“We didn’t get to paid search first, and it turns out that’s the best part of the market,” Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told Washington Post Editors as part of a meeting that explored a range of topics. Among other things, Ballmer discussed Microsoft’s strategy and mission statement, why it aspires to be competitive in search, user privacy and the future of media. His boldest statement and prediction is that in 10 years there will be no more print magazines or newspapers.

Click to continue reading…

As we’ve covered earlier, Google’s updated its icon recently to one it said reflects a “simple, playful and unique” brand. Today, the company has blogged more about the design change and calls for ideas from others. Good. Sorry, that new icon is just ugly to me, no matter how much design work when into it. I want the old one back.

Click to continue reading…

Register for SMX Local & Mobile today at the Early Bird rate of just 95 for an All Access pass; you get all of the sessions, keynotes and networking events. In addition, you’ll enjoy all of the extras that make SMX events special, including free WiFi in the session rooms, hot lunches and all-day snacks and beverages.

SMX Local & Mobile will be held in San Francisco July 24-25.

Click to continue reading…

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

From Search Engine Land:

• 
  Search in Pictures: Yahoo Flower Art, Jewel Performs at Yahoo, Yahoo Happy Hour Box
  In this week’s Search In Pictures, here are the latest images culled from the web, showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have, and more….
• 
  Hey Firefox – Let Us Pick Our Own Search Engine!
  So Firefox 3 has a new release candidate making news, suggesting that the browser is nearly done. May I suggest that the browser is nowhere near being done until the Mozilla Foundation drops its favoritism to Google and allow users to pick their own default search engine? And that…
• 
  Hulu Embeds Search In The Video Player
  Hulu, trying to drive more video streams and ad views, has embedded a search box in the upper right of its syndicated video player, according to the Hulu blog. Search results appear on screen and when clicked initiate a new video stream in the player. Ads generally appear before the…
• 
  Social Networks In The UK: Security Isn’t A Problem & The Future’s Mobile
  Anyone reading newspapers, or watching the TV news in the UK over the last couple of months could be forgiven for thinking that, along with computer games, social networks posed a bigger threat to personal security than anything this side of a full on recession. Headlines have concentrated on the…
• 
  Google Maps For Mobile Adds Transit Directions
  Google Maps launched transit directions within Maps back in October of 2007. Now, Google Maps is bringing you that data directly in Google Maps for Mobile. Google Maps for Mobile version 2.2 brings bus and train schedules, prices, routes and directions directly on your mobile device. Here is a short…
• 
  Google Releases New AdWords Editor 6.0
  Google has announced the release of a new AdWords Editor, version 6.0, for both Mac and Windows. Here is a full list of changes, enhancements and bug fixes from version 5.0.1, as listed in the release notes:…
• 
  SEM News, “Google Tools, Part 4″ & Quintura’s Search Cloud
  In The Trenches is a weekly spotlight of tips, tricks, and news about the tools search engine marketing professionals use to give them a leg up on the competition. Today: News from the search engines, today’s in-depth look, “Google Tools, Part 4″ and this week’s free tips and tools….
• 
  Yahoo! SearchMonkey Enhanced Listings Available To Searchers
  As I reported last week, Yahoo SearchMonkey applications are now available to searchers. The Yahoo Search blog posted details last night, saying that searchers can now add SearchMonkey applications via either the gallery (which is in beta) or through promoted links from application developers or web sites. The gallery contains…

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Live Coverage Of Google Gmail Event, TechCrunch
• Introducing Gmail Labs, Official Gmail Blog

Business Issues

• Keyword Metatags and Keyword-Triggered Ads Don’t Create Initial Interest Confusion–Designer Skin v. S&L Vitamins, Eric Goldman

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Richer Local Search Results in Google Maps, Google Operating System
• Follow your team around the European Championship, Google LatLong
• Multiplied Building Out Local Search Partners, Screenwerk
• Winning the Local Search Battle – Part 2, Search Engine Watch

Link Building

• What is Valid Link Bait?, Search Engine Watch

Paid Search & Contextual

• May 08 Paid Search Share Steady, Google At 81%, Rimm Kaufman
• Refining Your Audience, adCenter Advertiser
• Tools for Spying on Competitors Search Marketing Tactics, Search Engine Journal
• How To Compare Your Website Metrics With adCenter Analytics – adCenter Analytics, adcentercommunity.com

Searching

• Google Trends Goes Daily; Drops Hourly Update, Search Engine Watch Blog
• Reflections on the Sichuan earthquake, Google News Blog
• Quintura Beats Yandex (in the U.S.), Quintura blog

SEM Industry

• Interview with Kevin Ryan of SES , Joost de Valk’s SEO Blog
• Scientists, Poets, Colleagues , AIM Clear Blog
• SMX Advanced Goes To The Dark Side, BruceClay.com

SEO & SEM

• How to Build a Foreign Language Keyword List, Shimon Sandler
• Why Sculpting PageRank Is Not For Everyone, Marketing Pilgrim
• SEO Link Analysis 1.0.3!, Joost de Valk’s SEO Blog
• Bad SEO Techniques That Will Hurt Your Google Rankings, Search Engine Journal
• Google Recommends You Split Sitemap Files By File Type, Search Engine Roundtable
• Keywords Without Ego, Search Engine Watch
• Webmasters Report June 2008 Google SERP Updates, Search Engine Roundtable

Social Media

• FriendFeed adds personalized recommendations, FriendFeed Blog

Video, Music & Image Search

• Closed Captioning Search Options, Official Google Video Blog
• Search videos from all over the web with Yidio, altsearchengines.com
• The Video URL Is Not Always Optional in Google Video Sitemaps, Search Engine Roundtable

Other Items

• Google’s Diego Velazquez Birthday Logo, Search Engine Roundtable
• Where In The World Are Larry, Sergey, And The Google Party Jet? We Can Tell You, Silicon Alley Insider

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

• Yahoo!, Google, Microsoft Clarify robots.txt Support
• Social Media Marketing via Old School Branding
• 4 Alternative Uses of Social Media

In this week’s Search In Pictures, here are the latest images culled from the web, showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have, and more.

Click to continue reading…

So Firefox 3
has a
new release candidate
making news, suggesting that the browser is nearly done. May I suggest that
the browser is nowhere near being done until the Mozilla Foundation drops its
favoritism to Google and allow users to pick their own default search engine?
And that Microsoft ought to be among those choices?

Click to continue reading…

Hulu, trying to drive more video streams and ad views, has embedded a search box in the upper right of its syndicated video player, according to the Hulu blog. Search results appear on screen and when clicked initiate a new video stream in the player. Ads generally appear before the next video.

Click to continue reading…

Anyone reading newspapers, or watching the TV news in the UK over the last couple of months could be forgiven for thinking that, along with computer games, social networks posed a bigger threat to personal security than anything this side of a full on recession. Headlines have concentrated on the supposed dangers involved in having a profile on Facebook, Bebo or any of the other major networks popular here.

Yet according to new research from market research company Mintel Oxygen into online social networking in the UK, the general public does not share the same worries.

Click to continue reading…

Google Maps launched transit directions within Maps back in October of 2007. Now, Google Maps is bringing you that data directly in Google Maps for Mobile. Google Maps for Mobile version 2.2 brings bus and train schedules, prices, routes and directions directly on your mobile device.

Here is a short and easy to understand video demonstrating the Google Maps for Mobile transit directions:

Click to continue reading…

Google has announced the release of a new AdWords Editor, version 6.0, for both Mac and Windows.

Here is a full list of changes, enhancements and bug fixes from version 5.0.1, as listed in the release notes:

Click to continue reading…

In The Trenches is a weekly spotlight of tips, tricks, and news about the tools search engine marketing professionals use to give them a leg up on the competition. Today: News from the search engines, today’s in-depth look, “Google Tools, Part 4″ and this week’s free tips and tools.

Click to continue reading…

As I reported last week, Yahoo SearchMonkey applications are now available to searchers. The Yahoo Search blog posted details last night, saying that searchers can now add SearchMonkey applications via either the gallery (which is in beta) or through promoted links from application developers or web sites. The gallery contains only 39 applications so far (only a select subset of applications make it to the
gallery), and several are from Yahoo properties.

It's unclear if the remaining gallery applications were created by third-party developers or by the web site owners (several are simply credited as "Yahoo! user". Applications exist for popular sites such as Yelp, Wikipedia, LinkedIn, and StumbleUpon.

We've reported about SearchMonkey several times from a developer perspective (see for instance, Yahoo! Launched SearchMonkey Developer Tool and Creating An Enhanced Listing, but how does the searcher experience rate?

Click to continue reading…

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

From Search Engine Land:

• 
  Disney World 3D Now Playing In Google Earth
  Disney had made a 3D version of its Florida theme park for Google Earth. Disney has reportedly gone to great lengths to make this an especially rich 3D experience. You have to have the latest version of Earth and then you navigate to Disney World and click on the golden…
• 
  Google Adds TV Campaign Analytics
  Google announced that it was adding TV campaign analytics to AdWords. If you’re using the Google TV Ads system you can now get metrics on the performance of those campaigns via Google Analytics….
• 
  Microsoft Seeks To Bring Collaboration To Search
  Microsoft has experimentally introduced “SearchTogether,” which allows people to use a browser plug-in (IE7 only) to literally collaborate on search. You need a Windows Live ID and Messenger but you can apparently use any search engine you like. Here’s a tutorial and some screens….
• 
  Analytics Provider Enquisite Differentiates With Offline Data
  Analytics provider Enquisite just announced a funding round. The analytics space is tough and competitive. However Enquisite, which has both a free and a “pro” (paid) version seeks to differentiate with a number of interesting features. It offers visibility on where traffic is coming from offline, by city and postal…
• 
  Google Drops Ability To Watch Video Directly In Search Results
  Ionut posted something I have noticed for the past few weeks and Vanessa Fox posted a few days ago, Google has removed the ability to watch videos directly in the search results. In the past, a search for starwars kid, as one example, returned a video with a plus sign…
• 
  A Small Business Marketing Success Story: Teresa Boardman, Real Estate Agent
  The real estate industry has a bad rap in the upper levels of search marketing. We deplore the SEM agencies that sell ineffective and/or shady tactics to the real estate industry. We criticize the agents and brokers who are victimized by their own ignorance or indifference. I’ve called real…

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Does your password pass the test?, Official Google Blog
• Google Talk Adds Invisible Status, Google Operating System

Business Issues

• Yahoo, Microsoft talks could end next week–source, Reuters
• Yahoo Responds to Carl Icahn’s Allegations, Search Engine Watch Blog
• Yahoo Tries to Move Past Takeover Status, New York Times

Link Building

• When Bad Publicity Equals Good SEO Links, The Link Spiel

Paid Search & Contextual

• AdWords system maintenance on June 7th, Inside AdWords
• 3 Google Analytics Ecommerce Reports That Will Improve Your PPC Campaigns, PPC Hero
• Beware of More Google AdWords Phishing Scams, Search Engine Roundtable

Searching

• Comparing How Commercial Different Search Categories are for Search Advertising, SEO By The Sea
• Update on hakia.com (BETA), Hakia Blog

SEM Industry

• SMX Advanced 2008 Wrap Up, Online Marketing Blog
• Do We Need Educational Standards for Learning SEO?, Search Engine Watch
• Google Uses YouTube To Counteract The "Infomercial-ism" Of The Search Industry, SEM Geek
• SMX Advanced 2008 Conference Coverage Recap, Search Engine Roundtable

SEO & SEM

• 3 Ways to Spy on Your Competitors, Search Engine Watch
• Can Google’s First Click Free Program be Used for Web Search?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Google Downgrades .Info TLDs Again?, Search Engine Roundtable
• How Much Is a Top Level Domain SEO Worth?, Search Engine Journal
• How to Create a Directory Structure Search Engines Rock To, Search Engine Guide
• SEO & Internal Interlinking: Relative vs Absolute URLs, Search Engine Journal
• The World Series Spidering Problem, SEOmoz
• Using a Variety of Digital Assets to Improve SEO, Search Marketing Sage
• Yahoo Directory Has No PageRank, Search Engine Roundtable

Social Media

• Advanced SMO: How to Build a Social Media Storm, SEOco
• How To Get a Digg Story Buried in 4 Short Words, BlogStorm

Other Items

• At Google, a search guru’s dream comes true, News.com
• DMOZ Turns 10, DMOZ Blog
• Google gets serious about the Mac, news.cnet.com
• Yahoo inks InstallShield deal to help propagate toolbar, News.com

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

• SEOmoz Pro Membership Review
• Relative URLs VS Absolute URLs
• How to Build a Better Content Model for Your Site: Understanding News Consumption Patterns
• Link Lust: A Lesson in .Edu Link Building
• The Pros and Cons of Working from Home on the Internet
• Are You Plurking Yet?
• Social Media Karma – What Goes Around Comes Around
• Who Is The Best Looking Man of SEO?
• How to Run a Background Check on a Domain Name Before Buying
• Improved SEO documentation galore!
• Should You Change Your Copy When Rankings Fall?
• 3 Unconventional Keyword Research Tools to Improve Conversions
• 8 Arguments Against Sculpting PageRank with Nofollow
• Plurk: Unique or Just Another Twitter Clone?
• Extending SEO with Digital Asset Optimization
• 2012: The Year The Internet Ends

Disney had made a 3D version of its Florida theme park for Google Earth.

Disney has reportedly gone to great lengths to make this an especially rich 3D experience. You have to have the latest version of Earth and then you navigate to Disney World and click on the golden Mickey Mouse ears.

Click to continue reading…

Google announced that it was adding TV campaign analytics to AdWords. If you’re using the Google TV Ads system you can now get metrics on the performance of those campaigns via Google Analytics.

Click to continue reading…

Microsoft has experimentally introduced “SearchTogether,” which allows people to use a browser plug-in (IE7 only) to literally collaborate on search. You need a Windows Live ID and Messenger but you can apparently use any search engine you like.

Here’s a tutorial and some screens.

Click to continue reading…

Analytics provider Enquisite just announced a funding round. The analytics space is tough and competitive. However Enquisite, which has both a free and a “pro” (paid) version seeks to differentiate with a number of interesting features. It offers visibility on where traffic is coming from offline, by city and postal code. It also offers a program that helps detect whether clicks are coming from outside the geographic parameters of a search campaign and expedite refund requests for “invalid clicks.”

Click to continue reading…

Vanessa Fox posted details a few days ago about how Google has removed the ability to watch videos directly in the search results and discussed how Yahoo! and Live Search handle video listings in web search. Ionut posted a few days later, and got several comments from people who used the feature and didn’t want it taken away.

As part of Google’s universal search launch, videos listed in the search results included a plus sign that said “watch video.” As of a few weeks ago, that plus box is no longer available, and searchers have to click through the result to watch the video on the hosting page.

Click to continue reading…

The real estate industry has a bad rap in the upper levels of search marketing. We deplore the SEM agencies that sell ineffective and/or shady tactics to the real estate industry. We criticize the agents and brokers who are victimized by their own ignorance or indifference. I’ve called real estate SEO a “joke,” and it’s hard to argue the point when you see real estate professionals paying good money for bad SEO.

But it’s a mistake to paint all real estate professionals with such broad strokes. There’s a new wave of real estate agents and agencies that are adopting the latest online (and offline) marketing techniques to sell themselves to local home buyers and sellers. Blogging and social media marketing are the new tools of the trade for creative real estate agents. This month’s small business marketing success story is one of those agents.

Click to continue reading…

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

From Search Engine Land:

• 
  SMX Advanced ‘08 – Day Two Recap
  Day two of SMX Advanced is now over. The Give it Up session was truly awesome, but those notes can not be posted until July 3rd, so stay tuned for that. Here are the sessions recaps:…
• 
  Google Sued For “Fraudulent Mobile Subscription Services”
  Eric Goldman has posted about yet another lawsuit against Google, this time the plaintiffs were allegedly wronged in a case involving mobile subscription services. Google is not the alleged wrongdoer here but is being sued because it allowed the wrongdoer to advertise (AdWords) and the plaintiffs got to the bad…
• 
  Microsoft Launches “Search and Give” Charity For Searching
  The Live Search Blog announced the new launch of Search and Give. When you search and Search and Give, Microsoft will donate a penny each time you use that page to search the Web. Microsoft will donate up to 500 searches per person per month. There are over 1 million…
• 
  Louis Vuitton Offers Google More Trademark Trouble In Europe
  Even as Google is liberalizing its trademark policy in Europe to agree with the US policy, luxury goods maker Luis Vuitton may turn back the clock and force a more restrictive policy on Google. France’s highest court ruled for Louis Vuitton last year in a trademark case involving AdWords. Google…
• 
  Yahoo Deals: Display Ads On Walmart.com, Havas Digital Partnership, Circular Program & CBS Video Deal
  We were just hit with a handful of Yahoo press releases. They include powering the ads on Walmart.com, partnering with Havas Digital for to adopt the Right Media Exchange Platform, working out a video distribution deal with CBS, launching the Yahoo Circular Program for newspapers and all this was announced…
• 
  Google Improves Webmaster Documentation
  Google’s Matt Cutts posted that Google has made major enhancements to their webmaster and SEO documentation. They have clarified and detailed much of the documentation that was in need of an update. The documents that were updated includes the Robots.txt documentation, sapm reporting tools and documentation, IP delivery/geolocation/cloaking documentation, Nofollow…
• 
  Take A Ride In Google’s Hot Air Balloon
  If you visit the Google home page today, you will notice they have a hot air balloon logo up. The logo is to commemorate the first demonstration of a hot air balloon carrying passengers. This event took place on June 4, 1783….
• 
  YouTube’s Former Revenue Chief: “Google Got A Little Big For Me”
  Google is experiencing some bumps in transitioning from a smaller innovator to a larger, more mature player in the market. Over the past year or so there have been numerous employee departures, often to start new companies themselves or to join what used to be called “pre-IPO” startups (e.g., Facebook)….
• 
  Managing In-House SEO For 17,000 Domains
  All complex systems can be broken down into manageable components or modules. SEO is no different; whether you have 17,000 domains or 10,000,000 products SKUs, the system for managing this load is always the same. A complex system doesn’t necessarily mean it’s based purely in technology. Microsoft, Cisco, AOL,…

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• More Translation Bots!, Google Talkabout
• Yahoo Opens Address Books to 3rd-Party Developers, TechCrunch

Business Issues

• CBS and Yahoo in Web video sharing deal, Washington Post
• Google Plans Major Expansion In Its Backyard, New York Times
• LiveDeal in strategic pact with Google; becomes authorized reseller of AdWords, Forbes
• Microsoft’s Interest in Yahoo Based in Online Advertising, CNN Money
• NASA and Google Announce Lease at Ames Research Center, Google
• Why Yahoo’s Yang Is Holding Out, BusinessWeek

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Disney World in 3D in Google Earth has Arrived!, Google Earth Blog
• Google Mapspam now a Global Phenom, Mike Blumenthal
• Yelp plans splashy debut in location-aware mobile market, news.cnet.com

Paid Search & Contextual

• Five Burning Questions, Yahoo! Search Marketing Blog
• Improving Lead Quality from PPC Advertising: Advanced Landing Page Testing, Search Marketing Sage
• Realize a Higher ROI by Creating, Reading and Understanding Goal Funnel Reports, PPC Hero

Searching

• Google Building MoneySupermarket Competitor, BlogStorm
• How Do You Delete or Remove Your Content from RSS Results Like Google Reader?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Shopping Search Engines, The Next Generation, altsearchengines.com
• World’s First Search Engine For Hostels Launches, Search Engine Watch Blog

SEO & SEM

• Managing search engine access to your content, Live Search
• Is the Goal of Your Copy To Rank or to Convert?, Search Engine Guide
• Run a Domain Name Background Check Before Buying, Search Engine Journal
• Three Easy Ways to Fix Broken Links and Stop Unneccessary Visitor Loss, Search Engine Guide

Social Media

• A faster, lighter version of orkut, Orkut Blog
• New UK Law Criminalizes Stealth Marketing Techniques, SEOmoz
• Social Media Marketing Law , Search Engine Journal

Video, Music & Image Search

• New Beta Feature: Video Annotations, YouTube Blog
• YouTube Annotations, Google Operating System

Web Analytics

• Is Google Analytics Cheating You? Use Alternatives!, SEOptimise

Other Items

• Google Tells Everyone: We Are Human : Beyond Search, arnoldit.com
• Google’s Virtual Bookshelf Plans?, SEO By The Sea
• Study: .gov web sites should focus on RSS, XML – not redesigns , Ars Technica
• Your Privacy Is An Illusion: Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan private pics exposed by Yahoo hack, Valleywag

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

• Google Crawling HTML Forms IS Harmful to Your Rankings
• Blackhat Ethics: Whose Rules Are They Anyway?
• Yahoo Is Going to Automatically Optimize Your PPC Account Without You
• Could Stumbleupon Help To Revolutionize Online Search?
• Keyword Ranking Report Catch 22: Part I
• Bringing a Community Together Who is Miles Apart For a Birthday Celebration
• 25 Blog Optimization Tips Even Dear Old Dad Could Ace (Plus 10 More Tips for Mom!)
• Local vs Traditional SEO: Why Citation Is the New Link
• Twitter Poll: Ultimate Time Waster, or Great Tool?
• Google Seems Good Sometimes : Helping Hacked Sites
• Debunked: Only The 1st Anchor Text Counts With Google

Day two of SMX Advanced is now over. The Give it Up session was truly awesome, but those notes can not be posted until July 3rd, so stay tuned for that.

Here are the sessions recaps:

Click to continue reading…

Eric Goldman has posted about yet another lawsuit against Google, this time the plaintiffs were allegedly wronged in a case involving mobile subscription services. Google is not the alleged wrongdoer here but is being sued because it allowed the wrongdoer to advertise (AdWords) and the plaintiffs got to the bad actor via those ads.

Click to continue reading…

The Live Search Blog announced the new launch of Search and Give. When you search and Search and Give, Microsoft will donate a penny each time you use that page to search the Web.

Microsoft will donate up to 500 searches per person per month. There are over 1 million organizations participating in the program and the organizations can track donations. There are over 100,000 schools and 900,000 non-profit organizations worldwide in this program. Those who participate in Microsoft’s Live Search Club can convert the tickets they’ve earned playing games into contributions.

Click to continue reading…

Even as Google is liberalizing its trademark policy in Europe to agree with the US policy, luxury goods maker Luis Vuitton may turn back the clock and force a more restrictive policy on Google. France’s highest court ruled for Louis Vuitton last year in a trademark case involving AdWords. Google has appealed. The European Court of Justice will hear the case (date uncertain) and issue a ruling (although that may not come for a year), which will effectively become the law across the EU.

Click to continue reading…

We were just hit with a handful of Yahoo press releases. They include powering the ads on Walmart.com, partnering with Havas Digital for to adopt the Right Media Exchange Platform, working out a video distribution deal with CBS, launching the Yahoo Circular Program for newspapers and all this was announced by Susan Decker at Advertising 2.0.

Click to continue reading…

Google’s Matt Cutts posted that Google has made major enhancements to their webmaster and SEO documentation. They have clarified and detailed much of the documentation that was in need of an update. The documents that were updated includes the Robots.txt documentation, sapm reporting tools and documentation, IP delivery/geolocation/cloaking documentation, Nofollow documentation, doorway page documentation and quality guidelines.

For a more comprehensive look at these changes, see Matt’s post.

If you visit the Google home page today, you will notice they have a hot air balloon logo up. The logo is to commemorate the first demonstration of a hot air balloon carrying passengers. This event took place on June 4, 1783.

Click to continue reading…

Google is experiencing some bumps in transitioning from a smaller innovator to a larger, more mature player in the market. Over the past year or so there have been numerous employee departures, often to start new companies themselves or to join what used to be called “pre-IPO” startups (e.g., Facebook).

The most recent case involves YouTube’s revenue chief, Shashi Seth. Seth left to take a position as chief revenue officer at Cooliris.

Click to continue reading…

All complex systems can be broken down into manageable components or modules. SEO is no different; whether you have 17,000 domains or 10,000,000 products SKUs, the system for managing this load is always the same.

A complex system doesn’t necessarily mean it’s based purely in technology. Microsoft, Cisco, AOL, Oracle, and HP are all examples of complex systems wherein people manage numerous components or modules. National magazine publishers and state fire departments are also examples of managing complex situations through a central system. According to Wikipedia, a complex system is any system of interconnected parts, which exhibits one or more properties that are not obvious from the properties of the individual parts.

Complex systems are studied in natural science, mathematics, and social science. Fields of specialization include systems theory, complexity theory, systems ecology, and cybernetics.

We have developed complex system models in many different disciplines for efficient decision-making. In general, all complex systems can be divided into five main categories, and each manager can handle up to five categories at one time. We won’t go into the whys and wherefores, or even try to justify this statement; it’s a universal truth in management systems.

Click to continue reading…

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

From Search Engine Land:

• 
  SMX Advanced ‘08 – Day One Recap
  I am waiting for the You & A With Matt Cutts at SMX Advanced 2008 in Seattle. I figured I should post the conference coverage thus far and then add in the links to the coverage of this session. Here is today’s SMX Advanced coverage:…
• 
  Google May Need To Modify Keyword Policy To Attract More Brand Dollars
  Google wants to attract more brand advertising dollars in search. However it also allows marketers to bid on trademarked or branded terms they don’t own or control so long as those keywords are not part of the ad copy. This practice so far passes legal muster in the US (although…
• 
  Insurgent Yahoo Shareholder Carl Icahn Seeks CEO Jerry Yang’s Ouster
  The drama of whether Microsoft would take over Yahoo has been replaced by the drama of whether disgruntled shareholder/opportunist Carl Icahn can win a proxy fight to replace Yahoo’s board and install his own slate. Reuters reports today that a successful fight would include removal of current Yahoo CEO Jerry…
• 
  Google Says Icon Reflects “Simple, Playful & Unique Brand”
  Last Friday, Google changed their favicon and it caused a big stir amongst Google users. We asked Google why they made the change and they replied that it was to reflect the “simple, playful and unique brand.” Here is the official response from a Google spokesperson:…
• 
  Microsoft announces adCenter Desktop Beta during SMX Advanced Keynote
  Kevin Johnson, President of Microsoft’s Platform & Services Division announced the release of the adCenter Desktop Beta during an SMX Advanced keynote speech today. The software application allows advertisers to create, optimize and manage online campaigns with Microsoft. Previously advertisers were required to manage their campaigns through a web interface,…
• 
  Microsoft Wants To Replace “404″ Error With Live Search Results
  Microsoft has said that between “2 and 10 percent” of site searches lead to a 404 error page. The company thus decided to create what it’s calling the “Web Page Error Toolkit.” It’s a web application that uses either Live Search (or another engine of the site owner’s choice) to…
• 
  Yahoo!, Google, Microsoft Clarify robots.txt Support
  Today, Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft have come together to post details of how each of them support robots.txt and the robots meta tag. While their posts use terms like “collaboration” and “working together”, they haven’t joined together to implement a new standard (as they did with sitemaps.org). Rather, they are…
• 
  Google Defines IP Delivery, Geolocation & Cloaking
  Maile Ohye at the Google Webmaster Central Blog has “defined” what Google considers to be IP delivery, geolocation and cloaking. On the geolocation front, Google recommends you treat “Googlebot as you would a typical user from a similar location.” So, if Googlebot’s IP is coming from California, then serve up…
• 
  Google Rebrands Custom Search “Business Edition” As “Google Site Search”
  Google launched its Custom Search Engine (CSE) in late 2006. It has gone through various changes and feature upgrades since that time and Google just announced that what it was calling CSE “Business Edition” has now been renamed “Google Site Search.” There are several new features that offer increased customization…
• 
  Search Illustrated: Spider Traps
  With so much effort that gets focused on writing great content, acquiring links and social networking, the search spiders are sometimes overlooked. If the site can’t get indexed, it won’t get ranked. This week’s infographic displays some of the common ways the spider can get trapped, unable to maneuver…
• 
  Relying On Averages Is Bad Business
  Too many people rely on stats that purport to measure “averages” to guide their search marketing campaigns and they are all potentially harmful. I am the opposite—you could say that I am passionate about accuracy when it comes to analytics, and when it comes to all forms of measuring your…
• 
  Judge Unseals Shareholder Complaint Against Yahoo
  A Delaware judge presiding over shareholder litigation against Yahoo has denied the company’s request to maintain a seal over the complaint in the matter. (Complaints are typically public records unless the parties can meet a high bar to keep them confidential.) The news was first reported by Reuters and Barrons….
• 
  Getting The Most Out Of A Search Marketing Conference
  It’s easy to get hooked on search conferences. For me, there’s no better way to learn so much about search in the course of a couple of days: what’s working, what’s not working, and what others in the industry are experiencing. The networking opportunities at conferences are priceless—where else do…

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Spammers exploit Google Docs – vnunet.com, Vnunet.com
• Google fixes several site security issues, news.cnet.com
• Google Site Search taps the power of the cloud, Official Google Blog
• MSN Moves to Create Entertainment Web Sites, New York Times

Business Issues

• Google Diplomats Bend Free Expression to Preserve Global Power , Bloomberg
• China’s music industry warns Baidu search engine over piracy, AFP
• Exec says Microsoft Live Search brand up for reconsideration, SeattlePi
• Yahoo Sets Annual Meeting For August 1, Washington Post

Local, Maps & Mobile

• More cases of Massive Mapspam in Maps, Mike Blumenthal

Link Building

• Debunked: Only The 1st Anchor Text Counts With Google, SEOco
• Hotel & Resort Links – "DoFollow" Tuesdays, Link Building Best Practices

Paid Search & Contextual

• Yahoo Is Going to Automatically Optimize Your PPC Account Without You, PPC Hero
• AdWords Downtime: June 7, 10am-2pm PST, AdWords API Blog
• AdWords API Starter Kit Now Available, AdWords API Blog
• Google Search Ads Rile Its Big Customers, Wall Street Journal
• How to Troubleshoot When Tracking 3rd Party PPC through Google Analytics, PPC Hero

Searching

• "alternative" search engines to these five choices, altsearchengines.com
• Jimmy Wales Reboots His ‘Google-Killer’ – Forbes.com, Forbes
• Answers.com sees growth in wiki responses, Reuters
• Compare FeedBurner Stats With Feed Compare, Performancing.com
• Google Trends KO’d – No Changes in More than 13 Hours, Search Engine Watch Blog

SEM Industry

• Alternative Search Engines Conference, the Sequel, altsearchengines.com
• Are SEO Forums Still Needed?, Search Engine Journal
• Jeffrey Pruitt of iCrossing to Keynote Baidu World Conference, Bill Hartzer
• SMX Advanced 2008 – Icon Grill Search Marketing Dinner, Voices of Search
• SMX Advanced: Thought Leaders Converge, AIM Clear Blog
• WebmasterWorld Compromised – Security Issue Reveals Some Passwords, Search Engine Roundtable

SEO & SEM

• SEO is a Fusion of Relevance and Authority, Search Engine Guide
• Google SERP-rot, Paid Links, , SEO Book
• 25 Blog Optimization Tips Even Dear Old Dad Could Ace (Plus 10 More Tips for Mom!), Search Engine Journal
• 3 CEOs with 3 Strategies for SEO Success, Search Engine Watch
• Digital Asset Optimization – Evolved Search Engine Optimization, Online Marketing Blog
• Google PageRank isn’t the Same as Ranking in Google, Search Engine Watch
• Google Seems Good Sometimes : Helping Hacked Sites, Search Engine Journal
• How Search Engines Can Index Pages in Parts, SEO By The Sea
• Maile Ohye I hate to Disagree, David Naylor
• The Impact of User Feedback, Part 1, Official Google Webmaster Central Blog
• When Top Keywords Suddenly Vanish, Search Engine Watch
• Yahoo Still Trimming Off Trailing Slash, Causing Webmaster Headaches, Search Engine Roundtable

Social Media

• Facebook Platform Now Open Source: fbOpen Released, TechCrunch
• How Social Media (Didn’t) Change Business, Search Engine Guide
• Sudden Disconnect Over Social Networking Deal , Washington Post
• I Know It’s Social – But STFU Already!, ShoeMoney
• Online Marketing Tips Video: Twitter Tips, Search Marketing Gurus
• Social Media Gamblers: Learn To Play The Odds, SEOmoz

Web Analytics

• Pump Up Your Site with Website Workout, Official Google Website Optimizer Blog

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

• Are SEO Forums Still Needed?
• Ask the Experts at SMX Advanced 2008
• Site Network Stealth and Uses: Hiding from Google and Competitors
• How Social Media (Didn’t) Change Business
• I Know It’s Social – But STFU Already!
• Free Google Third-Party Ad Providers Widget
• Press Releases: Which Of These Rookie Mistakes Are You Making?
• Google New Definition for Doorway Pages
• Links Only Your Mother Could Love – This Month (May) In SEO
• How to Explore Your Backlinks Anchor Text
• Making Your Site Social Media Friendly
• Developing Tactical Knowledge on Social Media Websites: A Three-Part Strategy for DIY Marketers

I am waiting for the You & A With Matt Cutts at SMX Advanced 2008 in Seattle. I figured I should post the conference coverage thus far and then add in the links to the coverage of this session. Here is today’s SMX Advanced coverage:

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Google wants to attract more brand advertising dollars in search. However it also allows marketers to bid on trademarked or branded terms they don’t own or control so long as those keywords are not part of the ad copy. This practice so far passes legal muster in the US (although there’s ongoing litigation). Google recently modified its keyword bidding policies in the UK and introduced this more liberal approach to make the US and UK policies mirror one another.

British brands have threated to sue Google over the changes.

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The drama of whether Microsoft would take over Yahoo has been replaced by the drama of whether disgruntled shareholder/opportunist Carl Icahn can win a proxy fight to replace Yahoo’s board and install his own slate. Reuters reports today that a successful fight would include removal of current Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang.

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Last Friday, Google changed their favicon and it caused a big stir amongst Google users. We asked Google why they made the change and they replied that it was to reflect the “simple, playful and unique brand.”

Here is the official response from a Google spokesperson:

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Kevin Johnson, President of Microsoft’s Platform & Services Division announced the release of the adCenter Desktop Beta during an SMX Advanced keynote speech today. The software application allows advertisers to create, optimize and manage online campaigns with Microsoft. Previously advertisers were required to manage their campaigns through a web interface, a relatively less efficient means, especially for large or complex campaigns.

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Microsoft has said that between “2 and 10 percent” of site searches lead to a 404 error page. The company thus decided to create what it’s calling the “Web Page Error Toolkit.” It’s a web application that uses either Live Search (or another engine of the site owner’s choice) to provide a custom error page with alternative search results relevant to the subject of the user’s query.

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Today, Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft have come together to post details of how each of them support robots.txt and the robots meta tag. While their posts use terms like “collaboration” and “working together”, they haven’t joined together to implement a new standard (as they did with sitemaps.org). Rather, they are simply making a joint stand in messaging that robots.txt is the standard way of blocking search engine robot access to web sites. They have identified a core set of robots.txt and robots meta tag directives that all three engines support:

Google and Yahoo! already supported and documented each of the core directives and Microsoft supported most of them before this announcement. In their posts, they also list the directives they support that may not be supported by the other engines.

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Maile Ohye at the Google Webmaster Central Blog has “defined” what Google considers to be IP delivery, geolocation and cloaking.

On the geolocation front, Google recommends you treat “Googlebot as you would a typical user from a similar location.” So, if Googlebot’s IP is coming from California, then serve up the same page you would serve a web user from California. The same rule applies to IP delivery, serve the “same content a typical user from the same IP address would see,” to Googlebot. Clearly, if you serve different content to Googlebot then you would a normal user, that would be cloaking and would go against Google’s guidelines. Finally, Google discusses first click free program from Google News, where if you visit an article a second time, you would need to enter a password. When serving this content, you need to make sure the content is the same as when a normal user goes to the page.

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Google launched its Custom Search Engine (CSE) in late 2006. It has gone through various changes and feature upgrades since that time and Google just announced that what it was calling CSE “Business Edition” has now been renamed “Google Site Search.” There are several new features that offer increased customization to site owners implementing the tool.

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With so much effort that gets focused on writing great content, acquiring links and social networking, the search spiders are sometimes overlooked. If the site can’t get indexed, it won’t get ranked.

This week’s infographic displays some of the common ways the spider can get trapped, unable to maneuver through your site. Watch out for these spider traps!

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