SearchCap: The Day In Search, Feb. 8, 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:

• Why The SEO Folks Were Mad At You, Jason
  Jason Calacanis is riled up about SEO today, telling the world that "90% of the SEO market is made up of snake oil salesman" and still confused over why the "SEO folks" were mad at him when he said "SEO is bull" during our keynote conversation at SES Chicago last…
• The State of Search Engine Marketing 2006
  Search marketing is thriving, according to SEMPO’s annual "State of Search Engine Marketing" survey, with North American advertisers spending $9.4 billion on search engine marketing in 2006, a 62% increase over 2005 spending. SEMPO collected data on spending trends on paid placement, paid inclusion, organic search engine optimization (SEO)and SEM…
• Will Google Remain ‘The Start Page For The Internet’?
  This subject is worthy of perhaps a 10,000 word New Yorker article. But this will just be a relatively short post based on some thinking following a meeting with Netvibes CEO Tariq Krim in San Francisco the other day….
• Roundup Of Feedback On Yahoo’s Panama Release
  Yahoo launched their new ad-ranking algorithm "Panama" this past Monday. Since then, I have collected feedback from the search community on the release. Here is a collection of blog posts, forum posts and opinion on Yahoo’s new quality score factor:…
• 3 Ranking Survival Tips For Google’s New Personalized Results
  The effects were subtle. The average person searching on Google probably didn’t notice. For most, the results of last Friday’s rollout of the long-tested, debated and awaited personalized search results for the masses was an entirely unremarkable event. For the search marketing industry, it was cataclysmic. In short, it’s a…
• YouTube Founders & Investors Cash In Big Time
  YouTube’s Payoff: Hundreds of Millions for the Founders at the New York Times reports that Google released some of the details of the acquisition costs for YouTube. From the US Securities & Exchange Commission filing, we learned how much the founders actually made in the deal and the VC company…
• Yahoo Pipes: Letting Non-Programmers Make Mashups & More
  Yahoo launched Yahoo Pipes, "an interactive feed aggregator and manipulator" enabling you to "create feeds that are more powerful, useful and relevant." It took me a deep read of Tim O’Reilly’s post to get an idea of what that actually meant. But since I can’t play with it myself at…
• Searchforvideo Upgrades Design, Capabilities
  Video search service Searchforvideo has launched several new features today. From the press release: Searchforvideo 4.0 introduces a new website design across several popular video categories that simplifies finding popular online video clips from the world’s most trusted video publishers. The next generation site design is intended to promote brand…
• Google Maps Sticker Spotted In London
  This Google sticker (on Flickr) was spotted in London. While it’s in some ways unremarkable and like any number of similar stickers (Michelin, Mobile Travel Guides, Citysearch, Zagat, etc.), it represents something of a shift for Google and a bit of a traditional marketing push. To my knowledge nobody has…

Search News Headlines From Elsewhere

Business Issues

• Wikipedia running out of cash?, Robert Scoble
• Google Posts North Carolina Job Openings, Marketing Pilgrim
• Mamma.com Announces Search Distribution Agreement With Yahoo! Canada, Mamma Press Release
• Miva Cutting Work Force By 20%, Search Engine Watch Blog
• Wordmap is bought, Joho The Blog
• Search Engine Wars: Ask.com Moving Up, abc7news.com
• Diller Promises Big Investments in IAC Digital Originals, ClickZ
• No Deal, Says Diller, Red Herring
• News Corp.-eBay talks slow Google-MySpace deal, San Jose Business Journal
• Google to cable operators: Let’s collaborate, ZDNet
• China’s Sina posts 15% drop in Q4 profit, Shanghai Daily
• Yahoo Prepares "Infront" Event to Upstage TV Upfront, ClickZ

Local Search

• 13 Ways to Promote your Local Business for Free, Graywolf
• Local Search Articles and Information, Graywolf
• Google Custom Local Search Database, Graywolf
• Location Prominence and Differences in Local OneBox and Google Maps, SEO By The Sea
• Beware: Competitor Hijacks Google Local Business Listing, Search Engine Roundtable
• Collections and Birdseye – the secret is out for house hunting, Windows Live Local Blog

Podcasts

• Rand Fishkin’s TV Wedding Proposal; Google To Charge For Apps? Meet Your Digg Friends & More!, Daily SearchCast
• Neil & Cameron talk with Todd Malicoat about Digg, Rush Hour
• Google Link Tool & Fox, Personalized Google, Yahoo Panama Live, PageRank, Site Explorer, Local, Poor SEO & More, Search Pulse

SEO

• Diller Sings Praises of SEO, Search Engine Watch Blog
• The Silver Lining of 3 Blackhat Marketing Concepts, Search Marketing Standard
• Historical Search Spam Patterns and Link Reciprocation, SEO Book
• CalacanisCast with SEO folks…, Jason Calacanis
• Think Like a Search Engineer, SearchDay
• "Phrase Based Re-Ranking" Algorithm To Blame for the Google 950 Penalty?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Feedback & Suggestions For Google’s Link Analysis Tool, Search Engine Roundtable
• Listing of Some Free Keyword Suggestion Tools, Search Engine Roundtable
• Measuring Search Marketing Success, Online Marketing Blog
• Five Little Known Ways To SEO For Valentine’s Day Traffic, SEO News Blog

Social Media

• Lycos Jumps Into the Social Mix, Search Engine Watch Blog
• How to: Convert Diggers, Threadwatch
• Two Ways to Market Yourself on MyBlogLog, Pronet Advertising
• 10 Reasons Diggers are like SEOs (really – don’t digg my blog), Stuntdubl
• StumbleUpon Visitors Not Identified by Analytics, eWhisper.net
• Netvibes Security Problems, Google Blogoscoped

Other Stuff

• Haiku News, Google Blogoscoped
• Missing the Little Picture, washingtonpost.com
• Nike Does Google Maps Runners Mashup, InsideGoogle
• Add Book Search results to your site, Official Google Blog
• Convert Google Gadgets to Other Widget Platforms, Official Google Blog
• Simple Web 2.0 Traffic Trends Tracker, TechCrunch
• Police use YouTube to help solve crime, The Milford Daily News