Highlights from the SEW Blog: October 15-19, 2007

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

• SEW Experts: The Perils of Duplicate Content
  Duplicate content can be a huge challenge for SEOs and their clients. But what qualifies as duplicate content?

Search Advertising

• Is Yahoo Gaining Momentum?
  While Google clearly retains the dominant market share among search engines, it appears that Yahoo showed some strength this summer with “impressive momentum.”
• Competitor Analysis
  Competitive intelligence is very often taken for granted in the search industry. Unfortunately, leaving the competition to fend for themselves leaves so much on the plate.
• Yahoo Adds Cars.com, Forbes.com and Ziff-Davis to Publishers’ Network
  Yahoo announced it has signed agreements with Cars.com, Forbes.com and the Ziff-Davis publications.
• Yahoo To Provide Paid Search For WebMD Properties
  Yahoo announced it will provide the sponsored search results for the WebMD properties.

Linking Issues & Social Media

• 11 Guidelines to Social Media Success
  This post will summarize a set of 11 guidelines for putting together a successful social media strategy.
• SEW Experts: Top Rankings, Secrets, and Lies – Part 2
  When linkbuilding, as with any task, your time is worth money, and that time needs to be focused on effective strategies.

Analytics & ROI

• SEW Experts: The Real Impact of Blended Search
  Since the major engines have introduced blended and universal search results, they have seen increased traffic to their video and image sites.
• Microsoft Claims Google Gets Too Much Credit
  Brian McAndrews, senior vice president of Microsoft’s Advertiser Publisher Solutions Group stated during a panel discussion at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco Thursday that Google is getting too much credit for conversions when they are the last place someone visits before making a purchase.
• Google Analytics Update
  Google added new site search reporting and event tracking features to Google Analytics, and revealed the long-awaited update to the Urchin software.

Local & Mobile Search

• SEW Experts: Searching for a Better Local Ad Model
  The epic battle fought by “online pure-plays” and “brick and mortar” companies moves to a new frontier: local search.
• Twitter and Search
  The obvious notion is to integrate some type of people search functionality.

Vertical & Specialty Search

• YouTube video appears in Google News
  A YouTube video from AlJazeeraEnglish appeared on the home page of Google News today.
• Globalization of Search: US Hispanic Marketing
  CNN’s Taylor Gandossy takes a look at what the word “Hispanic” (US-government issue, circa 1970s) means in cultural terms.
• Newsforce Launches Standalone SEO Tool for Press Releases
  Newsforce today launched a new standalone service for SEOs and public relations pros looking for an automated way to optimize press releases for search engines.

Small Business/Big Brand SEM

• The Reservation Road Challenge
  We’re using the opening of an independent film as a case study for best practices in search marketing.
• Reservation Road: A Study in how NOT to launch a movie on the ‘net
  We found the studio to be lacking a few basic “musts” for setting their film up for success in the online market.
• SEW Experts: SME Brand Strategy: SEM Tactics, Tips, and Tricks, Part 1
  They say you can’t build your brand online with search marketing tactics. Here are some tips and tricks to prove them wrong.

In-House & Outsourcing

• SEW Experts: Defining Success Beyond Direct Response
  If you’re just now starting to think about how search and your organization (or internal search department) impact the 2008 planning process, you’re a little late to the game.

SEM Industry Issues

• Search and the Law: Trademarks
  Since search became monetized, trademarks have been a front-and-center issue for legal debate.
• Search and Politics: Made for Each Other?
  Search engines are playing an increasingly important role in the education of voters in the U.S.

Searching/Search Technologies

• Microsoft Rolls Out More Live Search Updates
  Microsoft today made another round of updates to Live Search, this time focusing on local and mobile search.

More from the SEW Blog

• Yahoo CMO Resigns, Heading for Big Consumer Brand?
  Yahoo chief marketing officer Cammie Dunaway will leave Yahoo on November 2 for a new opportunity, which may be a large consumer brand.

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.

• Online Marketing Crimes and Misdemeanors, ClickZ
• PPC Not Dead After All?, ClickZ
• Remove Spam from Google Blog Search, Google Operating System
• iyp vs. sem: which silo are you on?, Evans Ink
• The “Echo Boomers” Generation in Search Marketing, SEM Geek
• Search in an ecosystem of friends and predators, Think About Search
• Problems with Anchor Text as a Ranking Signal, Ramblings About SEO
• Measuring User Engagement, with Examples from Yahoo, SEO by the Sea
• The Worst Way To Ask For A Link, Search Engine Land
• User Generated Content Doesn’t Work For Everyone, Read/Write Web
• Do You Want Your Ancillary Pages in Googles Index, Graywolf’s SEO Blog
• How Will Advertising Influence Mobile Web Growth?, StayGoLinks
• Give the Google Content Network another try, John W. Ellis