SearchCap: The Day In Search, February 13, 2008

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on
Search Engine Land and from other
places across the web.

From Search Engine Land:

B2B Blogging: Using Thought Leadership To Drive Positioning & Sales
The B2B world is wrestling with how to effectively harness “word of blog” marketing—let alone the glittery new world of social media marketing. How can we use social media sites to create that viral buzz that sends awareness and sales soaring? We see what occasionally happens in the consumer…
WPP To Consolidate Search Agencies Under GroupM And Outrider Brand
Global ad agency WPP, which paid almost $650 million for 24/7 Real Media last year, will be bringing together all its search agencies under the Outrider brand and under the GroupM media division. That includes the search group at 24/7, Catalyst, Quisma and Outrider, which won Yahoo’s Searchlight Award in…
Google Opens “Doodle 4 Google” Competition For School Kids
Today Google announced the launch of the Doodle 4 Google competition. The Doodle 4 Google competition is open to K-12 students in the United States (another version has run for two years in the UK) Students are asked to design a Google Doodle using the inspiring line of “What If…?”…
Microsoft adCenter Says No To Spanish Landing Pages For US Traffic
Joe Spector wrote that when he tried designing a landing page for the Latino US market, he was rejected by Microsoft adCenter due to using Spanish on the page. Specifically, Joe created a landing page that was targeting US-based Spanish-speaking customers. We all know the Spanish-speaking market is huge in…
Google On Centerfold Of Marie Claire
Nathan Weinberg reports Google has made it big in fashion, by being the centerfold of the Marie Claire magazine. The 12 page piece was named Fashion for Work at the Google Headquarters and highlighted model Britni Standwood throughout the Googleplex. You can scan these pictures of Standwood on Google’s roof,…
Google Study: 1.3% Google Searches Return At Least One Malicious Result
Web Browsing, Search, And Online Ads Grow More Risky, Google Says from InformationWeek reports on a recent Google Study named All Your iFRAMEs Point to Us that shows 1.3% of Google searches returned at least one malicious result. Niels Provos, a security engineer at Google, lead the study that took…
Google AdWords To “Strictly Enforce” Display URL Policy
PPC Hero wrote that Google would be making changes to the AdWords display URL policy on April 1st. I asked Google for more details on this policy change and they informed me that the policy is remaining the same but starting April 1st, Google will begin “strictly enforcing” it. Last…
News Corporation A Potential Partner For Yahoo In Avoiding Microsoft, Google Interest ‘Wanes’
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., which had previously said it won’t be competing with Microsoft for Yahoo (largely because it doesn’t have that kind of cash) now emerges as a potential “white knight” in Yahoo’s struggle to a) avoid the Microsoft deal entirely or b) have a credible bargaining chip to…
Designing And Owning Your “Search Shelf Space”
Ever walk into a store to purchase something only to find it’s not there? You know what you want and you’re ready to buy, but you can’t find it. Bewildered, you paw through the shelves, searching high and low, but to no avail. Exasperated, you leave. Sound like fun?…
Third Annual Yahoo Searchlight Awards Happen Against Surreal Backdrop
As Yahoo was apparently laying off its promised 1,000 workers today I was at the Time-Life Building in New York as a panelist for the third Yahoo Searchlight Awards. I’ve had the honor to be a part of this event since its inception in 2005 and think it’s a terrific…
Updated: Yahoo Layoffs Happening Now
The expected Yahoo layoffs started a few hours ago. Two very good people I know are among those cut. No doubt we’re going to be hearing from many more. Below, a rundown on reports I’ve spotted from others on the web about the cuts. As more comes in, we’ll update…
Search Illustrated: The Value Of Search Engine Marketing
Many cases can be made for different types of effective advertising. But what makes search engine marketing stand out from the rest? Today’s inforgraphic demonstrates the mindset of the buyer and their ability to easily convert while in the medium:…
MSNbot 1.1: Live Search Implements A More Efficient Crawl
Today, Microsoft announced changes to their Live Search crawler intended to reduce bandwidth resources during the crawl of a site. MSNbot (upgraded to version 1.1) now supports both HTTP compression and conditional get. The post on the Live Search Webmaster Center blog describes each feature in detail and includes links…