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Search Week in Review for March 12, 2011

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Here's a recap of this week's columns and news stories for the week of March 6 to 12, as reported by Search Engine Watch, as well as search news and tips from around the web.

Search Engine Optimization

Maximizing Your CTR for SEO in Organic Results by Adam Audette
Be mindful of the way your organic listings appear in the search results. Listings designed to maximize CTR will have a ranking advantage.

6 Ways to Structure Your In-House SEO Team for Success by Simon Heseltine
The best in-house SEO team structure is one that meets your organizational needs and helps you achieve your business goals. Here are some benefits and drawbacks of six possible configurations.

Case Study: Impact of Code Cleanup on Site Traffic by Eric Enge
How six months of improving site speed saw 40 percent increase in traffic.

Google, Bing Have White Lists Of Sites Not To Be Impacted By Algo Changes by Frank Watson
Both major search engines admitted today they have 'white lists' of sites that won't be impacted by changes to their algorithms. During the Spam Police session at SMX, Google's Matt Cutts and Bing's Sasi Parthasarathy both confirmed this.

Google Panda Update Tip: Remove Low-Quality Content by Danny Goodwin
Improve it or remove it. With Google's Panda Update, low-quality content can impact an entire domain, but removing these pages -- or moving them to a different domain -- can help your rankings, says Google's Michael Wyszomierski.

Google Panda Update Shifts Estimated $1 Billion in Revenue to Large Publishers by Danny Goodwin
The rich are getting richer, thanks to Google's Panda Update. The Online Publishers Association, boasting members such as ESPN, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times, estimates that Google's latest algorithm change has shifted $1 billion in annual revenue to larger web properties.

Hugo Boss Next Big Name Caught Breaking Google T&Cs by Frank Watson
Seems outing big name websites for using methods against Google's Terms and Conditions is the flavor of the month. Former Google Web Spam team member Hessam Lavi has outed Hugo Boss for using doorway pages.

BrightEdge Launches Social Analytics To Boost SEO by Jonathan Allen
BrightEdge an 'enterprise SEO platform' has added a new module to it's closed loop analytics engine that helps brands to identify and predict the impact of social media on search engine optimization (SEO).

Search Advertising

7 Ways to Counter Rising CPCs by Paul Burani
Low-tech solutions to stave off hyperinflation within the paid search economy.

Keyword Phrase Value: Click-Throughs vs. Conversions by Jason Tabeling
Even with a worse search experience and less targeted ads, the consumer mindset is so much closer to conversion that long tail terms are worth the effort.

Court: Bidding on Competitor's Name OK in AdWords, adCenter by Brent Rangen
Buying ads based on a competitor's name doesn't violate trademark law, a court has ruled, overturning a lawsuit over AdWords and adCenter ads displaying trademarked names.

Marin Integrates Criteo Site Retargeting Into PPC Bid Management Platform by Jonathan Allen
Billed as an industry first, but sure to cause consternation amongst other agencies who offer similar services, Marin Software has partnered with Criteo, a world leader in "personalized" retargeting.

New adCenter Quality Score by Danny Goodwin
Microsoft is readying a new adCenter quality score for Bing/Yahoo campaigns.

Analytics & ROI

Social Media Marketing

Facebook Pages Upgrades: What Brands Need to Know by Kaila Strong
Tabs, photos, notifications, community interaction, and wall settings -- a step-by-step guide to help you use Facebook's upgraded features effectively.

Why Social Media Paranoia is Healthy by Kevin Gibbons
A little bit of social media paranoia can help you protect yourself on social media sites. Here are nine basic guidelines for social media communications.

Facebook Posts Can Get You Expelled: Not From BYU, Middle School by Frank Watson
The dismissal of BYU basketballer Brandon Davies received a lot of press, but it was three Chapel Hill middle school students who found their Facebook comments had caused their suspension and in one case expulsion.

6 #Winning Strategies @CharlieSheen Used To Get 2.2 Million #Tigerblood Followers by Brent Rangen
Charlie Sheen increased his Twitter followers to 2,211,000 today, almost half the population of the State of Minnesota - in just over one week.

Colbert Report Ribs Charlie Sheen Twitter Product Endorsements & Interviews Fake Twitter @MayorEmanuel Creator by Jonathan Allen
The surprise interview with fake Twitter @mayoremanuel account creator, Dan Sinker, was a particular treat and testament to the creative and satirical opportunities afforded by Twitter.

Too Much Charlie Sheen? Browser Plugin Can Remove Him by Frank Watson
Okay it may be rudimentary, but if all the mentions of Charlie Sheen are too much for you, then the browser plugin for Chrome and Firefox will redact all mentions and photos of him for you.

Link Building

Google Panda Update: Say Goodbye to Low-Quality Link Building by Kristi Hines
What does the recent news of Google penalties and recent algorithm updates mean for your link building strategies? Advice on how you can determine valuable backlink opportunities.

Local & Mobile Search

Cooper Tire Hijacked 2300 Listings at Yahoo Local, Yellow Pages by Frank Watson
More glitches in local search listings hijack other businesses.

On Yelp and Google: Shaky Friends, Uncertain Futures by Greg Habermann
Are you too reliant on any one source for your traffic or leads in local search? What search marketers can learn from the Yelp-Google kerfuffle.

Discovering the Right SoLoMo Formula by Michael Boland
The mobile discovery trend is taking on new forms with growing smartphone penetration, and a Groupon-fueled hunger for the deals infused with apps carrying the social, local, mobile (SoLoMo) banner.

Google Places: Metrics Data Missing & New Landing Page by Brent Rangen
New landing page rolls out, but dashboard statistics for listings still haven't been updated since February 18.

Yelp Integrates Telmetrics Call Tracking by Jonathan Allen
Despite the fact that call tracking jas been around for over 20 years, it is enjoying a bit of a resurgence in the last 12 months, suggesting that the era of mobile internet has well and truly, finally arrived.

Google Mobile: Instant Previews Announced by Brent Rangen
Google has added Instant Previews to specific mobile devices. Similar to Google Instant Previews for desktops, which Google implemented in November, the mobile version has a magnifying glass icon next to each site listing.

Google Mobile News Roundup: Android Security, Avoid Traffic, Emergency Numbers & More by Danny Goodwin
Following the DroidDream Android malware scare, Google announced that they had removed the malicious applications from the Android Market, suspended the developer accounts, and contacted law enforcement, in addition to using its remote application removal feature (Android's so-called "kill switch") on affected phones.

Nearly Half Of Financial Times Visitors Using Mobile Devices To Connect by Frank Watson
The growth of using mobile devices to connect to the internet has been exponential and the recent announcement by the Financial Times that nearly 50% of the traffic arrives through them should have marketers readying their sites to meet this change.

SMB Search Marketing

International Search

SEO on a Global Scale: Ranking Internationally by Guillaume Bouchard
Tips for ranking on international versions of Google, a look at worldwide ranking factors, and how to build country-specific sites.

The Global Google Battle for Vertical Search by Andy Atkins-Krüger
With no real global search competitors, Google continues its expansion into new verticals. To survive, vertical search engines developers must do something different, do something useful, do it offline as well as online, and do it first!

Google Responds Rapidly To Japan Quake, Tsunami With Online Help by Frank Watson
Google jumped in to help immediately, quickly deploying a person finder site where people could look for or report information on people in the area.

Google Fighting Freedom of Press in Spain, Getting Fined in France by Frank Watson
A French court fined Google 430,000 Euros for four breaches of copyright, while the Spanish courts are considering referring a 'right to be forgotten' case involving 80 instances to the European Court of Justice.

Doodle 4 Google Ireland Winner Posted by Thom Craver
Google Ireland sported the winning logo of the Google Ireland Doodle 4 Google contest.

Mouse TV Gets a Google Doodle in Germany by Thom Craver
Google Germany users woke up to a new Google Doodle logo celebrating the popular German children's TV series Die Sendung mit der Maus ("The Program with the Mouse"). The show turns 40 years old this week.

Carnaval Brazil Google Doodle by Danny Goodwin
As the five-day Carnival of Brazil festival winds down today, Google Brazil has posted a special Doodle.

The Search Industry

Q&A Search: Who, What, Where, When, Why & How by Eli Goodman
Each of these question search terms tell their own story. A look at why the consumer experience on your website, and the ensuing return visitation if satisfied, is so important in the Q&A space.

Hitwise: Bing Market Share up 5%; Google Down 2% in February 2011 by Danny Goodwin
Google is king, Bing is inching up, Yahoo is still around -- and the rest of the 69 search engines Hitwise tracks aren't even worth mentioning by name.

Google News

One Man's Spam Is Another's Good Result: Google's New Approach To Spam by Frank Watson & Thom Craver
Google announced a new search feature today -- the ability to block sites you don't want to see in your results. You can now tell Google not to add those sites into any search query they answer for you.

Google Penalizes BeatThatQuote.com Less Than 24 Hours After Buying It by Danny Goodwin
Another website has suffered the wrath of Google after it was exposed for using doorway pages and gateway sites, buying links that pass PageRank, and using paid blog reviews. The twist: Google just bought this company less than 24 hours ago.

Google Buys BeatThatQuote.com by Danny Goodwin
Google has acquired UK price comparison site BeatThatQuote.com, a site focused on personal finance products. This is Google's fifth major acquisition of the year.

Google Adds Latest Tweet to Search Results by Danny Goodwin
The latest tweets from some Twitter users are now showing up as snippets in Google's search results.

Senator Kohl Hops on the Google Antitrust Gravy Train by Danny Goodwin
Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), head of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, has announced that Google will face antitrust scrutiny due to its growing online dominance.

Will Eisner Birthday Google Doodle Celebrates the Father of the Graphic Novel by Thom Craver
Will Eisner was a highly praised graphic artist and comic writer. Google is celebrating what would have been his 94th birthday with a logo praising his work.

International Women's Day 2011 Google Doodle by Thom Craver
This year marks International Women's Day's 100th anniversary. Google is helping women worldwide organize on bridges this year and reminding everyone about the day with an International Women's Day Doodle.

Bing News

Instant Search Coming to Bing by Danny Goodwin
An HTML5-powered version of Bing is on the way, and the search engine is touting new features on a preview site that include "search previews as you type" (a.k.a., Instant Search), "animations that make search come alive," and "seamless transitions between pages."

Bing Seeks Search Boost from 'Angry Birds' Partnership by Danny Goodwin
Bing has teamed up with Rovario, makers of the popular game "Angry Birds," to push its search engine through four animated videos featuring Bing image search, maps, and shopping.

Yahoo News

Blekko News

3 Ways To Take Advantage of Blekko Sitelinks Badge, Live Link Roll & Embeddable Search Box by Jonathan Allen
Blekko is proving yet again it can make a lot of noise despite the fact it is not even six months old. Launching Blekkogear, the search 'upstart' recently released a bunch of publisher tools and online schwag for webmasters to add some bling to their websites.

Video Marketing

YouTube Buys Video Producer Next New Networks by Danny Goodwin
YouTube has bought Next New Networks, the company behind two of YouTube's top videos of 2010 ("Bed Intruder" and "Glitter Puke"). YouTube also announced plans for YouTube Next, a new effort aimed at helping content partners monetize their videos and improve quality through grants and training.

The Google Bought Our Company Dance by Frank Watson
It was time for celebration when Next New Networks was bought by YouTube. Their company COO Liam Collins led the way with a table dance.

YouTube Creator Institute Offers Video Wizards Everything Except a Quidditch Team by Greg Jarboe
Bing Chen, who handles YouTube Creator Initiatives and Product Marketing, announced the creation of the YouTube Creator Institute. The first initiative from YouTube Next, the school offers aspiring video wizards everything except a a Quidditch team.

YouTube Tops Facebook, Groupon, LinkedIn and Twitter In User Satisfaction by Greg Jarboe
According to a study by Netpop Research, users of YouTube are more likely to recommend that site than users of Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and other social media websites are likely to recommend those sites.

Want to Work at YouTube? 200 Jobs Open by Danny Goodwin
Just as Google earlier promised 2011 would be its biggest hiring year ever, YouTube has announced a goal of growing its staff by 30 percent worldwide.

SES Conference & Expo

Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Holds Forum and Track at SES New York 2011 by Greg Jarboe
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has programmed a forum and track at SES New York 2011. The IAB is comprised of more than 500 leading media and technology companies who are responsible for selling 86 percent of online advertising in the United States.

Search Week in Review 2011 Archives

March 5
Feb. 26 | Feb. 19 | Feb. 12 | Feb. 5
Jan. 29 | Jan. 22 | Jan. 15 | Jan. 8

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