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
- Matt Cutts Shares SEO Tips for Bloggers
Matt Cutts, the Google engineer and public face of the search engine's spam-fighting team, has posted some SEO tips for bloggers that he first shared in a WordCamp 2007 presentation last month. - Google Statement on Custom Search Blog Incident
The hard part of this is that most people who get caught in this net by accident won't have the access and credibility that the Google Custom Search Blog team had to get their issue addressed. - Implications of Google Custom Search Blog Deletion
Google classified its own blog as spam, and deleted it from their system. It's frightening because it shows you how fragile Spam detection algorithms are. - SEW Experts: The Site Map: Gateway to Optimization
Mark Jackson reviews a vital piece of on-site optimization, for both users and spiders.
Search Advertising
- Google Makes Changes to Ads Quality Calculation
Google is planning on rolling out a change in the way it calculates the ad placement, which may make it easier for some AdWords advertisers whose ads are on the cusp of earning the top spot on Google's search results pages to break through. - Implications of Google's New Bid Calculations
Frank Watson thinks Google's announced changes to the PPC cost calculations seem a little like a magic show and the expected audience is novice search advertisers. - SEW Experts: Microsoft adCenter Could Win the Search Battle
Tony Wright explains why he thinks Microsoft adCenter can win the search wars -- if it can scale the audience. - AdWords Editor 4.0 Released With New Features
Google announced Friday the release of AdWords Editor 4.0. This version has a number of new features and many upgrades to the existing features.
Linking Issues & Social Media
- Fit or Fat -- It’s Up To Your Network?
Researchers have now scientifically proven the effect of social networks -- providing hard data about how “unstated” interests are shared among participants. - Google Ranking Comments By Subjects of News Stories
Google is allowing the subjects of news articles to have their comments ranked in with the news items they are being written about. - SEW Experts: Reverse Engineering Linking Patterns to Create Link Equity
Justilien Gaspard tells you how to get quality links from trusted sites in a round about manner, creating trusted linking neighborhoods. - Hearst to Acquire Social Shopping Site Kaboodle
Newspaper and magazine giant Hearst Corp. has agreed to acquire social shopping site Kaboodle. It will fit into the Hearst Interactive Media and Hearst Magazines Digital Media units.
Analytics & ROI
- SEW Experts: SEO Site Design Improves User Experience and Site Performance
Eric Enge shows you the value of improving the user experience by implementing SEO in your site design while testing design elements with analytics.
Local & Mobile Search
- Marchex to Acquire Pay-per-Call Provider
Marchex announced plans to acquire pay-per-call provider VoiceStar, which it hopes to use to bring call-based ad services to its direct-navigation network. - SEW Experts: Yellow Pages and Search
Kevin Ryan explains that yellow pages directories and search engines are hopelessly intertwined as directories feed search queries and search queries feed directories. A new spin on the old book might just connect the dots. - Google Hiring Independents To Collect Business Info For Maps
The Google Local Business Referral Program is an initiative to gather contact, business hours and other information on businesses for listings in Google Maps - where Google is using independent contractors to gather their information. - SEW Experts: Don't Be a Local Yokel II – Enhancing Your Yahoo Local Listing
Carrie Hill tells you how to enhance your local listings in Yahoo! Local to bring more traffic to your site.
Vertical & Specialty Search
- SEW Experts: Choosing Partnerships for Your Video Search Marketing
Grant Crowell tells you how to select and work with a professional video production partner as well as the importance of choosing a video host for displaying your videos. - Spock Launches Today
The long awaited public unveiling of Spock, the people search engine, takes place today.
In-House & Outsourcing
- SEW Experts: Don't Be An SEO Alien
Rob Kerry has some practical advice for in-house SEOs, and it doesn't have to do with following Best Practices. - Beating Google at the Hiring Game
A recruiter shares with Forbes some ways that Google's high standards and lengthy hiring process can actually be seen as vulnerabilities to be exploited by other companies trying to hire the limited talent available.
SEM Industry Issues
- Microsoft's aQuantive Acquisition to Close Soon
Microsoft's intended acquisition of aQuantive moved a step closer to completion when the shareholders of aQuantive approved the acquisition yesterday. - Others Join YouTube, Google Copyright Lawsuit
More companies have joined Viacom in the lawsuit against Google and YouTube for copyright infringement. - Online Advertising to Surpass Newspaper Advertising by 2011
The 2007 annual research report on the media sector by media analysts Veronis Suhler Stevenson (VSS) forecasts online advertising will surpass newspaper advertising by 2011. - Is an Ask-Microsoft Partnership on the Horizon?
Ask.com and parent IAC have been cozying up to Microsoft lately, leading to the question of what will become of the current 5-year-old partnership Ask.com has with Google once it comes up for renewal at the end of the year.
Searching/Search Technologies
- Former Google Answers Researcher Discusses Demise
A former Google Answers Researcher gives his opinion on why Google dropped the project, suggesting its developers simply lost interest. - Bill Slawski Uncovers Possible Barter System Patent At Microsoft
Microsoft has applied for a bunch of patents covering click fraud, and what could be the groundwork for a barter system between publishers and advertisers. - Google Indexing Near Real Time
Matt Cutts updates us about how quickly Google updates its index. He relates a bit of the history of indexing speed, and then provides some examples to show that Google is now doing "Minty Fresh Indexing." - Yahoo Continues Search Suggestions Rollout
Yahoo has been on a search refinement kick lately, which continued on Friday with the release of Search Suggest for Yahoo Toolbar for Internet Explorer.
More from the SEW Blog
- Sina Announces Google Partnership Deal
Sina, the Chinese portal, announced details of their partnership with Google to provide search and advertising for them. - Yahoo Signs Deal With Reality Programming Company
Yes it is Rocket Science - at least that is the name of the reality programming company Yahoo just signed a production deal with. - Rebecca Lieb Interview
Eric Enge interviews Rebecca Lieb, Editor in Chief of the ClickZ network, which includes Search Engine Watch.
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.
- Gannett Launches Local Mobile Sites, WebProNews
- Search In The Year 2010, Search Engine Land
- Bill Day: 'My Role as Marchex's Chief Media Officer', The Local Onliner
- SEO, Time Travel, and Custom Web Content., We Build Pages
- The Google Honeymoon Is More Than Over, Smart-Keywords
- Special Report: Search Engines in Stealth Mode, AltSearchEngines
- Geolocation: Core To The Local Space And Key To Click-Fraud Detection, Search Engine Land
- Microsoft Driving Game Promotes Live Search Maps Service, ClickZ
- Free SEO Consultations, ClickZ
- Can Search Help Account Planning?, ClickZ
- Facebook Grows Up , Newsweek
- Mahalo Follow: Toolbar Gives You Human-Powered Alternatives To Searching, Surfing, Search Engine Land
- Lemonade Monday: Mahalo as a platform; What should Mahalo's API include and what should our license be?, Calacanis.com
- How to Take Advantage of the Coming Web 2.0 Crash, SEOmoz
- Swoogle : An Engine for the Semantic Web, Search Engine Journal
- Competitive SEO Evaluations: Individual Keyword Phrase Analysis, Search Engine Guide
- How Does a Small Business Compete?, Mike Moran
- Linkjuicy.com - A Site About Links, Search Engine Blog
- Advanced Link Building - An Interview With Fantomaster, LinkJuicy
- A Bedtime Story (or The Future of Search), AltSearchEngines
- Hey SEO: Raise Your Rates, You’re Worth More!, John Andrews
- What Should Marchex Do?, The Conceptualist
- Duct Tape SEO: How To Fix Optimization That Breaks, SEO Theory
- People are stupid, SEOassassin Negative SEO Blog
- User Generated Content, the new source for business listings and map databases?, Exploring Local
- Is Wikipedia Corrupt?, Search Engine Guide
Early Bird Rates have been extended!
June 12-14, 2013: Join industry experts at SES Toronto for a crash course in the latest strategies in Online Marketing and Advertising.
Save $300 when you register by Thursday, May 23.
