SeoAlchemist

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on
Search Engine Land and from other
places across the web.

From Search Engine Land:

• 
  Robots.txt Study Shows Webmasters Favor Google
  The Pennsylvania State University conducted a study that showed Webmasters favored Google over other search engines. The study looked at which robots or crawlers were listed in a web site’s robots.txt file, and Google was listed more often than any other search engine. The paper is named Determining Bias to…
• 
  Yahoo Rolls Out Quality-Based Pricing In UK
  Yahoo has begun rolling out their Quality-Based Pricing in the UK. Danny emailed me from the SMX London show to tell me this was just announced. Yahoo launched this discounted based pricing method back on June 4th in the United States but they are now expanding it to the UK….
• 
  HD Video Coming To YouTube & More Changes At YouTube
  High-quality YouTube videos coming soon from News.com reports Steve Chen, YouTube’s co-founder, said YouTube will be offering high-quality streams of YouTube videos within three-months. YouTube will detect the Internet connection of the user and offer the HD quality option if the speed is fast enough. In other YouTube news, YouTube…
• 
  Microsoft Launches Live Search Webmaster Tools Beta While Developing Version Two
  We initially heard rumors of Microsoft launching a Webmaster Tools piece of software back in March. Danny then received official confirmation a month later, that indeed, Live Search will be launching a Webmaster Tools. The good news is that is it now a live beta at http://webmaster.live.com/. I have posted…
• 
  Effective Tagging For Both Usability & SEO
  In this era of Web 2.0, it seems that blogs, mash-ups, RSS feeds and wikis have been the buzzwords occupying most of the limelight. But personally, tagging is the Web 2.0 technology that excites me the most, because of its versatility and wide applicability. A tag, according to Wikipedia,…
• 
  SMX West 2008 Agenda Up: 3 Days, More Than 50 Sessions!
  Check out the just-posted agenda for Search Marketing Expo - SMX West and see why SMX West is the “must-attend” search marketing event of 2008. SMX West will be held February 26-28, 2008 at the Santa Clara Convention Center. SMX West has sessions designed just for you, whether you’re just…
• 
  Wall Street Journal Hearts Digg
  Yesterday, Digg founder Kevin Rose made one of the shortest blog posts in history. The Wall Street Journal Online is adding Digg buttons across the entire site, and youíll now have full (free) access to the articles submitted to Digg. The Digg buttons have started appearing on WSJ.com articles tonight….

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Alternate Google Usernames, Google Operating System
• Hidden Gmail feature lets you search by language, Googling Google

Business Issues

• ChaCha: A Bad Idea Poorly Executed, Raises $10 Million, TechCrunch
• Hard Times Will Pinch Google , The Street
• Internet veterans launch start-up investment fund, Reuters
• NASA, Google partnership still taking flight, San Francisco Chronicle

Conferences

• Vote for an SMX Israel Event, Barry Schwartz

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Activists Start Googling, Wall Street Journal
• Australia’s election map redrawn, Official Google Blog
• Google: "Seven Figures" Have Used the LBC, Screenwerk
• Local.com’s Search Technology Gets a Patent, Search Engine Journal
• Pump up your info windows to the max!, Google Maps API Blog
• Sky in the classroom, Google LatLong
• Viva la via!, Google LatLong
• Zillow.com, Newspapers Team Up for Ads, New York Times

Link Building

• A Winning SEO Plan To Create Buzz, Traffic, Links, Search Engine Watch
• Social Bookmarking Sites Which Don’t Use NoFollow : Bookmarks and Search Engines, Search Engine Journal
• The Link Building 101 Rap Video, Fantomaster
• What’s A Little Guy Have To Do To Get Some Links?, The Link Spiel

Paid Search & Contextual

• AdSense CTR - Has it Changed for You?, ProBlogger
• Challenges of Scaling Big PPC Management for Small SEM Shops, AIM Clear Blog
• Google AdWords Bolding Letter E in Display URLs, Handsome Logic

Searching

• De-Googleize Your Search, PC World
• Recommind Enhances Platform With Deep Federated Search Framework, home.businesswire.com

SEM Industry

• 8 Things the Search Industry Can Teach Small Businesses, Small Business SEM
• An Interview with Live.com’s Eytan Seidman, SEOmoz
• Search Engine College launches Search Engine Wiki, Pandia
• Women of Internet Marketing Wednesdays - Part 27, Search Marketing Gurus

SEO & SEM

• Did Yahoo Search Change How They Handle 301 Redirects?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Does Registering Your Domain for Longer Periods Help You Rank Better?, Search Engine Guide
• Google and Personalization in Rankings, SEO By The Sea
• Google May Allow Hiding Content Under a Z-Layer?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Is Your Search Engine Optimization Campaign Broken?, BruceClay.com
• Live Search Introduces Domain Rank & Page Rank Green Bars, Search Engine Roundtable
• SEO Favs, Personal Branding & BC Housekeeping, BruceClay.com
• Yahoo Site Explorer Showing Fewer Pages & Links?, Search Engine Roundtable

Social Media

• A word of advice: On Facebook, don’t play the name game, News.com
• Bebo Launches Open Media Platform for Social Viewing, New York Times
• New for Facebook: FlightStats Real Time Information and Alerts, ResourceShelf
• OpenSocial at meetup next week, OpenSocial API Blog
• Guide to Twitter as a Tool for Marketing and PR, Online Marketing Blog

Video, Music & Image Search

• Online Video: Hulu to take on Google in video search, Valleywag
• Baidu Ranks Video Sites, Promotes Own Service, Pacific Epoch
• Taboola Lands $1.5 Million, Powers Video Discovery, TechCrunch

Web Analytics

• BidHero Combines PPC, Analytics and Keyword Analysis, Web Analytics World
• Compete Search Analytics - My Review, Search Marketing Gurus

Other Items

• 1.8 million pages of federal case law to become freely available, public.resource.org
• Free expression and controversial content on the web, Official Google Blog
• Google’s Mayer to judge VC pitching contest, News.com
• Unboxing the Everex $200 Linux Computer, Matt Cutts
• What’s Next*?, Yodel Anecdotal
• WordPress Traffic Passes TypePad, Execs Getting Rich?, Silicon Alley Insider
• Candidates at Google: Barack Obama, Google Public Policy Blog

Hot Items From Sphinn, Our Social News Sharing Site:

• Matt Cutts Calls Off Aaron’s Public Lynching
• My Blogging Advice To Connect With Your Readers
• How to Design your Posts to Guarantee they get Read
• Hey You! Your Blog Has Been Hacked!
• 30 SEO Tips for Newpaper and Magazine Publishers
• 10 More Ways to Build Links Without Buying Them
• Social Bookmarking Sites Which Don’t Use NoFollow : Bookmarks and Search Engines
• Want an SMX Event in Israel?
• Track social media like a bloodhound with RSS and Yahoo Pipes
• Analysis: What Google vs. Facebook means for social-network ads
• Congrats Maki (DoshDosh)! 100 Sphinn Submits ‘Gone Hot’
• FUD: amazingly effective…
• The Big Juicy Twitter Guide
• Q&A: An undocumented robots.txt crawler directive from Google
• Travel Search Geniuses: Brilliant at Basics
• Use of Personas Boosts Conversion by 400%
• Vanessa Fox Leaving Zillow
• Google’s Sitelinks and Brand Domination through Keyword Ownership
• 8 Things the Search Industry Can Teach Small Businesses
• Courtney Tuttle Writes the Worst Blog Post Ever
• How Scaleable Is SEO? by Clicks Blog
• Why Content Development Strategies Are Important for Popularity and Profitability