SearchCap: The Day In Search, December 14, 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:

• Think Beyond The Click: How To Build Landing Pages That Convert
  Landing pages are an important tool in any online marketing campaign. They are one of the best ways to convert web clicks into clients, and can help to maximize your online performance. Here are some tips for getting started and building an effective landing page that meets the needs…
• Back To Basics: New Column From Search Engine Land
  Our newest Search Engine Land column, Back To Basics, launches today. Back To Basics focuses on the core elements of search engine marketing, from keyword research to understanding web logs, basic search advertising techniques, and more. In today’s debut article, Julie Mason looks beyond the click to the landing…
• Search in Pictures: Google, Ask.com & Yahoo Holiday Parties, Yahoo JetBlue Plane, Google Security Scooter
  In this week’s Search In Pictures, here are the latest images culled from the web, showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have, and more….
• More High-Level Housecleaning At Yahoo; Plus, Wireless Exec Leaves Google
  AllThingsD’s Kara Swisher reports on two high level executive departures from Yahoo and about purges in the VP-heavy ranks at the company: “Next to go are VP of Media Engineering Bharath Kadaba and the higher profile Rachel Glaser, a senior vice president of operations finance.” The piece speculates that more…
• Google Shopping: Google Tries For Shoppers Once Again
  First it was Froogle. Then it was Google Product Search. Then Google recently promoted product search to its home page. And now, Google’s using “Shopping” in an apparent bid to drum up traffic. We covered earlier how Google Product Search was added to the navigation of Google. But now…
• Google AdSense To Give Publishers Access To Review Placement Targeted Ads Prior To Ad Placement
  The Google AdSense blog announced they will be rolling out the “Ad Review Center” to publishers over the course of the next few months. The Ad Review Center will give publishers the ability to review placement targeted ads before they are displayed on publisher sites. Plus, it will give publishers…
• Universal Search Comes To Google Maps — Sort Of
  In something of a whimsical post (”Confessions of a search box”), the Google LatLong Blog says that photos, YouTube videos, and book search results have been added and are now discoverable in Google Maps. The photos are from various sources, including Google-owned Panoramio and Flickr….
• Guge Vs. Google Chinese Court Hearing Begins
  Chinese Company Takes Google to Court from the AP reports the case between Guge and Google has begun this week. Beijing’s Guge Sci-Tech Co. took Google China to court for infringement over their name. Guge Sci-Tech Co. registered the name on April 19, 2006 with Beijing Municipal Industrial and Commercial…
• Should All These Searches Be Forgotten?
  The big search engines released end-of-the-year lists that intrigue and entertain. They can also remind us of the fundamentals of search user behavior. Each year when we look back at top searches, we get to see what searchers are up to and take measure the strides in human development…
• Google Knol – Google’s Play To Aggregate Knowledge Pages
  Move over Wikipedia, Yahoo Answers, Mahalo, and Squidoo. Maybe. That’s because Google’s testing its own service to let people build a repository of knowledge. In fact, knowledge forms the core of the service’s name: Google Knol. Screenshot of Google Knol page (feel free to use this and those below, just…
• Google’s Webmaster Tools Adds More Diagnostic Features & Video Sitemaps
  Today, Google’s Webmaster Tools have been updated with new diagnostic features that alert site owners to problems Google may have extracting content from pages. In addition, they’ve added Video Sitemaps. They’ve also added Hungarian and Czech to the 20 languages already supported. Below more about these features and how best…

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Access from anywhere, Official Google Enterprise Blog
• Postini looks back on 2007, Official Google Blog
• OpenID Commenting, Blogger Buzz

Business Issues

• Why Google When You Can Baidu?, The Huffington Post
• Google-DoubleClick deal hit by deleted Web page controversy, News.com
• How Silicon Valley Says ‘Sorry’, Forbes
• FTC chairman won’t recuse self in Google-DoubleClick, News.com

Conferences

• Search Insider Summit Day 1 Photos, Online Marketing Blog

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Google Maps now promoting Google Maps, Mike Blumenthal
• Google free to bid for UK broadcast spectrum, says Ofcom, The Guardian

Link Building

• Should You Buy Links? The Truth Shall Set You Free, Bob Massa
• Just A Lot Of Link Ramblin’ Man, The Link Spiel

Paid Search & Contextual

• Google Displaying Exact Address Under AdWords Search Results, Search Engine Roundtable
• What’s In A Name: The State of Typo-Squatting 2007, McAfee
• McAfee Publishes In-Depth Study on Domain Name Typos, www.dotsauce.com
• Take Back Control of Your Ad Rank in AdWords, PPC Hero

Searching

• The results are in, Official Google Blog
• Google Adds Blogs to Universal Search, PC Magazine
• Live From the Search Insider Summit: Search Changed Drastically In 2007, MediaPost
• Subscribe to Custom Search Results, Google Operating System

SEM Industry

• Best Airports To Do Search Engine Marketing In, Search Marketing Sage
• Vote for the 2007 Top Search Marketer; Help a Charity, Marketing Pilgrim
• Chris Hooley and The SEO Rascals, ShoeMoney
• Gift from Google – Flip Ultra Video Camera, Justin Davy
• PubCon Las Vegas 2007: Jill Whalen of HighRankings, WebProNews
• PubCon Las Vegas 2007: Rand Fishkin of SEOmoz, WebProNews
• Search Marketing Standard Turns Two Years Old!, Search Marketing Standard
• Top 10 Blog Posts about Sphinn in 2007, Bill Hartzer

SEO & SEM

• Competitive Search Engine Optimization, BruceClay.com
• FYI on Google Toolbar’s latest features, Official Google Webmaster Central Blog
• Google Ranking Domains with Keywords in Them Higher?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Information Credibility at a Glance: Does Your Site Look Thin Affiliate?, SEO Book
• New SEO Book Keyword Tool…3 Cheers for Wordtracker!!!, SEO Book
• Whiteboard Friday – "Hey! New Guy!", SEOmoz

Social Media

• 10 Questions to Ask Before Starting a Social Media Marketing Campaign, Marketing Pilgrim
• Open Source Media Strategies, SEO Book
• The Promise of Social Network Advertising, eMarketer

Video, Music & Image Search

• Google Pushes YouTube As An "Alternative" Way To Search for Video, TechCrunch
• How to Boost Your YouTube Subscribers : Power of Video Marketing, Search Engine Journal

Web Analytics

• Announcing new graphing tools, ga.js tracking, and six new languages, Google Analytics Blog

Other Items

• Doodle: Saint Lucia’s Day, Googlified
• Dec. 12, 2007: Microsoft Buys MultiMap, What The Heck Is Google Universal Search , Daily SearchCast
• Dec. 13, 2007: Congressman Asks For Google 101; Google Earth’s New Vans In Space , Daily SearchCast
• Did Holiday ‘07 Online Happen Early, Or Are We Yet To See A Last Minute Surge?, Rimm Kaufman

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

• It’s a Boy! Wiep Is the Proud Father of Baby Liam
• SEO Spammers: Leave Social Media Sites Alone!
• Practical Tips To Improve Your Conversion Rates
• 8 Breeds of Digg Users: When Nerds Attack on Digg.com
• Here’s Why I Won’t Quit My Link Building Job
• An Introduction to Narrowcasting: How it Benefits Your Blog or Website
• Google’s Webmaster Tools Adds More Diagnostic Features and Video Sitemaps
• Women of Internet Marketing Wednesdays: 1 Year Birthday!
• Will Google Give Up on Universal Search?
• Learning SEO The Hard Way & The Beauty Of Contrast
• Future of Search: Insight from Google, Yahoo, MSN and ASK
• 7 Ways Your Page May Be Described in the SERPs
• 10 Tips for Blogging In Non-Technical Industries
• Link Building: DIY In-House vs. Outsourced
• Worthless Meta Tags used by SEO Companies
• Penthouse invests $500 million in Social Networking Sites
• This Year in Blogs: The Definitive Posts of 2007
• Use eBay To Discover Negative Keywords
• ProBlogger: Discover Hundreds of Post Ideas for Your Blog with Mind Mapping