SearchCap: The Day In Search, April 3, 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:

• HP Promoting T-Shirts Promoting YouTube Videos, Yahoo Nixes “The 9,” Craigslist Reaching For $100 Million, Google Grants & More
  Given that we were unwittingly ensnared by Mike Blumenthal’s authentic sounding April Fools post earlier this week, we’re being a bit more careful and reading items more closely these days. However, one article from Bloomberg that almost reads like an April Fools item discusses a novel program on Google’s YouTube…
• SMX Advanced Keynotes: Microsoft’s Kevin Johnson and Google’s Matt Cutts
  We’re very pleased that Microsoft’s Kevin Johnson and Google’s Matt Cutts will be featured presenters at Search Marketing Expo — SMX Advanced in Seattle June 3-4. You can see the full SMX Advanced agenda here or click here to register. Or, keep reading to learn more about the keynotes….
• Do You Need SEO Standards For Your Company?
  The debate on the need for SEO standards continues, with no clear industry-wide consensus. Without a doubt, however, your company should have SEO standards and guidelines that convey your company’s stance on SEO—namely, clearly spelling out acceptable practices and perhaps even more importantly, definitely drawing boundaries that cannot be…
• Video Search & Relevance: Important Bedfellows
  As I wrote in last month’s column, video offers enormous opportunity for local SMBs to market online more effectively. Admittedly, some folks differ with that point of view. For example, one commenter wrote that “although the technology exists for businesses to deploy video online, SMBs can’t compete with big…
• One Day You’re Optimized, The Next Day You’re A Spammer
  It is no secret that human review has been playing a bigger role at Google over the past couple years. And we are emotional beings… no matter how logical the guidelines may be, emotions cause human errors. But not all sites that get penalized are penalized in error. Many…
• Real Estate Search Engine Zillow Opens “Mortgage Marketplace”
  Zillow doesn’t see itself as a real estate “vertical.” Instead it regards itself as a media company that creates advertising opportunities around what is arguably the most significant “life events” purchase: buying a home. In that spirit the company is developing numerous interesting marketing vehicles aimed at consumers in all…
• Google News: Fact & Fiction Edition
  The Google News blog has an excellent post on the truths and myths of how Google News works. Here is the short version:…

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Google Gears Repositions as an Update for the Web, Google Operating System
• Introducing ‘Google Docs Guide 2′, Official Google Docs Blog

Local, Maps & Mobile

• AT&T Jumps on Board with Google’s Android, PC World
• Google Using Surrogate Web Sites?, Small Business SEM
• Adding A Business to MSN/Live Local Search, Small Business SEM
• Does Local need to be held to a higher standard? Matt McGee Responds, Mike Blumenthal
• Text images without (much) coding, Google Maps API Blog
• Android’s First Five Months, Official Google Mobile Blog
• New Greenpeace Layer in Google Earth, Google Earth Blog
• Take That, Google! MapQuest Snags OnStar Deal, GigaOM
• The 2008 Global Torch Relay, Google LatLong

Link Building

• Afraid to Link Out? Think Again, Search Engine Watch

Paid Search & Contextual

• For Some Advertisers, ‘Google Slap’ Means Plummeting Revenues, Wired
• Google Clarifies AdSense Blending & Calls Blending Ads Permissible, Search Engine Roundtable
• How To Significantly Increase Your Revenue from AdSense Referrals, Digital Inspiration
• PPC Management – A User’s Review of MSN, Stepforth
• March 2008 Google, Yahoo, Microsoft RKG Paid Search Market Share, Rimm Kaufman
• The Secret of Tracking Yahoo! Keyword Data in Google Analytics, PPC Hero

Searching

• Firefox 3 Beta 5 Sending Google Search Results Through Redirect?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Google India Brings Voice Search to Hyderabad, Digital Inspiration
• Google Turns Quoted Search Into Unquoted One If Nothing’s Found, Google Blogoscoped
• IST researchers classify Web searches in groundbreaking study, ResourceShelf

SEM Industry

• Search Marketing World 2008: Online PR & Search, Search Marketing Gurus
• Search Marketing World 2008: Chris Sherman Keynote, Search Marketing Gurus
• Search Marketing World 2008: Social Media the New Online Medium, Search Marketing Gurus
• Building your own micro-Sphinn with Yahoo Pipes, Andrew R H Girdwood
• Elite Retreat 2008 – Day 0, Scott Hendison
• Search Marketing World 2008: Blogs & Search, Search Marketing Gurus
• Search Marketing World 2008: Travel Industry & Search, Search Marketing Gurus

SEO & SEM

• Are You Building Your Personal Brand?, BruceClay.com
• JANA to CNET, You Need More SEO, Jaan Kanellis
• Features you would like in the ultimate SEO tool, BlogStorm
• Google Webmaster Tools Can’t Verify .ASIA Domain Names, Search Engine Roundtable
• IT Roadblocks? Try Some In-house SEO Training, Search Engine Watch
• What do you REALLY want, a PR 8 link or to be on the first page of search results?, Bob Massa
• Is Your SEO Firm Outsourcing Your Work?, Online Marketing Blog
• Webmasters Report April 2008 Google SERP Updates, Search Engine Roundtable

Social Media

• Yahoos in the rain, Yodel Anecdotal
• Why Twitter Will Never Reach the Mainstream, Rev2.org
• UK: Statistics: Ofcom research identifies social networking profiles (Social Net Usage in the UK), ResourceShelf

Video, Music & Image Search

• MySpace Music to launch in days: sources, Reuters

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

• Luminaries Reveal Social Media Marketing Tactics & Resources
• Managing Risk: Legal Issues for Merchants and Affiliate Marketers
• A Face In Our Crowd
• Why Some People Shouldn’t Be Allowed to Use Twitter
• How We Tweet: The Definitive List of the Top Twitter Clients
• Foundation Friending – Step 2 of the Authority Building Process
• Ask SEMpdx: In-house or Outhouse? What Criteria Should a Company Use to Decide How to Handle its Search Marketing Needs?
• 77+ Powerful WordPress Plugins
• The Downside of Starting a Blog for Money
• Event-Based SEO – Fish Where The Fish Are
• Diagnosing Site Infrastructure Issues: The Big List Of The Best Firefox Plugins
• Official Google Blog: Selling Performics Search Marketing
• Are You Building Your Personal Brand?
• You Want SEO Standards? Well, Here Ya Go!
• 3 Milestones of a Front Page Digg
• Google Selling Performics — Damn!
• The Swirling Vortex of Social Networking
• Stumpedia – Search For the People By The People
• Blog Marketing Tips Even the Professional Bloggers Won’t Share – Tip #1