This post was written by Chris Copeland, CEO, GroupM Search – The Americas, and published in MediaPost’s Search Insider, Friday, February 5, 2010

This weekend, the Colts and Saints will battle to determine the king of the football hill during Super Bowl XLIV. A month into 2010, there are battle lines across the search landscape that also bear watching. These battles will shape the devices, platforms and consumer experience for this year and many to come. Here’s your quick primer of the battles, the stakes and what to watch for to determine who has the upper hand.

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The New York Times reported Tuesday that Google has stated it would stop cooperating with Chinese Internet censorship and consider shutting down its operations in the country altogether, citing assaults from hackers on its computer systems and China’s attempts to “limit free speech on the Web.”

This stance taken by Google is a bold move. 

Google has been in China since around 2006.  China has always been a challenge to penetrate for Google.  Unlike the U.S. and U.K. and many other parts of the world, Google only reaches about 30% of the Chinese market; in China, Baidu is the dominant player. All indications were that business from Google was moving forward in China, all be it perhaps more slowly.

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There was much speculation of an official Google phone to challenge the smartphone champion (iPhone) even before the launch of the first Android device, the G1.  The Nexus One was introduced this week during a private web conference lead by Google’s Vice President of Product Management, Mario Queiroz, after a month of an intense buzz across the web.  During the press conference, the audience seemed discouraged because Google was not being as aggressive with their advertising as Motorola/Verizon was with the Droid.  I felt the same way until I witnessed their impressive banner advertising push first-hand.  When “Nexus One” also made it as a trending topic on Twitter, and as one of the top searches in Yahoo, my doubts were soon demolished.

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‘Twas the week before Christmas, no time left to waste
I’d left all my shopping to last minute haste
Through the store fronts I dashed with no time to spare
In hopes the gifts on my list still would be there.

How many relatives, co-workers, friends?
How many presents to buy, wrap and send?
Overwhelmed by my tally I began my plight
“How on earth does Santa do it?” I wondered this night.

The store shelves near bare, the pickings were slim
Had I waited too long? Was the outlook now grim?
Back to my home, I flew with resolve
                          Booted up my computer to search, find, and solve.

On Google! On Yahoo! MSN, Bing and Ask!
Find “Last Minute Christmas Deals”, now this is your task!
To the top of the page, to the top of the list
What deals would I find too good to resist?

Digital camera for dad, video games for bro
Coffee maker for mom, a new phone for the beau.
Holiday gift baskets, sent pre-arranged
Desk toys for the Secret Santa Exchange.

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Google Sitelinks have recently launched in Beta for Paid Search ads.  These operate in basically the same way as Organic Sitelinks do, however, one must set them at a Campaign level versus. them automatically getting picked up by engine spiders. 

Thus far, most accounts chosen for the Beta have been enabling the links for their branded Campaigns.  Branded keywords will most likely trigger the Sitelinks versus non-branded.

An advertiser can log into their AdWords account, choose a Campaign, go to the Campaign Settings tab and post up to 10 Sitelinks.  Once the links are named and assigned landing pages, they may show along with your Paid Search ad in Google’s results.

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