SearchCap: The Day In Search, August 13, 2007

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.

From Search Engine Land:

• Eric Enge Talks Search Engine Land, Sphinn, SMX & Search Marketing With Danny Sullivan
  I mentioned last week that Eric Enge was working an interview with me as part of a series he’s been doing with various search industry people. The interview is live now, a long one that covers how Search Engine Land has been evolving, the growth and development of our Search…
• Microsoft Completes aQuantive Acquisition, Creates ‘Advertiser and Publisher Solutions’ Group
  Microsoft has officially completed the acquisition of aQuantive Inc., which includes agency Avenue A | Razorfish and the Atlas ad-serving platform. The acquisition was the largest in Microsoft’s history, valued at roughly $6 billion. The company has also simultaneously created a new group that it’s calling the “Advertiser and Publisher…
• New Debate On Search Engine Regulation
  Eric Goldman’s Technology & Marketing Law Blog features an interesting debate and discussion about whether algorithmic search results should be subject to regulation. On one side is Goldman, who says “no.” On the other are law professors Frank Pasquale and Oren Bracha who argue “yes” in a recent paper entitled…
• News.com Rates Search Engines On Privacy
  How search engines rate on privacy has a report from News.com on how the various search engines rate on privacy. On August 6th, News.com sent eight questions to AOL, Ask.com, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, based on their responses, News.com rated Ask.com the best in terms of being the most protective…
• Ask.com Goes Weird & Creepy With New UK Commercials
  The Ask.com Blog announced that they have new commercials rolling out in the UK. They call these commercials the “third stage of the campaign” which is out to promote the Ask.com brand and features. The commercials show hints of the Information Revolution message and some of their past promotions. I…
• Microsoft And ‘White Space’ Coalition To Try Again On Internet Access Plan
  A coalition of companies that includes Microsoft, Google, Intel and Dell were recently rebuffed by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in their combined effort to offer wireless Internet access on unused portions of the nation’s television airwaves, so-called “white space.” The FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) found…
• Sun’s StarOffice Added To Google Pack
  Google Pack Adds StarOffice from Google Operating System reports Google has added StarOffice, Sun’s office suite, to the Google Pack. StarOffice has a word processor, a spreadsheet tool, presentations tool, databases, math formulas and drawing tools. Typically, Sun charges $69.95 but it is free with the Google Pack. It is…
• Drop-Down Maps & Other Enhanced Data Appearing In Yahoo Hotel Search Results
  Yahoo has been building out much richer Shortcuts, rolling out new ones almost daily. Here are recent additions, sports and music, for example. Yahoo has also done this for some time with restaurant reviews (e.g., “Sushi, San Francisco”) and more recently travel (e.g., “London”). Locallytype noticed that some hotel searches…
• Google To Shut Down Video Store On August 15th
  Google Is Closing Its Video Retailing Operation from the New York Times reports that Google will be closing down their video marketplace that they opened in January 2006. BoingBoing has an email that was sent to those who have made purchases at Google Video. Part of the email reads:…
• Geolocation: Core To The Local Space And Key To Click-Fraud Detection
  Geolocation is bandied about quite a bit when discussing aspects of online marketing with location-specific components, but many are blurry as to how it works and how it’s being used, so I thought it’d be helpful to outline the basics of it, and to highlight some of the recent…
• Link Building’s Cult Of Reciprocity
  A big part of my professional life is spent teaching and training corporate clients how to become self sufficient at in-house link building and content publicity. Those readers here who have heard me speak at conferences may remember how strongly I have stated my position that to be effective…
• Last Chance – Lowest Rate on SMX Local & Mobile. Register Now!
  Rates for Search Marketing Expo – SMX Local & Mobile are going up at close of business on Wednesday. You save $200 by registering before the deadline. SMX Local & Mobile is the only event 100% focused on getting search marketers up to speed on this emerging opportunity. Register by…
• Mahalo Follow: Toolbar Gives You Human-Powered Alternatives To Searching, Surfing
  Mahalo Follow is a new toolbar that allows you to view Mahalo’s human-powered search results next to the results from the major search engine of your choice or have them appear in response to pages you view on the web. Mahalo Launches With Human-Crafted Search Results from me in May…

Search News From Around The Web:

Business Issues

• Pligg, The Open Source Digg Clone, Put Up For Sale, TechCrunch
• Yahoo Rumor Patrol: MySpace, Nope! Google? Maybe So, AllThingsD
• Microsoft expected to overhaul online ad business: report, Reuters
• Speculation on Yahoo’s Search Plans Abounds, ClickZ
• Would Yahoo Hand Over Its Paid Search Business To Google?, Techdirt
• What’s the deal with Diller?, CNN Money
• Big-name Google CEO and director cash in shares, Mercury News
• Israel’s Kontera Nails $10.3 Million Second Round From Sequoia And Others, TechCrunch
• Yahoo Paid $160K to Lobbyist in 2007, Forbes
• Yahoo Wins Again In Qihoo Lawsuit, Pacific Epoch

Conferences

• Search Engine Strategies Updates, Search Engine Watch Blog

Local, Maps & Mobile

• When Might Google Show Local Search Information in Web Search Results?, SEO By The Sea
• Google denies APEC reason for fuzzy maps, Sydney Morning Herald

Paid Search & Contextual

• Hiring an AdWords Professional, PPC Discussions
• Problems & Solutions for Google Referral Ads, Search Engine Roundtable

Searching

• Time to Look at MSN Live Search, Pronet Advertising
• Proper Testing of a Semantic Search Engine: Part-1 The Query Set, Hakia Blog
• Swoogle : An Engine for the Semantic Web, Search Engine Journal

SEM Industry

• Linkjuicy.com – A Site About Links, Search Engine Blog
• Whay would someone offer $6200 for Threadwatcher.com?, Threadwatcher.com
• Interview of Search Engine Land’s Danny Sullivan, Eric Enge
• The Barry Schwartz Effect, www.linkjuicy.com
• Danny Sullivan & The Formation of a Local SEM Organization, Search Engine Guide
• Interview: Mike Grehan, World Traveler, Online Marketing Blog

SEO & SEM

• Competitive SEO Evaluations: Individual Keyword Phrase Analysis, Search Engine Guide
• Spam A(r)chiver Gives You the Blueprints, Fantomaster
• Search Personalization, Cont’d, Traffick
• Inside the Mind of a Google Search Engineer, SEO Book
• Working Keyword Rich Copy into Product Pages, Search Engine Guide

Social Media

• Facebook Source Code Leaked, TechCrunch
• A Tour of Streamy – If Looks Could Kill (Digg), Pronet Advertising
• Driving on the Vineyard, John Battelle’s Searchblog
• You Can’t Ban ‘Em All, SEOmoz
• Yahoo Researcher Ricardo Baeza-Yates Lectures at Oxford About Social Media, ResourceShelf

Video, Music & Image Search

• Google Key to Latest ITunes Challenge, Forbes
• Republican YouTube debate postponed, News.com

Other Items

• So Is Reverse SEO Becoming the Next Megatrend?, Fantomaster

Hot Items From Sphinn, Our Social News Sharing Site:

• Pligg is For Sale
• Slap yourself with a large wet fish and stop wasting money with PPC
• How Personality Plays a Role in Link Baiting
• Interview With Neil Patel
• Facebook Source Code Leaked
• Twitter: Just another victim of the nofollow plague
• Interview of Search Engine Land’s Danny Sullivan on July 30, 2007
• Tailgating Your Competitors For Fun And Profit – a Case Study
• Advanced Link Building – An Interview With Fantomaster
• Google Wants Feedback on Removing PageRank Score
• Top 30 most WASTED Domains
• What Triggers Local Search Information to Appear in Web Search Results
• Websites Are Out. Facebook is In.
• Google Caught Selling High PageRank Text Links
• Want That Top Ad Position On Google? The Rules Are About To Change
• How To Find The Hottest Breaking Stories On Sphinn
• How a Small Winery Found Internet Fame
• If You Had 30 Minutes With Google, What Would You Ask?