Highlights from the SEW Blog: February 18-22, 2008

By Kevin Newcomb , February 25, 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

• Ralph Wilson's Introduction to Search Marketing at SES London
  Ralph provided a clear concise introduction to the lingo and processes for organic and paid search.
• SEW Experts: How To Outrank Your SEO Competitors
  Clients and readers often ask why a site that's younger, smaller, or just plain "uglier" outranks them. There really isn't a simple answer.
• SEW Experts: American Express Axes Ellen DeGeneres: Au Natural On Amex Site
  SEO success lives or dies in the proper execution of necessary SEO components. Recommendations alone don't make your site rank.
• Meta Tags As Persuasive Content
  Recently we've been told that Meta description tags are pretty much useless, as far as SEO goes. But in SEO PR, descriptions are worth their weight in gold.

Search Advertising

• Google to Offer AdSense Video Units
  Google today opened up its 9-month-old pilot program to allow qualified publishers to put video ad units on their sites.
• Google Tightens Restrictions on AdWords Display URLs
  Beginning April 1, Google will no longer make exceptions to its policy requiring advertisers to match the display URL in an AdWords ad to the landing page to which it leads.
• Does Pay Per Click Make SEOs Lazy?
  "Most people are too lazy to spend years researching their topic, years building a brand, years building links, and years building social and customer relationships." writes Aaron Wall. "But if someone sees me ranking in the organic results, they can't just clone it unless they know SEO well, and are committed for the long haul."
• Social Media Buzz Pocket Mining: The New Keyword Research
  Keyword research's social-climbing step sister, "Buzz Pocket Mining" is not-so-quietly becoming the 800 pound gorilla next door.

Linking Issues & Social Media

• SEW Experts: 5 Ways to Discover Link Building Ideas
  Coming up with great link building ideas can be a challenge. It requires creativity, research, and thinking outside the box.
• SEW Experts: Social Media and Online Commerce: Birth of Socialommerce
  With all the media attention focused on Microsoft's not-so-friendly takeover bid of Yahoo, a below-the-radar acquisition target proves why social commerce is the future of search.

Analytics & ROI

• SEW Experts: The Ginsu Guide to Search Analytics
  The ability to track online (and in many cases offline) advertising to offline conversions has been the biggest hurdle in measuring ROI for many Web-based or Web-involved businesses.
• SEW Experts: Landing Page Optimization for SEM: Design and Execute
  As a search marketer, you need to understand landing page optimization because it impacts your results. Higher conversion means a bigger impact for everything you do with search, and the availability of more dollars to invest back into search marketing.

Vertical & Specialty Search

• SEW Experts: How Search Marketing Slays Seasonality in Travel
  The most sophisticated advertisers in online travel rely on years, even decades of data collection and analysis to formulate their marketing plans.

Small Business/Big Brand SEM

• SEO, Social Marketing & Scientology
  An anonymous group trying to spread a negative message about Scientology is behaving much like an SEO or social media marketer would when marketing a client in the search engines and social platforms.

In-House & Outsourcing

• The Tao of Crafting Strategic SEM Partnerships
  Every professional needs someone. This timeless axiom is especially relevant to both those who consume and those who provide search marketing services.
• SEW Experts: How to Market Your Search Engine Agency - Part 2
  Although we're in the business of marketing, there are many different things to consider when writing your own marketing plan.

SEM Industry Issues

• Google's Brin Calls a Microsoft-Yahoo Tie-up "Unnerving"
  Yesterday Google co-founder Sergey Brin described the Internet doomsday scenario if Microsoft wins its Yahoo takeover bid.
• Microsoft-Yahoo Fight Heats Up
  Microsoft's unsolicited bid to acquire Yahoo is heading down an unpleasant path. This week, Microsoft is reportedly undertaking a proxy fight, sending letters directly to shareholders to garner enough support to oust Yahoo's board of directors and replace them with a merger-friendly board.

Searching/Search Technologies

• Yahoo Says, "You Like Me, Right Now, You Really Like Me"
  Like Sally Field, Yahoo recently felt the love and respect of "the academy" -- Keynote Academy. They earned #1 Keynote rankings for "Search Assistance and Suggestions" and "Homepage Appeal."
• comScore Search Engine Rankings: Google Up, Double Digit Growth for MSN Live
  Among the Top 50 properties worldwide some surprises surfaced this month in the monthly search engine rankings as comScore reported total searches grew at a 7.9 percent clip.

More from the SEW Blog

• Search Engine Strategies London -- Day One
  Search Engine Strategies London 2008 is underway. With Day One under our belts, we're happy to share some of the coverage of the event from around the Web.
• Search Engine Strategies London -- Day Two
  Search Engine Strategies London has wrapped up Day Two and the 2,000 attendees have adjourned until this morning. Meanwhile, the bloggers, videographers and photographers covering SES London have posted another batch of blog posts, YouTube videos and Flickr photos.
• Search Engine Strategies London -- Day Three
  Coverage of SES London's final day from around the Web.
• The Speed Of The Web: Do We Realize How Far We Have Come
  With high speed connections and wireless access, we have come a long way in a very short time.
• Hello Google Porn
  Porn transmitted on Hello.com, a Web site owned and operated by Google, helped catch an alleged predator in South Carolina.

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.

• Smaller Sites Scored in 2007 as Pricier Portals Snubbed, ClickZ News
• Local.com Has High Hopes for Beefed Up Sales Team, ClickZ News
• Blogging for Search Engine Optimization, ClickZ Experts
• Atlas Unveils Multi-Channel Attribution, ClickZ News
• Steve Rubel Attacks SEO's Use of Social Media - The Pot Calling the Kettle Black?, Marketing Pilgrim
• The 3 "Impossible" Conversations for Corporations, Web Strategy by Jeremiah
• Give Google your feedback on NOINDEX, but read this pamphlet beforehand!, Sebastian's Pamphlets
• The final nail in the coffin of sponsored blog themes, BlogStorm
• New Yahoo Buzz Screenshot Preview, North Rock
• Interview of Nicholas Carr on The Big Switch, Blogging, & the Internet, SEO Book
• Search Engine Strategies Conference in New York (SES NYC), Johnon

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