plan
  Chris Boggs discusses where SEO belongs in a strategic online marketing plan. If you think you know the answer, you may be surprised.

SEM Industry Issues

• SEW Experts: The Search Marketing Human Capital Problem
  Kevin Ryan tries to help both HR execs hunting for human “search marketing” resources and SEM pros hunted by executive recruiters. Find out what human capital is worth.

Searching/Search Technologies

• Popcorn Search Disappoints
  The popcorn lung news has been water-cooler talk around here recently. Of course, I wanted to learn more and entered “popcorn” as my search term. The results were not particularly interesting or relevant to me.
• Google Reader Not Yet in Universal Search
  A leaked internal Google video shows that there is no plan to integrate Google Reader with Universal Search.
• Australian Watchdog Suing Google Gets Judicial Criticism
  The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission was told its legal briefs were unclear and were ordered to submit summaries of their main allegations by the Australian judge overseeing the case.
• Overhaul, or Tune-Up at Yahoo?
  According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the “major overhaul” in progress by returning CEO Jerry Yang may turn out to be less than major after all.

More from the SEW Blog

• SEW Blog Ranks #3 in AdAge Power 150
  Allow me to toot our horn for a moment. Search Engine Watch has been ranked #3 in the AdAge Power 150, a ranking of the top English-language media and marketing blogs in the world.
• Google.org investing in plug-in hybrids
  Google’s philanthropic arm, Google.org, has issued a call for investment proposals. Specifically, they are looking for entrepreneurs to propose ways to develop plug-in hybrid vehicles.

Search Headlines

We report the top search marketing news daily at the Search Engine Watch Blog. You’ll find more news from around the Web below.

• Use PPC Ad Testing to determine Offline Messages, John Ellis
• Revisited: The Art of SEO, Search Engine Guide
• First Look at Microsoft’s Free Web Analytics Tool ‘Gatineau’ (With Slides), blognation Belgium
• Call for global privacy standards, Google Public Policy blog
• Coremetrics Adds Lifecycle Behavioral Tracking, ClickZ
• Sweet & Sour SEO, ClickZ
• Nokia To Acquire Mobile Advertising Firm Enpocket, TechCrunch
• Omnicom’s Agency.com Tries For A Comeback, But Old Dilemmas Persist, paidContent
• Not enough hours for social software, Information World Review
• Iran blocks access to Google, AFP
• Show Your Linking Acumen With Chipmunks, Search Engine Land
• Getting Found in All the Right Places, SEMNE
• When Your On Page SEO Goes Too Far, SearchRank
• Thinking Out Loud: Facebook, Battelle’s SearchBlog
• Local Search Is About Products Too, Not Just Restaurants And Plumbers, Search Engine Land
• TechCrunch 40 Session 1: Search & Discovery, TechCrunch