SearchCap: The Day In Search, April 21, 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:

• New Yahoo! Search Weather Report
  Yahoo! Search says it’s rolling out a new search update. The note we received in advance offers the standard language: the company will be "rolling out some changes to our crawling, indexing and ranking algorithms. While we expect the update will be completed soon, as you know, throughout this process…
• Microsoft - Three Weeks or Else!
  Since Microsoft offered to buy Yahoo! for $44.6 billion, interesting times have been ours to enjoy here in the land of the search engines. On April 5 2008, Steve Ballmer stepped up the game by giving Yahoo! 3 weeks to make a decision on the 44.6 billon dollar offer or…
• Take Our 2-Minute Survey, You Could Win a Ticket to SMX Advanced
  Last Thursday we posted asking you to take our Search Engine Land audience survey. Thanks to the more than 200 of you who took the time to help us out! For everyone else, this is a quick reminder that by taking the survey you will be entered in a drawing…
• Google Opens Developer "Sandbox" For iGoogle
  iGoogle is one of the most interesting products at the search engine. Reportedly the fastest growing of Google’s offerings it’s a personal start page or dashboard, but with potential to evolve into something more. Today Google announced "a sandbox for developers that helps them build richer gadgets for iGoogle, which…
• Google Named Top Global Brand — Again
  Millward Brown, a unit of mega ad agency WPP, has named Google the world’s top brand in its annual "Top 100 Most Powerful Brands" survey (report available here). The Guardian UK also covers the study. Millward Brown calculates the ranking based on corporate earnings, consumer survey data, projected future growth…
• China Now Number One Internet Market, Surpassing US
  The Chinese Internet has surpassed the US in terms of overall users. According to BDA China (reported in USAToday) there are more than 220 million Chinese Internet users (17 percent of the population) compared with 216 in the US (71 percent). This is simply a function of the huge scale…
• Anecdotal Evidence Of AdWords Performance On Yahoo
  The AdWords Addict reports on the recent test of Google AdWords in Yahoo search results. Apparently changes were reflected equally quickly on both Google and Yahoo and performance on Yahoo (CTRs) was good, though no specifics are provided. Overall the convenience of managing both engines from a single interface is…
• comScore Explains What Happened On Paid Click Decline But Great Google Earnings
  With two reports about Google’s paid clicks being down, comScore helped fuel a perception among financial analysts that Google might under-perform in Q1. However, Google’s earnings handily beat estimates and the stock saw a 20 percent gain in a single day on Friday as investors were buoyed by Google’s results….
• "Browser Search Engine" ChunkIt Launches
  On Friday ChunkIt launched in a private beta. ChunkIt is a search download that sits on top of existing results and enables users to preview them before clicking. Relevant "chunks" of content are called out in a separate pane that splits the screen between the engine and the ChunkIt page….
• Google Gets Whois Answers In Search Results
  Looks like Google’s gained a new direct answer service, whois information for domains. Enter a query like whois searchengineland.com, and you’ll be told when the domain was registered and expires, along with a link to more information from the Domain Tools site. Here’s a screenshot:…

Search News From Around The Web:

Review Items

Applications & Portal Features

• AOL Plans Site Geared Toward Younger Women, MediaPost

Business Issues

• Traders grab Google options before expiration| Industries| Technology, Media , Reuters
• AOL To Layoff 100 Staffers Across Platform-A| paidContent.org, paidContent.org
• Blogging Software Firm SixApart Buys Social Media Agency Apperceptive, paidContent.org
• Google Isn’t The Only One, Forbes

Link Building

• economist.com PR8 backlinks for sale, David Naylor

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Google LatLong: It’s all connected, Google LatLong
• Zillow Launches "Hot or Not" for Real Estate, Screenwerk
• Magic: Visual Search Engine Coming to iPhone in June, Gizmodo
• Search for Mapped Web Pages in Google Maps, Google Operating System

Paid Search & Contextual

• adCenter API V5 Update – Setting Keyword Bid Amounts to Zero – adCenter API, Microsoft adCenter
• Getting Paid, Yahoo Publisher Network Blog

Searching

• Nice "News quote" feature, Matt Cutts
• Encyclopedia Britannica Now Free For Bloggers, TechCrunch
• An Exclusive Interview with Farrah Hamid of Hakia.com, SEOmoz
• Compare Gas Prices Online With Search Engines, Search Engine Journal

SEM Industry

• SMX Sydney, Auckland New Zealand, Some Overheard Gems , SEOmoz
• SMX Advanced: Bot Herding & Analytics Panels Need Your Help, SEOmoz
• Got Tips to Share on Buying Sites for SEO?, Stephan Spencer

SEO & SEM

• What Matt Cutts Said at Domain RoundTable 2008, John Andrews
• Lessons from the Domain Roundtable, SEOmoz
• Domains, URLs, and SEO Gotchas, Stephan Spencer

Social Media

• Suit accuses Blockbuster, Facebook of privacy law violations, Ars Technica
• My Best Explanation of Twitter, SEMpdx Blog
• Social Media Helped Us Move, SEO Wife

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

• Stumbleupon Penalizing Reciprocal Stumbling by Banning Accounts
• The Beauty of Going Deep
• 14 Things You Didn’t Know About Real SEOs
• Seattle SEO John Andrews blogs Matt Cutts at Domain Roundtable
• My Best Explanation of Twitter
• Encyclopedia Britannica Barters Free Content for Links
• Are You Following Google’s Marketing Strategy?
• Are Your Digg Buddies Holding You Back?
• Next Page Rank will Cure Cancer
• What Should Your SEO Logo Tell A Potential Customer?
• What’s Marketing? Peek Into A Marketer’s Psyche
• State of the nation – What is SEO?
• Jeff Quipp – Top Social Media Dad
• Google Gets Whois Answers In Search Results
• Official – Best Practices When Moving Your Site To Another Domain
• Dear Danny. Please Allow Us To Comment On SEL, Rather Than Forcing Us To Sphinn
• Do you want to be my Facebook Friend?? Stop Threatening Me!!
• How to Make and Spread Rumors
• Building Link Targeted Content That Works: Step 1 of 3 – Researching for Inspiration & Brainstorming for Ideas
• Q&A with Tamar Weinberg – catch her brainwaves!
• 21 Reasons Twitter Is Bulls*it