Highlights from the SEW Blog: March 17-21, 2008

By Kevin Newcomb , March 24, 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

• Is Google Becoming a Portal?
  Google has long held that it is not a portal. Concerns of publishers wary of giving away their content to Google for free have always been met with the response that Google is simply making it easier for people to find the publisher's content. So what happens if Google stops sending searchers to other publishers' sites?
• SEW Experts: Uncovering the Real Universal Search
  There appears to be a lot more non-text results showing up in Google searches than many people expect. The effects this will have on searchers, and advertisers, may be a bit disturbing to some.
• Google Increases Lead in Share of All American Searches
  comScore qSearch data for February portrays Google as PacMan. Microsoft-Yahoo combined share of searches shows an Incredible Shrinking Search Engine.
• SEW Experts: To Rewrite or Not to Rewrite...That is the Question
  While URL rewriting can have SEO benefits, it can also cause more SEO problems if it's done hastily, or incorrectly.

Search Advertising

• The Why Behind Paid Search Trends: Measurability
  There are countless reports that paid search is on the rise and is projected to continue trending upwards. But what are the driving forces behind the dramatic increases?
• adCenter Cooks Up a New Community Site
  The new adCenterCommunity.com is fresh out of the oven and it is a new PPC cake with Social Media icing.
• Craigslist Ruling: Does This Extend To Our Paid Ads?
  A recent ruling in Craigslist's favor may let our paid ad suppliers rest a bit easier, as they are all advertising conduits.
• Search Spend Seems Healthy Despite Slowing Economy
  Despite an increasingly gloomy economic forecast, spending on search engine marketing continues to grow beyond expectations.
• SEW Experts: Tips for Google Site and Category Exclusion Tool
  Google has launched an important new tool that prevents your Content Ads from showing on poorly-performing sites: the Category Exclusion tool.
• Widemile Goes Into Beta, Picks Up 13 Partners
  The new technology allows users to simultaneously test a variety of offers, text, images, and other key variables.
• Ken McGaffin of Wordtracker Keyword Research at SES London 2008
  Ken McGaffin, the Chief Marketing Officer of Wordtracker, discusses some of the most interesting trends in keyword research at SES London 2008.

Linking Issues & Social Media

• The Other PR that influences search ranking
  Using PR skills to create great content and then pitching that news story to relevant online news sites and bloggers can have a huge influence on your search ranking.
• SEW Experts: Link Building from the Heart: Giving to Get
  Traditional marketers and PR folks have been using good deeds for marketing purposes for years; so why not online marketers?
• SEW Experts: Social Search: Welcome to the World of Socialommerce
  Social media combined with search holds great potential for e-commerce. Marketers would be better off spending more time listening to their customers and potential customers, and less time spending hours upon hours figuring out their next award-winning -- but "no-customer-getting" -- 30-second spot.

Analytics & ROI

• An Insatiable Desire for Web Analytics?
  At Search Engine Strategies New York this week, some of the best-attended sessions are about Web analytics. It's clear that search marketers -- like all online marketers -- are finally realizing that it's not all about getting people to your site.
• SEW Experts: Does A Close By Any Other Name Sell As Sweet?
  Not all conversions are created equal. Capturing an e-mail address, delivering a free white paper, or converting using other non-sale-related measurements can create varying values of a close.
• Bryan Eisenberg of Future Now at SES London 2008
  Bryan Eisenberg, the co-founder of Future Now, spoke on several sessions in London. After a couple of days, the sessions started blending together in unexpected ways.

Local & Mobile Search

• Marchex Shows How to Cash In on Local Search
  So far, in the poker game that is doing business on the internet, four cards have been dealt: Communications, Search, Commerce and Social Networking. But the fifth card is sliding out of the dealer's hand and Marchex bets it's going to be local search.

Vertical & Specialty Search

• Mahalo Adds New Social Search Tools
  My Mahalo is a service, currently in beta, that allows users to import their ratings and reviews from other social media sites, and share them with contacts on Mahalo Social.
• Jason Calacanis gives product demo of My Mahalo at SES New York
  Jason Calacanis, founder and CEO of Mahalo.com, unveiled My Mahalo at SES New York today. He also gave us a video interview and product demo of My Mahalo.
• Calacanis on SEO, Redux
  we caught up with Jason to ask him about the future of the Internet, social media, and SEO.
• LinkedIn's New Company Profiles: Will They Rank in the SERPs?
  LinkedIn has announced the creation of 160,000 company profiles as part of their career social networking site.
• FriendFeed: The Search Engine for Conversations
  FriendFeed may be billing itself as an aggregator of social network sites, but its real power is in the newly introduced search feature.
• ABCSearch Acquires Social Search Portal, AfterVote.com
  The largest private pay-per-click company has embraced the social web with its acquisition of AfterVote.com. The social search portal allows users to vote and comment on search queries culled from Google, Yahoo and MSN as well as social aggregators.

Small Business/Big Brand SEM

• SEW Experts: 30 Free Ways To Market Your Small Business Site
  In marketing, sometimes "free" is too good to be true, but in some instances, free is good.

In-House & Outsourcing

• SEW Experts: Sales and Your Search Marketing Agency - Part 2
  A typical search marketing sales plan differs from other kinds of sales plans. The way to approach customers, close the deal, and structure the payment terms must all be considered in light of the unique demands of search.

SEM Industry Issues

• Is Microsoft Offering a Rose to the Wrong Bachelorette?
  While Yahoo plays games with Microsoft's acquisition bid, some are beginning to ask, "Why isn't Microsoft buying AOL?" One of the biggest concerns about a Microhoo is the expectation of a significant culture clash. The same sentiment does not exist when pondering a Microsoft/AOL marriage.
• Yahoo on the Future of Search
  Where's search heading? Ask Yahoo's chief scientist, Andrew Tomkins, who shared with us a few hints at the future of search.
• SES NYC Day 2 Keynote - Nick Carr "The Big Switch"
  Nick Carr's keynote draws strong parallels between the electrification of industrial countries in the 1800s and the creation of the "worldwide computer" being ushered in by the Internet.
• SEMPO Selects Officers for New Board of Directors
  SEMPO has announced officers for its recently elected Board of Directors. The association also revealed a change in the amount of time board members serve.
• Yahoo Shows Microsoft, Wall Street What Its Really Worth
  Yahoo has filed an investor presentation which projects its operating cash flow to increase from $1.9 billion to $3.7 billion over the next 3 years.

Searching/Search Technologies

• Election Year Brings New Efforts to Regulate Search Engine Data Collection
  A New York State Assemblyman has introduced a bill aimed at regulating the way search engines collect private data of its users. Similarly, a committee of the State Assembly has a bill that seeks to tighten data collection rules on companies that serve ads on sites they do not own.
• What a Searcher Wants: Answers
  The US market share of Q&A site traffic grew a whopping 118% last year, according to a new report by Hitwise. Yahoo Answers is far and away the leader of the answer sites, with 74.5% of the US market.
• Albert Michaels of Moniker at SES London 2008
  Albert Michaels, a Senior Account Executive at Moniker, discusses his company's suite of domain asset management services at SES London 2008.
• Is the World Ready for Utility Computing?
  Just as cheap power delivered over a universal grid revolutionized the processing of physical materials, cheap computing delivered over a universal grid is revolutionizing the processing of informational or intellectual goods.

More from the SEW Blog

• Top ten stories from SES New York -- Day 4
  We've found more than 20 stories that have been written about the Search Engine Strategies conference on the fourth day. Here are the top 10.
• Top ten stories from SES New York -- Day 3
  We've found more than 80 stories that have been written about the Search Engine Strategies conference on the third day. Here are the top 10.
• Top ten stories from SES New York -- Day 2
  We've found nearly 70 stories that have been written about the Search Engine Strategies conference on the second day. Here are the top 10.
• Top ten stories from SES New York -- Day 1
  We've found more than 40 stories that have been written about the Search Engine Strategies conference on the first day. Here are the top 10.
• Totally Plugged In @ SES New York: 13 Undeniable Symptoms
  Search marketing conference attendees seem to be the most plugged-in-public group of techno-comrades on earth.
• YouTube: Damon Wayans Pay-to-Play, Paid Inclusion or Pay-for-Placement?
  At SES NY, John Battelle outted Damon Wayans, Google and YouTube. Battelle said Wayans spilled the beans on his YouTube deal as a "platinum partner" for WayOutTV.com.
• Are Search Jobs Recession Proof? If So, How Do You Get One?
  In the past, traditional marketing budgets and jobs have been among the first to be cut whenever the economy hits a rough patch. So what should those marketing folks do this time around?

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.

• Adversarial Information Retrieval -- That's Spam to You and Me, ClickZ Experts
• The Mobile Phone as a Marketing Platform, ClickZ Experts
• SEO + Semantic Web = SEO++, Chief Marketing Technologist
• Online Marketers: Stop Funding Virtual Blight, Search Engine Land
• Is Microhoo A Done Deal?, Search Engine Land

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