A big "thank you" to all 375 of you who completed our Search Engine Land audience survey. We won't ask again for another year. Promise.
You're a very impressive group in terms of seniority and buying power. Here are a couple of the survey results:
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Then come and learn from local search expert Mary Bowling at the SES Training session in Denver on May 6. It’s a half day class on Local Search. Even its entitled Local Search Engine Marketing 101, it really goes way beyond that and pretty much covers everything to do with Local Search. Anyone who promotes [...]
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Tonight I saw the Iron Man blockbuster, starring Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark. The movie defines Stark as a precocious kid, by flashing an old photo of him with Bill Gates. Along with some additional life history, we learn that Iron Man is at the top of his technical game but has seen some better days.
In Iron Man, the Microsoft parallels could continue beyond this introduction. Bill has been thinking about how computing can positively impact the world for years. In Stark's case, a near-death episode makes him question the meaning of all his weaponry and its world-wide impact.
Meanwhile, Obadiah Stane has worked at Stark Industries for many years and serves as the second-in-command for the business. He bears an uncanny resemblance to Steve Ballmer, don't you agree?
As played by Jeff Bridges, Stane shares some of Ballmer??™s focus on the marketplace. If you leave aside the more sinister plot twists, Stark Industries is the biggest worldwide supplier of weapons. The company needs to stay technically competitive, and will do what makes sense to get there.
Of course, Microsoft is the worldwide supplier of desktop operating systems and has every intention of becoming a more potent online force. While in the game later, Ballmer wants to guide Microsoft in the most expedient ways possible -- with or without Yahoo.
So where does this movie metaphor take us? I think that Ballmer is saying that Microsoft will create an even better Iron Man now. It all about the war, not about saving the peace, right?
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In another case of major mapspam (discovered first by Imnotadoctor), an SMB-local internet market firm, Big Local, has captured many of the top positions in the Google Maps "onebox" for the category "internet consulting." Below are some examples from various cities.
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So my site was hacked and Google supported me by blocking my blog from their search engine. Which I totally understand, searchers must be protected. But why make the process of trying to get back so long and painful and with zero feedback. I guess the answer to that is, “because we can.”I don’t [...]
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In celebration of Search Engine Strategies' 10-year anniversary, SES San Jose 2008 will host the first annual SES Awards ceremony. The SES Awards will be held Wednesday, August 20, 2008, hosted by Search Engine Watch and Search Engine Strategies.
Winners will be selected in each of the following categories:
* Technology Platform Search Marketers Can't Live Without
* Best Business-to-Business Search Marketing Campaign
* Most Innovative Use of Search Engine Optimization
* Search Engine with Most Relevant Search Results
* Best Multi-National Search Marketing Campaign
* Best Integration of Search with Other Media
* Best SEM Technology Platform for SMBs
* Best Social Media Marketing Campaign
* Most Advertiser-Friendly Search Engine
* Most Innovative Paid Search Campaign
* Most Effective Use of Web Analytics
* Most Innovative New Search Engine
* Best Search Engine Ad Platform
* Best Web Analytics Platform
* Best Use of Local Search
* Editor's Choice
The mission of the SES Awards: to inspire innovation and encourage new ideas. The SES Awards honor 15 outstanding winners in the search universe. The awards will be judged by a panel of industry experts and the SES Awards editorial staff.
The Editor's Choice award winner will be selected exclusively by the SES Awards editorial staff.
Can you guess who the SES Awards judges will be?
Questions? SES Awards FAQ has your answers.
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Below is what happened in search today, as reported onSearch Engine Land and from other places across the web
From Search Engine Land:
Search News From Around The Web:
Applications & Portal Features
Business Issues
Local, Maps & Mobile
Link Building
Microhoo
Paid Search & Contextual
Searching
SEM Industry
SEO & SEM
Social Media
Video, Music & Image Search
Other Items
Recent Hot Items From Sphinn, Our Social News Sharing Site:
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