Google Now Searching For Synonyms

Blink, and you might have missed it. Google's now doing synonym searching. It's something they quietly noted in a past Google blog post and one that comes up again today in a post that covers how Google uses experiments to improve the search interface.

Click to con

SearchCap: The Day In Search, August 27, 2008

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

From Search Engine Land:

FindLaw Hit By Long Arm Of The Google Law Over Paid Links
Toolbar PageRank penalties are nothing new to the SEO world, we see them all the time. But when Todd Friesen broke the news that FindLaw.com is market

Search & Internet Explorer 8

After finally getting the new Internet Explorer 8 beta installed (demands to upgrade Windows, verify Windows, sigh), I spent some time playing with the new search functionality and checking to see if Microsoft was going to try and stack the deck in its favor with the new browser. So far, it remains pretty even handed. Indeed, so far, Microsoft seems kind of lame given that there are some cool search features you're hard pressed to locate. Let's take a tour.

Sir, Would You Like Fries With Those Links?

Recently in several SEO forums I noticed a number of threads discussing ways to find and build "economical" links. The forum participants wanted to know how they could initiate "safe" reciprocal linking as well as "fast" submissions to free article directories. They reasoned these tactics were worth doing because both linking methods were "econo

Google Offers New Content Hub For US Presidential Elections Home Stretch

Many millions of people saw Hillary Clinton speak last night at the Democratic National Convention. If you didn't (and are interested) you can see the speech on YouTube. Indeed, Google has been doing various things in various places -- on Maps, YouTube, iGoogle and elsewhere -- to offer news, content, video and visualization tools throughout this US electoral season. Now the company has introduced an additional set of election-related guides and services, explained in this spotted Google sporting new checkout badges for some Google Checkout merchants within the AdWords listings. I was able to reproduce it for a search on petco, a Google Checkout merchant.

Here is a side by side look at the checkout badges on AdWords. The $5 off version is the new version being tested, the other one is the normal checkout badget:

reported that Microsoft and mega-agency WPP have restarted talks that may result in the sale of Interactive agency Avenue A to the latter. Avenue A was part of the $6 billion deal for aQuantive that also included Atlas and the Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.

From Search Engine Land:

Google Now Searching For Synonyms
Blink, and you might have missed it. Google's now doing synonym searching. It's something they quietly noted in a past Google blog post and on

Social Media Marketing ROI- Metrics and Analysis

When I attended South by Southwest 2008, I had the pleasure of attending a panel where four somewhat lost panelists were (with difficulty) trying to come up with metrics to measure success from a social media marketing campaign. I was a little annoyed when they concluded that there were no m

FindLaw Hit By Long Arm Of The Google Law Over Paid Links

Toolbar PageRank penalties are nothing new to the SEO world, we see them all the time. But when Todd Friesen broke the news that FindLaw.com is marketing a new advertising service to sell links that will "help you increase your company's visibility, rank and penetration within natural search results on major search engines such as Google," as the FindLaw email said, the legal industry was somewhat shocked.

Back in October 2007, we reported that Google Darren Slatten

What's up, YOUmoz! Ok, enough small talk. I'll get right to the point.

I have a 2-page website that I created for the sole purpose of having something to link to from my SEOmoz profile page. My site doesn't really do anything or provide any useful information, but I use it to experiment on sometimes. Over the past 3 months, I've written several YOUmoz posts that include links to my site with the anchor text World's Grea

Headsmacking Tip #6 - Test with Paid Search Before You Target with SEO

Posted by randfish

This may seem like old hat to many SEOs, but it's a tip that never fails to get an "oh yeah!" during client meetings. The concept is simple - in any given search engine optimization campaign, you are naturally going to form a list of high-traffic, (perceived) high value keywords that are an idealistic goal for your site to dominate. For a site like SEOmoz, those might be the highly competitive terms like "SEO" or "Search Engine Optimization,&a

Roundup Thursday for the Week of 8/17/08

Posted by rebecca

Stories, news, and other notable items from the past week:

Three star links:

Royal Pingdom shares the best interview questions from Google and Microsoft (and they throw in a cheeky IKEA intervi

Keeping People Away From Your Website: A Beginner's Guide

Posted by Jane Copland

Many of you have probably set your SEOmoz account settings such that when you comment on a blog post, we email you whenever someone adds a new comment. One thing we don't do is include the contents of the new comment in the notification email. Why not? Because then you would have less reason to click through to see the comment in its natural habitat and you'd be less likely to reply. The same goes for SEOmoz private messages and replies to Q&A questions.

Examining The Internet's Top Blogs: What We Can Learn From Their Success

Posted by Danny Dover

Every day a fiercely competitive battle takes place online over capturing the attention of millions of readers. As a result the blogosphere constantly changes shape and different players thrust forward as content kings for the day. Lately, I have been trying to find out what forces control this volatile scene. I have been looking for recurring themes and hoping to find useful correlations.

Last Friday (August 15th, 2008) I took a snapshot of the Internet&rsquo

Using Your Whole Business to Build Links

Posted by willcritchlow

In my opinion, anyone working in marketing should be reading Seth Godin's blog. Seth is a new marketing expert and his brainstorms and thoughts regularly give me new ideas. I am in the middle of reading one of his books, Meatball Sundae. Its contents won't surprise anyone who reads Seth's blog; its premise is that mass market products ar

New Guide Release: The Professional's Guide to Advanced Search Operators

Posted by rebecca

Ladies and gentlemen, another guide has seen the light of day! Hooray! Our newest debut is The Professional's Guide to Advanced Search Operators. Available in web and document format, it covers advanced searching and identifies various search operators that can help with competitive analysis, keyword research, site auditing, link building, and more. The guide also shares some valuable SE

Sigh... More Ignorance About SEO

Posted by randfish

As I said, blogging is light this week, but I couldn't help but notice this thread at Metafilter. How can we fight against such entrenched misinformation and stereotypes?

SEO people remind me of "weight weenies" in the bicycle world. Instead of focusing on training and riding and getting faster thr

Beware Pay-Per-Performance Agreements: SEM Sues Pop Phenomena 'The Secret' for Unpaid Share of Web Revenue

Posted by Sarah Bird, Esquire

May It Please the Mozzers,

In November 2007 I blogged about a wacky lawsuit involving the movie/book/TV phenomena called "The Secret" and an SEO, Dan Hollings. Several months have gone by and both parties have been busy.

SES San Jose Day Four Wrap Up

What a great conference for SES at San Jose and the many new people to the event in attendance. Below are the TopRank team blog posts for the final day. Another big thank you goes to (L to R) Jessica, Ashley, Thomas and Dana for a great job covering sessions. If you saw these happy ...]

Google Dance 2008 Photos

There were so many good photos taken at this year’s Google Dance that we decided to show a collage here with a link to the full set on TopRank’s SES San Jose Google Dance photos on Flickr. A big thank you goes to the hard working TopRank blogging team at SES putting out an amazing number ...]

SES San Jose: Social Media Analysis and Tracking

Social Search can be used to drive traffic, conversions, and increase ROI by monitoring conversations happening online. This panel is a first for SES with Marshall Sponder, Senior Web Analyst for Monster.com as the Moderator. Industry leaders Todd Parsons, Co-founder and CPO of Buzz Logic, Rob Key, CEO of Converseon, Edmund Won, Vice President of Strategy ...]

Blog SEO Tips from SES San Jose

Blogs have been abuzz for at least 4 years in the tech space and in the past 2-3 years in the business marketing world. Like many new marketing/communication channels, there continues to be a need to demystify shiny new objects and what they mean for businesses. Blogs and search engine optimization are no different. One point ...]

Internet Marketing Conference Tips: Michael Brito Intel

Wow, what a conference! Search Engine Strategies is near it’s end and what better way to wrap up our series on internet marketing conference tips than with the following super-tips from super smart Michael Brito, Social Media Program Manager at Intel. Michael worked with HP then moved on to Yahoo and is now with Intel ...]

Internet Marketing Conference Tips: Heather Lloyd-Martin DMA SEMC

SES San Jose week is nearly over one might say we’ve saved some of the best internet marketing conference tips for last with the ever enthusiastic and insightful Heather Lloyd-Martin. Heather is Chair, DMA’s Search Engine Marketing Council and President of SuccessWorks. She also blogs about copywriting at SEO Copywriting. Attend all the “search marketing site ...]

Digital PR and SEO Series: Part 1

What exactly, does Web 2.0, social media and even SEO have to do with public relations? Everything! You’d be hard pressed to find any modern public relations agency practice that isn’t researching or already implementing a digital PR strategy including search engine optimization, blogging/blogger relations and social media. The winds of change are here and ...]

BIGLIST SEO Blog Reviews 082508

Welcome back to the BIGLIST Update of SEO, SEM and Social Media Marketing Blogs. This week’s blog reviews include ecommerce, social media and PR as well as agency insights on industry trends. Enjoy! eCommerce Optimization Blog - This ecommerce blog by eCopt (aka Matt Franklin) advises you’ll sell more online if you read the many tutorials, ...]

SES San Jose Photos - Paparazzi Style

At marketing conferences readers of Online Marketing Blog mention to me frequently about the photo roundup posts we do as favorites. We certainly like to make those posts and since readers like to see them, here is a collection of favorite candids taken during SES San Jose. Kevin Ryan, Misty Locke, Kevin Newcomb Danny Sullivan, Matt Cutts, ...]

5 Ways to Re-Purpose Content for Blog SEO

Content is King and links are Queen. Together with a nice dose of marketing they make a nice little kingdom. But what if you have trouble generating new content on a regular basis? How can resource strapped bloggers and busy web site owners leverage what they’re already doing for the benefit of their online audiences ...]

I love my pedometer

I’ve written about my Omron pedometer once before, but I wanted to mention it again because I like it so much. Recent research suggests that using a pedometer can lead to more walking and better health. I’ve been carrying a pedometer for a little over a year now, and I’ve done almost four million steps since ...]

Twitter/Summize search flaky?

I’ve started to post more on my twitter account recently. Less than two weeks ago, Twitter bought Summize. Good for them; I like both companies. But http://search.twitter.com/search?q=wordpress mattcutts should return this entry in Twitter’s search results. I don’t see it in Twitter’s search results: What’s the story, Twitter/Summize folks? I can’t escape the feeling that I would ...]

Best WordPress Plugin for Related Posts?

On my “Matt Cutts” twitter account a few days ago I asked other folks which WordPress “Related Posts” plug-in they would recommend. It seems like “Related Posts” extensions go in and out of vogue every few years, so I wanted to hear what smart folks were using lately. The plugins that got recommended the ...]

My schedule for late 2008

Every few months I like to give people an update on where I expect to be over the next few months. I apologize in advance if I have to decline other speaking invitations, but I’m genuinely trying to travel less and speak less these days to get a better work/life balance. Here are my tentative ...]

Ben Gomes on Google’s user interface

This summer several people in Google’s quality group have pulled back the curtain on how people think about search quality at Google. We’ve had Udi Manber give an overview of search quality and the groups that work on it. Then my office-mate Amit Singhal discussed some of our principles of core ranking. Amit followed that ...]

A Quick Tutorial on JavaScript Bookmarklets

Bookmarklets are very handy pieces of JavaScript code that you can bookmark. In HTML, if you want a link to open in a new window, you’d write it like this: Matt Cutts Go on, try it on this link: Matt Cutts If you wanted to create a bookmarklet to open a new window or tab, you’d ...]

What to do in Los Angeles?

I’m going to be down in Los Angeles for the SIGGRAPH computer graphics conference next week, but I hope to have a little sightseeing free time. What would you recommend seeing or doing in Los Angeles?

Digging out from SIGGRAPH and L.A.

I’m up to my ears in email from last week, but I had a great time down in Los Angeles and at SIGGRAPH: I’ll try to write up a little bit about the trip, but for now I’m gearing up for SES San Jose. Places to find me: - I’ll be on a keynote panel on Tuesday. ...]

My favorite books of 2008 (so far)

Okay, so we’re more than halfway through 2008. I’m a voracious reader, and I wanted to share my favorite books that I read in the first half of 2008. 1. American Shaolin. Matthew Polly grew up in Kansas and decided to go study martial arts in China with Shaolin monks. I dare you to read the ...]

Three tips for “company blogging”

This is my personal blog. I don’t run my draft posts by Google’s PR or legal team, other than maybe 2-3 times when I thought a post might have legal implications. But I have learned a few hard-won lessons. So, when someone recently asked me for tips about talking to the public, I couldn’t resist. ...]

Daily Search Forum Recap: August 26, 2008

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web....

Google Suggest Becomes Search Default

The Official Google Blog has acknowledged that it will begin rolling out Google Suggest, which will let you formulate queries with more ease, reduce spelling errors, and save keystrokes. An example screenshot is below: It's about time, but one wonders...

Google announced that the quality score metrics are more real time based on a per-query level, now. Not that this has been implemented on everyone's campaigns yet, but it will happen soon enough. Since then, advertisers have been noticing anomalies...

Google Ad Manager Opens to All Publishers

Google's ad serving tool, Google Ad Manager (google.com/admanager/), which launched as a beta in March is now open to all publishers. If you are a publisher using OpenAds, OpenX, phpAdsNew or a similar product, you may want to strongly consider...

Google AdSense Stops Displaying on Google Cache Results?
A WebmasterWorld thread reports that many publishers have started to notice that their Google AdSense ads are not showing up when someone accesses their pages via the Google cache. For example, a recent Google cache copy of my personal blog...

AdWords Report Center Will Remove Older Reports September 2

Google AdWords will remove older reports from its Report Center beginning September 2. Reports that are 6 months old or older, or before March 2, 2008, will be removed.

The data will not be removed, just the reports.

Until September 2, you can export these reports to Google Spreadsheets or .CSV files, Excel, HTML or another format.

Expect the purging of 6 month old or older reports to happen periodically going forward.

SES San Jose 2008: Top 10 Stories

Over the past few days, more and more articles and posts from SES San Jose 2008 have been written. I'm sure there will be more stories to come out of the event, but this seems like a good time to recap the conference.

A quick Google News search for “SES San Jose” finds 276 articles from the past mo

Google's Search Experiments are Sometimes Subtle

Have you ever been around a friend who points out a flaw about themselves and you say, "I would never have noticed that if you hadn't pointed it out?"

Google is doing the same thing sans flaws.

On the Official Google Blog, Ben Gomes explains that sometimes Google's search experiments are very subtle. They'll test things like white space in the search results or how big the plus box should be next to a stock quote link.

SEW Experts: Rehabilitating SEO

Search marketers are some of the most passionate and dedicated people I've ever encountered. Those seeking to advance their position within search results can easily become obsessed (to the point of addiction) with checking results and positioning. In today's Searching for Meaning&l

Ask Relaunches AskKids.com with Updated Design, Cool Drawing Feature

As a new homeschooling parent, finding online learning resources that are safe, well-designed, and fun for my kids is important - but inexplicably difficult. That's why I was thrilled to learn about Ask.com's expansion and redesign of AskKids.com.

I've already found Ask.com itself to be a great search engine for my kids, with its suggested searches and images in the sidebars.

But AskKids.com gives me even more confidence. Plus, there's a SUPER FUN feature on the front page.

Newegg Defies State of New York with New Tax Policy

Electronics merchant Newegg.com has decided to not charge taxes in accordance with a new New York state law requiring e-commerce sites to collect sales taxes. The law, which went into effect June 1, is highly controversial. Amazon.com is suing the state of New York, saying the law is illegal and unconstitutional.

Opponents of the sales tax point to a 1992 Supreme Court ruling that said a mail-order company only has to pay taxes in the states where it has operations. Newegg only charges sa

SEW Experts: A Challenge to our Attention-Challenged Generation

Nothing important ever gets invented, created or built without putting in some serious time. In today's Web analytics and ROI column, "A Challenge to our Attention-Challenged Generation," Eric Enge reminds us that if

Searches for Hybrids Up 43% from March to July 2008

Recently, CarMax released a new search feature allowing car buyers to search for vehicles by Miles Per Gallon (MPG). Now, they're releasing data shedding light on that decision.

From the period beginning March 2008 and ending in July, searches for hybrid vehicles increased by 43%. The spike is, of course, driven by high gas prices during that time, and hybrids get great gas mileage.

CarMax is also pointing out that cost alone isn't a reason to switch to hybrids. I

Basics of Repurposing Content for Blogs
Content is King and links are Queen. Together with a nice dose of marketing they make a nice little kingdom. But what if you have trouble generating new content on a regular basis? How can resource strapped bloggers and busy web site owners leverage

26 Vote(s)

AJAX and Non-JavaScript Experiences for SEO friendly websites
Tony Adams wsrites... With the "Web 2.0″ world that we live in, companies are inclined to create "snazzy" new AJAX experiences for users. I have been dubbing this the AJAX Dilemma lately because organizations/companies/website owners are creating si

30 Vote(s)

How to Get Gov't Analytics Data for Competitive Intelligence !
First time Youmoz poster Rob shares a tip from inside the gov't on getting gov't analytics data! Get yours while it's hot :D!!

24 Vote(s)

9 Ideas How Google Suggest Could Change Search Marketing
"The Google Suggest feature, long a part of Google labs has behavior that will feel familiar to most readers of my blog. But for the remaining millions of casual users, we may see some changes in search behavior. Now, a rumor once again has emerged

25 Vote(s)
<

Google Suggest(s), A New Reputation Management Nightmare
Martin Bowling writes about Google Suggest(s) and the reputation management nightmare it could create.

31 Vote(s)

social blog roll