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

From Search Engine Land:

• AOL’s Top Searches Of 2006
  Gary Price reports that AOL has released their top searches of 2006. The results are categorized by "Overall Search," "Video Search," and "People Search." Top overall search is "Weather," the top video search is "iPod" and the top people search is "Paris Hilton." You can find the results over here….
• MySpace Passes Yahoo In Page Views But Not Audience
  I’ve been waiting for comScore to publicly post figures on November 2006 traffic before pointing to the news of MySpace topping Yahoo in terms of page views. But everyone’s getting into it, so I’ll pass it along now as well….
• Revisiting Google’s 2 Percent Or Less Click Fraud Rate
  Earlier this week, we covered how MarketingPilgrim reported news widely cited as Google confirming a clickfraud rate of 2 percent or less. Via Matt Cutts, Google’s Shuman Ghosemajumder, business product manager for trust & safety, clarifies things on his own blog in Google, Click Fraud, and Invalid Clicks. Below, a look at that, along with some definitions of clicks I think will help and how the detected click fraud rate for Google might be as low as 0.2 percent of all clicks….
• Microsoft adCenter $50 Promotional Code For New Advertisers
  The folks at Microsoft adCenter sent me a promotional code for our readers here. A $50 promo code is available to all new advertisers, valid through 1/15/07. The promo code is SEL1206 and here are the terms and conditions….
• Yahoo Answers Birthday: One Year Old
  Yahoo Answers, arguably one of Yahoo’s most successful products of the year, has turned one today. Yahoo has listed The Best of Answers 2006 showing off some of the best user generated questions and answers for the year. You can get a free gift from Yahoo for their birthday over here. They give you a different gift based on your "levels." Since I am a level one, I do not get a gift. Gifts Include: Level 2: Yahoo! Answers sticker Level 3: Yahoo! Answers car magnet Level 4: Yahoo! Answers water bottle Level 5: Yahoo! Answers hat Level 6: Yahoo!…
• Yahoo Search Update; Google Data Flux & Should We Have Holiday Updates?
  Yahoo Search is currently undergoing a new index and ranking update. I first reported it at Search Engine Roundtable and then the Yahoo Search Blog posted on it saying it should be done this morning. On the Google front, there is still chatter in the forums about a possible Google update. Google’s Matt Cutts debunked the update, calling it "normal flux," but some people are skeptical. Finally, I wrote a piece at my personal blog called Should Search Engines Update Search Results During Holiday Season? about the issue of whether updates shouldn’t happen during holidays….
• Google Custom Search Engine Eases Collaboration Process
  The Google Custom Search Blog announces new features that help you communicate and collaborate with those individuals who want to help improve your Google Custom Search Engine. The improvements include: View email addresses of new and old contributors Email announcements of accepted invitations to contribute View sites each contributor added to your custom search engine…
• Google Newspaper Ads Run Again
  PPC Discussion updates us that his newspaper ad that Google is testing with him and hundreds of other advertisers is currently running now in 78 newspapers. The test run of Google Print Ads is between the dates of 11/29/06 and 12/21/06, and the ads are to be placed in newspapers such as Chicago Tribune, Boston Herald, Houston Chronicle, Miami Herald, and many others. PPC Discussions said he would share the results of the test newspaper ad run with us, so I will track it and let you know what he reports….
• IBM & Yahoo To Offer Free Enterprise Search
  IBM and Yahoo double team Google from Reuters covers how IBM and Yahoo are to offer free enterprise search to businesses. The story talks about this as a challenge to Google and others, but Google remains itself very much a challenger in the enterprise search space (see here and here). Google’s enterprise search solutions cost money, unusual for most Google products. A free IBM-Yahoo product should put pressure there, assuming the free version. I’ll update with more information from IBM and Yahoo when released. Postscript: You can find the software, IBM OmniFind Yahoo! Edition, here. Press release is below:…
• South Korea’s Portal, Daum, To Run Google AdSense
  Forbes reports that Daum, South Korea’s second largest portal, is going to be going with Google when their contract expires with Yahoo (Overture) in January. Google’s vice president of Asia Pacific and Latin America operations, Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, said "Daum is Google’s longest-standing partner in Korea, and we are pleased to build on our alliance by connecting Korean Internet users worldwide to a wealth of new content." Google and Daum previously had a relationship starting back in 2003, when Daum syndicated Google search technology….
• Google Employee Allowed To Auction Stock Options
  About Transferable Stock Options at the Official Google Blog covers how Google is now allowing most of its employees to auction off their stock options to financial institutions through a bidding process. Previously, employees could either hold their options or sell them directly themselves. The idea is that the bidding process might help employees get a better price on their shares than if they sold directly, if particular institutions wanted to pay a premium. That’s especially helpful for employees with options to purchase shares at a price higher or near some of Google’s current record level prices….
• Google Toolbar For Firefox 3.0 Adds Great Features
  Google Operating System reports that Google released a new toolbar for Firefox. The toolbar has many of the features of the Internet Explorer version but also has some features of its own. My favorite new feature is the ability to drag a file on your browser and it automatically add it to Google Docs & Spreadsheets, the supported file types include; doc, rtf, odf, sxw, cls, ods, and csv. Other features include custom buttons, a "Send To" that sends web pages via email, text message (SMS), or blog, Google Bookmarks integration and Google Account Sign-in. A full feature list can…
• Munch’s Scream As Google Logo
  I don’t normally bother mentioning Google’s special logos (I love them, but there are so many). However, I’m a big fan of the Scream by Edvard Munch. In honor of his birthday, Google is showing a Googlefied-Scream today. I can just see all those who fear Google becoming too dominant having a good time with this one. If you like Google logo stuff, be sure to see the Google Holiday Logo page, current through Oct. 31 of this year. You might also like my Google Logos At Google Kirklandplex post at my personal blog interesting. It shows some of…

Search News Headlines From Elsewhere:

• How to get on the Netscape/digg homepage–EVERY SINGLE DAY!, Jason Calacanis
• Podcast: Google Employees Allowed To Auction Options; Yahoo Answers Turns One; Yahoo & IBM Partner On Enterprise Search & More, Daily SearchCast
• Which Restaurant Review sites are used by Google Maps?, Understanding Google Maps & Local
• Evel Knievel Sues AOL, but he’ll never stop that video from circulating, Google Watch
• Newsknife names top news sites of 2006, Search Engine Watch Blog
• Podcast: SES Recap, Versioning SEO, Contact Google, Yahoo, Google, Click Fraud, Duplicate Content, AdWords, Microsoft & More, Search Pulse
• FTC Moves to Unmask Word-of-Mouth Marketing, Washington Post
• If You Can’t Tell Whether Something Is An Ad, It’s Now An FTC Violation, Publishing 2.0
• AOL Posts Top Searches For 2006, ResourceShelf
• How You’re Using AskCity, Ask.com Blog
• Sorry, But Live Isn’t Dead, Microsoft Watch
• Google Plants Solar Trees, Wired
• Keyword Phrases SEOs Should Think Twice About Before Attempting To Conquer, Search Engine Roundtable
• Yahoo! hunts brand licensees for Answers service, Brand Republic
• South Korea’s biggest Internet search engine operator NHN to enter Japan’s search market, The Age
• Ho, Ho, Ho – Holiday Shopping Search Skyrockets, Search Engine Watch Blog
• Online Influence Tied to Search, Social Media Use, ClickZ
• accoona improves its interface?, Phil Bradley
• Does Google Allow Cloaking When They Like the Site?, Google Blogoscoped
• Huge willy seen on Google Earth, Independent Online
• ABC, Yahoo extend news video content deal, Reuters
• New lessons on AdWords Editor now available, Official Google Blog, Inside Adwords
• Shopping Search, Via Mobile Phone, SearchDay
• Forward Links – Because who you link to matters, Jim Boykin
• Interview with Chris Pirillo, Search Engine Guide
• The Supernova17 Story: What Actually Transpired (Confirmed Facts), The Mu Life
• Telecom dumps Microsoft for Yahoo, National Business Review, New Zealand
• Maybe Alexa Stats Can Be Trusted After All, MarketingPilgrim
• Measure Regions With Google Planimeter, Google Blogoscoped
• Building a Kickass Firefox Sidebar, SEOmoz

Related Topics: SearchCap

About The Author: Danny Sullivan is editor-in-chief of Search Engine Land. He’s a widely cited authority on search engines and search marketing issues who has covered the space since 1996. Danny also oversees Search Engine Land’s SMX: Search Marketing Expo conference series. He maintains a personal blog called Daggle (and maintains his disclosures page there). He can be found on Facebook, Google + and microblogs on Twitter as @dannysullivan. See more articles by Danny Sullivan

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