Weekly Rap-up of Search Engine Industry News – 1/1 – 1/5

A summary of search related news items that occurred this week including a great post defining the difference between social media optimization and social media marketing, Yahoo and Dash team up to provide Yahoo Local content via in-car navigation systems, Lee Odden compiles a list of 250 plus search marketing blogs, Search Engine Journal Blog Award results are in, Google Tips which promoted Google’s own products and appeared above organic listings have been pulled after stirring up controversy, and finally, Yahoo! Local adds new features for listing and editing local business listings.

Monday

• New Years Day – I’m sure there was some news on this day but I was busy watching college football and trying to stay away from computer.

Tuesday

• Social Media Optimization vs. Social Media Marketing – Is there a difference? Cameron Olthuis thinks so and provides writes an excellent post that defines these relatively new buzz words. Cameron describes social media optimization (SMO for short) as the process of refining a website (optimizing it) so that it’s awareness and content are easily spread through social mediums and online communities by users and visitors of the website. “This can include anything done “on-page” such as improving the design and usability of the website so that it becomes more compelling to users, in an effort to help them spread it through social media sites. The simplest example of SMO is represented by all the ‘digg this’ and ‘add to delicious’ icons and links that are all over the web today,” he writes.
  
  Social media marketing (SMM for short) on the other hand is more closely related to the creation and distribution of content and other messages through the social web by some form of viral marketing. Cameron says, “This can be anything from creating compelling content that gets bookmarked and even hits Digg’s homepage to spreading a viral video by putting it on YouTube and other social media websites. It’s about the things that are done off-site, for example, participating in online communities where your customers hang out would be an active role that falls under SMM.”

Wednesday

• Yahoo and Automobile Navigation Provider Dash Team Up – Greg Sterling reports at Search Engine Land that Yahoo and Dash, a company that provides in-car navigation, have teamed up to provide Yahoo Local content via Dash’s portable “Dash Express” device and system. The application will be available in California in the spring of this year and across the U.S. nationally in the fall. Local business information through in-car and portable navigation systems is nothing new, however this will be the richest implementation yet to be seen on the market. Additionally, the Yahoo-branded content offers a boost for Dash in the emerging marketplace for personal navigation devices. Additional coverage at Search Engine Watch, Search Engine Journal and WebProNews.

• Lee Odden Compiles List of 250 (and growing) Search Marketing Blogs – I bet you didn’t think there were 250 plus blogs dealing with search engines, search engine optimization, online PR and social media did you? Well there are and Lee has put together a concise list that he titles “Must Read Search Marketing Blogs.” The list is alphabetically arranged and contains brief descriptions following each link. He has even made available his OPML file for download. I’m honored and pleased to say that we made the list. Thanks, Lee!

Thursday

• SEOmoz Wins “Best Blog of 2006″ Title – The votes are in from Search Engine Journal’s 2006 Search Blog Awards and Rand Fishkin and company have secured the title of Best Blog of 2006. It is a well deserved honor in my opinion. SEOmoz continuously puts out some of the most original and valuable content on the subjects of SEO, social media, link building, humor, and even tips on running an SEO agency. It also generates more comment discussion than any other blog I have seen.
  
  Other winners include Matt Cutts for the Best Individual Search Blogger (third year running), Search Engine Watch for Best Search Engine News Blog, Search Engine Roundtable for Best SEM / Contextual Ad Blog, Jim Boykin’s Blog for Best Link Building Blog, Pronet Advertising for Best Social Media Optimization Blog, Mike the Internet Guy for Best Local Search Blog, Shoemoney for Best Affiliate Marketing Blog, TechCrunch for Best Web 2.0 Blog, Digital Point Forums for Best Search Engine Marketing Forum, and SEO Black Hat for Best Black Hat SEO Blog.

• Google Tips Are Pulled After Stirring Up Controversy – From TechCrunch, the controversial Google “Tips,” where Google promoted some of their own products over organic search results, have been quietly pulled down. Most recently, Google searches for things like Calendar, Blogging, Photo Sharing and others returned “tips” above normal search results suggesting users try Google Calendar, Blogger, Picasa, etc. This move generated controversy from many searchers claiming that Google was going too far in trying to promotes its own products. Even Googler Matt Cutts said he’d turn them off if he could. Now they are gone but with no official announcement so they could return.

Friday

• Yahoo! Local Announces New Service – Yahoo! Local announces a new feature that allows users to add their favorite new local business, alert others when an old favorite has closed, and add or change business info quickly. Once a new business is added, it will be live within 24 hours for everyone to see. If a business has closed or needs data corrected, users can click the “Edit This Business” link beneath the rating to tell Yahoo! about it. An alert will be added to the listing, showing proposed changes to other Locals in a pop-up window. Others can confirm that the changes are valid by clicking on “Yes” in the pop-up window above. Don’t know if your business is listed or not? You can submit it here.