SeoAlchemist

At the end of July Google Maps introduced an updated design and some new features. But it also removed some features, including the ability to drag and reorder destinations (e.g., for a multi-city trip). That capability is now back, according to SERountable.

Google has added travel time between destinations as well.

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MarketingWeek reports Microsoft is giving away a free month of search ads to both new and current customers. The free ads can be placed on “any online Microsoft Live service including Messenger, Hotmail and the MSN search engine,” said MarketingWeek. Cedric Chambaz, marketing manager for Microsoft adCenter, said: “the aim is to make brands realise that we can deliver better results than competitors like Google.”

AdWords is also giving away a free PDF version of the AdWords Editor Guide. The guide contains quick overview of the product and a cheat sheet of keyboard shortcuts.

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The goal of many B2B search marketing programs is to generate online inquiries and leads. Search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) programs are designed to find highly-qualified prospects and drive them to targeted landing pages where people register to receive valuable information or complete contact forms. Below I share five simple yet effective tips to improve landing pages and registration forms - two critical elements of any lead gen program.

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As a continuation of our series of interviews with in-house search engine marketers, this month we’ve engaged Marshall Simmonds. He heads up the search-related efforts at About.com and the New York Times. Marshall has a deep history working in this industry, and we wanted to ask him a few things, such as what his biggest challenges were, what his biggest successes have been, some of his best tips and, of course, what you should buy him to drink should you meet up.

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Linkbait comes in various forms that can be used in creative ways to drive traffic to your site.

Today’s infographic shows the most common forms used today:

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Google’s has released its own open-source browser, Chrome, in direct competition to Firefox and Microsoft Internet Explorer. Yesterday, Danny described his test-drive of Chrome in Searching With Google Chrome & Omnibox and Greg speculated on its future in How Bright Is The Outlook For Chrome?. Both compared Google’s new browser to the incumbents, Firefox and Internet Explorer. But Chrome is actually very different from those two browsers, and significantly different from nearly everything else on the market. Here are the 10 major features that truly differentiate Google Chrome from the competition:

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

From Search Engine Land:

• 
  10 Key Features That Differentiate Google’s Chrome From Firefox & IE
  Google’s has released its own open-source browser, Chrome, in direct competition to Firefox and Microsoft Internet Explorer. Yesterday, Danny described his test-drive of Chrome in Searching With Google Chrome & Omnibox and Greg speculated on its future in How Bright Is The Outlook For Chrome?. Both compared Google’s new browser…
• 
  Search Illustrated: Types Of Link Bait
  Linkbait comes in various forms that can be used in creative ways to drive traffic to your site. Today’s infographic shows the most common forms used today:…
• 
  Q&A with Marshall Simmonds, In-House SEM: About.com, NYT.com
  As a continuation of our series of interviews with in-house search engine marketers, this month we’ve engaged Marshall Simmonds. He heads up the search-related efforts at About.com and the New York Times. Marshall has a deep history working in this industry, and we wanted to ask him a few…
• 
  B2B Lead Generation Tips
  The goal of many B2B search marketing programs is to generate online inquiries and leads. Search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) programs are designed to find highly-qualified prospects and drive them to targeted landing pages where people register to receive valuable information or complete contact forms. Below I…
• 
  Free Search Ads From Microsoft adCenter & Google’s Free AdWords Editor Guide
  MarketingWeek reports Microsoft is giving away a free month of search ads to both new and current customers. The free ads can be placed on “any online Microsoft Live service including Messenger, Hotmail and the MSN search engine,” said MarketingWeek. Cedric Chambaz, marketing manager for Microsoft adCenter, said: “the aim…
• 
  Google Maps Brings Back Reordering Destinations
  At the end of July Google Maps introduced an updated design and some new features. But it also removed some features, including the ability to drag and reorder destinations (e.g., for a multi-city trip). That capability is now back, according to SERountable. Google has added travel time between destinations as…
• 
  South African SEM Firm Files Complaint Against Google SA For “Abuse Of Dominance”
  South African online marketing firm Entelligence announced that it had filed a formal complaint with the Competition Commission of South Africa against Google’s South African operation for “abuse of dominance in terms of Section S8(d)(i) of the Competition Act 89 of 1998, which prohibits a firm from ‘requiring or inducing…
• 
  When Critiquing Large Sites, Don’t Always Blame The SEO
  One of the easiest things to do in SEO is to poke holes in someone else’s SEO strategy. I proudly admit to having done this on countless occasions when someone asks me to look at their site and give my “expert opinion.” It’s very easy to take a look…
• 
  Moving Away from SEO Link Building
  My last two Link Week columns have touched on communication between link builder and client. In Link Development Realities Versus What We Tell Our Clients I discussed how, as strategists and link builders, part of what we do involves a degree of selection of tactic, and what to do…
• 
  How Bright Is The Outlook For Chrome?
  Most of the tech journalists in the San Francisco Bay Area were at Google this morning for a briefing and demo of Chrome. Danny earlier posted lots of detail on the search dimensions of Chrome. And there are quite a few posts and articles about features and first impressions….
• 
  Searching With Google Chrome & Omnibox
  Now that Google Chrome is live, I spent some time looking at the search features within it, especially to see — as I did recently with Internet Explorer 8 — whether Google was going to try to stack the deck in its own favor. Like Microsoft, Google’s playing it…

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Inside Chrome: The Secret Project to Crush IE and Remake the Web, Wired
• Platforms and Priorities, Official Google Mac Blog
• Google Chrome Bait & Switch? , John Andrews
• Google does not want rights to things you do using Chrome, Matt Cutts
• Introducing the Transliteration API, Google AJAX Search API Blog
• Microsoft’s Google Docs competitor to go final by year-end, ZDNet

Business Issues

• Another year, another 100%, Yodel Anecdotal
• Yahoo’s Stock Is Like a Falling Knife, Kara Swisher
• Yandex IPO Plan On Track, Quintura blog
• Verizon and Yahoo! Extend Strategic Alliance with New Multiyear Co-branded Portal Agreement, Yahoo Press Releases

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Hurricane Gustav Coverage with Virtual Earth, Virtual Earth, An Evangelist’s Blog
• They’re feeling lucky - Google has called, globeandmail.com
• MAPme Widget Tries to Best Google Maps, TechCrunch

Link Building

• Link Development Vocabulary, SEO Speedwagon
• Yahoo Site Explorer Updates Link Data, Huge Drops Reported, Search Engine Roundtable
• Spammers Use Free Web Services to Shield Links, New York Times

Paid Search & Contextual

• Google to Adjust Canadian Exchange Rate Used for AdSense, Search Engine Roundtable
• The AdWords Seminars for Success are coming to Denver, CO, bg Theory, LLC
• Google Studies Self-Serve YouTube Platform, Display Ad Quality Scores, MediaPost

Searching

• Kids Search Engine Quintura for Kids Comes To Runet, Quintura blog
• Searchers ‘Google’ at Yahoo & ‘Yahoo’ at Google, Search Engine Roundtable
• Google’s "Search Options" Prototype, Google Blogoscoped

SEM Industry

• Idearc Creates Executive Council, Reorganizes Sales Division, Search Engine Watch Blog

SEO & SEM

• Brand the Company or the Players?, BruceClay.com
• What Are You Doing To Keep Your Best Assets?, BruceClay.com
• FireFox SEO Extensions - the Ultimate Collection, Search Engine Journal
• Why Reputable SEO Firms Don’t Promise Guaranteed Search Engine Rankings, SEOmoz
• SEO Newbie Mistake , SEOmoz
• Should SEO Companies Offer Refunds?, Search Engine Roundtable

Social Media

• The Web Gets Stickier: Seesmic, Virtual Worlds and Video, Ad Age
• Facebook Ads Target You Where It Hurts, Washington Post
• Want On The Digg Home Page? That’ll Be $1,200., TechCrunch
• Why I’m not in love with the new FriendFeed beta, Inquisitr
• Did Twitter Lay Down for Google? , Sugarrae
• What Twitter could Learn from Sphinn , www.seoptimise.com

Video, Music & Image Search

• Google Image Filter Being Too Sensitive Again?, Search Engine Roundtable

Web Analytics

• Is Google Analytics under-reporting your traffic?, Inquisitr
• Twitter and Google Analytics: What to Track, Analytics Talk

Recent Hot Items From Sphinn, Our Social News Sharing Site:

• Guest post by Dave Snyder on Microblogging: The Internet’s Best Brand Advocate Builder
• Twitter Remove Bio Links Debate: What Twitter could Learn from Sphinn & SEOmoz
• An interview with Digg top user
• Did Twitter Lay Down for Google?
• Why Snake Oil SEO Still Sells
• This Month In SEO | More Resources To Shake A Stick At!
• Searching With Google Chrome & Omnibox
• From Cowgirl to Muscle Cars to Paid Search . Brandy Eddings Interview
• Traffic trends for Digg vs. nine other social news sites
• The Last Website Checklist You'll Ever Need
• Google cedes Belgium to Germany

Below are
Search Engine Land’s 10 most popular
stories from August 2008:

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Search Month is a
monthly newsletter that recaps stories covered on
Search Engine Land over the past
month. It’s also available by feed
here. Below, news
about Search Engine Land itself, then our 10 most popular stories from August
2008, then a major story for various search topics along with other stories
related to those topics covered during August.

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South African online marketing firm Entelligence announced that it had filed a formal complaint with the Competition Commission of South Africa against Google’s South African operation for “abuse of dominance in terms of Section S8(d)(i) of the Competition Act 89 of 1998, which prohibits a firm from ‘requiring or inducing a supplier or customer to not deal with a competitor.’”

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