SearchCap: The Day In Search, December 24, 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:

• Real Estate Marketers And Their Dollars Shifting To The Internet
  Realtors are an interesting segment of the small business market. Quintessential small businesses (SMBs) and entrepreneurs in some respects, they’re atypical in other ways. One of them is marketing; realtors tend to be more aggressive and creative than other categories of SMBs. Accordingly, this LA Times article talks about how…
• Google Invites World To Map Holiday Photos & Videos
  The Official Google Blog (and Google LatLong Blog) announced a public map where users around the world are invited to add their holiday photos and videos. Here is the map: View Larger Map…
• Google News Adds US Elections Section
  The Google News Blog announced they have set up a special section for 2008 US presidential elections. The elections area is featured on the home page, and there is now a link to “Elections” on the left hand side navigation. In addition to the Elections section on Google News, a…
• Search Wikia Launches In 2007 With Private Beta
  Wikia Search Launches Private Beta; Public Launch On January 7 from TechCrunch has an email sent to a limited number of beta testers, announcing that Search Wikia has launched. Jimmy Wales, cofounder of Wikipedia and driving force behind Search Wikia said in the email that Search Wikia is “going to…
• Instructions On Tracking Santa With NORAD & Google: The 2007 Edition
  I’m a serious Santa Claus tracker. When I was a kid, I used to get Santa updates from NORAD (the US missile tracking people) via the radio. As an adult, I’ve long used the NORAD Tracks Santa web site to keep up with St. Nick, Father Christmas or whatever…
• From Browser To Digg Clone: The Short, Unhappy Life Of Netscape
  Netscape has been reinvented several times since its acquisition by AOL in November 1998 — and all of these efforts have essentially failed. In addition to a browser, the Netscape brand had been associated with a portal and discount dial-up ISP (and still is) before Jason Calacanis turned the site…
• Scoop: Google Responds To Rep. Joe Barton’s 24 Privacy Questions
  As we covered earlier, US Representative Joe Barton sent Google a letter with 24 questions relating to privacy — along with a week to answer them. I was annoyed that some seemed basic and already answered in a way that one of his interns could easily uncover. But Google’s now…

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• 2007 In Numbers: iGoogle Google’s Homegrown Star Performer This Year, TechCrunch
• Google’s Got Your Number, Forbes
• We’re taking a break, but you don’t have to, Official Gmail Blog
• Best New Google Features that Don’t Require Login, Google Operating System

Business Issues

• Edgeio Assets Acquired By LookSmart, TechCrunch
• Revenue Commissioners examine Google’s taxaffairs, The Irish Times
• The Google effect, The Columbus Dispatch
• IAB Says It Will Help FTC Refine Privacy Principles, and Propose Its Own in ‘08, MediaPost

Conferences

• Search Insider Summit: Mobile Search from Medio, Marketing Pilgrim
• Search Insider Summit: Widgets!, Marketing Pilgrim

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Google Maps being used for Philly fraud update, Mike Blumenthal
• Local Authoritative OneBox = I’m Feeling Lucky; or Not!, Mike Blumenthal
• The best of the blog, Google LatLong
• Google Maps now with PhotoSpammy Links?, Mike Blumenthal

Link Building

• Guest Post: Concrete Linkbait Ideas For You To Pursue, SEO Book

Paid Search & Contextual

• Shopping.com Encouraging Users to Click on AdSense Ads, ComparisonEngines.com

Searching

• Search Twitter More, Twitter Blog
• Product Clash: Sort Of Digg For Product Comparisons, TechCrunch
• Remove Your Home Phone Number , Search Engine Roundtable
• Meta Search Engines : Why Use Them? Still Important?, Search Engine Journal

SEM Industry

• 10 New Year Resolutions for an Internet Marketer, PDXTC
• A Festivus for our webmasterus, Official Google Webmaster Central Blog
• Elfed Up SEO Gurus Go Caroling, Submitawebsite
• Google UK bidding on Matt Cutts, Andrew R H Girdwood
• If I Were Marooned in the Caribbean, AIM Clear Blog
• SEOmoz’s Unusual SearchTerms from the Month of November, SEOmoz
• SearchGuild, My Favorite SEO Forum, Goes Offline, SEO Book
• Off getting hitched and seeing animals…, Jeremy Zawodny

SEO & SEM

• Do Search Engines Hate Blogs? Microsoft Explores an Algorithm to Identify Blog Pages, SEO By The Sea
• Defending Your Website Against Unjust Ranking Penalties, SEO Book
• Tracking 302 Redirects & SEO Progress, Search Engine Roundtable
• Webmaster Tools Sitelinks Show Up in Google After Four Days?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Empire Today : How to Optimize a Badly Branded Google Results Page, Search Engine Journal

Social Media

• Facebook Social Ads Need an Opt-Out, Marketers Studio
• Day 6: Gotta Digg!, Two Weeks For Kina

Video, Music & Image Search

• A very special Christmas broadcast, Official Google Blog

Other Items

• ’tis the season, Official Google Blog
• Save some energy over the holidays, Official Google Blog

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

• Experiment / Social Bookmarking
• Google Responds To Rep. Joe Barton’s 24 Privacy Questions
• SEOmoz’s Unusual SearchTerms from the Month of November
• A Three-Dimensional Approach to Organizing Your Feeds Using Google Reader
• Video: Building Links by Making Videos
• Shoutwire.com: Have you paid attention to this little gem?
• Google’s Treatment of Underscores vs Hyphens – The Confusion
• Comparing Traffic From The Big Three Search Engines
• Perez Hilton in Catfight With Google’s YouTube
• Mark Cuban’s Facebook Friend Strategy
• List of Regional Search and Interactive Marketing Associations
• Reddit Algorithm Leaked!
• If I Were Marooned in the Caribbean I’d Want These SEM Blogs
• Google Knols and Opportunity
• Watch Out! – A Worrying ‘hallmark’ Card Recieved
• How to Market SEO to Humans
• Kevin Rose Jumping Out of The Digg Boat?
• 15 Powerful Ways to Differentiate Your Blog from the Crowd
• Do Search Engines Hate Blogs? Microsoft Explores an Algorithm to Identify Blog Pages
• Getting Into MSN Live Should Not Be This Hard
• Adwords Coupons Coming Back to Haunt Google Adwords – ShoeMoney®
• 7 Evil Tactics to Conquer the World with SEO 2.0
• Why Many of the Best SEO Ideas Are Not Found on Popular SEO Blogs : SEO Book.com
• How to Hire a Dedicated Market Research Firm for $50
• 101 Ways to Monetize Your Blog Without Irritating Your Readers