SEMpdx SearchFest Updated Panel Presentations 03.09.10
Posted by Sean McMahon on 03.04.2010
With our SEMpdx SearchFest taking place in just a few days on March 9, 2010, this blog post is to update the panel presentations which are being moderated by EngineWorks team members.
Last night, I was privileged to have attended a vibrant keynote presentation by Bill Weihl, Green Energy Czar at Google, during the Software Association of Oregon (SAO) 2010 Annual Member Dinner at Montgomery Park Glass Atrium here in Portland. During this formal event, Bill presented the impressive initiatives that the G-Men and Women from Mountain View are embarking upon to improve the energy efficiency of their company . . . and the world!
Yesterday, Danny Sullivan, editor-in-chief of Search Engine Land, reported in his article titled ‘Google Blurs The Line Between Paid & Unpaid Results Again’, that the world’s largest search engine is now allowing businesses to have Sponsored Links (i.e., paid listings) appear within their Local Business Center (LBC) results. Google’s LBC listings, also known as the “Seven-Pack of Local Listings”, appear at the top of their Natural search results, typically along-side a local map and directions information.
We, as humans, have a tendency to seek-out a cause for every effect. This, of unfortunately, can lead to the logical fallacy of ‘correlation equals causation’. That is, just because a correlation exists between two phenomena, it must mean that one is the cause of the other. It’s important to keep this fallacy in mind when asking yourself if Google’s recent decision to
Status: Top Secret
Today’s announcement that Yahoo! will be turning its search engine over to Microsoft made me a little nostalgic for early days when our online search universe was just forming with hundreds of rapidly expanding solar systems, dying stars, and ominous black holes. One of the largest galaxies in our universe during the late 1990’s (when I entered this fledgling space) was Inktomi, which was purchased by the very-same Yahoo! in 2002. As most veteran Internet star gazers know, Inktomi commanded a market share of more than 42% of all online searches performed in the United States in 1999. With today’s celestial collision between Microsoft and Yahoo!, it is safe to say that Inktomi has become a proverbial red dwarf.
Since you’re reading this blog post, you more than likely have seen many sources touting the fact that the overwhelming majority of search engine users click on the top three (3) Natural search listings for any given query. Recently, I came across an informative study performed by Richard Hearn, a freelance interactive marketing consultant in Ireland, that re-affirmed this well-known axiom in our industry.
Blogs aren’t just for kids any more.
I’m shaking my head.






