Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
From Search Engine Land:
- Official: Google Removes Auto-Background Feature
Confused about why Google was showing a picture on its home page today. Apparently, plenty of people were, some to the point of being upset. In reaction, Google’s dropped the feature.
Marissa Mayer, Google’s vice president of search products and user experience, confirmed the change via an update to the official Google blog post […] - Google Alerts Drops Web Filter & Improves Quality
It seems like the Google Alerts team is up to some new tricks. A couple weeks ago, Google tweaked the quality algorithm of Google Alerts and, although I missed it then TechCrunch noticed, they dropped the web alerts option.
In regards to the quality change, Googler Marcel said:
Regarding the volume of alerts, we’ve been tweaking […] - FTC Turns Its Gaze From GoogMob To Apple And iAds
I would love to be a fly on the wall at the FTC. A few weeks ago the agency grudgingly decided not to pursue its lawsuit to prevent the Google-AdMob deal on the purported basis that Apple’s entry into the mobile ad market would sufficiently balance Google’s new push into mobile display:
The Commission said that although the […] - The Left Brain Of Paid Search Ads: Parameters & Limitations
As we’ve learned through this column, the three basic building blocks of paid search marketing are keywords, ads, and landing pages. For the next few posts, we’ll be focusing on the ads part of the equation. Next week, we’ll discuss the right brain of search—the creative side—but, first, you need to know […]
- Google Home Page Automatically Changing Background Image On June 10th
If you visit Google today, you may notice the home page is a bit different. About a week ago, Google began letting users to upload their own background images on Google.com, to help them customize the Google home page.
To drive more awareness to this feature and to inspire users to change their home page, […] - SMX Advanced 2010 Day Two Live Blog Coverage
SMX Advanced 2010 day two is now just about complete and below is the live blog coverage from the day:
Microsoft Looks to Broaden Search Role, Wall Street Journal
Best of SMX Advanced 2010, Managing Greatness
Bing announces new Social vertical, LiveSide
Bing loves Apple back: Details of Microsoft’s iPhone ‘partnership’, techflash.com
Bing ready to launch section for searching Twitter […]
Search News From Around The Web:
Business Issues
- Google Asks U.S., EU to Press China, Wall Street Journal
- Collecta Scores More Funding for Real-Time Search, Read/Write Web
- Google Can’t Shake Cybersquatting Claim–Vulcan Golf v. Google, Eric Goldman
- Kevin Rose To Leave Diggnation, TechCrunch
Local, Maps & Mobile
- Seeing new sights with photo overlays, Google LatLong
- MapQuest Route Planner: Your Route, Optimized, MapQuest Blog
Link Building
- Will Twitter’s New URL Shortener Hurt SEOs?, Search Engine Roundtable
Paid Search & Contextual
- AdWords system maintenance on June 12th, Inside AdWords
- Sharing is caring: new ways to segment, schedule, and email reports, AdWords Agency Blog
Searching
- 50 Coolest Niche Search Engines You Never Knew Existed, Top Online Engineering Degree
SEM Industry
- 18 Must Read SMX Advanced Highlights, dotcult.com
- Link Building Tools Interview with Taylor Pratt, Vertical Measures
- Stephanie Tilenuis’ Keynote at Internet Retailer – Google Commerce is about Mobile, Social, Personalization and Local, Google Commerce Guide
SEO & SEM
- Known issue: Search query data shown for June is incomplete, Webmaster Help Forum Announcements
- New Data on the Value of SEO, Stone Temple
- PR & SEO Partner to Boost Online Marketing Results, Online Marketing Blog
- SEO Goals, KPI’s & Managing Client Expectations – Part 3, Vertical Leap Blog
- Title Factors that Impact Search Rankings and Click-through, Yahoo! Search Marketing Blog
Social Media
- Twitter Says Networking Error Caused Downtime, Read/Write Web
- ‘New York Times’ Bans the Word ‘Tweet’, The Awl
- Develop The Game, Build A Better Future, Twitter Blog
- Flickr Facebook!, Flickr Blog
- Get Your Answers now on Facebook!, Yahoo Answers Blog
- Social Networking & Gen Y: Opportunity, Not Obstacle, AIM Clear Blog
Web Analytics
- More Than Dabbling, Twitter Blog
- Working with AdWords Conversion Products, Google Analytics Blog
Recent Hot Items From Sphinn, Our Social News Sharing Site:
- Google’s New Indexing Infrastructure “Caffeine” Now Live
- How a 3 Month Old Website Received 958,373 Visits from Google
- How Content Syndication Can Backfire