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Search Week in Review for Jan. 22, 2011

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Here's a recap of this week's columns and news stories for the week of Jan. 16 to 22, as reported by Search Engine Watch, as well as search news and tips from around the web.

Search Engine Optimization

Mobile SEO Toolkit by Gary-Adam Shannon
Using this custom built bookmarks file, you can turn your mobile platform into a viable SEO toolkit.

Social Media Links and SEO -- Spam Ye Not! by Gareth Owen
Social media links have been increasingly making their presence felt in the SERPs. It appears as though the engines (in particular Google) may be responding to an increase in manipulative social activity.

Search Advertising

The Dawn of Paid Search Without Keywords by Alex Cohen
We've seen dramatic departures in every step of how you advertise on Google. These changes underlie some of the key trends that will shape paid search this year.

Automate Your AdWords Management with Automated Rules, Part 1 by Joseph Kerschbaum
This new, extremely powerful AdWords feature can automate your campaign optimization, saving you time and improving your campaign's results. Here's how to get the most out of Automated Rules.

Google Related PPC Ads in AdWords by Danny Goodwin
More search marketers are reporting seeing PPC ad grouping by segments and categories for certain search queries. Google began testing this new layout for general and brand terms in Google AdWords that showed "Related to [search term]" last June, and it seems it has rolled out more broadly in the last few days.

Google Likely to Expand Lead in Search Ad Market by Jonathan Allen
Everyone is saying it: U.S. Search spend significantly increased in Q4 of 2010. Kenshoo, SearchIgnite and Efficient Frontier have all released reports recently which corroborate the story. Meanwhile, Google is releasing it's fourth quarter earnings today, and according to IHS Screen digest, they are likely to have increased their revenue generated from the global search advertising market by as much as 20% - despite having stronger competitors than ever before.

Checking If Your Ad Is Running In AdWords Just Got Easier by Frank Watson
If you advertise using Adwords it has been a little tricky in the past to determine where and if you ads are running - especially if you are not in a particular location. But Google has taken care of this with their new ad preview tool.

Analytics & ROI

Social Media Marketing

Understanding Your Social Customer Engagement Scenario by Jacob Morgan
These four stages of social customer engagement will give you a general overview or framework for where your company is today, and where it needs to go, when it comes to social CRM.

Facebook Praise Up, Value Up, Advertising Up, Scams Up, Privacy Gone by Frank Watson
Facebook is almost passing Google recognition and almost hitting Beatles fame, or so it would seem given recent press coverage. Though at some point Google may downplay some element of the celebrity as link bait, Facebook is countering some heavy problem press.

Link Building

How to Get Links from Journalists by Nichola Stott
Several tips for SEO agencies and online marketers on how to approach journalists and give them a good reason to link to you.

Alternative Ways to Find Sites for Link Building by Justilien Gaspard
When trying to build links, you don't have to rely only on organic search for your research. Here are some additional sources.

Local & Mobile Search

Google Maps Launches New Widget Interface by Thom Craver
After week of experimenting with a new interface, Google Maps has officially announced its release into the wild. They are calling it the widget and it replaces the ugly white buttons that used to allow you to toggle between map and satellite views.

Google Maps UI Changes by Thom Craver
It appears that Google is experimenting with new controls for users to navigate through maps. The not-so-stylish, white buttons for selecting Map or Satellite view as well as the drop-list for toggling photos, buzz updates and other geo-taggable features seems to be going away. In their place, styled, graphical icons that expand and retract when you hover over them.

Hotpot Adds Preferred Friend Filter For Location Recommendations by Frank Watson
Google is working hard to push Hotpot as a competitor to FourSquare and other location based social networking sites. They just announced a filter that lets you select specific friends opinions for specific types of searches.

Know What FourSquare Is? 6 Million Users Do by Frank Watson
Launched at SXSW in March 2009, FourSquare has grown rapidly along with the popularity of social networking platforms used on mobile devices that share locations with friends. The company took 44 days to go from 5 to 6 million users, many of whom must be my friends on Twitter as I am always seeing the posts of them checking in at some location.

SMB Search Marketing

How to Configure Analytics for Your Small Business Website by Rob Chant
A step-by-step guide detailing everything you need to know for setting up bullet-proof tracking for almost any small business web site.

Enterprise SEM

Enterprise SEO: 3 Secrets to Scalable Success in 2011 by P.J. Fusco
Enterprises should allocate the bulk of their SEO budgets this year on realigning three core areas: CMS optimization, site speed, and social media marketing.

International Search

5 Factors to Help You Identify the Best Global Search Markets by Michael Bonfils
Why analytics, keyword research data, competition, technical challenges, and e-commerce challenges are the most important factors for identifying potential international markets.

Yandex Reports 43% Revenue Growth by Danny Goodwin
Russia's top search engine Yandex reported today that their year-over-year (YoY) revenue increased by 43 percent, reaching 12.5 billion rubles ($410 million).

Google, Spain Clash in Court over Privacy by Danny Goodwin
Spain's data protection authority has demanded Google to remove links to nearly 100 articles from its search listings, and five of those disputed articles were contested by the search engine's legal team in a Madrid magistrates' court this week.

Google China Finally Sees Search Advertising Share Grow by Danny Goodwin
Google China's share of the Chinese search advertising market in Q4 rose for the first time since the company threatened to leave the country early last year after a cyber attack and censorship battles.

Case Closed: Italy Drops Google Antitrust Investigation by Danny Goodwin
An antitrust investigation initiated by Italian newspaper publishers who cried foul over lost advertising revenue when their headlines were pulled from Google's main search results after they opted out of Google's News results, has ended.

Europe Giving Google Mixed Signals: EU Hands Out Antitrust Questionnaire by Frank Watson
There is a lot of money being spent by European governments investigating Google right now. Italy has just closed their investigation but the European Union is doing a wide spread inquiry with a 120 question survey out to various industries and companies.

Google Earth Now Available in Iran by Jonathan Allen
Because export restrictions and political sanctions against Iran prohibited the downloading of software, other location and media sharing tools were not able to be an intermediary for user generated news. This week, those restrictions were lifted meaning that software download based products such as Google Earth, Chrome and Picasa are now freely available in Iran.

The Search Industry

The Web: Why Users No Longer Matter by Kristine Schachinger
Don't you miss the good old days when huge companies like Google and Facebook didn't force worse user experiences on us? A severe lack of competition is allowing these companies to undermine the Web's fundamental principles.

5 Reasons the Google Search Bias Study is, um, Biased by Danny Goodwin
Increasingly, the quality of Google's search results and business practices are being called into question. A new study co-authored by Benjamin Edelman and Benjamin Lockwood attempted to measure bias in the organic search results of Google and to a lesser extent Yahoo, Bing, AOL, and Ask.

Google News

Schmidt Canned: How Will Page Rank as Google's CEO? by Danny Goodwin
The speculation has already begun. Was CEO Eric Schmidt really forced out and why? Was there friction among the Google triumvirate? Will the introverted Larry Page be a good face of Google as he resumes his role as CEO?

Larry Page Replacing Eric Schmidt as Google CEO by Danny Goodwin
Google just announced a huge change in management. As of April, Eric Schmidt is out as CEO, and co-founder Larry Page will take over his day-to-day duties. Meanwhile, co-founder Sergey Brin will "devote his energy to strategic projects, in particular working on new products."

Oh Yeah, Google Also Reported Q4 Revenue of $8.44 Billion by Danny Goodwin
Obviously, the big story is Larry Page replacing Eric Schmidt as CEO. That news is so big it even dwarfs Google's huge Q4 of 2010, in which the company reported $8.44 billion in revenue -- a 26 percent increase over 2009 and 17 percent increase over the $7.2 billion earned in Q3.

Google Doodle Honors John F. Kennedy Inaugural Address by Jonathan Allen
It's been a week of Google Doodles! On monday we saw Martin Luther King Jr honored and yesterday we saw the fourth annual Google 4 Doodle competition announced, illustrated with a doodle honoring Paul Cezanne's 172nd birthday.

Fourth Annual Doodle 4 Google Contest Kicks Off by Danny Goodwin
"What I'd like to do someday" is the theme of the fourth annual Doodle 4 Google. This contest for U.S. K-12 students will reward the child who designs the coolest logo based on this theme for Google's home page with a $15,000 scholarship. Also, the child's school will receive a $25,000 grant.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Still Causing Controversy Today, On Facebook by Jonathan Allen
Today is a national holiday in the United States to honor Martin Luther King, Jr. and Google are commemorating it with a special logo, which depicts four children of visibly different ethnicities playing hopscotch together.

Google's Knol Seems To Be Unit Of Knowledge People Don't Use by Frank Watson
Problems at Knol - Google's Open Encylopedia - had people discussing the site more than usual yesterday. Google Operating System - an unofficial blog covering news about Google - found the site had problems and suggested it was being dropped.

DOJ Antitrust Chief Recuses Herself From Google ITA discussions by Frank Watson
Having worked for the law firm representing ITA - the travel software company Google is seeking to purchase - Christine Varney, the U.S. Justice Department's top antitrust official, recused herself from the proceedings.

Bing News

Bing Growing at Expense of MSN? by Danny Goodwin
Microsoft is pushing Bing hard on msn.com, but it's not coming without a price. Some MSN partners -- and even MSN's sales staff -- are angry that links to searches on Bing are hogging some valuable space on MSN's home page.

Yahoo News

Video Marketing

Creating Online Video Content that is Worth Watching by Greg Jarboe
Your video needs to tell a good story, whether it's adorable, creative, funny, inspirational, or instructional. Some advice and tips on using storytelling in video marketing.

Harvard Remix John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address on Youtube by Jonathan Allen
Google has already commemorated the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address with a cool doodle. Now, other organizations are using online video sharing as a vehicle for remembering the day - and there are some great video optimisation tactics to be learned from their strategy.

YouTube Changes Homepage To Be Simpler & More Personal by Greg Jarboe
The YouTube Team launched a new YouTube home page yesterday. Let's take a close look at what the YouTube Team did.

SES Conference & Expo

Half of What We Know About Search and Social Media Is Obsolete by Greg Jarboe
The search and social media landscape is changing so fast that half of what we knew a year ago is now obsolete.

Special Events, Express Clinics, Theatre Presentations, and Training Workshops at SES London 2011 by Greg Jarboe
In addition to the opening keynote and three-days of conference sessions, SES London 2011 features a superabundance of special events, express clinics, theatre presentations, as well as SES, IDM, and OMI training workshops. If you tally everything up, there are nearly 100 sessions presented by the industries top insiders on a host of key areas.

Search Week in Review 2011 Archives

Jan. 15 | Jan. 8

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