Highlights from the SEW Blog: Jan. 8, 2007

By Kevin Newcomb , January 8, 2007

Featured posts from the Search Engine Watch blog, as well as our customary headlines from around the Web.

From the SEW blog. . .

• Backfence Faces Setback
  Hyperlocal destination site Backfence has lost its CEO and co-founder Susan DeFife due to a failure to see eye-to-eye with the board of directors. The move also comes amidst a round of layoffs in that axed off two thirds of the company.
• MapQuest Enhances Mobile Mapping Products
  MapQuest announced a series of mobile mapping and search enhancements today, meant to leverage the company’s leading position in online mapping. The company held a 68 percent market stake in November compared to Google Maps’ 28 percent and Yahoo! Maps’ 27 percent.
• MSN's Live Search News giveth and AOL News taketh away
  At some point during the holidays, MSN's Live Search News started to include press releases in its results. At roughly the same time, AOL News stopped including press releases in its results.
• Google's Response to "The Sausage Manifesto"
  Google's Shuman Ghosemajumder responds to Jeffrey Rohr's open letter to paid search networks about click fraud.
• Placeblogger: Searchable Directory for Local News Blogs
  Placeblogger.com launched its searchable index of local blogs, or "placeblogs." The local blogs in this hand-assembled directory are more than just local news sites. They are sites that provide the texture of the culture and life of their local communities.
• 2006: The Year Search Grew Up
  10e20's "101 Biggest Stories in Search" for 2006 is a comprehensive list of everything from product launches, personnel moves, and the rise of Internet celebrities.
• Page Views Losing Its Front-Runner Status
  When discussing site traffic, you always hear about Unique Visitors or Page Views. Although actual numbers are endlessly debated, these metrics are treated as the lingua franca among publishers and advertisers. Yet even these stalwarts change, and page views will lose its front-runner status during 2007. It's about time.
• Vertical Strategies in Local Search
  The qualities of online search make it a natural fit for local, but the real opportunity in Local could be in vertical segmentation.

Search Headlines

NOTE: Article links often change. In case of a bad link, use the publication's search facility, which most have, and search for the headline.

• SEM and SEO: Rocket Science or Just Plain Science? Part2, ClickZ
• SEO: Art, Science, Bollocks Or What?, ClickZ
• The New On-Site Optimisation, SEOmoz
• Addressing Click Fraud, Yahoo Search Marketing Blog
• Ranking, Not Spamming, Bruce Clay
• Is Your Site Defensible? A 10 Point Quiz, Tropical SEO
• Linden Labs Releases Real Numbers for Virtual World, Paid Content
• Will Digg Die the Death of 1,000 Cuts?, Calacanis.com

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