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The success of your testing program relies heavily on the cooperation of many people in your organization. In today’s By the Numbers column, “Assembling Your Landing Page Optimization Dream Team, Part 2,” Tim Ash continues with a look at more key roles needed for a successful landing page optimization program.

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Whether you plan to hire a designer or figure it out for yourself, there are definitely some best practices you should follow when designing your Web site. In today’s small business search engine marketing column, “25 Design Best Practices for Your Small Business Web Site,” Carrie Hill offers a list to get a good start on finding the best Web site platform and design elements for your businesses audience.

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All your SEO efforts will be in vain if you haven’t spent enough time focused on which keywords you want to target, don’t understand their worth, and don’t understand the competitive landscape associated with trying to rank/get traffic from these keywords. In today’s organic search engine optimization column, “Keyword Research for Search Engine Optimization,” Mark Jackson shares some keyword research advice.

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Microsoft’s Live Search is adding more instant answers to the main search page. There are two new areas of instant answers being featured: Shopping and Flights.

For shopping, if you type in a keyword or phrase for the model of consumer product you’re interested in, you’ll get results for that product containing images with a price comparison and a links to the different e-tailers carrying that product. There’s also a link to review and use Cashback to enhance your search.

For flights, simply type in Flights from (point A) to (point B) and, in conjunction with this year’s acquired Farecast, you’ll get a result for a flight with those destinations.

What do you think of these Instant Answer additions? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

Earlier this year, Google began testing Glue Pages in India. Glue Pages simply offered a different look for search results. The normal text results were returned, but they were joined by different modules, including images, videos and other multimedia and social media information.

Now, Yahoo is bringing Glue Pages to the U.S., but the idea is a little different. Only select topics will initially be given Glue Pages, and they will use an algorithm to determine the most relevant information. You cannot drag and drop the modules like the initial test of the Indian Glue Pages.

Here’s a screenshot of the Glue Page for Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, who currently has the third most popular Glue Page.

Yahoo! has been testing a new home page design. Last week, we saw images and learned more about the user interface.

This week, Yahoo! has announced the addition of an eBay application to the home page test. The app is included on the left hand sidebar along with tabs for stocks, movies, local events, etc.

Check it out:

MapQuest is bringing personalization into their online and mobile mapping offering. Dubbed My MapQuest, the feature lets users save routes and maps, giving them access later whenever they need it.

My MapQuest pages can be created through an AOL account or an OpenID account. You can set language and mileage preferences as well as store mobile numbers and addresses.

The feature will be rolled out to MQ4M (MapQuest for Mobile) for Blackberry soon. Initial Blackberry models will include AT&T BlackBerry Bold, Verizon BlackBerry 8830 and 8330, and T-Mobile BlackBerry 8300, 8800 and 8820.

“The launch of My MapQuest continues MapQuest’s commitment to innovation and improving the user’s experience. Our studies have shown that our customers want a personalization feature that includes the ability to save previously searched addresses,” said Christian Dwyer, Senior Vice President and GM, MapQuest. “Giving our users the ability to save not just maps but also their routes sets us apart and extends MapQuest’s commitment to offering users choice and flexibility.”

Related Reading:
MapQuest Updates Widget and Local Content
MapQuest Now Optimized for the iPhone
MapQuest, Google Launch Blackberry Mobile Apps
MapQuest Launches Local Portal

Citysearch appears to be going for the jugular with its newly rebuilt site. While many sites add a little social here and a little mobile there, Citysearch is going for the three hottest trends all at once: Social, Local, Mobile.

“We rebuilt the Citysearch platform to give our users what they asked for — a new site that drills down to the hyper-local level with content for specific neighborhoods,” said Jay Herratti, CEO of Citysearch. “We also expanded our social and community tools by integrating Facebook Connect deeply into our site experience. Now users will be able to see their Facebook friends on Citysearch and share reviews and recommendations.”

This is a completely smart strategy as the economy gets tighter. Expect to see these trends grow even hotter despite the Wall Street-Capitol Hill drama.

I can see all sorts of possibilities. People are relocating or working in a different part of town. The ability to check out new local restaurants, entertainment venues, etc via their mobile and connect with people socially will be powerful.

Here’s what Citysearch is saying the new experience will be like:

– More local — Citysearch is expanding its local coverage from 140 local city guides to over 75,000 cities and neighborhoods nationwide. New geo- targeted search technology provides a truly local experience to users, allowing them to target businesses according to zip code. Citysearch also restores balance to local business coverage by providing content from three distinct voices: users, editors and merchants.

– More social — With Facebook Connect, users can log into Citysearch using their Facebook account, allowing them to discover new local businesses and share reviews with their friends online and providing a personal view of their neighborhood and favorite local spots. New social features also enable users to create profiles, more easily review businesses and infuse their opinions and unique local content into their social graph. Connectivity to more major social networks will follow in the coming months.

– More mobile — Mobile by Citysearch puts reviewing into the palm of the consumer’s hand. Key features include an interface tailored to each individual mobile device — optimizing content layout and keystrokes required to surface search results — on-the-go reviews, and mobile menus.

– More intuitive — The new interface offers a streamlined registration process, easy review writing interface, new search refinement and navigation tools. Other new features include a follow-along map with integrated content that moves as the user scrolls down the page, making it easier for users to see everything they need in one place.

What do you think of the update? Let us know in the comments.

Related Reading:
MapQuest Partners with Citysearch for Comprehensive Search Results
AOL to Distribute Citysearch Content, Ads

Google has announced that it has made LIFE Magazine Images available as an archive. The images from the iconic magazine are also available through Image Search. You can view the collection here.

So far, 20% of the total collection is online. The entire archive consists of 10 million photographs. Who are the lucky interns who get to digitize negatives, slides, glass plates, and prints?

Images can also be purchased from LIFE. You’ll see a link for that on the right hand side when viewing an image. But it won’t be cheap.

A framed 1938 photograph of Katharine Hepburn on the set of the play “The Philadelphia Story” (yes, the play not the movie) will run you $79.99.

Related Reading:
Google Adding Ads Across Its Web Properties
Google Will Bank on VisualRank - PageRank for Images

I hope that I have gotten your attention with regard to page title tags. As I mentioned before, not everyone really pays attention to these. If you just want to blog or create a web site without really focusing on SEO, then that should be just fine. However, if you have the [...]