Search Month: May 2008 Search News, In Review

Jun 1, 2008 at 10:19am ET by Danny Sullivan

Search Month is a monthly newsletter that recaps stories covered on Search Engine Land over the past month. It’s also available by feed here. Below, news about Search Engine Land itself, then our 10 most popular stories from May 2008, then a major story for various search topics along with other stories related to those topics since our last monthly newsletter through today.

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Search Engine Land News
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Top 10 Most Popular Stories: May 2008
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1) Playing With Live Search Cashback – Microsoft launched Live Search Cashback, and this takes you through the experience of using Cashback as a searcher. It has been a rainy week here in New York, and I figured I would start my search and shopping experience looking to buy an umbrella using Cashback.

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2) Microsoft’s Worldwide Telescope Application Blasts Onto The Desktop – Microsoft has launched (an appropriate metaphor this time) its Worldwide Telescope desktop application. You must download the software, but then you’re treated to a beautiful array of images and "guided tours" of the cosmos (see screenshots below). Intended for science education, "Worldwide Telescope stitches together terabytes of high-resolution images of celestial bodies, and displays them in a way that relates to their actual position in the sky."

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3) Powerset Launches "Understanding Engine" For Wikipedia Content – After nearly two years in the making — and plenty of hype — Powerset has finally rolled out a "natural language" search engine. It’s not a Google killer. It’s barely a business model right now. But at least it’s something the world can finally play with, and under the hood, there’s lots of potential. By the time you read this, the Powerset site should have changed into a tool that allows you search against material within Wikipedia. Why bother using Powerset rather than using Wikipedia’s own search tool or even Google set to look only within Wikipedia pages? The Powerset pitch is that you’ll get better results because Powerset’s technology has read and understood what every word within Wikipedia actually means.

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4) Google Logo: First Laser Logo – Google has a special logo up on the home page today, a laser logo. The logo links to a search results for first laser, which shows image results at the top, followed by search results from University of Chicago, Wikipedia and then Propeller.com. Why does Google have a laser logo up today? Theodore Maiman, 48 years ago – demonstrated the first laser on May 16, 1960.

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5) Twitter Beats (Wow, By 3 Minutes) The USGS With China Earthquake News – Hey, I like Twitter, but this entire thing Robert Scoble started about how Twitter had news of the Chinese earthquake before the US Geological Survey seemed absurd. Did it really? As it turns out, probably so — by about three minutes. Reading some of the accounts, you’d get the impression Twitter seemed to alert the USGS to the news. See also:

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6) Hey Microsoft: Bribing Searchers Is Fine; Frustrating Them Is Not! – I’ve got no problem if Microsoft wants to "bribe" searchers to use its search engine. Even Google has done the same. But the Live Search Cashback program rolled out today seems a pretty inept way to do it, far more likely to disappoint and frustrate than woo searchers.

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7) The Big List Of Major B2B Search Engines – Most search marketers focus on Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft. But B2B search marketers also have a growing number of vertical search options. Clicks and leads from these vertical search sites may not yield the same traffic as general search engines, but the percentage of qualified traffic and conversions can increase dramatically with leads from these specialized and vertical business-oriented engines. Here’s a roundup of the most important search sites and resources B2B search marketers should be targeting. See also:

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8) Eight Keyword Research Mistakes That Are Costing You Money – One of the reasons search marketing is so effective is that it delivers information on products and services to people who are actively seeking them out. People enter search terms into a search engine and the engine provides sites and ads that are relevant to the terms. The process of identifying keywords is wrought with pitfalls which can reduce the effectiveness of online campaigns. Here are eight common mistakes companies make in selecting keywords for their campaigns.

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9) Yahoo Glue Pages Launches In India – Yahoo has launched Glue Pages Beta in Yahoo India. Glue Pages are specialized pages that contain an enhanced visual search result page for select search queries. The search results that trigger the special "Glue Pages" run across searches in health, sports, entertainment, travel, technology, and finance categories. The Glue Pages combine classic search results on the left hand column with more visual information related to your query in the middle and right section of the page. The results contain images, videos, articles, and more. For example, a search on diabetes returns standard search results on the left, in the middle we have WebMD results, followed by HowStuffWorks.com results, then results from Yahoo Groups, Yahoo Answers, Yahoo News, and even Google Blog Search. See also:

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10) Supercharge Your URLs For Maximum SEO Impact – When optimizing URLs for high rankings, little attention is given to optimizing the URL for maximum clickthrough. Yet the URL undeniably affects searcher clickthrough rates in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). You could conclude from this that the long URL distracts the searcher from viewing the listing’s title and description. Not a great outcome.

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Ask.com
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Ask.com Buying Lexico, Owner Of Dictionary.com – In a move that is interesting and perhaps even surprising for several reasons, IAC/Ask is buying Lexico Publishing Group, which owns and operates "iconic" domains Dictionary.com, Thesaurus.com and Reference.com. These sites get most of their traffic through direct navigation and will increase Ask’s reach by 145 million unduplicated users (or 11 percent). Ask is saying this will make it the ninth most visited property online, ahead of Facebook.

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B2B
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Take Off The Blinders! Your Competitors Are Killing You, Whether You Realize It Or Not - The guy was in a panic. His ROI had been in a nose dive for the last few months, and he couldn’t figure out why. With no major changes to keywords, copy, landing pages, bids or budget, he was dumbfounded about the decline. But when I asked him what his competitors were doing, his response was telling—he looked at me like I was from another planet. Suffice it to say, he failed to see the connection. Unfortunately, he’s not alone. Many marketers fall into this trap. And this trap can be lethal to your paid search success. See also:

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Business & Revenues
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All Things D: The Search Edition – There’s a ton of search-related news and intrigue coming out of the Dow Jones "All Things D" conference in Southern California. Let’s start with the ridiculous remark from IAC’s chief Barry Diller that "Google is irrelevant to us." That’s only true if Diller doesn’t care about search revenue. Google is essentially the source of that revenue for IAC. See also:

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Business & Revenues: Microhoo!
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Microsoft And Yahoo Apparently Back At The Bargaining Table – What would Sunday afternoon/evening be lately without more intrigue in the MicroHoo drama? Today was no exception as Redmond issued a cryptic statement that says it’s offering to join forces with or acquire some of Yahoo — potentially the search business – in a deal short of the total acquisition previously contemplated. See also:

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Business & Revenues: Popularity
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Search Share Compared: Ratings Service Faceoff, June 2007 To April 2008 – With the latest search popularity stats now in from Hitwise, Nielsen, comScore, and Compete, it’s time to pit them against each other and see what they agree — and don’t agree — about in terms of search engine popularity. See also:

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Google: AdSense
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Google Enables Third Party Tracking For Content Network – Google has announced that they will now support the ability for advertisers to track their ads using third party advertising tags. This new feature is only available within Google’s content network (aka AdSense) and only available for North America based advertisers. In the past, the only way to track your impression data was to trust Google’s AdWords reports. Now, it appears you can use third party tags to track content network ad impressions and clicks. The supported and certified ad tracking tags include:

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Google: AdWords
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Google AdWords Adds Landing Page Load Time Metric To Reports Starting Mid-June – As expected, Google has announced that landing page load time will become a quality score factor in Google AdWords starting mid-June. In preparation for that launch, Google has started showing advertisers their metrics for the landing page load time for each keyword’s landing page. Here is a picture of what an okay landing page load time score would look like. See also:

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Google: Business Issues
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Fortune On Google’s Challenges: Employee Retention, Innovation, Maintaining Its Culture - There’s a famous B.B. King blues tune called "The Thrill Is Gone." I was recently on the phone with a Google employee (director level) who was expressing that very sentiment about his experience there. I was surprised to hear that from this particular individual. However, Google has seen some high profile departures and, dare I say it, "defections" to Facebook. Now Fortune takes a long look at Google in what might be called "Act 2." Where does Google Go Next?, interviews former Google employees and examines the state of all things Google, amid some indications that the company’s ability to continue unimpeded growth and maintain the excitement of its culture are under pressure.

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Google: Maps & Local
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Interview With Google’s Carter Maslan About "Mapspam" – After noticing a steady increase in the amount of mapspam (also documented by Mike Blumenthal) appearing on Google in universal search results, we decided to ask the company about the phenomenon and what measures it’s taking to combat the problem. Earlier this week I posed a series of questions to Google’s Director of Product Management for Local, Carter Maslan via email. The unedited text of his responses is below. See also:

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Google: Mobile
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Google’s CEO Talks Up Mobile Ad Opportunity, Skyfire Browser Pushes For "The Real Internet" On Mobile Devices – Google very clearly recognizes how strategic the mobile internet is both for revenue growth and the company’s future. Hence the Android mobile platform, the bidding in the 700MHz auction and all the effort Google is directing toward mobile generally. CEO Eric Schmidt repeatedly emphasizes mobile as the next big frontier and opportunity. He also points to the advent of the iPhone as a breakthrough mobile internet device. See also:

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Google: News
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Google News Now On Earth – Earlier this week, Google added Google News to Earth. This follows the earlier addition of the NY Times to Earth. Other companies plotting news on a map include MetaCarta, Everyblock, Outside.in, YourStreet and a couple of others. See also:

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Google: SEO Issues
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Yes, Truthiness Is A Credibility Factor Google Cares About – Doing A Fake Story For Linkbait? Disclose — Or Face The Wrath Of Google from last week is still a hot topic of discussion in the industry. In fact, Google’s Matt Cutts posted a more detailed explanation of why a fake story without disclosure is something, in some cases, Google cares about. Matt says, "if a site says that they completely made up a story to get links, Google doesn’t have to trust the links to that site as much." But is that about intent of the author? Does the intent have to be about influencing your search results for Google to trust you less or is it something larger? See also:

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Google: Searching
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The "Google Factory Tour": Display Ads Coming In Image Search, Google Health Live - I’m at the "Google Factory Tour," which is presenting bloggers and the press with an update on the state of search and search-related product development at Google. Apparently there are going to be some updates on Google Health later. The first announcement today, however, is about the integration of image ads (with text) in Google image search. See also:

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Google: YouTube
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YouTube Adds Search Suggestions, Demographic Stats, Google Contacts Import & More - Over the past week, YouTube has announced the addition of several features. In a recent YouTube blog post, YouTube announced the addition of search suggestions on YouTube.com, the import of your Google contacts and a new and improved notification system for video comments. Plus, the Google Blog announced the addition of demographic statistics to YouTube Insights. See also:

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In House SEM
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Why You Need To Know SEO Basics, Even If You Outsource – When you outsource SEO, you don’t outsource responsibility and accountability for getting the job done and driving more traffic. Even though you may outsource SEO completely, you really should invest the time understand SEO basics to best manage your SEO firm, your strategy and provide greater value to your SEO program. Relying entirely on an agency is not an adequate strategy, for a variety of reasons. See also:

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Link Building
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Don’t Call Me Linkbait – When use of the phrase "linkbait" first started to achieve critical mass, some dismissed it as nothing more than a fad that would be dead in a year. Some truly understood linkbait and tried to explain it while some of those who grasped it ran with it and went on to profit from it (and still do). Below, what linkbait really is and where its value lies. See also:

  • An Embarrassment Of Dead Link Riches – Sometimes link building is more difficult and painful than a root canal, and sometimes it’s so easy it happens in spite of us. It can be especially frustrating when you are trying to build links for a site that is perfectly deserving of the links you are requesting, yet your link requests are not answered or even acknowledged.

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Local Search & Maps
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EveryScape Improves, Beefs Up Community Strategy – Google and Microsoft have invested huge sums in their competitive mapping platforms. Yahoo, for its part, opted out of that arms race some time ago. But independent EveryScape is building an interesting alternative platform and destination. Today at the Where 2.0 conference, the company announced upgraded site features and a new "Ambassadors" program that augments its "scape artist" community initiative.

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Local SEM
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Small, Local Businesses Taking Economic Downturn in Stride – The economic downturn is a reality, but the specific ways that it affects businesses run the gamut based on the size and type of business. During these times, small, local businesses often feel the pinch more quickly and sharply, causing some to take evasive maneuvers to keep afloat. Based on the Yellow Pages industry’s experience, those who stick with proven advertising programs—-rather than cutting them out of their budgets-—continue to find success with generating new customers and retaining current ones.

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Microsoft: Mobile
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New Windows Live Mobile Search Ads Beta, Homepage That Emphasizes Social Networking - Microsoft this week has done a number of things in the mobile space, in addition to its introduction of the Live Search Cashback program on the desktop (which presumably will extend to mobile search/shopping). Windows Live launched a new homepage for mobile and the company introduced graphical ads and paid search for mobile.

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Microsoft: Search
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Microsoft "Cashback" Program Aims To Lure Commercial Shoppers With Rebates, Marketers With CPA Model  - Microsoft has introduced a new program called "Cashback" on Live Search. We were thoroughly briefed and are currently under embargo about some details of the program. But, as others are reporting, it’s now live and you can investigate it from a consumer experience perspective. It also has advertiser aspects and implications. It’s a pretty smart and interesting program for many reasons and when the embargo lifts later this morning we’ll have more to say about it. See also:

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Paid Search & Contextual
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Serial Clickfraud Lawsuit Firm Strikes Again, This Time At Citysearch – Click fraud lawsuit targets IAC’s Citysearch from News.com reports the law firm of Kabateck Brown Kellner is targeting IAC’s Citysearch.com for allegedly "defrauding its advertising customers of millions of dollars" by "turning a blind eye to click fraud" and actually "encouraging" the click fraud. This Los Angeles-based law firm has won suits against Google and Yahoo in the past on click fraud charges. In addition, last month it filed a new suit (Google Sued For Undesired AdSense Inclusion) against Google. See also:

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Privacy
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Internet Archive Wins Fight Against Secret FBI Request For Records – When it comes to search privacy, one of the biggest worries in my book has been the US government’s ability under the Patriot Act to make secret requests for information that no one can know about. Last year this was ruled unconstitutional by one judge. Today, news is out about the Internet Archive winning against such a request. See also:

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Search Tools
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You Can Search Techmeme – You can now search for past Techmeme articles directly on the site or at http://techmeme.com/search/. Techmeme’s founder, Gabe Rivera, announced the new feature today at his blog. He explained that the Techmeme search engine only searches full headlines on Techmeme, in reverse chronological order but not "discussions" listed under the headlines.

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Searching
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Human Hardware: The Subconscious Side of Search – In the last column, we explored some studies that indicate that conscious will might not be the cause of our actions, but instead might be just one of the effects of a motivator still undefined. Conscious will could simply be a feedback mechanism that helps us keep track of our actions and hides the degree of unconscious activity involved in our day to day activities. Conscious will allows us to keep thinking we’re rational, logical beings. See also:

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Search Marketing Industry
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Display Stumbles As Search Remains Strong – The NY Times has a wide ranging article that discusses online ad trends and the apparent weakening of the display segment, which is roughly 21 percent of online ad spending. The article discusses how marketers are looking for measurable results and concrete audiences and in that context niche networks/sites are attracting ad dollars and general portals and blind ad networks are suffering. Search remains a healthy segment because of its perceived efficiency and efficacy.

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Search Marketing Tactics
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Essential SEO Spring Cleaning For Your Website – It’s Red Sox season again in Boston. That means we’re at that meteorological intersection of winter and summer: it could very well be 80 degrees or it could snow. While most other parts of the country experience a season called spring, we get a small window of opportunity to change out the clothes in our closets and do our spring cleaning. But regardless of the weather, it’s a great time to get your “SEO house” in order. A big component of that is focusing on those keywords that have the most potential to deliver the greatest results. Below are a few tips on how to do just that. See also:

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SEO / Natural / Unpaid Search
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10 Fundamental Tips To Improve Your SEO – In my colleague Matt Lester’s recent Search Engine Land column he discussed ten tips for a more effective paid search campaign. For this article, I’ll follow up Matt’s advice with ten tips to help you develop a more effective Search engine optimization (SEO) campaign. But before we dive into the tips, let’s briefly look at what SEO is and its key concepts. See also:

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SEO: Listing Issues
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Expand Customer Relationships As Search Engines Evolve User Experience – Last week, Microsoft Live Search expanded the description that appears below Wikipedia results and added navigational links to major headings within the Wikipedia article. Below more details about the expanded Wikipedia listing, as well as on the overall trend of all the major search engines showing increased details on the results pages and what that might mean for site owners who are worried about lowered click-through rates. See also:

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Small Business
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A Small Business Marketing Success Story: Avante Gardens – There’s a battle going on in the floral industry, and many small, independent florists are losing. Like other small businesses, they don’t have the time or knowledge to keep up with the latest marketing trends and tactics. But there are other challenges, too: Way back in 1998, the FTC warned consumers about phony marketers pretending to be local florists: Petal Pushers: Is Your ‘Local’ Florist Really Long-Distance? That consumer alert refers to offline deception via phone directories; ten years later, the situation is just as bad online. This month’s small business online marketing success story is about a business owner who’s using search marketing smarts to win this battle, along with some blogging and social media thrown in. See also:

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Social Media
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Summize Gains "Local" Twitter Search Option – Summize has already turned into my preferred tool to search for what people are saying on Twitter. Now it’s gained a way to see what people are twittering about near a local area. Say I want to see what’s been happening in Newport Beach, California, in terms of Twitter activity. To do a local search, I hit the advanced search page, put [newport beach] into the Places box and got back what people in the area are saying. See also:

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Video Search
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Searching The Web For News Video – Recent data from comScore Video Metrix shows that consumers viewed 11.5 billion online videos in March of 2008, a whopping 64% gain versus March of 2007. This means that 73.7% of the US Internet population is now watching video online. While videos of pandas sneezing on YouTube make up millions of these monthly video views, consumers are also increasingly turning to the Internet to watch news video. But how are consumers finding the wealth of news video content available on the Web? And are search engines playing a major role? DoubleClick Performics, in partnership with ROI Research, recently conducted the Searching for Video News Study to gain some insight into how consumers are using search to find news, as well as if they’re getting what they’re looking for. See also:

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Yahoo: Paid Search
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More Than Half Of Yahoo’s Paid Search Clicks Come From Partners – Efficient Frontier is out with new research looking at how the major search engines get search traffic outside their own search engines, including the remarkable stat that less than half of Yahoo’s paid search clicks happen on its own search sites. See also:

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Yahoo: Searching
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Yahoo Labels Google As Malware? No, Yahoo URL Mix Up – A funny bug at Yahoo that accidently made it look like Google’s home page had Malware on it, based on the Yahoo SearchScan feature that was recently launched. A search for Astalavista at Yahoo returned what appeared to be a Google.com result in the 10th position. But in reality, Yahoo somehow mixed up the astalavista.ms URL with a Google.com URL, and since astalavista.ms had signs of Malware on it, it appeared that Google.com had malware on it. See also:

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Yahoo: SEO
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Yahoo Search May 2008 Index Update – The Yahoo Search blog posted a new weather report today. The report tells us to expect some fluctuations in the search results found at Yahoo Search. Priyank Garg & Sharad Verma of Yahoo said, that they are releasing "some changes to our crawling, indexing and ranking algorithms over the next few days." Expect some "ranking changes and page shuffling," they added. I have not seen much of any discussion from SEOs and SEMs on any Yahoo changes in the past few days.

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Fun, Weird Stuff & Other Things
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Google Announces Doodle 4 Google Winners – And the winner of the "Doodle 4 Google" competition is… Grace (Suryung) Moon, a 6th grader from Canyon Middle School in Castro Valley, California. She designed the Google logo, "Up in the Clouds," which she said, "expresses a world in the sky." The logo is now featured on Google’s home page. The national finalists include. See also:


Danny Sullivan is editor-in-chief of Search Engine Land. He’s a widely cited authority on search engines and search marketing issues who has covered the space since 1996. Danny also oversees Search Engine Land’s SMX: Search Marketing Expo conference series, maintains a personal blog called Daggle and microblogs on Twitter as @dannysullivan.

See more articles by Danny Sullivan >

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