IndustryThe Search Engine Update – Number 237 – Feb. 1, 2007

The Search Engine Update - Number 237 - Feb. 1, 2007

A recap of Search Engine Watch's top stories and updates on search engine marketing since our last newsletter.

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

 

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

+ More From The Search Engine Watch Blog
+ Our Search Newsletters & Feeds
+ About The Newsletter

 

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SUBSCRIBER SURVEY
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I’d like to say thank you to the readers who already have taken our subscribers’ survey. If you haven’t already done so, please take 5 minutes to share your thoughts about having a paid subscription to Search Engine Watch.

Please visit the following link to take the survey.

The survey is completely anonymous, as we respect your privacy.

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Upcoming Search Engine Strategies Events
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Editors’ Notes
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Based on some of the feedback I have already received from the survey above, I’d like to try a new format in this issue of the SE Update. Several comments mentioned that organizing stories by topic as opposed to date would be more helpful to you as a reader.

Comment on the new format by sending an email. We are looking at organizing all of our stories on Search Engine Watch in a similar manner, so your feedback will be really helpful in this regard.

Last week we were in Dallas, Texas for our fourth Search Engine Watch LIVE! networking event, which was successful by all accounts. You can read more about the event and view pictures via the links in this forum thread. Stay tuned for further details, but prospective cities for the next local events of this type include Columbus, Ohio and Boston, Massachusetts.

As noted above, we’re going to be in London, England for the next Search Engine Strategies conference, and then on to SES New York.

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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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=== Jan. 17, 2006 ===

An Introduction to SEO Best Practices – In a members-only extended version of this Search Day article, guest writer Eric Enge explores the four key areas you should be paying attention to in a well-crafted SEO strategy.

=== Jan. 29, 2006 ===

Keyword Research Industry Still Lacks a Clear Choice – SEW’s organic search marketing expert Chris Boggs evaluates the tools available to search marketers.

=== Jan. 30, 2006 ===

Yahoo Site Explorer Gets Updates – Yahoo has updated its tool for webmasters that shares what Yahoo knows about your site in terms of indexed pages and links.

=== Jan. 31, 2006 ===

Wordtracker launches free keyword suggestion tool – The popular keyword research service releases a public tool.

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Paid Search
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=== Jan. 23, 2006 ===

Microsoft Shows Off AdCenter – A recap of the latest product releases from Microsoft’s AdLabs DemoFest 2007, and a look ahead at technology advertisers can expect to see wrapped into the advertising platform in the not-so-distant future.

=== Jan. 23, 2007 ===

Yahoo To Add Quality Score To Panama Feb. 5th – Paid search reporter Frank Watson shares notes from a conversation with Gaude Lydia Paez, Director of Public Relations at Yahoo!.

=== Jan. 24, 2006 ===

Don’t Click Here! Should You Pre-Qualify Clickers? – B2B Focus! – Guest writer Patricia Hursh details the specific challenges B2B advertisers face in the pay-per-click world, where competitive CPCs can be in the $10 to $35 range and the conversions are tough to come by.

=== Jan. 30, 2006 ===

Click Fraud Numbers Up, Content Networks Near 20% – A Click Forensics report found 2006 click fraud numbers reached 14.2% overall and 19.2 for clicks from search engine content networks. High-spend terms (clicks of $2 or more) averaged 20.9% click fraud.

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Linking Issues
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=== Jan. 18, 2006 ===

Linkbait in 2007 – Over at Search Engine Land, guest blogger Nick Wilson offers up a 2007 Guide To Linkbaiting. He outlines the risk/reward potential of three types of linkbait: textual, site-based and software; and widgets.

 

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Analytics & ROI
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=== Jan. 18, 2006 ===

Weather.com’s SEO Efforts Rest Heavily on Analytics – Kevin Newcomb stresses the importance of analytics when reviewing a case study for the informational site’s organic and paid search marketing strategies.

=== Jan. 30, 2006 ===

Make ROI Your New Year’s Resolution – FutureNow’s Bryan Eisenberg puts the pressure on advertisers to make the most of their paid search spend and trim the fat.

 

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Vertical & Specialty Search
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=== Jan. 24, 2006 ===

Search Is The Ticket, For Movie Distributors – SEW correspondent Deborah Richman takes an indepth look at multimedia search and the new wave of online movie distribution.

=== Jan. 25, 2006 ===

The Blogosphere Sounds Off on Hyper-Local – Mike Boland puts the spotlight on localized search, and includes a controversial quote from SEW Live speaker Terry Heaton.

=== Jan. 28, 2006 ===

Midomi a New Entrant in the Growing Voice Search Market – The just launched Midomi search engine combines voice search with a social network. Anyone with a microphone hooked to their computer can search or add to the database by singing, humming or whistling their favorite tune. Midomi uses a proprietary Multimodal Adaptive Recognition System (MARS) Search developed by Melodis Corporation. According to Melodis, the MARS Search analyzes each element independently and adapts to the stronger components. For instance, MARS Search takes speech content into account if the user sings the lyrics and ignores speech content if the user hums or whistles the song.

=== Jan. 30, 2006 ===

Live From NAA: Local SearchTakes Center Stage – SEW’s local search correspondent, Mike Boland reports live from the Newspaper Association of America Marketing Convention in Las Vegas. The topic of conversation focuses on local media adapting to online usage by improving search technology and social features.

 

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SEM for Small Businesses
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=== Jan. 23, 2006 ===

SEMPO Launches Training Program – A new Web-based SEM training program, SEMPO Institute, is open for enrollment. The first course, “Fundamentals of Search Marketing,” provides a high-level understanding of search marketing essentials in a 14-lesson course.

 

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In-House & Big Brand SEM
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=== Jan. 25, 2006 ===

Brand Advertisers Not Warming Up to Google – It seems many brand advertisers are not happy with Google’s attempts to appease them. According to ClickZ, Google’s outreach to brand advertisers — expansion into radio and print, its acquisition of YouTube , its new display and video ad formats , and the move to its opulent offices in Manhattan — are being resisted by Madison Avenue brands for a simple reason: Google insists on trafficking and reporting all the ads itself.

=== Jan. 31, 2006 ===

Search Presents Challenges for Retailers – With a focus on shopping search optimization, we highlight key area retailers should focus on in their SEM program.

 

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SEM Industry Issues
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=== Jan. 30, 2006 ===

SEMPO Names Board of Directors Nominees – Lee Odden shares the list of 37 SEMPO Board of Directors nominees, as chosen by SEMPO members earlier this month.

=== Jan. 23, 2006 ===

Dave Pasternack Sticks to His Guns – The whole “SEO is not rocket science” debate has gone on for years, in one form or another, and has been fired up in recent months by one of the founders of Did-it, Dave Pasternack.

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More from the SEW Blog
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Below are other posts from the Search Engine Watch Blog since the last newsletter and not highlighted above. Want to keep up on daily news from the blog? Visit the home page or subscribe to the blog feed.

=== Jan. 31, 2006 ===

Can Mainstream Media’s Adoption of RSS and Web 2.0 Spur Consumer Adoption? – Correspondent Amanda Watlington focuses on some broader implications of web 2.0.

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=== Jan. 30, 2007 ===

Wikio combines news search, personalization and social media – While I posted a short item about Wikio getting funding a few days ago, Chris Sherman of Search Engine Land has taken a closer look at the “relatively new startup that blends articles from major news web sites and blogs with commentary and tags from Wikio users.” According to Chris, “Wikio is one of the most useful news and blog aggregators I’ve seen come along in a while.”

Searchforvideo.com Adds Drop Down Search Functionality – The online video clip directory, which aggregates and indexes references to video clips but does not host or stream online video content, has added drop-down search functionality to select individual online video publishers.

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=== Jan. 29, 2006 ===

Google Fights for Its Trademark – Google has sued serial trademark litigant and self-styled “intellectual property entrepreneur” Leo Stoller for false advertising, unfair competition and RICO violations for claiming that Stoller owns the Google trademark.

News search related posts from Greg Jarboe:

Tribune taps news search engine Topix for classified ads – Mark Walsh of MediaPost Publications reports that news search engine “Topix.net has forged a deal to power general merchandise classifieds on Tribune Company newspaper Web sites, starting with baltimoresun.com and extending to 11 others by May.” Under the partnership, Topix and Tribune Interactive will create co-branded classified pages for the 12 newspaper sites where consumers can upload merchandise ads and photos for free.

57% of teachers use Internet-based news in the classroom – Robert MacMillan of Reuters reports on a new study by the Carnegie-Knight Task Force on the Future of Journalism Education. The study found that 57% of teachers use Internet-based news in the classroom with some frequency, compared with 31% for national television news, 28% for daily newspapers, and only 13% for local television news. One of the 1,262 teachers in grades 5 through 12 who were surveyed in the fall of 2006 was quoted as saying, “Students do not relate to newspapers at all, any more than they would to vinyl records.”

The Google guys discuss the future of newspapers – Hannah Clark of Forbes.com caught up with “The Google Guys in Davos.” She reports that Google’s Sergey Brin and Larry Page as well as YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley “wouldn’t comment on a rumored deal to run BBC content on Google Video.” “You do?” said a surprised Brin. He then asked, “What do you call a long time?”

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=== Jan. 26, 2007 ===

Microsoft Still Hopeful, But Not Happy With Search Share – Advertising revenue grew 20 percent over the quarter and we’re happy with that,” said Chris Liddell, Microsoft’s CFO. “On the search side, we lost market share, and we’re clearly not happy with that.”

Googlebombs Defused – It seems that Google’s Web spam team is sick and tired of the practice of linking an unflattering phrase to a person’s name to make a (usually political) statement.

Google, YouTube and Wikipedia among top global brands – According to an annual survey by Brandchannel.com, Google, Apple, YouTube, Wikipedia, Starbucks and Nokia are the top six global brands.

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=== Jan. 25, 2007 ===

AdSense Launches Ad Placement – The AdSense Team sent an email earlier today detailling changes that were started last night. Apparently now you can allow advertisers to select channels inside your site and get more specific in their selection of pages etc.

Google Video Searches Integrate YouTube Content – Since closing its acquisition of YouTube in November, Google has not done much to integrate or lay out its plan to differentiate Google Video and YouTube. That changed today, when Google started showing YouTube video results in the Google Video search index. When users click on YouTube thumbnails, they’ll be taken to YouTube.com to watch the videos.

=== Jan. 24, 2007 ===

Online Directories Enhance Mobile Search Products – Yell.com, the online directory of UK based Yell Group announced today that it will enhance its mobile directory platform. New features include free access to maps, driving directions business name lookups and category searches.

It’s Elementary, My Dear Watson™ – Intellext™ and AOL announced the launch of the AOL@SCHOOL desktop sidebar, designed to help K-12 elementary school students with their homework, but without having to search the open Web for the answers.

=== Jan. 23, 2007 ===

PodZinger Releases 2006 Top Search Terms for Audio and Video – PodZinger, the audio/video search engine has released the top searches and trends on its site for 2006. At PodZinger sports, talk personalities and world news dominate audio search while current events and pop culture rule online video.

=== Jan. 19, 2007 ===

Google Courts Book Publishers, Librarians – Google held an all-day love-fest for book publishers yesterday at the New York Public Library. The grandiosely named Google Unbound came complete with an all-star cast of Web luminaries: Wired magazine’s Chris Anderson (author of “The Long Tail”); author and marketing guru Seth Godin; Cory Doctorow, author, BoingBoing co-editor and USC Fulbright Chair; and Tim O’Reilly.

=== Jan. 18, 2007 ===

PPC Back Fill Map or Who Is King Of Garbitrage – Frank Watson shares a mini rant on how most of the small search engines are arbitraging one way or another. And the Big Three (clearly 3 since Ask back fills Google PPC) make their cuts on the front end.

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About The Search Engine Update
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