Highlights from the SEW Blog: July 16, 2007

By Kevin Newcomb, Search Engine Watch, Jul 16, 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

• Hotlinking Images Can Help SEO
  By hotlinking a Flickr image in a new domain, that site was able to gain high organic rankings in Google Image Search.
• Can Search Success Translate?
  Making a search campaign that's been successful in English work in Spanish can be more difficult than simply translating the same words.
• Are You Scared of Universal Search?
  Google's switch in May to Universal Search has more than a few marketers awash with panic over loss of rankings – and understandably so.
• SEW Experts: Hosting Issues as They Relate to SEO
  Mark Jackson defines the use of basic server response codes the common pitfalls as related to search engine optimization.
• Google Webmaster Blog Talks About Flash
  The post provides some helpful suggestions about smart ways to use Flash as part of your web design.

Search Advertising

• Google AdWords Offers Impression Share Numbers
  Google has launched a new feature in the AdWords interface, Impression Share - the percentage of impressions your ads see.
• Bill Slawski Uncovers Patent Info About Google Quality Scoring
  "A trio of patent applications from Google look at estimating the likelihood that an advertisement is a good one, in a method that goes beyond counting click-through-rates (CTR)."
• SEW Experts: The Beginning of the Fragmentation of Search
  Tony Wright ponders the evolution of search marketing from its heady first years to the competitive situation today. Can this be the beginning of the fragmentation of search?

Linking Issues & Social Media

• SEW Experts: Exploiting Your Current Backlinks and Link Referrals
  Justilien Gaspard tells you how to take full advantage of your current backlinks, while getting referrals to other Web sites that can help promote your business.
• Yahoo Advertising Numbers Under Attack, According to Bloomberg
  Not only is Yahoo being beleaguered by Google, but the social networking sites are cutting into their display ad revenue, according to a Bloomberg report.
• Social and Portal Connections Underway
  Weekend mumblings of social networks came from both Yahoo and Google.

Analytics & ROI

• 10 Cool Things With Clicktracks
  The package performed well in Stone Temple Consulting's recent Web Analytics Shootout.
• SEW Experts: The Role of Trust in E-Commerce Sales
  Eric Enge reviews research from ScanAlert showing that e-commerce sites can profit by ensuring their sites are safe and secure.
• Quantcast Offers Free Video and Widget Audience Measurement Services
  The free service enables publishers to measure the usage of videos and widgets on their Web sites.
• Podcast with Brett Crosby and Avinash Kaushik
  Eric Enge interviews Google Analytics' dynamic duo of Brett Crosby and Avinash Kaushik.

Local & Mobile Search

• Google Maps Mashups Now Easier to Find and Create
  Mapplets are intended to be mashups that allow developers use dynamic data, such as live weather information, or events from Zvents, as an overlay on a map.
• Google Maps missing Ontario on JetBlue flight
  On Sunday, I flew from Boston, MA, to Oakland, CA, on JetBlue -- and was surprised to find that Ontario, Canada, was a blank area on Google Maps when we flew over it.

Vertical & Specialty Search

• SEW Experts: Call for Production Value Standards in Search Marketing Videos
  Grant Crowell conducts a survey of the top-20 videos on YouTube and comes to the conclusion that our industry needs the same professional standards for search marketing videos as we hold for our Web sites.
• Korean Portal, Search Engine Yehey Partners With Pixsy
  Yehey, the Korean search engine and portal, announced it will use Pixsy's enhanced media search platform.
• Privacy and Yahoo’s Integration of Flickr with Image Search
  Yahoo has integrated the millions of Flickr photos into its image search results.
• Mahalo Moves Forward
  Human-edited search does offer some real advantages. But how can this scale to cover the true complexity of web search?
• Newsknife names top sources in Google News for environmental articles
  While the impact of humans on the environment has been one of the big stories so far for 2007, that doesn't seem reflected in the environmental articles that appear in Google News.

Small Business/Big Brand SEM

• SEW Experts: Using WordPress to Manage Your Web Site Content – Part 2
  Carrie Hill tells you how to use plug-ins when designing your standalone or Web site blog – great tips for getting started.

In-House & Outsourcing

• SEW Experts: Up Your SEM Knowledge
  Kevin Ryan reviews the importance of SEM education, and provides some guidelines to help you choose the right path for you.

SEM Industry Issues

• Latino Search Market Presents Opportunities
  At the recent Search Engine Strategies Latino event in Miami last month, speakers again and again spoke of the ripe opportunity for search marketers in the nascent U.S. Hispanic and Latin American search markets.
• Australian Gov. Suing Google Over Misleading Conduct
  The ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) is taking Google, as well as Trading Post Australia, to court over misleading and deceptive advertising.
• June Search Numbers: Microsoft Growing, Yahoo Dropping
  Compete.com released their monthly search percentage numbers and has Microsoft making the biggest gains year over year and Yahoo showing the largest drop.
• Yahoo, Microsoft To Change Privacy Policies
  Pressure from the European Union apparently has Yahoo and Microsoft changing their privacy policies.

Searching/Search Technologies

• Yahoo Adds Search Suggest Feature
  A user is presented with a likely search term when they begin typing a query into the search box.
• Using Wikipedia to Improve Search Quality
  A paper published by a Microsoft researcher discusses how the context of the use of a particular name in a web document can be compared to the context of the use of that name on Wikipedia.
• Google's VP Search Quality, Udi Manber, Interviewed
  Eric Enge speaks with Manber about the future role of links in the Google search algorithm, in light of all the changes of late, including the move towards personalization.

More from the SEW Blog

• Yahoo Closes Right Media Deal
  Yahoo has closed the $650 million acquisition of Right Media that was announced in April.
• Visual Sciences Retains Goldman, Sachs & Co
  In response to a number of unsolicited queries about acquiring them, the company has retained Goldman, Sachs & Co to manage those queries, and evaluate their next steps.
• Masked Bandits Use Google To Crack Safe
  A group of masked bandits needed help from Google search to get away with over $12,000
• Yahoo Tops Asian Popularity, comScore Reports
  comScore published its first comprehensive Asia-Pacific internet usage review and Yahoo was found to be the most popular.
• Google Pays $625 Million for Email Security Company
  The purchase strengthens Google's ability to compete with Microsoft's Outlook product and allow them to market email services to businesses.

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.

• The Facebook lawsuit that hasn’t gone away, VentureBeat
• Inside Facebook, NFO (News Feed Optimization) is the new SEO, Inside Facebook
• Backfence: Lessons Learned, Recovering Journalist
• Microsoft adCenter: For SEM and SEO, Part 3, ClickZ
• Microsoft On Search Gains & Live Search Club, Search Engine Land
• Needs Assessment: Key 1st Step For Successful Search Marketing, Search Engine Land
• How To Define Web 3.0, How to Split an Atom
• Why Do the Other Search Engines Bother to Compete?, Search Engine Roundtable
• 5 Quick Ways To Optimize For Local Search, Search Engine Journal
• June 2007 Paid Search Market Share: Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Rimm-Kaufman Group
• I am no longer an SEO, SEO Scoop
• Krillion Localizes E-Commerce with SEO, The Kelsey Group
• Jingle Scores with SuperPages Relationship, Local Mobile Search
• Search Engine Marketing is Bogus for Sites That Simply Don’t Function, Cre8pc
• Yahoo Earnings–There’s Got to Be a Morning After?, All Things Digital