SearchCap: The Day In Search, February 10, 2009

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 oneSearch Shortcut Adds Auto-Location, Search Assist & More Availability
  The Yahoo Search Blog announced that Yahoo oneSearch shortcut has been improved and expanded. A new auto-locate feature will detect your location on some mobile devicesEnhanced Search Assist that incorporates the user’s recent search history was added andExpanded availability on Windows Mobile client including the latest latest Nokia and BlackBerry This service also has voice search features. To give it a try on your mobile device, go to http://m.yahoo.com/voice.
• Google Launches AdSense For Mobile Search
  Google has announced a new AdSense mobile product named AdSense for mobile search. AdSense for mobile search gives carriers and mobile publishers a quick way to simply embed a Google search box on their mobile sites. This is a lot like AdSense for Search, but the mobile version. Currently, this is a private beta so you need to fill out a form and be accepted into the beta to give it a try. Plus, this is fully hosted by Google and runs of their servers.
• Tuning Up Your Landing Pages In An Economic Downturn
  By now you have read half a dozen articles on how to recession-proof your PPC campaigns. You’ve added negative keywords, revisited your ad text, and increased budgets to capitalize in areas others have pulled out. You’ve gone back to building out long-tail keyword lists to seize some outlying traffic and perhaps you have even pushed content in an attempt to capture cheaper traffic. You’ve done it all, and for some of you…it simply hasn’t been enough. Now what? At a time where the value of visitors is so crucial, I suggest focusing on the place where you are most …
• Google Wants to Save You Money on Electricity
  As part of its efforts toward the creation of a so-called “smart grid,” Google is testing out software that will help people better manage their home electricity use and reduce energy loss and inefficiency. This software would need to be tied in to new hardware devices dubbed “smart meters.” The idea, represented in the graphic above, is that people would use the software to discover the energy inefficiencies or potential savings in their homes and would save power and money accordingly. Google says that this could result in savings of …
• Yahoo Tries To Be Google With Holiday Search Ad Bar For Valentine’s Day
  The Yahoo Search Blog announced that if you conduct a search at Yahoo on valentine’s day or other related search terms, you will see a horizontal search bar with hearts for the special day. This is something Google has done for the past few years, when it comes to the holiday season, just see our 2006, 2007 and 2008 coverage on that news, plus Google did it back in 2005, but not for Valentine’s Day. Here is a picture of what it looks like in Yahoo:…
• SMX West 2009 Day One Coverage
  SMX West is wrapping up the last of the sessions for day one right this minute. Here is some of the live blogging and coverage of the conference. Overall, there is a lot of excitement in this conference. Danny Sullivan Delivers SMX West Keynote, WebProNews Integrating Search & Offline Marketing Campaigns, BruceClay.com Keynote: Danny Sullivan, outspokenmedia.com Live Coverage of Diagnosing Web Site Architecture Issues at SMX West, Search Engine Roundtable Live Coverage of Expert Technical Review of Your Website at SMX West, Search Engine Roundtable Live Coverage of Keynote with Danny Sullivan at SMX West, Search Engine Roundtable…

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• 2008 Year-End Mozzie Award Winners, DMOZ Blog
• Feed serving and FeedBurner application outage, The FeedBurner Status Blog

Business Issues

• Analyst Proposes New Way To Do Microsoft-Yahoo Merger, paidContent.org
• David Karp Says Yahoo Is Not Buying Tumblr, Alley Insider
• Google CEO advises right wing, too–in the U.K., News.com
• Newly (Re-)Minted Microsoft–and Ex-Yahoo–Exec Scott Moore Speaks, AllThingsD by Kara Swisher
• The Russians are coming to Google’s territory, CNN Money

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Designing a mobile friendly website, Google India Blog
• Share Your Favorite Google "My Map" With Google, Search Engine Roundtable
• Source: Apple asked Google not to use multi-touch in Android, and Google complied, VentureBeat

Paid Search & Contextual

• How Often Should I Optimize My PPC?, Search Engine Journal
• What to Do When the Content Network Goes Haywire, PPC Hero
• WMQA – Proper Use of Google Matchtypes, Rimm Kaufman
• Google Bug Halts Payments to AdSense Publishers, Search Engine Roundtable
• Should Google do an AdSense for Widgets program?, JenSense
• Yahoo Slow On Sending 1099s to Publishers?, Search Engine Roundtable

Searching

• Google Testing Images In Blog Search Results?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Love is in the Air at AOL Search, AOL Search Blog
• Trackle Feeds You Personalized RSS, TechCrunch
• What Else Would You Like to See on Google Search Results Page?, Search Engine Journal

SEM Industry

• Interview of Andrew Goodman, the World’s #1 Google AdWords Expert, SEO Book
• Meet our Product Management Director and Product Evangelist at SMX West Santa Clara, Inside AdWords
• Barry Schwartz: Search Blogger of the Day, The SEO Scoop
• Is Yahoo Looking to Offer SEO Services?, WebProNews
• Searchfest 2009 Interview: Marshall Simmonds, SEMpdx Blog

SEO & SEM

• 3 Non-Obvious Things eCommerce Can Do When Rankings Implode, SEO Egghead
• 5 SEO techniques for website images, Econsultancy
• Announcing SEOmoz’s 100% Free Linkscape API & The 500 Most Linked-To Domains/Pages on the Web, SEOmoz
• Excuses, excuses: 5 debunked reasons not to do SEO, SEOptimise
• SEO Answers: How a Search Engine Ranking is Created, Stepforth
• SEO Bootcamp: Bring in the SEO Before You Build Your Site, Search Engine Guide
• SEO PR: What is it and why should you care?, Econsultancy
• The 5 Don’ts of SEO – A Quick Guide, SEO.com

Social Media

• "I like this", Facebook
• Hello, (twitter) world, Yodel Anecdotal
• Introducing Google’s new Social Web Blog, Social Web Blog
• Nothing To Report Just Yet, Twitter Blog
• Plurk attracts more Visits than Twitter in Singapore, Hitwise
• Twitter enters top 100 sites; UK traffic has trebled already in 2009, Hitwise
• Twitter to begin charging brands for commercial use, Marketing magazine
• Twitter To Start Charging Companies For Having An Account?, TechCrunch
• Winklevoss twins made $65 million on Facebook "copycat" settlement, VentureBeat

Web Analytics

• Mastering Motion Charts – Analyzing Spikes in Traffic, Google Analytics Blog

Other Items

• The cool gig at Google, CharlotteObserver.com
• The rowboat and the cloud, Official Google Blog
• Southwest brings wifi to the sky, Yodel Anecdotal

Recent Hot Items From Sphinn, Our Social News Sharing Site:

• Forrester Search Report 2009 – Agency Insights and Comparisons
• How Social Media can help Improve Search Engine Rankings
• SEMMYS: where was Europe?
• How to Disagree With Style
• The Incredible Value of an Exact Match Domain Name