Highlights from the SEW Blog: January 21-25, 2008

By Kevin Newcomb , January 28, 2008

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

• Google Position 6 Smack-Down: Filter, Penalty, or Bunk?
  A creepy "Position 6" Google SERPs punishment pattern has emerged, where pages which should dominate the organic SERPs somehow place at lowly #6.
• SEW Experts: Why Search Is Still Prehistoric
  Search is evolving as universal search or blended search results crawl into the SERPs, but it's still primitive.
• SEW Experts: There's More to Keyword Strategy Than the Long Tail
  Choosing which keywords you want to chase in your SEO strategy can be a challenging task. Go after terms that are too competitive, and you might not get there in time, or at all. Go after terms that are easier to rank high for, and you're likely to get there much faster, but at what cost?
• SEW Experts: SEO Millionaire: Who Wants to Be One?
  What separates the winners from the search engine losers? That's the one question you need to ask SEOs who give you the standard advice you hear again and again.

Search Advertising

• SEW Experts: PPC 101 Writing Successful Creatives
  Writing ads for search engine advertising is almost like writing headlines. It requires an ability to distill information into attention-grabbing, character-restricted words.
• Google AdWords Beta Testing Demographic Bidding
  Seems Google is taking advantage of some of the DoubleClick features already.

Linking Issues & Social Media

• SEW Experts: Link Building Case Study for Luxury Hotels
  Opportunities for creative link building solutions are plentiful. Just solve a user problem, like a concierge at a luxury hotel.
• StumbleUpon Death Threats in eBay Social Network
  Search marketers can enrage diehard members of social communities who want to keep marketers at bay. The result? Death threats, cyberterrorism, obscene language, cyberharassment, and calls for suicide.

Analytics & ROI

• Say Goodbye To WebSideStory: Omniture Shareholders Approve Visual Sciences Purchase
  Last week Omniture shareholders approved the acquisition of Visual Sciences and in essence started the burial process for WebSideStory.
• SEMDirector Rebrands as Covario In Race for Interactive Advertising Platform
  Search engine marketing technology firm SEMDirector today rebranded as Covario to reflect the depth and breadth of its performance management technologies.

Local & Mobile Search

• SEW Experts: Mobile Local Search: A Perfect Storm
  Last week's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) showcased the first few devices that run Google's much anticipated Android operating system.
• Google Takes Gold and Silver in Japan: NTT DoCoMo and KDDI
  Google partnerships with the #1 and #2 mobile carriers in Japan forces Yahoo and MSN to compete for the bronze.

Vertical & Specialty Search

• Interview: Craig Newmark on Online Real Estate Part 2
  Part 2 of Promediacorp CEO Avi Wilensky's one-on-one with Craig Newmark on online real estate.

Small Business/Big Brand SEM

• Google Turns to Publicis to Increase its Madison Avenue Savvy
  Google and Publicis are more than a year into a relationship where Google's technology smarts and Publicis' media planning expertise are being shared to the benefit of both companies.
• SEW Experts: HTML Title Tag Defines Your SEO Strategy
  Search engine optimization for small business starts with a title tag.
• Two New Ways Google Teaches You to Market on Google
  Google has come out with two new educational tools for advertisers and search marketers.

In-House & Outsourcing

• SEW Experts: Win the Right Search Marketing Clients - Part 2
  For a search marketing agency, especially one just starting out, choosing the right clients can make or break your business.

SEM Industry Issues

• What search engine marketers should know about event marketing
  For search to "get respect" among senior management and marketers, we must align and integrate with traditional marketing.
• SEW Experts: A Gloomy Searchonomic Forecast
  A step back shouldn't equate to repeating past mistakes. Much in the same way our weak dollar and inevitable recession can't be remedied by short-term tax rebates and cutting interest rates, Yahoo can't get fixed by cutting off its arm to spite its face.

Searching/Search Technologies

• Baidu Sets Out to Conquer Japan
  China's most popular search engine has launched its long-anticipated Japanese portal.

More from the SEW Blog

• Search Engine Stocks Taking A Beating
  Across the board, the search engines are being hit just as bad as every other stock on the international exchanges.
• Microsoft Launches New Ad Campaign for Live Search
  In the spirit of its Ms. Dewey experiment, Microsoft has launched a new site, Left vs. Right, which pits opponents from two sides of the political spectrum.
• Yahoo Layoffs Downsized to Hundreds
  Yahoo job cuts won't be as severe as rumored this weekend. Kevin Delaney of The Wall Street Journal reports sources close to Yahoo put the estimated number of layoffs in the hundreds.

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.

• Search and the Changing Face of Public Relations, ClickZ Experts
• Online Political Ad Spending Forecasts Lack Clarity, Consistency, ClickZ News
• Yahoo (YHOO) Going Forward With "Drastic" Layoffs--Source, Silicon Alley Insider
• Quintura Launches Site Search Widget, Software Abstractions
• Why SEOs should care about the US spectrum auctions, Distilled
• Little Miss Anti-Popularity Rides Again, SEO Chicks
• Gary Price on the Soul of Ask, Pandia
• Social search is all about trust, Venture Skills
• Page Not Found (error 404): Rules of Engagement, Webmama
• Modern SEO as Competitive Webmastering, Johnon.com
• Latest Interview: comScore's James Lamberti, Ramblings About SEO
• Google Shows More Results in the Local OneBox, Google Operating System
• Hints That Europe Will Let Google Buy DoubleClick, NYT Bits
• Why Local Businesses Should Be Like The Jerk, Search Engine Land
• When is Usability More Important than SEO?, Search Engine Guide

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