Highlights from the SEW Blog: April 14-18, 2008

We’ve collected all the search engine marketing news from selected posts to the Search Engine Watch blog in the past week.

From the SEW blog:

Organic Search

• Case Sensitive Google Search Results Being Found
  Chris Silver Smith over at NetConcepts found case sensitive results in Google SERPs. Let’s hope this is just some error and not a change that will see many people scrambling to make wholesale changes to their SEO efforts.
• Microsoft To Use Domain Age in SEO Ranking
  Apparently Microsoft is looking at, if not using, domain age as an algorithm factor.

Search Advertising

• Yahoo Implements Minimum Bid Price Change
  In February, Yahoo announced that minimum bids for Sponsored Search will no longer be fixed at $.10. And yesterday, they announced that the change has taken effect.
• If Search Is Recession-Proof, Watch Out For Newbie Bidders
  Search should be the last advertising method to have spend cutbacks, but newbie bidders may be raising your PPC prices with overly aggressive minimum bids.
• Yahoo’s Test of Google Ads is Successful, Partnership Progresses
  Yahoo’s two-week test of Google’s search advertising has reportedly proved successful, and a partnership between the two search engines is increasingly likely.
• Paid Click Growth Slows, Declines in Q1 2008
  Following a less-than-luster February, paid clicks were weak across the board in the first quarter of 2008, according to comScore.
• Lycos Partners with Click Forensics to Improve PPC Quality
  One month after Yahoo announced its partnership with Click Forensics, Lycos is announcing a similar agreement with the click fraud firm.
• AOL’s Platform-A is Top Ad Network for March
  Reaching 9 out of 10 Internet Users, AOL’s Platform-A was the top ad network in March, according to comScore. The network includes Advertising.com, Quigo and Tacoda and served ads to 170 million U.S. Internet users in March.
• SEW Experts: Content Ad Campaign Keyword Strategy Revisited – Part 2
  A keyword-targeted content ad group’s keywords should describe the pages/sites where an ad should appear. The best keyword list is composed of words/phrases that appear most frequently on the target sites’ pages.

Linking Issues & Social Media

• Facebook Adds “Lexicon” to Arsenal: A Potent Buzz Pocket Mining Tool
  Search Marketers interested in mining data about users’ behavior in Facebook have a new weapon with the arrival of “Lexicon.”
• When Social Media Content = Great Blog Content
  Is great social media content necessarily great site content? Absolutely not! To illustrate, think of posts or articles that you know intuitively would perform exceptionally well on major social media sites. How many of these would you feel comfortable putting on your corporate site?
• UK Govt. Want To Flog Floggers
  The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 include some interesting laws that will impact web marketing.
• Exclusive Interview with Craig Newmark about SEO
  Craig is generally known as no-BS kind of guy, so he was a great guy to speak to about how SEO and the SEO community have affected his site, which was one of the first user-generated content sites online.

Analytics & ROI

• Is Search Recession-Proof?
  The online advertising industry hasn’t been immune to recession fears, and online advertising will probably suffer if there is a recession. But search will likely be the last place from which marketers pull their ad dollars.
• Avinash Kaushik, iPerceptions Offering 4Q: Exit Popup To Survey Visitors
  While the information it’s trying to collect may be invaluable, the bad taste exit pop-ups leave in a visitor’s mouth is something iPerceptions may have wanted to survey first.
• Google Analytics Launches “Urchin 6”
  Google today announced the full launch of Urchin Software, Google’s advanced – but not free – Web analytics package, aka Urchin 6.
• Google Website Optimizer Tool is Out of Beta!
  Google announced today that its Google Website Optimizer (GWO) landing page testing tool is finally out of beta.
• IndexTools is Made Free by Yahoo
  The powerful web analytics application will be distributed for free.
• SearchIgnite Releases Q1 Search Marketing Data
  SearchIgnite has released search marketing spend data for Q1 2008 and the news is good for Yahoo, and so-so for Google and Microsoft.

Local & Mobile Search

• Visual, Mobile Search Engine Coming to iPhones in Japan
  Evolution Robotics is preparing to introduce a new mobile search engine, dubbed ER Search, that incorporates visual search.
• Urban Mapping Unveils Geotargeting and Local Search Platform
  The neighborhood data provider announced the launch of its Geomods platform, designed to “deliver more geographically-relevant results for users.”
• Google Releases Updates to Google Earth; Includes Street View
  Less than a week after Microsoft released updates to Live Maps and Virtual Earth 3D, Google announces updates to its Google Earth product.
• Zvents blends local search with current events
  The local search engine aims to help businesses draw foot traffic to their stores, restaurants and events across the county.
• YouTube Videos Now Part of Google Maps Search Mix
  If you’ve been wondering if your local business should utilize online video, wonder no more. Google Maps is adding embedded YouTube videos in the maps.

Vertical & Specialty Search

• Microsoft Acquires Travel Search Site Farecast
  Microsoft has reportedly acquired Seattle-based travel search site Farecast for an estimated $115 million.
• Search Gains on Social Media in Share of Online Video Referrals
  Hitwise is reporting data showing that search and social media are virtually equal when it comes to the share of referrals to online video.
• Windows Live Search Offers Google News Alternative
  Windows Live Search has added a News component, with a meme-tracker design employed for the front page of the news section.

Small Business/Big Brand SEM

• PPC Search Engine ABCSearch Partners with AdWatcher on Optimization
  ABCSearch, a PPC search network, is partnering with AdWatcher, a third party service that helps small to mid-size businesses track and optimize their online advertising campaigns.

SEM Industry Issues

• We May Not Need Standards But FTC, FCC Want To Gives Us Regulations
  While the standards debate rages on, our industry is fast coming under the influence of government regulations. This week has seen discussions about behavioral marketing at the FTC and the FCC weighing in on ISPs filtering sites.
• New SEMPO Chairperson Dana Todd Has Big Dreams for Organization
  Todd wants to help search marketing practices be applied to other sectors such as online advertising, information architecture, and PR.
• Google Earnings, Earnings Whispers, and What In the World?
  Google frustrated Wall St. bears, earnings whisperers, and the world’s most bearish bloggers today by beating analysts’ earnings estimates. Listeners on the Google conference call could virtually hear the sound of much gnashing of teeth from naysayers who cried doom and gloom this quarter.

Searching/Search Technologies

• Google Engine Discussed At Popular Mechanics
  The article is well worth the read to get an understanding of how a senior Googler sees the search space.
• Search Startup Announces $25 Million in Second Round Funding
  Search startup Cuill has announced $25 million in venture capital as part of a second round of funding. Among those behind the new search engine are search experts from Google, IBM, eBay, Alta Vista, Xerox PARC, the Internet Archive and Stanford University.
• Blended Search Increases Your Visibility – Jupiter Research
  Jupiter’s recent study confirmed what we all suspected: search engine users click specialized content within general search results more than they do within vertical search results.
• Yahoo! Slurp 3.0 Replaces Yahoo! Slurp Search Engine Crawler
  The big change: Yahoo’s recommendation to stop using IP-based recognition and use reverse DNS identification instead.

More from the SEW Blog

• Microsoft Hires Lobbyists in Anticipation of Yahoo Acquisition
  Microsoft is preparing for the best in its unsolicited bid for Yahoo. The AP is reporting that the software giant has hired lobbyists to address the inevitable regulatory concerns that will arise should the deal go through.
• Divorce by YouTube: Tricia Walsh-Smith Searches for Revenge?
  Divorce by YouTube? Sure, we can think of lots of ways online video could lead to marital dis-bliss. But using YouTube to prevent a divorce? Brilliant.
• It’s Unofficial: Google’s a Monopoly (Googolopoly)
  The best original linkbait we’ve seen in a while can be found on the Box.net blog: a free downloadable pdf of the Monopoly board game with a Google twist.
• comScore Releases March 2008 Search Engine Rankings
  comScore’s March 2008 Search Engine Rankings are in and it will surprise no one that Google continues to dominate the search market. The search engine giant extended its lead by .6% from February 2008.
• Rubicon Enters Free Ad Server Arena
  Rubicon’s Ad Network Ad Server is compatible with more than 300 ad networks — including Google AdSense and the Yahoo Publisher Network, as well as networks with CPC, CPM and CPA-based pricing.