SearchCap: The Day In Search, April 29, 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:

• Google Adds Street Views To Step-By-Step Driving Directions
  The Google LatLong Blog announced that you can now see street views turn-by-turn (when available) when you are seeking out driving directions via Google Maps. For example, when driving from the Empire State Building to Times Square, you can see that Google has street views available for every turn. A…
• Twitter Wrote This Column For Me
  By now you have probably seen a bunch of talk about Twitter. And after all of this talk you might be still thinking: OK, so what the heck is Twitter really and why should I care? How is it going to help my business at the end of the…
• Yelp For Business: New Tools Allowing Local Businesses To Speak For Themselves & More
  As the phenomenon of local business ratings and reviews becomes more “institutionalized” and important, efforts are popping up to help businesses cope and/or take advantage of the trend. Merchant Circle is one business in the local space that has positioned itself as a platform for SMB “reputation management” as well…
• The Art of Opportunistic Linking
  A couple weeks back I wrote a LinkWeek column here titled “Your Site’s Manifest Linking Destiny”. At the end of that column I closed with the following thoughts……
• Google Showing Ranking Scores On AdWords?
  This morning I reported at the Search Engine Roundtable that several webmasters began noticing three values being displayed under some AdWords ads that might reveal some details on how Google may rank AdWords ads. The scores include the “Pscore,” “mCPC,” and “thresh.” Danny and I took guesses at what…
• Microsoft Live Mobile Adds Product Search, “Find My Location”
  Microsoft has introduced enhanced mobile product search, at m.live.com. It shrinks down the content from the desktop product search into a bite-sized mobile presentation. You get images, reviews, product specifications and features. These things don’t come up for every category; however it’s a very nice presentation of information, and the…
• Search Illustrated: Inside The Search Algorithm
  The Algorithm. If an SEO had a nickel for every time that phrase was mentioned in a day… Over time we’ve become more comfortable with the main triggers that affect search rankings. But, it’s leveraging the sum of all factors that can really give you an advantage over the…

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Promote your feeds and gadgets with iGoogle, Inside AdSense
• Yahoo to outsource Messenger phone calls to Jajah, Yahoo! News

Business Issues

• Google: SEC recommending action against director, Reuters
• GOOGLE ANNOUNCES AVAILABILITY OF ADDITIONAL PROXY MATERIALS, Google
• Interview With Citi Analyst Mark Mahaney On Yahoo/Microsoft/Google, TechCrunch
• Lawsuits: Google discloses ex-Pixar CFO’s legal trouble — but Disney doesn’t, Valleywag
• Yahoo! pimping malware from banner ads, The Register
• Fast Search Acquisition Completed by Microsoft, Search Engine Watch Blog

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Shaking things up, Google LatLong
• Yelp Lets Businesses Fight Back, TechCrunch

Link Building

• Auto Dealer Links – "Do Follow" Tuesday, Link Building Best Practices
• Buying 70,000 Links From Same Site Equated to "SEOicide", Search Engine Roundtable
• Google Whois Domaintools Paid Links Passing PageRank, beu blog
• The Google paid link dilemma, E-Consultancy

Microhoo

• No Break in the Standoff of Microsoft and Yahoo, New York Times
• Could Microhoo Merger Create a Search Duopoly?, Ad Age
• Why Steve Ballmer Will Keep Chasing Yahoo, New York Times

Paid Search & Contextual

• adCenter spring upgrade: campaign management updates – adCenter Advertiser, adcentercommunity.com
• API Upgrade for Editorial Validation Errors – adCenter API, adcentercommunity.com
• Is Google Putting A Hurting On Your Expectation Management With Clients?, SEM Geek
• Online Ad Network Adify Sold To Cox For $300 Million Plus Earnout, paidContent.org
• Killer Site Targeting: PPC Content Scrape , Search Engine Watch
• Google, Mobile Marketing Association Pursue Differing Ad Standards, ClickZ

Searching

• Travelgrove launches Hotel Search Engine, altsearchengines.com
• Searching for Creative Commons licensed content, Google Custom Search
• Wine search engine Snooth goes global!, altsearchengines.com

SEM Industry

• An Interview with Exalead’s Franois Bourdoncle, altsearchengines.com
• Top Search Marketing Blogs by RSS Subscribers, Online Marketing Blog

SEO & SEM

• Google Follows Nofollowed Links in SEOmoz Comments?, SEOmoz
• The Role of Outbound Links, SEOmoz
• Conducting a Redirect Audit on Your Web Site, Search Engine Watch
• Serious SQL Injection Vulnerability, Red Cardinal
• Google Updates Toolbar PageRank: April 2008, Search Engine Roundtable
• How 3 Lines of Code Can Improve Your Rankings, Search Engine Guide
• How to Analyze Page Keyword Prominence, Search Engine Journal
• Let’s Talk Landing Pages, SEOmoz
• Protecting Your Personal Brand: 4 Simple Steps, ViperChill
• Will Your Website Pass a Google Review?, SEO Book

Social Media

• OpenSocial Developer Interview: Charles Ying from Pixverse, OpenSocial API Blog
• Social Media Marketing for Small Business, Search Engine Watch Blog
• Twitter Gaining Momentum But Still Niche, Hitwise Intelligence

Video, Music & Image Search

• Google Video Categories, Google Operating System

Web Analytics

• Movin’ on up, Burning Questions
• Taking the Fear Out of Web Analytics for Your Small Business, Search Engine Watch

Other Items

• Google Lego Monster, Googlified
• Google Maps Stickers Gone Missing, Search Engine Roundtable
• Daily SearchCast, April 28, 2008: Catching Up! SMX Social Through Microhoo!, Daily SearchCast
• Daily SearchCast, April 29, 2008: Yelp Enables Business Talk Back; Mystery AdWords Scores, Daily SearchCast
• Finally, Some Good News: A New Baby for Jerry Yang!, AllThingsD

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

• Its Spring, How Clean Is Your Blog?
• Twitter: I Twink I Twove You
• SMX Social Media 2008 Recap by Michael Gray
• Adopting a Local Search Strategy for Multi National Clients
• Google Leaks Max CPC and Quality Score Variables (Pscore, mCPC and thresh)
• How to Analyze your Site with Del.icio.us
• How Keyword matching is just a little like online dating » SEO Chicks
• Twitter Wrote This Column For Me
• The Art of the “Thank You” Page
• PuzzCAPTCHA: Proving You Are Human, The Fun Way.
• Get Your Search Marketing Resume Indexed By A Recruiter
• The Role of Outbound Links
• Yahoo Answers: 11 Million Answers per Month
• 22 Essential Habits Towards Blogging Success
• Social Media Being Taught at School
• Working on Content Sharing Survey Results
• How To Make A Small Fortune With Twitter
• Guest Post by Social Media Dad, Matt McGee
• 10 reasons why Yahoo search sucks
• Muhammad Saleem on the Importance of Community
• 16 Great Ways To Approach Social Media Marketing – A Beginner’s Guide
• SMX Social: Just What Did Calacanis Say About SEO & More Recaps
• Kevin Ryan of Search Engine Strategies addresses rumors and bannings