SearchCap: The Day In Search, April 14, 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:

• Yahoo Updates Crawler: Introduces Yahoo Slurp 3.0
  Yahoo has announced the launch of their new crawler, Yahoo! Slurp 3.0. 3.0 is slowly being pushed out over the course of the “next several weeks,” including “some infrastructure updates,” Yahoo said. I suspect the recent changes we reported with the Yahoo Search Tax Day update is related to the…
• Hitwise: Google Hits New High; Microsoft & Yahoo New Lows
  Last week, Hitwise released the latest statistics for search engine share in the United States for March 2008, showing Google at an all-time high while Microsoft and Yahoo hit all-time lows….
• Multiplatform Yellow Pages Usage On the Rise
  Having just wrapped up one of our most successful Yellow Pages Association annual conferences, one thing is clear: Our industry has been able to navigate all types of business climates and has evolved to meet current and future market needs. Recent data from the 2008 Yellow Pages Association Industry…
• Google And Salesforce.com Integrate Apps To Penetrate Enterprise, Duel Microsoft
  The final quote in Miguel Helft’s NY Times article on the deepening alliance between Google and CRM software provider Salesforce.com says it all, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend, so that makes Google my best friend.” It’s attributed to Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com. Basically, in a deal…
• Yahoo Search Update: April 2008 ‘Tax’ Update
  At the Search Engine Roundtable, I reported about a Yahoo Search update that started this weekend. It appears that there are major shifts taking place in the way Yahoo Search ranks and indexes some sites. A WebmasterWorld thread has several SEOs and webmasters tracking the changes in details. We have…
• Google Australia’s Director Has Six Birthdays?
  Google execs out of sight from The Australian reports that Google Australia’s Director, Mark Tucker, has six official birthdays. According the report, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission has six different recorded birthdays for Mr. Tucker. The birthdays include January 21, 1953; January 13, 1953; January 25, 1953; January 12,…
• Secrets Of Paid Search Success From 1930s Direct Mail Wizards
  If you buy search ads to drive sales, you are a direct response advertiser. Welcome, today’s short column is for you. If you buy search to increase awareness of your brand, you’re a brand advertiser. Sorry, but this column is for the direct response gang, us red-headed step-kids of…
• Pictures From SMX Munich ‘08
  Last week we kicked off our inaugural SMX Munich event, and by all accounts it was a big success. Attendee turnout exceeded expectations, and exhibitors reported robust (and well-qualified) traffic throughout both days in the exhibit hall (and, of course, the food was a highlight, with an absolutely mouthwatering spread…

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Posting to a blog is a bit too easy, Official Google Docs Blog
• Google Notebook’s Official Guide to Bars, Official Google Notebook Blog
• Google’s GrandCentral Suffers Downtime, mashable.com
• Google Spreadsheets vulnerability exposes IE users’ Gmail, Documents and more, Netcraft

Business Issues

• Bill Clinton, China linked via his foundation, Los Angeles Times
• So long, and thanks for all the zen!, Blogger Buzz
• Yahoo Says Ad Program Still Priority Amid Google Test, Bloomberg
• AOL lands Verizon advertising deal, Reuters
• Leaving Google – ‘DigitalHobbit’ Leaves Google for Social Networking Startup, Google Watch
• New Face at Facebook Hopes To Map Out a Road to Growth, Wall Street Journal
• Pageflakes Acquired By Live Universe, TechCrunch
• Ronning Lipset Hires Former XM, Yahoo Execs, MediaPost

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Concerns Over a Future Google Street View Australia, Google Blogoscoped
• Google (Quietly) Launches Orkut For Mobile Phones, Inside Orkut
• HyperLocal Efforts Keep Going; OurTown Launches, The Local Onliner
• Advanced Photo Placement in Google Earth, Google Earth Blog
• Live Maps back in the UK: the whole sorry mess explained, LiveSide

Link Building

• Link Building on the Radio?, Link Building Best Practices

Microhoo

• Yahoo, Weighing Options, Keeps Them Open, New York Times

Paid Search & Contextual

• Meet the AdWords team in San Francisco, Inside AdWords
• Video: Customer Centric Paid Search Marketing, Rimm Kaufman
• AdWords trademark policy: agencies’ reaction, E-Consultancy
• API Live Meeting Tomorrow – - adCenter API, adcentercommunity.com
• Content Ad Campaign Keyword Strategy Revisited – Part 2, Search Engine Watch
• Possible Google AdWords Slap on April 12, 2008?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Why You Are Selling Your Keyword Research Short Because You Have a Poor Research Strategy, PPC Hero

Searching

• Powerset: Don’t call us a search engine, VentureBeat
• NexTag Adds Product Search Data, ComparisonEngines.com
• Yahoo! Shopping Homepage, ComparisonEngines.com
• ZOOMF – The UK Property Search Engine, altsearchengines.com
• GGoal : Searchers Define their Search, Search Engine Journal
• Search Engine Market Shares in Russia, Google Blogoscoped
• Yahoo Vet Aims to Make Search More Relevant, Ad Age

SEM Industry

• Search Secrets Revealed, Amazing People Met , SEOmoz
• The Entire SEO Industry: One Big Scam?, Marketmou
• Top SEO Expert Aaron Wall Speaks Out About SEO’s Bleeding Edge, Marketmou
• Day Two Recap – SMX Sydney SEO SEM Conference 2008, Neerav Bhatt
• Please don’t send me free stuff, Matt Cutts
• The Triple Threat Interview: Stuntdubl, Graywolf and Sugarrae on Independent Webmastering, SEO ROI
• Vanessa Fox Audio Interview – SEO & Web Analytics, adcentercommunity.com

SEO & SEM

• Do Domain Ages Affect Search Rankings?, SEO By The Sea
• How much traffic do your competitors generate?, Pandia
• Webmaster tips for creating accessible, crawlable sites, Official Google Webmaster Central Blog

Social Media

• MyBlogLog Hits the Streets with Bluetooth-Based User Detection, TechCrunch
• Building a Popular Social Media Profile: Seven Essential Characteristics, DoshDosh
• TwitLinks: The Techmeme of Twitter?, Read/Write Web

Video, Music & Image Search

• Site Update 4/9, YouTube
• YouTube Was Temporarily Blocked in Indonesia, Google Blogoscoped

Other Items

• Map of all Google data center locations, Royal Pingdom
• Doodle: Thai New Year and Antonio Meucci, Googlified
• Building software tools to find child victims, Official Google Blog
• Does Your Company Need a Chief Blogger?, Ad Age
• Should a CEO’s Blog need Legal Approval?, Shimon Sandler
• Video Recap of Weekly Search Buzz :: April 13, 2008, Search Engine Roundtable

Recent Hot Items From Sphinn, Our Social News Sharing Site:

• Building a Popular Social Media Profile: Seven Essential Characteristics
• What do Avatars Mean to Us
• Yahoo Search ‘Tax Day’ Update
• Top SEO Expert Aaron Wall Speaks Out About SEO’s Bleeding Edge
• Study: 80-Percent Of Searches Are Informational, 10% Are Navigational & Transactional
• The Social Media Friendship Bill of Rights (and Other Sticky Wickets)
• How a Good Title and Description Can Make or Break Your Social Media Submission
• Think Outside the Link: The Evolution of Linkbuilding
• How Search Really Works: Relevance (2) – Vector Space
• SEO Trademarker Responds: Community Standards
• Dear Twitter Spammers: You’re Doing it Wrong.
• Standards? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Standards!
• Catch the brainwaves of Melanie Nathan aka Crash and status-girl
• A Small Business Marketing Success Story: John Tuggle, Guitar Teacher
• Google Now Fills Out Forms & Crawls Results
• Local SEO’s Share Geo Location Tips From Around The World
• SEM Job Criteria of the Not So Distant Future
• Using FriendFeed to Learn the Habits of (and Spy on) Your Friends
• Tracking Twitters With Twitterholic, TwitDir, Tweeterboard & Others
• Say No to Technorati’s Forced Upgrades – Bad Information Spreads Like Wildfire
• Blended Search Results Change Searcher Behavior
• How to Create Great Header Graphics for Linkbait Pieces
• From 10000 to 0 Emails in an Inbox in 24 Hours
• Starting a Conversation: The Art of Comment Fetching