SearchCap: The Day In Search, Feb. 21, 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:

• New Usability Changes For Microsoft adCenter Beta
  If you are an adCenter beta user, they have made some new changes to the account interface this past weekend. Most of the changes are from a usability standpoint, such as better navigation between campaigns and ad groups, the ability to import third party campaigns and remove poor performing keywords…
• Google Custom Search Engine Gets Supplemental Results
  The Google Custom Search Engine Blog announced that Google has added supplemental results to the results displayed in Google Custom Search Engines (CSE). In addition, Google has updated the FAQs to explain that the supplemental results are shown only if one of two conditions are met:…
• Pagebull - A Visual Internet Search Engine
  Pagebull is a visual search engine in the sense that it displays search results simply by visually displaying page thumbnails, highlighting the term(s) searched on. Some search options are available - limiting to particular country results (currently Any, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Spain, UK, USA) being the…
• Ask.com & LookSmart Renew AdCenter License Agreement
  Off the business wire from yesterday, Ask.com Renews AdCenter License with LookSmart. In short, Ask.com has renewed their agreement with LookSmart to license LookSmart’s “AdCenter for Publishers” through 2009. Basically, LookSmart powers Ask.com’s Sponsored Listings PPC advertising program for publishers….
• Some SEOs Suggest To Verify But Not Submit A Google Sitemap
  Google Webmaster Central is an awesome product and I personally love it. It offers ways for SEOs and Webmasters to learn more about how Google is treating their site. It also offers ways for Webmasters to notify Google of content by submitting a Google Sitemap to them. But some SEOs…
• Yahoo Japan Betting More On Web Food Delivery Business
  I always find it interesting watching how Yahoo Japan works compared to Yahoo USA. Yahoo Japan To Boost Stake In Yumenomachi Souzou-Iinkai at Forbes reports that Yahoo Japan has increased their stake in Yumenomachi, an Internet food delivery business, to almost 42% - up from a 23% stake….
• Google Desktop Hole Exposed, Fixed
  BusinessWeek reports that Google Desktop had a major defect that could have potentially enabled hackers to view personal files on a computer with Google Desktop installed. The hole was plugged February 1st, a few weeks after it was discovered by Watchfire Corp. Google says it has no evidence the vulnerability…
• Google’s YouTube & CBS Deal Caves?
  Possible YouTube deal with CBS unravels - report from Reuters cites the Wall Street Journal reporting that CBS and Google have been in discussions to form some sort of agreement over displaying CBS’s video content at YouTube. The article says the “two companies had been closing in on a multi-year…
• Google Docs and Spreadsheets Tops Web Productivity Tools
  Nielsen//NetRatings released a report [PDF] showing Google Docs and Spreadsheets have been the number one online productivity tools since October 2006. The report says that in November Google Docs and Spreadsheets “attracted 424,785 unique visitors and 432,156 unique visitors in December.” The average time per visitor has “increased somewhat, from…
• Google Images Reverts Back To Old Design
  Last month Google redesigned Image Search but it looks like Google reverted back to the old design today. Overall, many people did not like the new design and I guess Google decided to listen to those comments. Why didn’t people like it? Well it didn’t show the photo credits, the…
• MojoPages: Whole Lotta Yelp, A Little YouTube
  Even as several local search competitors have been forced to rethink or exit the space, others still see it as a big opportunity. And in fact it is, just one that’s very hard to capture. The latest contestant to enter the race is San Diego, California-based MojoPages, which I wrote…
• Mobile Search Still A Close Race
  Google may dominate in web search, but it has only a slight lead over Yahoo in mobile search users, according to new stats from research firm M:Metrics. Business Week has a good summary of the research: “Google had about 4.75 million U.S. subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2006, roughly…

Search News Headlines From Elsewhere

Business Moves:

• Google domain typos owned by chairman of Starbucks, DomainTools Blog
• Is NHL putting YouTube Sharing on Ice?, NewTeeVee
• PodZinger Appoints New VP of Advertising Sales, Broadcast Newsroom
• BBC and YouTube Deal in the Works?, Slashdot
• Yahoo Receives News Feeder Patent, SeekingAlpha
• Eurosport kicks off with Yahoo!, C21Media

Paid Search:

• Google Adwords with a private label / White label, The Googlejet fly high blog
• Technical Glitch Charges Yahoo! Advertisers 42 Times, Search Engine Roundtable
• Google Not To Include Quality Score In AdWords API, Search Engine Roundtable
• Yahoo Rich Media Snafu Appears Limited To PointRoll, MediaPost Publications
• Negative Embedded Match | The least used feature of Google AdWords, eWhisper.net
• Google Testing Italics Titles in AdSense Ads, Search Engine Roundtable
• AdWords Editor V3 to be released this week, eWhisper.net
• Google’s Gmail Does Show Thematic Ads At Top, Search Engine Roundtable
• Introducing the Retail Knowledge Center, Inside AdWords

SEO:

• Presidents Day Google Algorithm Update?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Does Google Use Click Data For Ranking Purposes?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Ask.com Patent on Optimizing Search Results Pages Based Upon User Activity, SEO by the SEA
• The Simple Mathematics Of Link Sponsor Revenue, Performancing.com
• What’s your comfort level in shades of gray?, Jim Boykin>

• The secret to #1 rankings, Link Building Blog

• The Best SEO Video Ever?, Marketing Pilgrim
• If Links Didn’t Matter…, SEO Book.com
• Paint By Numbers SEO- An Imitation of the Original Is Never as Good as the Original, Search Engine Guide

Social Stuff:

• IReader Uses Semantic Analysis to Summarize Linked Pages, Techcrunch
• How to Not Get On the Digg Homepage, Google Blogoscoped
• 5 Tips to Maximize the Distribution and Value of Your Link Bait, Search Marketing Standard Blog
• New Research Paper: Combating Spam in Tagging Systems, ResourceShelf
• Look Out MyBlogLog - Here Comes Explode, Techcrunch
• YouTube Copyright Warnings Expected Soon, theage.com.au

Podcasts:

• Daily SearchCast, Feb. 15, 2007, Daily SearchCast
• Daily SearchCast, Feb. 19, 2007, Daily SearchCast
• Daily SearchCast, Feb. 20, 2007, Daily SearchCast
• Valentines, AdWords Score, SEO Galore, AJAX, Anchor Text, Wikipedia, Yahoo, Google, & More, Search Pulse

Other Stuff:

• Google Maps Sends Health Emergencies To Wrong Location, Search Engine Roundtable
• Google’s Cerf Sees Internet Growing By Telephone, Forbes.com
• The 55 Piece Mobile Search Tool Kit, ReadWriteWeb
• Got help?, Official Google Base Blog
• Charts in Google Spreadsheet are imminent, Googling Google
• Google LBC Categories, Reuben Yau
• This is National Engineers Week, Official Google Blog
• For users of our firefox extension, del.icio.us
• Jyve Puts Users in Charge of Answering Search Queries, PC World
• Google Wizards Conjure Google News Links for Web Sites, InformationWeek
• Google Notifier tips and tidbits, Official Google Mac Blog

• GDownloadURL Update - Better Error Checking!, Google Maps API Official Blog
• Version 3 Of The Search Engine Roundtable, Search Engine Roundtable