Hello and welcome back to ‘7 Days of Search and Social‘. January is well and truly underway and the search world is real active! Threre were a ton of good posts from rants to humour and everything in between. As you might expect local is humming along in 2011… All in all, a great week and lot’s of good search geeking.

Let’s get it on!

Lead Story

Google Sucks and the Rise of Social

I am sure seeing a lot of chatter lately about Google’s results/algorithms sucking. Sure this is nothing new, but it is also something that get’s my back up a bit. Granted, given I am a bit of an IR geek, I can be seen as a ‘Google fan-boy’ at times, but that’s not the case. I am just fascinated by the herculean task that is organizing the world’s information.

If you can do it better, then put up or shut up

Seriously, most of the so-called advice these pundits have for Google is just plain trash. I mean they show their ignorance of search and the problems faced most times. Any self respecting web spammer can tell you they’ve actually gotten better over the years.

And now with social signals entering the mix but also changing almost weekly, this task has become immeasurably more difficult.

The next time you want to write about how crappy Google or any other search engine is, at least take the time to learn how a search engine (REALLY) works before you start spouting off like an infant who’s had their suky taken away.

Aight? Thanks…

Quick Nav Links – Talk of the Town – Geek Central – Social Search – Going Vertical – Videos – Tools – Patents –

Talk of the Town

What do we know from a single search query? – man… for once I am speachless. Good post, made me think. Go… Read…

Survey: 77% Of Americans Oppose Search Engine Regulation – Some interesting data into some of the recent grumblings about the government stepping in to regulate the engines. This does actually go beyond the US, but a story worth following.

Link Exchange Request Emails, – lol. More fun from Aaron, (SEO Book). This time he’s having some fun (and passing along a warning) with a spam email he received recently.

Quit Obsessing On Anchor Text Already – a good post by Adam (Audette) that starts with some of the ‘relevancy’ assault on Google and moves into the world of links. He questions the value of link whoring and anchor text in 2011. Enjoyed it.

Google Real Time Results, Link Operator – Rishi was having some fun playing around with Google RTS and operators last week. Any self-respecting Google hacker should at least have a quick look. One can never have enough operators I tells ya!

For Large-Scale SEO, Why Compromise Can Often Mean Failure – this one I enjoyed so much I contacted the author about coming on an upcoming session on SEO Dojo Radio. So hey, a great post and made a new friend. Perfect…

How Many Microsites are Enough? – Michael Martinez is back. This time out he’s doing a seemingly cathartic post that not only has it’s levels of agnst but teaches as well. Obviously I am geared towards content/quality approaches to SEO, thus don’t employ a lot of micro-site tactics these days. Great read (as always).

Is Blog Commenting Useless for SEO – I am also not a fan of blog commenting as anyone that knows me can attest to. That being said this post from Lyndon not only makes the case against over doing it, but also the relationship building potential. That makes it worth sharing to me.

Link building best practices: Advice from four experts – Quiz; what do you get when you ask Debra Mastaler, Julie Joyce, Kaila Strong and Matt Siltala questions about links? A damned great post that’s what. DUH. Nice stuff from the Raven (newsletter sponsor) blog.

How To Build An SEO Company Into Voltron: A Word With Wil Reynolds – Wil is a smart guy and Ross does some good stuff as well. Getting them both chattering in the same post? Definitely worth a read, (tho methinks that title is just a tad too long).

The Three R’s of Creating Great Content: Reduce, Release and Repurpose – if there’s one thing we harp on here it’s content programs. This post from Ann (Smarty) looks at some good ways to get the most from your resources.

Two Great SEO Tips for Large-Scale Ecommerce Sites – Barry Adams put out some solid tips worth checking out. I chose this one because it truth, any good advice, could likely take up an entire post on it’s own to convey. I’d rather two solid tips over a ‘list’ of 10 or more any day. Keep up the good work mate.