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The news coming out of this year’s CES is turning out to be a showcase for the way things are changing for the internet, which in turns affect how people use search (for both searching and marketing).

First, Microsoft had its major Live Search announcements. Then, we saw a device with Android to compete with the iPod Touch.

But another major topic is the merging of TV with the Internet. This isn’t anything new, it’s just getting cooler. You or your grandma may have used Web TV before. Remember those good ol’ days? But it’s online video sites like YouTube and now Hulu which are really driving the convergence.

Electronics companies such as LG and Samsung are debuting new televisions that are Internet connected. Yahoo is taking advantage of the opportunity.

Yahoo has developed a Widget Channel for these new devices. The channel is powered by their Widget Engine. Developers can create widgets to enhance a viewer’s TV watching experience.

Here’s what a Yahoo! weather widget looks like:

eBay, CBS and MySpace have widgets on the channel, with more expected soon from Netflix, Twitter, the New York Times and more.

“Yahoo! has combined key attributes of the Internet, including openness, community, and personalization, with the power of television,†said Patrick Barry, vice president, Connected TV, Yahoo!. “By creating this revolutionary new Internet experience, and combining our technology with the global distribution of major consumer electronics partners, we enable consumers to access the relevant information and content to enhance their television watching experience.â€

Last but not least, TiVo has updated the search on their digital video recording service.

“What Google did for the Internet, TiVo is now doing for the TV, bringing people a combination of excellent search results and innovative discovery that can’t be found anywhere else,” said Tom Rogers, CEO and President of TiVo. “TiVo has always been known as the best way to watch what you want, when you want it. Now we’re taking that to a new level, using TiVo technology to find just the right program from hundreds of channels and thousands of broadband options, all in seconds. It is clear TiVo is leading the way in providing more choice, and also leading the way in finding content quickly. TiVo Search is a new way to find what you’ve been missing.”

With the marriage of TV and the internet, TiVo could rise as a player in search.

What do you, dear reader, think about these new developments? Share your thoughts on the convergence of TV and the internet in the comments.

The folks over Bruce Clay have released two new SEO tools and the best part is that they’re free.

The first one is called the Search Engine Optimization/KSP tool. It helps you know how competitive the keyword term or phrase is that you wish to optimize for. Just type in the keywords and the results appear in a chart below. Here’s a screenshot of how it works.

The second tool is the SEMToolBar. It’s only available for Internet Explorer. Use the search box with the toolbar to conduct a search for the keyword or phrase you’re interested in. Once the regular results load, wait a few moments as the toolbar performs its magic. Underneath the results, you’ll see a variety of competitive intelligence data including page rank and inbound links.

Related Reading:
CrazyEgg: Free SEM/SEO Analytics Tool Blows My Mind
Google AdWords Launches Search-Based Keyword Tool
TNS Unveils Next Generation of Online Advertising Monitoring Tools
magnify360 Launches New Paid Search Tool: Google Cost Optimizer
AdWords Keyword Tool Now Shows Numerical Data

If you’ve ever typed in the name of a business into Google Maps for Mobile, you may have been a bit frustrated. Google would return results of street names that contained the search term you typed in instead of finding the business itself.

That all changes today. With a new update to their servers, Google Maps for Mobile is smarter. Type in Starbucks and find a local Starbucks store.

If you’re using a smartphone such as a BlackBerry, Nokia S60, T-Mobile G1, or iPhone, you do NOT need to download anything new to see the change.

If you don’t have Google Maps for Mobile downloaded on your phone but would like it, click here. Warning: it won’t be available for all devices.

Related Reading:
Google Wants You! (To Vote for Mobile Product Ideas)
Google’s My Location Now with WiFi
Street View and Walking Directions Added to Google Maps for Mobile

hakia has updated their Search Box, which is a site search feature you can place on your website. The biggest change is the ability to search multiple domains. Here’s a mockup, via the hakia blog:

Another update is the highlighting of the semantic relevant words in the results:

Search box is available for free, up to 30,000 searches per day.

Related Reading:
hakia Launches Personalized Search Feature
Meet the New hakia
hakia Calls for Librarians to Contribute Credible Web Sources

It’s a New Year, but we’ve got that same old economy from 2008. If you find yourself looking for a job in search, these five resources should be the foundation of your efforts:

What resources do YOU recommend? Leave a comment and let us know!

Related Reading:
The Purple People Collective: Freelance and Job Listings for Laid-Off Yahoos
Yahoo, Zillow to Cut Jobs
Recruiting SEM Employees: Job Boards, Headhunters & Account Planning Boot Camp
SEMPO Institute to Develop Career Opportunities for Young Chicagoans

Following quite closely in the footsteps of AOL’s Bebo, Yahoo! has unveiled a new version of their email inbox, which incorporates social media. Starting with a limited beta release, Yahoo is opening Mail up to third-party applications such as Flixter, Wordpress, and Xoopit.

Continuing on the theme of opening up products, Yahoo also announced advancements in the following products:

What do you think of the Yahoo! announcements? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

Related Reading:
Will Social Networks Become the New Inbox?
Yahoo is Planning Home Page Redesign
Yahoo Launches Location-Based Open Source Application, Fire Eagle

If you are looking for corporate Christmas gift ideas (or Hanukkah gift ideas), let me recommend 10 business books, search engine marketing books and search engine optimization books (that you may also want to give yourself as a present).

And unlike the typical book reviews, you can decide which business, SEM or SEO books are worth buying and wrapping up for the holidays by checking out the video interviews with the authors below, who have all spoken at the Search Engine Strategies conference and expo series this year. I spoke with him after his keynote

Winning Results with Google AdWords by Andrew Goodman: This is at the top of my list because 97% of search engine marketers use Google AdWords, according to SEMPO’s most recent State of the Market survey. Andrew is also the world’s leading authority on Google AdWords. (He will be speaking about Ads in a Quality Score World at SES London on Feb. 18, 2009.) The forward was written by Danny Sullivan, Editor-in-Chief of Search Engine Land. Matt Cutts, head of Google’s Webspam team, likes Andrew’s book: “Review: Winning Results with Google AdWords.” (Plus, Andrew gave me an autographed copy at SES Chicago.) But, you can also make up your own mind by watching the video interview below, where Andrew talks about his book (and gives a sneak preview of what you can expect at SES Toronto 2009, which he will be organizing and hosting.)

Click: What Millions of People are Doing Online and Why it Matters by Bill Tancer: This is the book that I want to buy for myself for Christmas. Bill is General Manager of Hitwise, which reports on how more than 25 million Internet users (10 million in the U.S.) interact with over 1 million websites across more than 160 industries. I interviewed Bill after his keynote speech at SES Chicago 2008, which was entitled, “We Are What We Click.”

Bill Tancer on Search Patterns in 2008

Search Engine Marketing, Inc.: Driving Search Traffic to Your Company’s Web Site by Mike Moran and Bill Hunt: If this isn’t the bible of SEM, it is at least the new testament. I just recommended it yesterday to one of my brand name clients. The forward was written by David Meerman Scott, bestselling author of “The Rules of Marketing and PR.” I interviewed Bill following one of his presentations at SES San Jose 2008.

Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy by Lawrence Lessig: A Stanford Law School Professor and Wired columist, Lawrence was also another one of the keynote speakers at SES Chicago 2008. Byron Gordon of SEO-PR interviewed him last week at the show.

Lawrence Lessig on Copyright laws at SES Chicago 2008

Web Analytics: An Hour a Day by Avinash Kaushik: Okay, so Avinash is a Buckeye from The Ohio State University (and I’m a Wolverine from the University of Michigan). Nevertheless, he’s also the author of the highly rated web analytics blog Occam’s Razor and the Analytics Evangelist for Google. So, I can overlook his alma mater and focus on his expertise in web analytics strategy. I interviewed Avinash after his presentation at SES New York 2008.

The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google by Nicholas Carr: Nick was one of the keynote speakers at SES London 2008 and SES New York 2008. He is also a neighbor of mine — the next town over. I interviewed him back in February.

The Big Switch by Nicholas Carr

Always Be Testing: The Complete Guide to Google Website Optimizer by Bryan Eisenberg and John Quarto-von Tivadar: Bryan is a New York Times bestselling author and John is his chief scientist at FutureNow. They show you how to test and tune your site to get more leads, sales, and profit by using Google’s free A/B and multivariate website testing tool, Google Website Optimizer. Bryan will also be speaking at SES London 2009 at the Measuring Success in a 2.0 World session. Mitch Joel, President of Twist Image, interviewed Bryan following his keynote presentation at SES Toronto 2008.

Against the Machine: Being Human in the Age of the Electronic Mob by Lee Siegel: After his keynote speech at SES San Jose 2008, I interviewed Lee. Actually, to be more precise, I attempted to interview Lee, who was more interested in beating up on Gawker.

Lee Siegel Punches the Internet

Landing Page Optimization: The Definitive Guide to Testing and Tuning for Conversions by Tim Ash: Before I interviewed Tim at SES New York 2008, I extracted a promise that he’d show me his best salsa dance steps. Hey, I don’t shill just anybody’s book.

Six Pixels of Separation by Mitch Joel: Okay, so you can’t buy Mitch’s new book until next year. But I only had nine Christmas gift ideas so far and most lists have either the top 10 books or top 10 Christmas gifts. And it doesn’t hurt to get a sneak preview, right? Mona Elesseily of Page Zero Media interviewed Mitch at SES Totonto 2008 about his upcoming book.

Six Pixels of Separation and Universal Search by Mitch Joel

59% of small businesses with a web site don’t do paid search, according to a survey conducted by Microsoft adCenter. 90% of that number haven’t even tried. To which I say, “What is up with that people?” That is just leaving money - potentially gobs of it - on the table.

I can’t say I’m surprised. Recently, on a trip to the beautiful North Carolina mountains, I was appalled at the lack of paid search listings for small businesses.

Not a single resort conducts a paid search campaign “ski North Carolina” on Live Search, Yahoo or Google. Even the ones from West Virginia could be snagging tourism dollars out of the state, but they’re not. None of the resorts are great at optimizing organically either. The first ski resort appears at number 3 in the natural results for both Live Search and Google and #5 on Yahoo!

Perhaps it’s because, according to the survey, 70% of small business owners would rather do their own taxes than do paid search.

Now, if you’re a small business owner out there who maybe has heard that paid search is something you should do, but you’d rather become an accountant, let me give you some assurance.

I experimented with paid search for the first time this fall. That may sound crazy for someone who blogs on Search Engine Watch, but my background is copywriting, not paid search campaign conducting. I was nervous, but once I did it, I wondered what I had waited for. It was much easier than I anticipated and I can assure you that it’s not even close to the awful experience of doing your own taxes.

Besides, like taxes, there are paid search marketing professionals who can do it for you. They know the tips and tricks to help keep costs low and maximize your marketing dollars.

So jump right in, the water’s just fine. Or at least, it’s frozen enough to ski on.

Yahoo! has gone through layoffs twice this year and at least one formerly purple person has turned his lemons into lemonade (though his tweets suggest he’s a big fan of lattes).

Ryan Kuder has launched a site called the Purple People Collective (ironic that the initials are PPC). It has listings for work for laid off Yahoos.

Others who have been laid off are welcome, as well. Most of the listings as of this post appear to be for tech-related jobs.

On a personal note of encouragement, I’ve been laid off a few times and every time the next job was way better than the last. My husband was laid off at the beginning of this year and his “new job” is so much better.

Hopefully, the same happens for ex-Yahoo’s and others facing the same fate. Don’t forget to check out the Search Engine Watch Job Board for opportunities as well!

via BoomTown

E-consultancy has just issued an Online PR Industry Benchmarking Report, based on a survey of 300 UK marketers and PR professionals who work for both in-house company teams and for agencies.

Among the key findings: A surprisingly large percentage of retained PR budgets are being spent on Online PR. Company respondents report that 39% of their PR activity is online whilst agencies report that 47% of their clients’ retained fees come from online PR.

The results also show that when companies outsource Online PR to agencies or specialists, 51% of companies are using PR agencies but a significant percentage are using search marketing agencies (29%) and web development agencies (22%) to develop and deliver Online PR strategy.

Deeper in the report was another interesting news nugget: “Agencies and specialists should note that levels of client satisfaction are not encouraging and they may need to improve their Online PR knowledge and offering. A fifth of clients (20%) are very satisfied with their agency?s level of Online PR knowledge, 28% are moderately satisfied, 19% are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, 15% are mildly dissatisfied and 13% are very dissatisfied. Equally, clients recognize that their own knowledge could be improved with 49% saying that their Online PR knowledge is good and 12% poor.”

So, where can PR agencies and clients go to improve their online PR knowledge?

As I mentioned a week ago in my post, “Half of British and Irish Marketers Use SEO for PR Purposes,” all marketers need to do is attend Search Engine Strategies London, February 17-19, 2009.

Since then, some of the speakers at SES London 2009 have been posted to the site. And, yes, I should disclose that I’ll be speaking at the “Online Video Update - The Next Wave” session on Tuesday, Feb. 17, the “News Search SEO” session on Wednesday, Feb. 18, and the “Beyond Linkbait: Getting Authoritative Mentions Online” session on Thursday, Feb. 19.

But there are a number of other sessions at SES London 2009 that PR agencies and clients should attend to improve their online PR knowledge. This includes:

– Universal & Blended Search
– SEO Through Blogs & Feeds
– Video & Podcast SEO
– Link Building Basics
– Keywords & Content: Search Marketing Foundations
– Brand & Reputation Management
– Search Term Research & Targeting
– Duplicate Content & Multiple Site Issues

Now, if some of these terms aren’t familiar to PR people yet, well that’s why they need go to the conference. I’ve been combining SEO and PR for almost six years. And during one of my presentations at SES Chicago 2008, I shared five case studies of press releases that generated a measurable ROI:
– $200 million in B2B leads for Symmetricom,
– $2.5 million in ticket sales for Southwest Airlines,
– 1.3 million searches for “florists†on SuperPages.com,
– 450,000 unique visitors to The Christian Science Monitor,
– 88,000 entries into a photo contest for Parents magazine.

So, I think that SES London 2009 is exactly the right conference to attend to improve your Online PR knowledge and offering. And who am I to make such a bold claim? I’m the guy in the photo above with the sock puppet on his hand at SES London 2008. The one on the left. (Have I disclosed that SES London is a client?)