SearchCap: The Day In Search, August 25, 2009

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

From Search Engine Land:

• The Curious Case Of Google’s Bizarre UK Search Results
  

  Results from all over the world have been appearing in Google.co.uk search results pages. Matt Cutts explained this was all good because Google wants to become more relevant and .com results might be more relevant in some cases. But UK SEO’s believe there is more. The results are in many cases not relevant at all. Is Google broken? Or is it something else?

• Google Now Using You To Provide Traffic Data To Maps
  

  Google is now using location-enabled mobile phones that have Maps for mobile installed to improve its real-time traffic data. According to the Google Blog: If you use Google Maps for mobile with GPS enabled on your phone, that’s exactly what you can do. When you choose to enable Google Maps with My Location, your phone sends [...]

• My Favorite Link Building Lie
  

  People will tell you it’s no longer possible to obtain links by asking for them via email. Spend even a little time reading the SEO/SEM blogs, forums, comments, etc., and you’ll find a reasonable and well-meaning post, something like this beauty I read over at the UK version of TechCrunch. “The days of asking a site [...]

• Yahoo Acquires Arab Portal, Bing Gets Backdoor Into Deal
  

  This morning Yahoo announced that it was acquiring Maktoob.com, “the leading online community in the Arab world.” According to Yahoo the site has an audience of 16.5 million people. The purchase price has been estimated at between $75 and $100 million and was apparently in the works before the search deal with Microsoft was announced last month. [...]

• 400 Years Ago Galileo Invented The Telescope, Thanks Google
  

  Visiting Google today, you might notice a telescope as the Google logo. If you click on the logo, you are taken to a search result on Google for Galileo’s telescope. 400 year ago today, in the year 1609, Galileo Galilei demonstrated his first telescope. The Google logo, aka Doodle, reminds us of [...]

• Swiss Govt. Not So Neutral On Google Street View
  

  Just days after it was launched, Google Street View is now under attack in Switzerland. On Friday, a Swiss privacy official issued a statement demanding that Google “immediately withdraw its online service Google Street View concerning Switzerland.” Thuer apparently did some Street View browsing of his own and felt that Google hadn’t adequately blurred license [...]

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Wikipedia Will Limit Changes on Articles About Living People, New York Times
• Confirmed: Yahoo Acquires Arab Internet Portal Maktoob, TechCrunch
• Looking for great stuff to read?, Official Google Reader Blog
• New Languages in Google Translate, Google Operating System
• Why Craigslist Is Such a Mess, Wired

Link Building

• Google it’s really about the Backlinks, David Naylor

Paid Search & Contextual

• Top 10 Reasons Why Your Ads Aren’t Showing in Google, PPC Hero
• Boost your quality score with these simple tips, econsultancy.com
• Google Advertising Professional Accounts Can Now Be Transferred, Search Engine Roundtable
• Google Fixes AdSense Channel Bug, Search Engine Roundtable

Searching

• Google Can’t Subtract?, Search Engine Roundtable
• How to Remove Redirects from Google SERPs, Search Engine Journal
• Internet Archive Requests Your Help in Preserving GeoCities Materials, ResourceShelf

SEM Industry

• SEO Training Series – First Day Wrap up, SEOmoz
• SEOmoz 2009 SEO Tips & Tricks Seminar Kicks Off, Search Engine Journal
• Video Interview with Matt Cutts: Widgetbait is Sooooo 2008, 10e20

SEO & SEM

• 2003 Called; They’d like their URL structure back, outspokenmedia.com
• Card Sorting For SEO, seoroi.com
• Creating an SEO Content Inventory, SEO By The Sea
• Did Google Just Slap Ulitzer.com?, Hobo
• Four Sentences to SEO Fame and Fortune, SEMpdx
• Project Management for SEO, SEOmoz
• Rankings Change. (Here’s How to) Deal With It!, Search Engine Guide
• Request for High Quality Images and New "Online Only" Attribute, Google Base Blog
• SEO & Print URLs, Search Engine Roundtable
• SEO Differences Between Google and Bing, Search Engine Journal
• When White Hat SEO Turns Black, SEO.com
• Why Google Webmaster tools?, Macronimous Web Blog

Video, Music & Image Search

• Hulu UK launch delayed until 2010, Telegraph
• YouTube Extends Revenue Sharing Program To Anyone With A Viral Video, TechCrunch