Search Week in Review for Nov. 20, 2010
Here’s a roundup of this week’s columns and news stories for the week of Nov. 15 to 19, as reported by Search Engine Watch, as well as search news and tips from around the web.
Search Engine Optimization
Making Social Search Work Today by Ryan DeShazer
Get ahead of the curve with social search by using the tools and data available to you to identify trends. Here’s how to capitalize on those trends.
Four Listings Now Magic Number In Google Page One Results by Frank Watson
The Google Webmaster Central Blog announced they are now allowing up to four listings from a single domain in the first page of their search results. Add site links, a more results search box and a map and one site can really dominate the first page of Google results.
Google Indexing Text In Flash Files by Jonathan Allen
Google recently announced that it is now able to index text within a Flash (.swf) file. The latest update means that any text that a user interacts with in your SWF file can be indexed by Googlebot and used to match queries and generate snippets for results in Google searches. Furthermore, external URLs within the file can be followed, crawled and indexed too.
Search Advertising
AdWords Beta Testing New Layout In SERPs by Frank Watson
For a moment I thought I was using Yahoo as I scrolled down the Google search results today. There were ads at the bottom of the SERPs! I blinked and realized I was searching with Google and things were definitely different.
CTRs Jump After Google Changes Name of Ads [Report] by Danny Goodwin
Google’s recent renaming of “Sponsored Links” to “Ads” has been a positive for advertisers, according to a new study.
Forget Clicks, iProspect Study Shows Ad Impressions Drive Purchases & Boost Brands by Jonathan Allen
By now you should have heard of the ‘last click’ attribution methodology and how it is a wrong headed analysis that risks biting the hand that feeds it. But have you heard of the ‘no-click’ attribution analysis? Neither have I, but iProspects latest investigation suggests that whatever market sector we are in, it might be time for marketers to start thinking about it.
SearchIgnite DSP Makes Display Advertising More Like Paid Search by Jonathan Allen
Most companies manage their display advertising and search marketing activities in ‘silos’, having separate teams and platforms to manage it all. This week, SearchIgnite have enhanced their DSP to change all that, allowing marketers to manage, optimize and attribute more digital media than ever before from a single platform.
SEM Basics
How to Make Video Content Work For You by Kevin Gibbons
Looking to drive repeats visits and sales and show up in universal search results? Use these tips on content, quality, length, optimization, budgeting, and more.
How to Keep Up To Date in Search by Duncan Parry
The search space is changing on a daily basis. Here’s are some tips on how you can keep track of the latest happenings in our industry.
Analytics & ROI
Instant Answers About Google Instant Previews by Stephen Cobb
What effect will Google Instant Preview have on conversion rate optimization? Not much, at least not yet. But stay tuned to see what GIP becomes.
Broad Match: Desperately Seeking Cinderella by Thi Thumasathit
Solely utilizing broad match can return the equivalent of a long line of ugly stepsisters — and channel the real Cinderellas to other marketers-in-waiting. Here’s how broad match can improve your search campaigns.
Social Media Marketing
Game-Based Marketing: The Ever-Growing Trend in Social Media by Jason Cormier
How collecting, points, access, status, rewards, and the like are helping companies successfully “game-ify” their marketing.
Building a Social Media Predictive Model by Nathan Linnell
After defining your social media goals and objectives, you need to begin to understand what it will take to meet them. Here’s how to create a model that will help lead you to social media success.
Can Twitter Help Sell Cars and Other Big Ticket Items? by Frank Watson
There’s a fine line between making sales and annoying potential customers. Some dos and don’ts for promoting sales on Twitter.
Facebook Announces Email Service Launch by Frank Watson
Facebook announced the launch of its much discussed email service. So now anyone on Facebook can get an @facebook.com email address.
Deja Vu Facebook Email Address Selling On eBay by Frank Watson
I remember when Gmail accounts were hot items being sold on eBay and now it seems Facebook mail accounts may be next.
LinkedIn Adding A New Member Every Second by Frank Watson
Speaking at the Web 2.o Summit, LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner said Linked has 85 million members and is adding a new member every second or 86,400 members a day and over 2 million a month.
Link Building
7 Social Link Building Tips by Eric Enge
A review of how social behavior can create valuable relationships and influence your link building efforts.
Local & Mobile Search
Google Places Adds Hotpot, FourSquare Clone by Frank Watson
Google Places added a new social element – Hotpot. This FourSquare-like program allows you to make recommendations that then get shared with your friends.
Google Boost Ads Available in More Cities by Danny Goodwin
Google’s beta test of Boost, the AdWords program that auto-generates search ads to appear in Google’s “Ads” section and Google Maps search results pages, is expanding to more U.S. cities.
Just Goggle It! Say Buick, Disney, Diageo, T-Mobile and Delta Airlines by Jonathan Allen
If the race for the best geo-social network gave you the impression that local and mobile were converging, then Google Goggles would like to remind you that the combination of technologies in your mobile phone can do a lot more than check-in or tweet.
Enterprise SEM
Create a Newsworthy Event for Links and Brand Building by Justilien Gaspard
Want to create a newsworthy event that could give your company an edge on the competition? Here are some things to consider.
SEM Agency Issues
5 Important Tips For Choosing Your SEO Agency by Gareth Owen
The five key factors in choosing an SEO agency and why are they important.
International Search
Website Localization: The Time is Now by Christian Arno
Although the English-language web has reached a saturation point, the foreign language Internet still offers rich-pickings, and presents a rather lucrative opportunity for businesses.
Google Blurs Its Own Building in Germany as Street View Expands by Danny Goodwin
Street View images of Germany’s 20 largest cities, including Berlin, Hamburg, and Munich, are live in Google Maps, Google announced yesterday. One funny note: Google has been forced to blur out its own office building.
Google to Delete U.K. WiFi Data by Danny Goodwin
“Data that should never have been collected in the first place can, at last, be deleted,” according to U.K. Information Commissioner Christopher Graham, in referring to the e-mails, passwords, and other data Google inadvertently collected off unencrypted wireless networks with its Street View cars (last month called a “gross invasion of privacy”).
The Search Industry
Why Google Chrome OS & The Cloud May Be Bad Ideas by Kristine Schachinger
Reconsider the cloud operating systems before you find yourself without any choices and your computer a slave to the powerful companies that now run the technological world we live in.
comScore: Google, Bing Gain More Search Share in October by Danny Goodwin
Google and Bing made slight gains in October, while the other major search players saw their search market share drop, according to the latest comScore data.
Are the Brains of Search Engine Marketing and Search Engine Optimization Sartorially Challenged? by Greg Jarboe
The Boston Globe has just published it’s list of “The 25 most stylish Bostonians” and I’m not on it. And I’m starting to think that I may owe SEM industry observer, Meredith A.C. Roth, an apology.
Congress Discussing Do Not Track Registry by Frank Watson
The US Congress is discussing the possibility of instituting a registry for people who do not want websites to track them. While privacy advocacy groups support the move, seems Google and others are against it.
Could A New Technique Change How Search Engines Work? by Frank Watson
Researchers at Georgia Tech have developed a machine-learning technique that gathers and stores word associations to enhance the search process. The technique uses, from what I understand of it, a form of keyword or semantic latency to associate terms and long tail searches to provide better search results.
Forget “The Social Network” SEOktoberfest The Movie Is Here by Frank Watson
The 2010 movie of the SEOktoberfest conference is now available thanks to Marcus Tandler – the event organizer and prominent German marketer.
Google News
Google To Enter Fashion Space by Frank Watson
Google is expected to launch in to the fashion business tomorrow at their High Tech Fuses With High Fashion event in New York. Fashion bloggers have been discussing this and the impact it may have on stores currently selling fashion.
Hate Google Instant Previews? Here’s How To Get Rid of Them by Danny Goodwin
Google’s Instant Previews launched last week, and not long after some people began searching for ways to turn off the feature since Google doesn’t provide one (even if Instant is turned off).
Google Plans to Hire 2,000+ Worldwide; Salaries Revealed by Danny Goodwin
Google is currently looking to hire 2,076 people to its 23,300 employees globally. Most of the positions are in engineering and sales, with half in the U.S.
FBI Seeks Google’s Help in Wiretapping by Danny Goodwin
FBI Director Robert Meuller met with execs at Google and Facebook on a trip to Silicon Valley earlier this week, the New York Times reported. The subject at hand: making it easier to wiretap their users.
Google Introduces Credit Tags For News Listings by Frank Watson
The Google News blog introduced credit tags this week for attributing sources for news stories. “Credit where credit is due” is the appropriate title and involves site owners including the tags to show Google the source of their stories.
Google Chrome Releases: 20 Things I Learned About Browsers and the Web by Frank Watson
The creative team that gave us Google Chrome has released an online book “20 Things I learned About Browsers and the Web” and it is not an ebook. The book has been done in HTML5 and is a clever overview of things many people may not know.
Google TV Is Not On Wall Street Journal Christmas Present List by Frank Watson
Wall Street Journal tech reporter Walter S. Mossberg had a look at Google TV and said he would “wait for Google TV to improve.”
Google Releases White Paper Criticizing Countries Blocking Internet Access by Frank Watson
In their Public Policy blog, Google discusses their release of a white paper that explores how “governments impose limits on the free flow of information online.”
Bing News
Shaky Yahoo Could Undermine Bing Search Efforts by Frank Watson
eWeek has written an interesting article about how Microsoft is worried that an unstable Yahoo could seriously impact the efforts of Bing in the search wars with Google.
Yahoo News
Yahoo Adding A Number of Local Features by Frank Watson
The Yahoo blog announced a number of new local features it will be rolling out in the near future.
After 2 Years Yahoo CEO Bartz Thinks She Gets It by Frank Watson
Speaking at Web 2.0 Summit, Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz said after two years she gets it. She now understands what Yahoo is about and she summarizes it into four words. “Content, Communications, Media and Innovation.”
Baidu News
Baidu Fires Back At Google Claims Of Advantage In China by Frank Watson
Baidu CEO Robin Li called Google’s decision to leave China a gift and stated his company had to deal with the same restrictions.
Baidu Ready To Expand In To Other Countries by Frank Watson
Baidu CEO Robin Li told the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco yesterday that his company is ready to expand to other countries beyond China and Japan.
Video Marketing
comScore Releases October 2010 U.S. Online Video Rankings – comScore
SES Conference & Expo
Search and Social Media Marketing Strategies for Decade of Deflation by Greg Jarboe
Even in mid-November, many marketers are still preparing their marketing budgets for next year — which will probably be revised in three months — which is why virturally no one prepares a five-year plan anymore. But what if you were asked to come up with some smart search and social media marketing strategies for a decade of deflation?
Search Week in Review 2010 Archives
Nov. 13 | Nov. 6
Oct. 30 | Oct. 23 | Oct. 16 | Oct. 9 | Oct. 2
Sept. 25 | Sept. 18 | Sept. 10
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