Archive for March, 2008

New York Lawmaker Sponsors Bill To Limit Tracking of Internet User’s Activity

After reading about how companies like Google, Microsoft and Yahoo collect information about people online and use it for targeted advertising (behavioral marketing), one New York lawmaker said there ought to be a law against it. He is now working to make that a reality. The New York Times reports that Assemblyman, Richard L. Brodsky is the sponsor of a New York bill to limit how companies collect data on computer users. If the bill becomes a law, it would make it a crime — punishable by a fine to be determined — for certain Web companies to use personal information about consumers for advertising without their consent.

Google Sees “Watershed Moment” For Mobile Usage & Other Daily Finds for March 19, 2008

Here are some great and newsworthy posts I came across today including Google sees “watershed moment” for mobile usage, according to a self-conducted study, Gigablast states that its search results are better than what you will find at Google or Ask, and finally, a look at 7 social media sites and their impact on SEO.

Tips for Overcoming Client-Created Roadblocks in SEO Campaigns & Other Daily Finds for March 18, 2008

Here are some great and newsworthy posts I came across today including some tips for overcoming client-created roadblocks in SEO campaigns, 12 must-have tools for active Diggers, and finally, a video interview from SES new York with Greg Boser as he talks about PageRank sculpting.

7 Reasons Why Mixx Is Better Than Digg

While social news site Mixx is currently only sending a small fraction of the traffic that a popular post on Digg can send, there are several reasons why Mixx is better in my opinion. Not only is the Mixx staff much more friendly to the search marketing community than Digg is, they outscore Digg in several functionality features. I will highlight those below.

Search Spend Seems Healthy Despite Slowing Economy & Other Daily Finds for March 17, 2008

Here are some great and newsworthy posts I came across today including the preliminary results of the 2007 State of the Market Survey reveal that spending on search remains healthy despite a slowing economy, Patrick Altoft has a great post on GEO targeting for SEO and usability and finally, an email spammer may spend over a quarter of a century behind bars.

Not Attending Search Engine Strategies New York (SES NY)? Here’s the Next Best Thing

I opted out of attending Search Engine Strategies in New York this year, not only because the sessions I typically speak in did not make the cut for this show, but I also have many other travel plans already scheduled for this year. Maybe you are in the same boat – couldn’t make it due to time constraints or the cost of a show ticket is just too pricey for your budget right now or some other reason.

Well, fortunate for us that cannot attend the show in person, there are plenty of folks that are live blogging the conference sessions.

Yahoo And Microsoft Hold Informal Talks About Combining Companies & Other Daily Finds for March 14, 2008

Here are some great and newsworthy posts I came across today including Yahoo And Microsoft hold informal talks about combining their companies, Microsoft acquires ad management software maker Rapt, and finally, Jennifer Slegg put together nice post from her own experience on why people you follow on Twitter don’t follow you back.

AOL Buys Social Network Bebo For $850 Million & Other Daily Finds for March 13, 2008

Here are some great and newsworthy posts I came across today including AOL buys social network Bebo for $850 million, Bill Slawski explores a recent patent filed by Yahoo that transforms the meaning of what a “navigation query” is and finally, a humorous look at what SEOs might be eating and drinking.

Six Explosive Organic & Paid Link Building Tips & Other Daily Finds for March 12, 2008

Here are some great and newsworthy posts I came across today including six explosive organic and paid link building tips from Loren Baker, Jonathan Hochman shows us how to use Wikipedia to reveal web traffic data, Mixx gets a credibility boost from The New York Times, and finally, just one day after reporting on the RateMyCop.com web site, it seems as if GoDaddy has pulled the plug on it.

Open Letter Asking Google To Do the Right Thing Regarding Performics

Now that Google officially owns DoubleClick, there is another dilemma at hand and that is they also own a SEO company. Is this a conflict of interest? Absolutely! Let’s face it – Google is now in the SEO business – selling services through DoubleClick’s Performics to people who want to rank well on search engines, including Google. This also places Google in the paid inclusion business, something it called evil back in 2004, when it went public.

Danny Sullivan has written an open letter to Google asking them to do the right thing – namely to spin off Performics as they should not own such a company.

YouTube Offers a New Set of APIs

Mashable reports that YouTube has answered the call of making sure you can see your favorite videos just about anywhere. The popular video site has announced they are launching several new APIs that will let you be even more interactive with their service from just about anywhere.

Google Officially Acquires DoubleClick & Other Daily Finds for March 11, 2008

Here are some great and newsworthy posts I came across today including Google officially acquires DoubleClick after EU approval, decreasing click rates on AdSense ads are intentional, is a new online rating service for cops an expression of free speech or and invasion of privacy and finally, Google finally fails at something.