SearchCap: The Day In Search, August 28, 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:

• Cool New Yahoo! Search Marketing System Enhancements
  Lately, I’ve had Yahoo! Search Marketing (Y!SM) on the brain. So, in this article, I’ve decided to outline some of the most recent enhancements to Y!SM’s new advertising platform. With the “Panama” interface, Y!SM has made it a priority to iterate and continually improve the Y!SM system (Yahoo! calls…
• ‘Google For Government’ Coming Soon?
  The Washington Post blog The Trail reports on challenges with implementing the already enacted Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act. The Act, passed last year, is intended to provide much more information to “ordinary Americans” regarding federal funding and federally funded projects via a search interface (not Google specifically). According…
• Which Social Media Sites Should You Target?
  There are hundreds, if not thousands of social media sites. Because there are so many it can be difficult to figure out which ones to target. In an ideal world you would target them all but with limited time it’s important to prioritize. If you are wondering which social…
• Google Webmaster Tools Now Supports Non-English Domains
  The Google Webmaster Central Blog announced that they now officially support adding non-English domain names to Google Webmaster Central. So if you have a domain that looks like http://北京大学.cn, you will be able to add it and very the site in Google Webmaster Tools. Now Google supports Internationalizing Domain Names…
• CNN & Google Sign Multi-Year AdSense Deal
  Google announced that CNN has partnered with them on a multi-year deal for displaying Google AdSense contextual ads on CNN.com. Under this deal, “Google will serve as the exclusive provider of auction-based text advertisements throughout CNN.com,” according to the press release. AdSense is available to both large and small publishers….
• Yahoo Asks Court To Dismiss Jailed Chinese Reporter Case
  Yahoo to Court: Dismiss Torture Case from the New York Times blog reports that Yahoo is requesting that the court dismiss the lawsuit brought by jailed Chinese reporter. Chinese reporter Shi Tao was jailed and allegedly tortured by the Chinese government after Yahoo provided evidence against the reporter to the…
• Six Simple Steps To Image Optimization
  With the advent of Google Universal Search, Ask 3D and other “blended” search services, images will increasingly be appearing in search results. If you’re not optimizing images on your web site, you’re missing out on capturing some of this increasingly valuable real-estate. Not sure how to optimize images for…

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Yahoo offers free service for teachers, ScrippsNews

Business Issues

• Another business opportunity for Google, News.com
• AOL given go ahead for Tacoda buy, E-Consultancy
• Internet groups brace for subprime fallout, Financial Times
• Patent Owner Sues the Internet, New York Times
• R.H. Donnelley and Yahoo! Local Expand Relationship, CNN Money

Conferences

• First-Timer with Yahoo! and SES San Jose, Yahoo Search Blog

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Track and explore real-time earthquakes and volcanic activity, Google LatLong

Link Building

• Paid links: A scalable solution, JLH Design
• Building Hub Links: a 5 Point Strategy Guide for Creative SEOs, Search Engine Guide
• 7 Abandoned Link Bait Titles from My Idea Pad, Tropical SEO

Paid Search & Contextual

• Survey: how do you know when your adCenter ad is live?, adCenter Blog
• SpiceWorks Raises $8 Million; Google Adsense Even Supports IT Software, Techcrunch
• AdWords Optimization Tips: More on Ad Text, Inside AdWords
• Why You Shouldn’t Use Keyword Insertion on the Content Network, SEOptimise
• adCenter Draft Import Issue To Be Fixed in September, Search Engine Roundtable
• Google Makes "Allowed Sites" AdSense Feature Available To All, Search Engine Roundtable
• Google AdWords Bait & Switch Tactic with Keyword Pricing?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Referrals reluctant to appear?, Inside AdSense
• Reminder: U.S. release of Microsoft Content Ads Beta on 8/29, adCenter Blog

Searching

• MyLiveSearch Not As Completely Useless As I Expected, Techcrunch
• So Many Reviews, So Little Time: Summize Product Review Meta Aggregation, ResourceShelf
• Searching for Better Health, Ask.com Blog
• GigaBlast Search Engine : Hand Built Algorithmic Search, Search Engine Journal
• New Version of TOXMAP Adds Search Options, ResourceShelf

SEM Industry

• 27% of the Top 100 Internet Retailers Still Missing the Boat on SEM, Search Engine Guide
• Rand on the Hotseat, SEOmoz

SEO & SEM

• GoogleBot Understands Comments, Marketing Pilgrim
• Ranking Well But Not Too Well in Search Engines, Search Engine Roundtable
• Tools of the Trade, Search Engine Watch
• Updated tools.seobook.com, SEO Book

Social Media

• Google Facebook App, Google Operating System
• Twitter and Gmail, Twitter Blog
• Change is Coming, Facebook Developers News
• New Digg Home Page Live Today, Digg the Blog
• Redesign Preview: It’s the little things…, orkut Blog

Video, Music & Image Search

• YouTube criticized in Germany over Neo-Nazi clips, news.zdnet.com
• Storm Worm Uses YouTube Ruse, PC Magazine
• Will Podcasting Survive?, Read/Write Web

Web Analytics

• Lies, Damn Lies, & SEO: Statistical Analysis of SERPs, SEO Fast Start

Other Items

• Google’s Secret Society, Forbes
• The DMOZ mob strikes again, Joost de Valk
• What Does Google’s Mating Call Sound Like?, Marketing Pilgrim

Hot Items From Sphinn, Our Social News Sharing Site:

• Which Social Media Sites Should You Target?
• How to Write Content for Search Engines (and HUMANS)
• Many parents now get domain names for kids too young to type
• How I got 133 Sphinns – John Andrews – Sphinn’s greatest hit interviewed
• SEO, Getting Through Barriers
• 5 WordPress Hosting Lessons – How to Survive the Digg Effect
• The Utopian Workplace of the Googleplex
• SEO Ethics: New York Times Is Challenged
• Reviews Can Improve Your Local Search Rankings
• Sphinn – Story URL Issues
• Lies, Damn Lies, & SEO: Statistical Analysis of SERPs
• The “New Virgin of One Way Linking”
• 4 Not so ordinary ways to attract links
• The best policy for Google’s anti-link buying and selling policy
• Why SEO’s Won’t Tell You Their Secrets and How To Get Them Anyway
• Is Matt Cutts penalized…?
• Bad Online Reputation Management
• GoDaddy claims trademark infringement for Go-Daddy domain purchased from GoDaddy
• Rating The Swag From SES San Jose 2007 – The Good, The Bad and What The?!!
• German Government Calls for Citizens to Sue Google for Sedition and Antisemitism ::
• A Guide to Link Building: Bookmarking & Social News Sites
• Shoemoney: Pulled From Dmoz For Failing To Pay Bribe Or Not?
• I Used to Respect Robert Scoble’s Opinion…
• 26 Free Tools for Buzz Monitoring
• Black SEO: Hiring a Domain Hijacker for $200 ::
• The Promise & Reality of Mixing the Social Graph with Search Engines
• Should Sphinn Ban Product “Review” Submissions?
• SEM jobs have an average salary of $77K
• Is Social Networking Just Friendship by Numbers?