The 2010 Winter Olympics are over. I know, I’m kind of bummed too.

I really didn’t think these Olympic games would draw me in… but they did. And Wow, what a finale!

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After 2+ weeks of continuous search, social and web media coverage, the 2010 Winter Olympics have finally come to a close. It now time to put our individual Olympic dreams on ice for another 4 years and get back to business as usual.

 
That’s exactly what Bing is doing. Well, sort of…

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Well this has to be a first! It now appears that Google is showing their special Holiday and Event logos in their search engine result pages in a very similar manner to how Bing has been for almost a year.

Here are a few screen captures that show the new SERP’s.

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We’ve Compiled Our List & Checked it Twice…

With Christmas only a few days away, those last minute acts of kindness probably aren’t going to be enough to get your name scratched off the naughty list and penciled into the nice one.  Sure, you might hope to slip by this year on some clerical error or a loophole in the revised 2009 Naughty and Nice Code of Ethics, but remember Santa is supposedly checking them twice (which makes me wonder if he has a Naughty & Nice app for his iPhone yet, or is still doing it by hand?). 

Yet whether your stocking this year will be filled with lumps of coal or gifts of joy, you are not alone.  We have sent out a request to our colleagues, associates and some talented search elves up north to come up with our First Annual Not Quite Definitive List of Who’s Been Naughty and Who’s Been Nice in Search for 2009.   

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* THE NICE LIST *

* Google gets lots of gifts for attempting to innovate search with real-time results, social search, and more.

* StumbleUpon.com gets lots of gifts this Holiday season for leaving the hands off of eBay, listening to its community, and implementing changes around their desires.

- Jordan Kasteler

* Bing goes on this list for bringing more seriousness in competition to the search landscape. They’ve got a long way to go, but it’s the first positive step in a long, long time.

- Rand Fishkin

* Google Adwords new ad formats. This was a long-time coming in my opinion.  I am curious to see if Yahoo and MSN try to follow Google, or, wait until their platform merger.

* Google Analytics upgrades since October….specifically, more “Goals” and “Alert” system. 

* Google Webmaster Tools upgrades….specifically, their “Parameter Handling”.

- Clint Danks

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Happy Halloween! In honor of the frightful night, as has been a hallowed tradition for the past 11 years, Google created a special logo that was only displayed on October 31st.

Here are several of the past Google Halloween Logos from as far back as 1999, the year that I got my start in SEO. I can remember seeing the first one in ‘99 and thinking: “Gee, they can do better than that”. We’ll I must say that they have indeed become more creative throughout the years. Kudos to the logo design team!
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During the a Search Engine Q&A session at the SMX East conference in New York this week, Yahoo officially announced that they have stopped supporting the meta keywords tag as an ranking factor in their web search algorithm. Yahoo was the last major search engine to openly admit that it was an element of their search ranking results.

But did they really quit supporting the keyword tag? Maybe not…
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On September 27, 2009, Google turned 11 years old. In honor of this special day, Google.com created a special logo that was only displayed on their site on the Sunday. They even added an extra “l” the their name in the logo – Googlle.

Wow, where did the time go? Here are several of the past birthday logos.
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Ahoy, me Hearties! September 19th is International Talk Like A Pirate Day. In honor of this bloody great day I thought I would let ye landlubbers all in on how ye too can search like the pirates do. An I no just talk’n bout the 7 seas mind ye!

To find the Pirate Search ya’ll first have to follow some clues and go on a little search of your own… (more…)

After several false starts, today Microsoft and Yahoo announced a 10 year deal which will see Microsoft power Yahoo search while Yahoo will “become the exclusive worldwide relationship sales force for both companies’ premium search advertisers,” according to a joint statement released by both companies. This new agreement is expected to go into effect sometime in 2010.

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In an effort to get a leg up on Google when it comes to real time search, Bing has started integrating real time Twitter messages into their search results. According to their official blog, Bing will now provide results from a handful of the more “prominent and prolific Twitterers” coming from a wide range of spheres.

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Bing?  As in Chandler Bing? The Bada Bing? Bing Crosby? Or even Bing Cherries?

Nope. As in Microsoft’s newest search engine, Bing.
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