SearchCap: The Day In Search, December 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:

• Flickr Launches Stats: Detailed Overview
  Flickr just announced the launch of Flickr Stats for Flickr Pro accounts. Who doesn’t love stats? Now having them on my Flickr account makes me incredibly happy. Here is a detailed look at what Flickr Stats has to offer on the day it launched….
• Google Seeks To Turn College Students Into Local SEMs
  You’ve got to hand it to Google for creativity. It created the local business referral representative program to enlist stay-at-home moms, college students and others to get better data about local businesses and build AdWords awareness. (I was told by Google that the response to the program had been strong.)…
• Yahoo Adds Integrated Shortcuts For WordPress Blogs
  The Yahoo Search Blog announced a new WordPress plugin that automatically creates Yahoo Shortcuts for the words you write in a blog post. So if you mention a stock ticker, that word on your blog will typically contain a mouse-over effect that will display a Yahoo Finance chart. Or if…
• Google 2D? Google Tests Vertical Results In Right-Hand Column
  Ask 3D was the name Ask gave to the “three pane” user interface rolled out earlier this year. Now Google seems to be copying Ask, at least to the second degree, with the right-most column being used to show vertical results similar to how Ask does it. Google Blogoscoped and…
• Searcharazzi: Fathom SEO Acquisition Details
  The industry has been buzzing for awhile about private equity buyers that just might be interested in picking up some search firms. Here are the details on the acquisition of Fathom SEO by PromiseONE, a private equity buyer. Exclusive advisor Agile Equity gives these details * Fathom SEO sold to…
• Google And DoubleClick: The Saga Continues
  The relevant issues swirling around the pending acquisition of DoubleClick by Google are little understood by the public, pundits and even, it would seem, by Congress and the regulators charged with approving or disapproving the deal. Danny has written at length about the competitive implications of the deal. But privacy…
• Yahoo Local (Re)introduces Search Refinement, RSS
  When Yahoo Local redesigned in August of this year, it largely eliminated the left column of detailed filters and refinement capabilities that were one of its best features in my view. The statement from then Yahoo Local GM Jennifer Dulski (now CEO of Fatdoor) was that people weren’t really using…
• Google Dresses Up Sponsored Links With Holiday Dividers Again
  Like every year for the past three years, Google has dressed up the divider bar between the sponsored listings and the free listings with something special for specific holiday searches. For example a search on christmas displays Christmas trees as the divider, as illustrated below:…
• Live Search Maps Go To China
  According to the Windows Live Blog, Live Search Maps have launched in China. It’s probably more accurate to say “in Chinese” because you can search the entire world rather than just China. (Screenshots below.) LiveSide has more….
• Google Releases Updated AdWords Editor 5.0
  The Inside AdWords Blog announced the release of AdWords Editor 5.0, an upgrade from the 4.0 version. The new version has support for local business ads, a more advanced export filter, a save your searches feature, share your draft accounts with a draft account feature, a new splats section to…
• Learning SEO The Hard Way & The Beauty Of Contrast
  SEO strategy should be designed to provide optimal return within a given risk tolerance. If you can also plan for future changes while still having a good ROI in the current market then it makes sense to do so. But you can’t always predict how search will change. When…
• CallGenie Buys Mobile “Ad Exchange” PhoneSpots
  Voice services provider CallGenie announced the acquisition of mobile content provider and ad exchange PhoneSpots. The mostly stock transaction was valued at $5.75 million and provides a range of new client relationships and capabilities to Canada-based CallGenie….
• A Small Business Year-End Web Site Checklist
  The time of year when we make resolutions is fast approaching. I’m not much of a resolution-maker myself, but I’m going to suggest that small business owners make one. Namely, it’s a suggestion that you resolve to fix up your web site and pay attention to things you might’ve…

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Set your Google Talk picture with a webcam, Google Talkabout
• Online Accounting: The Next Killer App For Google Apps, Read/Write Web
• Google drops dates from Web Clips, Andrew R H Girdwood

Business Issues

• Google’s Pitch So Far Failing With Shoppers, CNN Money
• Opera files EU antitrust suit against Microsoft, Yahoo! News
• Toogle Many Googlers: Chris Sacca leaves Google, continues do-nothing plan, Valleywag
• Fidelity sends breach notification out to Yahoo! employees, Computerworld
• Columbia University Libraries Becomes Newest Partner in Google Book Search Library Project, www.columbia.edu
• Congressman Hollywood: It’s time to revisit the DMCA, Ars Technica
• Hakia raising $5M for semantic search, VentureBeat
• Will Google Force Time Warner to Take AOL Public? (TWX), Silicon Alley Insider

Conferences

• Highlights from the Search: 2010 Webinar, Out Of My Gord
• PubCon Wrap Up – Better Late Than Never, Sugarrae
• Search Insider Summit Day .05 Photos, Online Marketing Blog
• Search Insider Summit Day 1, Online Marketing Blog
• SES Chicago 2007: Recap Post, Karl Ribas
• SIS Opening Remarks Gord Hotchkiss, Online Marketing Blog
• SIS Session: Managing Search in an Uncertain Economy, Online Marketing Blog
• SIS Session: Will Big Agencies Ever "Get" Search?, Online Marketing Blog
• SIS Session: Leveraging Local Search on a National Basis, Online Marketing Blog

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Google takes a stab at Exchange and BES, Googling Google
• Mobile Ads: Not So Fast, BusinessWeek
• The Google Earth Outreach showcase, Google LatLong
• I Saw SkylineGlobe, Google Earth, NASA, NORAD and Others Tracking Santa Claus (3D, too!); Check Santa’s Likely Track to Your House Today, ResourceShelf
• Live Maps in China: An Interview with Vincent Tao, radar.oreilly.com

Link Building

• Link Building and Publicity with PRWeb, Stepforth
• Passing Link Juice with 301 Redirects, www.allthingssem.com
• Link Building – In-House vs. Outsourced Debate, Justilien.com

Paid Search & Contextual

• Farewell Onsite Advertiser Sign-up, Inside AdSense
• China AdSense Open Links in New Window, Google Blogoscoped
• Google Updates Look of AdWords Keyword Tool, Search Engine Roundtable
• Optimizing Paid Search , SEM Geek
• adCenter Feature Review: Improved reporting capabilities, adCenter Blog

Searching

• ShoppingVale.com, comparison shopping with a twist, Pandia
• Google Toolbar 5: Sync Your Settings and Share Your Browsing History, SEO By The Sea
• Yahoo News INTITLE Operator Not Functioning, Search Engine Roundtable
• Yamli, Transliterator to Search Arabic Pages, Google Blogoscoped

SEM Industry

• Women of Internet Marketing Wednesdays Part 30: 1 Year Birthday!, Search Marketing Gurus
• PubCon Las Vegas 2007: Brett Tabke, Founder of Webmaster World, WebProNews

SEO & SEM

• Is Google a Grinch or a good guy?, The Guardian
• Search and the Comeback Kid: Part 1, Search Engine Watch
• The Wild Wild East: Search Engine Marketing in Russia, Search Marketing Standard
• Rewriting the Beginner’s Guide: Part 4 – The Basics of Search Engine Friendly Design , SEOmoz
• Worthless Meta Tags used by SEO Companies, Search Engine Journal

Social Media

• What Social Media Isn’t – 10 Misconceptions, Search Marketing Gurus
• Wikipedia’s Wikiality Stronger Than Ever, Stepforth

Video, Music & Image Search

• Introducing the all-new Flickr Uploadr 3.0, Flickr Blog

Web Analytics

• Scoop: Google Analytics Updates – Compare Date Points, Marketing Pilgrim

Other Items

• Crash This Bash: Ask.com holiday party tonight at the Independent, Valleywag
• Free transaction processing beyond the holidays, Official Google Checkout Blog
• Yahoo! Inc. – Yahoo! Commits to Apache Software Foundation as Platinum Sponsor, Yahoo Press Releases

Last 20 Hot Items From Sphinn, Our Social News Sharing Site:

• What Social Media Isn’t – 10 Misconceptions
• How to Keep Momentum Going By Building on Previous Posts
• PageRank wrecked the web
• Deep Links, Longtail Keywords, and Why you Should Love Them Both
• The Guardian gets the wrong year for Florida?
• Top 5 SEO Client Questions…Answered
• How To Kill Procrastinsation For Good – No Kidding!
• Star Wars SEO Link Building For Padawans
• Announcing SphinnCon – Low-Impact Networking Event For Internet Marketers!
• New SEO Link Analysis Tool – Joost de Valk
• The Myth and Fallacy of Social Media
• Irony – eKstreme.com
• So what if you are a brand new business! You Need to Think About Your Reputation..
• Truth About .Edu Domains : Registration, Links and Google Juice
• Why You SHOULD use AdSense on Your Blog
• Search Illustrated: The Value Of An Inbound Link
• URLs – Human-Friendly Or Robot-Friendly?
• AdSense Testing New ‘Slider’ Ads