IndustryThe Search Engine Update – Number 243 – May 22, 2007

The Search Engine Update - Number 243 - May 22, 2007

Search Engine Watch's recap of top search engine stories, featuring exclusive content for members since our last newsletter.

By Elisabeth Osmeloski
Editor, Search Engine Watch
Copyright (c) 2007 Incisive Interactive Marketing LLC

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In This Issue
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+ Upcoming Search Engine Strategies Events
+ Editors’ Notes
+ Top Stories Since Our Last SE Update

+ Special Message from Elisabeth
+ Our Search Newsletters & Feeds
+ About The Newsletter

 

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Upcoming Search Engine Strategies Events
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Editors’ Notes
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This is our first edition of the SE Update since going to a once per month publication schedule. That means there’s a large amount of headlines and search topics for you to digest in this issue. We’ve been evolving the organization of the newsletter topics steadily over the last few months, but we are always open to reader feedback in terms of content and layout of the newsletter.

For those of you haven’t yet seen the news, I am programming the upcoming SES Travel conference in Seattle, Washington July 26-27, 2007. The agenda should be posted shortly on the site and stay tuned to the SES blog for more details about the show and speaking slots available.

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Since Our Last SE Update:
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Below is a recap of major articles from our daily SearchDay newsletter and important Search Engine Watch Blog postings since the last newsletter. Want to receive these stories daily or via RSS/feed? See the Search Engine Watch Newsletters & Web Feeds page for sign-up instructions.

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Organic Search
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=== SearchDay: May 17, 2007 ===

Will Universal Search Mean Universal Domination? – Will the increased relevance from Google’s new universal search process leave other search engines in the dust?

=== SearchDay: May 16, 2007 ===

Should SEOs Care About Wikipedia? – Wikipedia is not a search engine, and links from Wikipedia no longer count towards increasing your link equity – but there are still plenty of reasons to pay attention to Wikipedia.

=== SearchDay: May 10, 2007 ===

SEO for Blogs and Feeds – At Search Engine Strategies in New York last month, a panel of experts weighed in on the best practices of optimizing blogs and feeds for search engines.

=== SEW Experts: Au Natural===

Blog Your Way to the Top – Mark Jackson takes a look at the benefits of blogging on your Web site.
Socializing To Increase Natural Search Traffic – Learning to write effective copy that enages the social aspect of the Web is one step to natural search engine rankings, says columnist Mark Jackson.
Rules of Engagement: Creating Effective Content> – Columnist Mark Jackson draws the line between effective copywriting and copy written solely for optimization.
The Golden Rule of SEO: Content is King – The foundation of any successful optimization program is engaging the user through quality content development.
Should Paid Links Influence Organic Rankings? – Mark Jackson reacts to recent commentary on filtering paid links out of search engine ranking algorithms. Is it even possible? You be the judge.

=========================== From the SEW Blog: ===========================

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Paid Search
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=== SearchDay: May. 2, 2007 ===

With Growth, Paid Search Gets Complicated – For big companies, managing search advertising campaigns is no longer just about bidding wars.

=== SearchDay: Apr. 18, 2007 ===

Google, Yahoo Speaking More Freely on Click Fraud – With many legal restrictions behind them, the search engines are enjoying their newfound freedom to share details of their click fraud-fighting efforts.

=== SEW Experts: Search Ads ===

Ego Bidding Gone Wild – What happens when the ego gets in the way of smart bidding and positive ROI? Tony Wright talks about the danger of ego-bidding and how to stop a client from bidding their business into the ground.

Capitalizing on the Last Minute Holiday Shoppers – Upset you missed Mothers Day this year? Your mom probably was upset as well. But it’s not too late to take advantage of last minute marketing opps for Dads and Grads. Here’s how.

Microsoft AdCenter: Hear My Plea – Tony Wright lets off some steam, recapping some of AdCenter’s most recent failures and begs the team: stop the madness!

The Google World is Growing: Should Advertisers Be Scared? – Tony Wright takes a critical look at the rapid reach of Google power, and questions how growth will have long lasting impact on the advertising world.

Paid Search, Trademark Legalities and Liability — Oh My! – Tony Wright offers a fresh perspective on search advertising, and the trouble bidding on trademarked terms can bring. One lawyer, savvy in search advertising, provides some legal insight on how search marketers can handle problems that arise.

=========================== From the SEW Blog: ===========================

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Linking Issues & Social Media

=== SearchDay: May 9, 2007 ===

Social Media Marketing Do’s and Don’ts – At Search Engine Strategies in New York last month, some top social media marketers shared the tricks of their trade.

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=== SEW Experts: Link Love ===

Link Safari: Gear Up for a Hunting Expedition – Link building columnist Justilien Gaspard offers strategic tactics and advice on finding high-value trusted links to create the right linking neighborhoods and associations, including examples of NASA giving links to the travel industry.

You Can Build It, But They May Not Come Social media columnist and optimization expert Sage Lewis discusses the painful prospect of having killer content that no one will read.

Hot Today, Gone Tomorrow: Link Building for the Long Term – Justilien Gaspard takes a look at the long-term results of popular link building tactics and explores why successful link building is just good marketing.

Prevention is the Best Medicine: Don’t Let Viral Campaigns Get Sick and Die> – Sage Lewis diagnoses problems with the most feverish trend in link building – viral marketing campaigns.

Blogging to Gain Back Links – Beginning a blog as a way to attract links and new traffic is hard work, but your site can reap huge rewards from the effort.
=========================== From the SEW Blog: ===========================

 

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Analytics & ROI
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=== SEW Experts: By The Numbers ===

Winds of Change: Technical SEO Raises Results – A case study on how implementing SEO elements on a luxury hotel site brought real results in both traffic and revenues.
showPage.html?page=3625795″>Maximizing Existing Site Traffic to Improve User Retention – Eric Enge reviews the improved SEO performance and user experience created by some relatively simple upgrades in technology.

How Well Can You Guess the Right Keywords? – Eric Enge reveals suprising results from the ultimate keyword challenge put on by the Wordtracker keyword research service.

9 Ways to Make Money on Analytics – Nine may be the magic number, as Eric Enge gives a sampling of effective analytics tools and ideas to make the most of your data.

=========================== From the SEW Blog: ===========================

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Search Engines, Tools & Technology
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=========================== From the SEW Blog: ===========================

 

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Vertical & Specialty Search
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=== SearchDay: May 1, 2007 ===

A Perfect Storm Hitting News and Media – Hitwise has charted the path of a perfect storm brewing between search engines, news aggregators, blogs and social media sites.

=== SEW Experts: Vertical Search ===

You Can Win On YouTube By Optimizing Comments – Vertical columnist Grant Crowell shares tips for making YouTube work for you as a search marketing strategy.

500 Reasons the Travel Search Industry is About to Explode – As in blow up, or expand greatly, in a good way for search marketers and consumers alike, says Elisabeth Osmeloski

B2B Issues: How to Beat Out Competition with Keyword Intelligence> – Jessica Bowman focuses on competing in a business to business marketplace, and offers tips on how to refine your keyword strategy in this vertical space.

=========================== From the SEW Blog: ===========================

 

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SEM for Small Businesses
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=== SEW Experts: Little Biz===

Emphasizing Your Assets As A Small Service – Small business columnist Carrie Hill illustrates why bigger isn’t always better, how small companies can win big with converting visitors from their Web site.

Do-It-Yourself Directory Research and Evaluation – Building links and traffic via directory listings is a both critical and confusing for small business owners managing their own SEM. Follow these steps to success in developing your own directory links.

=========================== From the SEW Blog: ===========================

 

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In-House & Big Brand SEM
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=== SearchDay: May 8, 2007 ===

Handling Search Marketing in Large Organizations – Paid search and organic optimization require different strategies when working to bring them into large organizations. Melanie Mitchell shares her experience of setting up the SEM/SEO practice inside AOL.

=== SearchDay: Apr. 25, 2007 ===

In House SEO for Big Brands / Big Sites – While the actual SEO techniques between small sites and large sites do not necessarily change, the hurdles one has to clear can be worlds apart.

=== SearchDay: Apr. 19, 2007 ===

SEMDirector Offers Accountability to Enterprise SEMs – Search marketing is growing in complexity for enterprise-scale advertisers, and SEMDirector aims to help them get the most from their search efforts.

=== SEW Experts: In-House ===

Tips for Your First Day In-House– Jessica Bowman has the inside scoop for those SEO’s ramping up for their first days as an in-house SEO.

Hit the Ground Running with In-House SEO – Once you’ve made the decision to hire an in-house SEO, the hard work really begins. Learn how to ease the new employee into your organization for maximum results.

You Can’t Afford Michael Jordan, But You Can Get a Strong SEO Leader Finding qualified in-house talent these days is a major struggle for companies looking to expand SEM efforts. Jessica Bowman offers tips on how to go about hiring the right SEO people for your organization.

=== SEW Experts: Big Biz ===

Convincing the Executive Team to Invest in SEO – Aaron Shear shares tips on how to get the executive management team to buy into the idea of search marketing.

A/B Testing is Not as Easy as Learning Your ABCs – Aaron Shear discusses the challenges enterprise sites face when attempting to A/B test for performance in search marketing.

Mission Possible: Managing Millions of Keywords> – Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is measuring the performance of a massive keyword set. Aaron Shear provides insight on approaching the project and suggests enterprise tools to get the job done.

=========================== From the SEW Blog: ===========================

 

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SEM Industry Issues
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=== SearchDay: May 3, 2007 ===

Lotus Alumni Are Impacting Search – Lotus Development Corp. changed the business world in the 1980s and ’90s. Now its former employees are helping change the search industry.

=== SearchDay: May 3, 2007 ===

Driving SEO Outsourcing Success – Some marketers think that outsourcing the management of their SEO campaign means they can sit back and wait for the results to be delivered. Unfortunately, such thinking is delusional.

=== SearchDay: Apr. 26, 2007 ===

The Gentrification of the Search Industry – Changes in Search Engine Strategies over the years mirror the changes in the industry, which seems to be moving from early adopter phase into the early majority phase.

=== SearchDay: Apr. 24, 2007 ===

Trust is at the Core of the New Web Marketing – Search marketing, and Web marketing overall, is changing. Marketers must understand the value of trust and relationship-building to keep up.

=== SEW Experts: Outsourced ===

The Large Agency SEO Client – How Does this Beast Differ?– Agency insider Chris Boggs talks about the challenges of working with large corporations and big brands.

An Inside View of the Agency – Chris Boggs breaks down some common roles within agency teams, and explains the approach to working alongside others.

=========================== From the SEW Blog: ===========================

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Special Message from Elisabeth
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I’ve been responsible for the editors’ notes in this newsletter since last December. It has been an enjoyable experience, and I’ve received many positive comments over the last several issues. For that reason, I’m sad to say, this will the last issue of the SE Update I will put together. My last day as editor of “Search Engine Watch” is May 25, 2007. It’s been terrific being a part of SEW for three years, from launching the discussion forums in 2004, to bringing the local SEW Live! networking series to five cities, and expanding my editorial duties over the last year, including the recent launch of SEW Experts. I’m happy to say traffic to the site is strong, if not at an all-time high, due to the fantastic work of our bloggers, columnists, and Search Day contributors. News Editor Kevin Newcomb deserves much of the credit for those areas as well, since joining the site in January. I leave this newsletter and the daily editing duties in the hands of a capable staff, and wish them the best of luck.

What’s next for me? I’m joining a start-up in the travel vertical based here in Salt Lake City, founded by a few people with long-time search industry experience. After years of agency work and freelance consulting, as well as my time at SEW on the editorial side, I’m looking forward to being the in-house director of online media, managing the content development strategy and online marketing programs for vacation rentals at zonder.com.

The timing is fantastic, as I now get to practice what I preach, particularly as I’m still programming our first SES Travel in Seattle, WA, July 26-27th. It’s shaping up to be a great event, with a ton of buzz from speakers and prospective attendees. I hope to see many of you at that event and others in the SEM conference circuit.

˜Elisabeth Osmeloski

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Our Search Newsletters & Feeds
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About The Search Engine Update
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