SearchCap: The Day In Search, August 5, 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:

• Yahoo Search Launches Olympics Shortcuts
  The Yahoo Search Blog announced that they have launched their 2008 Summer Olympics Yahoo Search Shortcuts. Yahoo Search Shortcuts allow you to search for specific phrases and Yahoo will return an enhanced search listing with premium information. For example, a search for Olympics medal count returns the current standings, by…
• Vote Count Controversy: Yahoo Shareholder Wants Recount
  At last Friday’s annual Yahoo shareholder meeting, the Yahoo slate of directors was re-elected, with CEO Jerry Yang and Chariman Roy Bostock receiving 15 percent and 20 percent “no” votes. AllThingsD points out these numbers are actually better than last year, in the absence of the MicroHoo controversy and proxy…
• Bruce Clay, Inc. and Search Marketing Expo – SMX Team Up For Inaugural Search Engine Marketing Event
  Bruce Clay, Inc. will be presenting its SEOToolSet Training from October 9-10 as an expansion of Search Marketing Expo – SMX East. “SMX is one of the strongest opportunities for networking and education available in the search marketing industry,” said Bruce Clay, president and founder of Bruce Clay, Inc. “That…
• Yahoo Introduces Contextual Display Ad Targeting To RightMedia Exchange
  Yahoo has partnered with LucidMedia to bring contextual display ad targeting capabilities to the company’s RightMedia ad exchange. Advertisers will be able to contextually target display ads according to 63 vertical ad categories that RightMedia has established for the program. They include things like automotive, careers & jobs, clothing &…
• Google Loses Richard Kimber To Friendster & Yahoo Loses Adam Hyder To Jobvite
  TechCrunch is reporting that Google and Yahoo both lost two important employees. Google lost Richard Kimber, Google’s Managing Director of Sales and Operations for South East Asia, to Friendster. Yahoo lost Adam Hyder, Yahoo’s Senior Director of Engineering for its Advertising Management Platform, to Jobvite….
• Googler Asks, “Marry Me” Via Google Maps
  The Google Earth Blog reports that Googler Michael Weiss-Malik has proposed to his girlfriend, Leslie, via Google Maps. They documented everything on their new web site, MarryMeLeslie.com, but here is a picture of the proposal using an embeddable Google Map: View Larger Map…
• Google Sued For Patent Infringement Over AdSense
  Google Sued For Infringing Patent With AdSense from InformationWeek reports Google has been sued for the fourth time this year over patent infringement, this time by Daniel D. Wexler, who has a patent named Third-party on-line accounting system and method therefor. The patent was filed on October 11, 1996 and…
• The Halo Effect
  Perhaps the greatest benefits of organic SEO are the unexpected rankings a site can get by earning a top spot in the engines. This week’s infographic demonstrates how, through solid search marketing, related phrases can get ranked without additional or intentional efforts:…
• SMX East – 3 Days, 50+ Sessions
  Check out the just-posted agenda for Search Marketing Expo – SMX East and see why this event is the "must-attend" search marketing event of 2008. SMX East will be held October 6-8, 2008 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City. SMX East has sessions designed…

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Google Reader Bug Impacts Tags and Subscriptions, Search Engine Roundtable
• Google School: Philipp Lenssen’s Top Google Apps Tips, lifehacker.com
• Is Google’s PG-13 virtual world doomed to be NC-17?, The Social Path

Business Issues

• Alisher Usmanov Seeks To Acquire Stake In Yandex, Quintura blog
• Google’s Vint Cerf on Privacy, Google Blogoscoped
• Internet companies agree on China code of conduct: report, Reuters
• Microsoft May Become First Defendant In Chinese Anti-monopoly Lawsuit, ChinaTechNews.com
• Powerset Officially Part of Microsoft, Powerset Blog

Local, Maps & Mobile

• New Street Views in Australia and Japan in Google Earth and Maps, Google Earth Blog
• Google Employees Pose for Street View, Google Blogoscoped
• How Image-to-Text Could Be Used in Google Street View, Google Blogoscoped
• More streets in more places, Google LatLong
• TheFind Introduces iPhone App, Screenwerk

Link Building

• Link Macrame, Cre8PC
• Find Customers and Backlinks by Adding Your Site to Coupon Directories, Search Engine Journal
• Home Improvement Links – DoFollow Tuesdays, Link Building Best Practices
• SEO & Linkbuilding Opportunity for UK Gadget Retailers, BlogStorm

Paid Search & Contextual

• 5 tips for improving landing page relevancy – adCenter Blog for Advertisers, adcentercommunity.com
• AdWords Downtime: August 9, 10am-2pm PDT, AdWords API Blog
• Are You Bidding on the Right Keywords?, Yahoo! Search Marketing Blog
• Behind Nike’s Lawsuit Lies a Branding Story, Ad Age
• DoubleClick Serves Into Silverlight to Power Video Advertising for NBC Universal Digital Media, Google
• How to do Negative Keyword Research (Part 2), Site Visibility
• PPC Averages can Hide Incremental Nightmares, Rimm Kaufman
• Top 5 Best Practices for Microsoft Content Ads – adCenter Blog for Advertisers, adcentercommunity.com
• What Makes Google Adwords Tick? 2 More Quality Score Formulas You Need to Know: Keyword Targeted Content Ads and Placement Targeted Ads, PPC Hero

Searching

• Coder links Yahoo search, Google App Engine, News.com
• Build A Custom Search Engine Using Your Social Bookmarks, Read/Write Web
• Google News Tests One Column Of News Look, Search Engine Roundtable
• MSN IP Search, ha.ckers.org
• Thanks, Google, that’s… uhm… helpful (pic), Google Blogoscoped

SEM Industry

• The Ebook is Dead: Interview with Aaron Wall of SEOBook, American Express OPEN
• An SEO Kindness Is Link Remembered, The Link Spiel
• Are The Best SEOs Not Taking on Client Work?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Interview with Donna D. Fontenot (aka DazzlinDonna), Ideas For Women Blog
• SES Awards Finalists Announced, Search Engine Watch Blog
• Top SEO Firms Paid for by the Following…, Search Engine Watch

SEO & SEM

• Manage Risk by Including an Indemnification Clause in Your SEO Consulting Contracts, SEOmoz
• Teaching SEO that "Everyone Knows", BruceClay.com
• Google Redirects IP Specific Data Center Searches To Google.com, Search Engine Roundtable
• Local SEO : What if You Need to Target 50 Locations, Search Engine Journal
• Nailing the Coffin Shut on the "Don’t Link to External Sites" Philosophy, SEOmoz
• The Possible Google Penalties Associated With Bad 301 Redirects, Search Engine Roundtable
• Why Destination Search Engine Marketing Is So Essential, Search Engine Guide
• Why Local Search Is Where It’s At, Search Engine Guide

Social Media

• Breaking: Facebook Changes Reporting to Monthly Active Users, All Facebook
• Twitter being used to distribute malware, ZDNet

Video, Music & Image Search

• AOL Gets Social with Video, Search Engine Journal

Web Analytics

• How Semantic Ad Apps Deliver Relevance to Implicit, Explicit , Jonathan Mendez’s Blog
• Increase Web Site Conversions with the Scientific Method, Search Engine Watch

Other Items

• A Google.com Without Copyright Notice, Google Blogoscoped

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