SearchCap: The Day In Search, December 5, 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:

• Yahoo Search Weather Update & Support For X-Robots Tag
  The Yahoo Blog announced a weather update for Yahoo Search and that they are now support the X-Robots-Tag directive. A few days ago, I spotted a Yahoo Search update and it has now been confirmed by Yahoo. But the more important news is that Yahoo is now supporting the X-Robots-Tag…
• Google AdWords Improves Target By Location Feature With Maps
  I got a tip from Scott Edwards that Google has quietly improved the “target customers by location” feature in the AdWords console. You can see old screen captures of the multi-step process at the Search Engine Roundtable, but the new method is much more intuitive. You are given four tabs…
• Google Talk Meets AOL Instant Messager: Time Warner & Google Complete AIM Integration Deal
  Yesterday, Google announced that you can now login talk to AOL Instant Messenger uses via Google Talk, through Google Talk’s Gmail interface. Making the two instant messaging tools work together is a feature promised way back when AOL and Google formed a strategic alliance in December 2005. If you read…
• Blog Search Engine Technorati Reinvents Itself Again
  Blog search engine and news site Technorati has suffered various identity crises over the past couple of years as it seeks to fend off competition and angle toward an eventual acquistion. TechCrunch provides useful context and history for the latest re-imagining of the site as a hybrid blog and traditional…
• Nielsen Seeks To Become Video Copyright Arbiter
  Nielsen has partnered with Digimarc to digitally “watermark” or fingerprint video clips from media companies circulating on the Internet. Clips would have a unique ID and specific rules could be assigned to govern their uploading and distribution accordingly, to prevent copyright infringement….
• Google Launches New iPhone Interface
  I went to Google on my iPhone, and I saw a new interface. I then did some searches and saw that TechCrunch has a piece on it named Google Pre-Launches New iPhone Interface. Here are some pictures of the new interface from my iPhone:…
• German Pornography Site Calls Google A Porn Site Too, Urges Court To Block It
  Arcor to block Google from heise online reports Huch Medien, the operator of a erotic site Amateurstar.de, has filed in a German court to have Arcor — Germany’s second-biggest telecom company — to block Google because Google Images is showing pornographic content without an age verification test….
• Flickr Adds Picnik Web Based Image Editing Features
  The Flickr Blog announced the integration of the expected Online Photo Editing software from Picnik is now complete. Meaning, you can now edit your Flickr photos directly on the web, with a click of a button. Personally, I am very excited about this feature and hope to utilize it often….
• adCenter Add-in Beta for Excel 2007
  The adCenter blog announced they are now taking email addresses to be notified of a new plugin for adCenter. The plugin is named adCenter Add-in Beta for Excel 2007, and it allows you to “easily extract keywords from any website, quickly understand keyword popularity and trends and you can gain…
• Search Conference Coverage 2007: SES Chicago Day Two & PubCon Vegas Day One
  Today is the second day of SES Chicago, and the first day of PubCon Vegas. Here is a recap of the coverage I found for the sessions both conferences, all mixed together….

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Zoho Writer Offline: Full read-write implementation released, Google Gears API Blog
• Yahoo TechTicker To Go After CNBC Crowd, TechCrunch

Business Issues

• Google and Its Enemies, Yahoo! News
• Google’s infinite loop of diversification, smh.com.au
• Online Giants Sign New Agreement, CNN Money
• Riemer Walks From Yahoo After Besbeas Promoted, MediaPost
• Rumormonger: Google laying off contractors to cut costs, Valleywag
• The Latest Ask.com Radio Ads, Ask.com Blog
• Yahoo Interviews: Jeff Weiner, EVP & Scott Moore; SVP: Super Mass vs. Super Niche, paidContent.org

Conferences

• Oh, Vegas…, SEOmoz
• SES Chicago ‘07: Jim Maller Tech Lead for Google’s Universal Search, WebProNews
• Photos from PubCon Las Vegas – Day One, Marketing Pilgrim
• Pubcon Image Roundup Day 1, Online Marketing Blog
• Pubcon Video: Neil Patel Interview, Online Marketing Blog
• Pubcon Video: Tanya Vaughn Interview, Online Marketing Blog
• SES Chicago 07: Brad Goldberg of Microsoft, WebProNews
• SES Chicago 07: Don E. Schultz Professor at Northwestern University, WebProNews
• SES Chicago 2007 Day 2 – The Daily Search Socks, David Dalka
• SES Chicago, Day 2 Coverage, Search Engine Strategies

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Population Maps for Google Earth, Google Earth Blog

Paid Search & Contextual

• Quick Fixes to Some of PPC’s Most Common Problems: Part One, PPC Hero
• "PPC Boom Or Bust?" I Debate Edelman’s Steve Rubel, Rimm Kaufman
• A few payments announcements, Inside AdSense
• Google Brass: The Paid Search Revenue Train Won’t Stop, MediaPost
• PPC Campaign "Kick-off" Templates, Shimon Sandler
• Top 10 Holiday Survival Tips for Online Publishers, Yahoo Publisher Network Blog
• Update to the Ads Diagnostic Tool, Inside AdWords

Searching

• Poll: Is the Technorati Percolator Useful as a News Aggregator?, Read/Write Web
• How Well Do Search Engines Really Know You?, Cre8PC
• Search Result Limit Increase, Google AJAX Search API Blog
• Whose search results are you going to believe?, San Francisco Chronicle

SEM Industry

• Top 50 SEO Posts of the Year, www.evancarmichael.com
• Google 2007 Holiday Gift Arrives: 2GB USB Memory Card, Search Engine Roundtable

SEO & SEM

• 5 Free Search Engine Optimization Tools Available Online, Search Engine Journal
• Always Rank No. 1 in Google: Custom Search, Search Engine Watch
• MSNBot Reverse DNS Test Fails Requirements, Search Engine Roundtable
• The 6 Most Marketable SEO Skills, SEOptimise

Social Media

• Social Media Marketing is Similar to a Fishing Tournament, Collective Thoughts
• Using Social Media for a Good Cause, ViperChill
• Using Social Profile Pages To Your Advantage, The SEO Scoop
• Zuckerberg Lives, Is Sorry For Beacon, WebProNews

Video, Music & Image Search

• AOL Discontinuing Paid Video Download Service, Selling Videos on Amazon.com Instead, Search Engine Journal

Web Analytics

• Google Trends API coming soon, News.com
• Hitwise to launch paid and organic search tools, Search Engine Watch Blog

Other Items

• Google presents the Elections 2008 gadget, Google LatLong
• How Google Helps Index & Organize Your Room, Google Blogoscoped
• Inside the Google data center, SeattlePi

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

• 50 Top Niche Social Media Sites and the Power Accounts on Them
• LA Times Invests in Mixx, Integrates the Social News site
• MSNBot Lies In Reverse DNS Test
• A List of 61 Yahoo Directory Listed Domains that Have Expired!
• The Unfiltered Reality of SES Chicago-Boots on the Ground
• An Interview With Jason Calacanis: Kelsey ILM 07
• Google Begins Mailing Out 2007 Holiday Gift
• Cash Out: Sell Your SEM Business for the Most Money Possible
• I Love Mixx, but I’m Still a Digger
• Social Media Marketing is Similar to a Fishing Tournament
• Spring Cleaning for Your Blog (Yes, I Know it’s Winter)
• Why Pubcon Rocks!
• Google Pulls Ads for Link Buying Keywords
• SEO Is The Top Small Biz Online Marketing Tactic
• The Death of Do-Follow
• Nip Problems in the Bud with a TOS Page
• Keyword Research Strategies for Maintaining SEM Efforts
• Poll Results: What Blogging Platform Do You Use?
• MSN/Live Ponies Up About The Referrer Spam
• The Art of Personalized Search Optimization
• Who Really Clicks on Ads?
• Why Mixx Is Better Than Stumbleupon
• Stepping Outside Your Niche: How to Reach New Readers and Potential Customers
• A Guide for Liveblogging a Search Conference