SearchCap: The Day In Search, February 11, 2008

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.

From Search Engine Land:

• Microhoo: Divining The Probabilities
  Yahoo’s board has officially rejected Microsoft’s bid for the company, but that’s likely just a gambit to either pressure Microsoft to sweeten its bid, or stall for time while Yahoo explores other alternatives. So what’s the likelihood of Microsoft actually succeeding in its takeover attempt? There are many possible…
• Microsoft Buys Danger
  Microsoft has acquired Danger, Inc., maker of the T-mobile “Sidekick” device and the Danger operating system and platform. Danger has been hailed as highly innovative and its platform and OS pre-dates the iPhone (the company was founded in 2000). There’s a bit of an irony here in that Danger was…
• Chipmakers Demo Android Prototype Phones In Barcelona
  This week the mega mobile conference 3GSM (now formally called the GSMA Mobile World Congress) is taking place in Barcelona, Spain. And true to the pre-conference hype and speculation, several mobile chip makers are showing off Android prototype phones. (Gizmodo has a “hands-on” video with a prototype from the conference.)…
• Google: We Didn’t Censor Aboutrika’s Gaza T-Shirt Photo
  Google’s Matt Cutts has lent his personal blog to the Google Images search team so they could debunk a rumor that Google censored an image of a Egyptian football player Mohammad Aboutrika stripping off his team jersey during the African Cup Of Nations to show a "Sympathize With Gaza" T-shirt…
• The Googliest Place On Earth: Google Takes Over Disneyland
  Google Operating System has a collection of Googler posts on their recent trip to Disneyland. This year, instead of going skiing as they have traditionally done for their annual company trips, Google went to Disneyland. Googlers took over Disneyland between February 4 and 6th. In fact, Valleywag reported that Googlers…
• SEO Makes Oprah In Roundabout Way
  SEO is making it big time, hitting Oprah! Actually, it’s an SEO who will be on Oprah and not talking about his business but his personal life. Rand Fishkin is slated to share how he popped the question for his fiancee Geraldine, last year. Kim Krause posted the news of…
• Official: Yahoo Says No To Microsoft
  The weekend rumor becomes reality. Yahoo has rejected Microsoft’s offer, saying it undervalues Yahoo. From the release:…
• Google Wins Upside Down Social Security Number Privacy Lawsuit
  Eric Goldman reports Google has won the Jayne v. Google Founders lawsuit (PDF). The suit was filed by Dylan Stephen Jayne against Google for $5 billion. Jayne claimed when you turn his social security number upside down, it spelled Google. In any event, a United States court of appeals for…
• What, Exactly, Are Google AdSense “Other” Relevancy Factors?
  It’s been well established that a core—predominant, even—component of the Google AdWords quality-based bidding formula is historical CTR (clickthrough rate). New keywords get treated a bit differently, though; the algorithm must predict CTR based on the similarities of your ad group’s characteristics to historical data in Google’s vault. If…
• How To Get On Google Maps Without An Address
  One of the top issues in delivering up local search results in a map-based format is what to do with businesses which have no street address. During the SMX Local & Mobile conference back in October, Dick Larkin asked Google Earth VP Michael Jones a question about this very…
• Not So Crazy: Yahoo May Partner With AOL To Escape Microsoft
  Wondering what’s next after the news that Yahoo apparently plans to reject Microsoft’s takeover offer? The Times Of London reports Yahoo will restart merger talks with AOL. Below, more about the news along with some back history on AOL in search and why a Yahoo-AOL partnership might indeed be…
• WSJ: Yahoo Plans To Reject Microsoft’s Offer
  The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that Yahoo plans to reject Microsoft’s offer as insufficient: Yahoo’s board determined that the $31 per share offer “massively undervalues” Yahoo, the person said. It also doesn’t account for the risks Yahoo would be taking by entering into an agreement that might be…
• Live Search: There For Skiiers And Snowboarders Everywhere
  Live Search has just added Instant Answers for snow conditions at ski resorts. Type a query for a resort name (such as “whistler”) or for a resort area (such as “CO snow report”) and you’ll see information such as lift status, amount of new snow, base depth, and conditions….

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Getting started with OpenSocial, Official Google Gadgets API Blog
• Google Reader Bug Doesn’t Let You See All Friends’ Shared Items, Search Engine Roundtable
• Google Translation Gmail help people communicate, Official Google Blog
• Warning: Google Reader Congestion of Up to Five Hours, Silicon Valley Blog
• Yahoo Shelves Meebo Competitor myM, TechCrunch
• Microsoft Office Live Small Business Launches New Tools, Enhances Free Service to Help Small Businesses Sell and Market Online, Microsoft.com
• Yahoo Tech Ticker Launches Monday, NewTeeVee
• Taking stock of tech, Yodel Anecdotal

Business Issues

• CNET shares, options up on Google rumor, News.com
• Yahoo! picks Haifa site for development center, Globes Online
• Google To Acquire Stake In CNet?, TechCrunch
• Google’s Approaches for Building a Civilized Workplace, Google Blogoscoped
• Dave Morgan, AOL’s EVP-Global Advertising Strategy, Leaving For Startup World Again, paidContent.org
• Google May Get EU Approval on DoubleClick, People Say, Bloomberg
• Real estate agents sue Google for defamation in search results, Smart Company
• The 4 Biggest Threats Google Faces, SEOmoz
• Wikimedia’s 2007 Financials Posted, TechCrunch

Local, Maps & Mobile

• About Google Earth Imagery, Google Earth Blog
• F-16 Cockpit Add-on For Google Earth Flight Sim, Google Earth Blog
• Finding Places of Interest in Google Maps, Google Operating System
• Yahoo Maps Flash API’s updated to AS3, Yahoo Local & Maps Blog
• AOL Announces Open Mobile Platform, Read/Write Web
• Spreading the word about pollution in the US: MapEcos, built with GWT, Google Web Toolkit Blog
• Northern Israeli town files complaint over Google claim it was built on Arab village, International Herald Tribune
• Truly global, Google LatLong
• Samsung hopes to have Google phone early 2009, Reuters

Link Building

• Do You Vary Anchor Text in Your Search Engine Optimization Efforts?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Get more links by being a personality, SEOptimise
• How You Shouldn’t Ask for a Link, Search Engine Roundtable
• NoFollow: An SEO Red Flag?, Search Engine Journal
• Instant Link Building Software Recommendation, Scott Hendison
• Linkbait for difficult websites, SEOptimise
• Link Building and Development Mistakes, Wolf Howl

Microhoo

• Group offers to sell Yahoo shares to Microsoft, International Herald Tribune
• Facing Free Software, Microsoft Looks to Yahoo, New York Times
• Microsoft’s Colossal Strategic Mistake: "We Need to Be in Advertising", Silicon Alley Insider
• Microsoft-Yahoo: The Lawyer’s Edition!, Wall Street Journal
• What Would a Yahoo-Microsoft Merger Look Like? Part 3, Search Engine Watch
• WWMD: What Will Microsoft Do?, AllThingsD
• Mehdi’s Argument: You Need Micro-Hoo, Ad Age
• Yahoo Rejects Microsoft Bid, Leaves Room for Further Talks, Wall Street Journal
• Sorry, But $31 Does Not "Massively Undervalue" Yahoo, Silicon Alley Insider
• Yahoo’s "AOL Talks"–More Smart Smoke From Yahoo’s Advisors, Silicon Alley Insider
• Congress delays first hearing on Microsoft’s Yahoo bid, San Jose Mercury News

Paid Search & Contextual

• Protect Your Account From Phishing, Yahoo! Search Marketing Blog
• Reminder: Microsoft adCenter Team at SES London, adCenter Blog
• Google AdWords Targeting: Expect More, Pay Less, Search Engine Watch
• Lucky number ten, Inside AdSense

Searching

• The day the wiretaps go dead, CNET
• Does the World Need Another Way to Search? , GigaOM
• Google Yourself And Enjoy It, Newsweek.com
• Interesting Results from Google Blog Search, Google Operating System
• FTC Asked Again To Investigate Ask.com’s AskEraser, MediaPost
• Mythbusting the "Google generation" report, Jon Udell
• Promoting useful information and web pages, Google Custom Search
• Digital book projects at University of California, Mercury News
• Creating Firefox Quick Search Bookmarks, Sugarrae
• HarperCollins Will Post Free Books on the Web, New York Times
• Sanity check: Can Mahalo save us from Google, Digg, and Wikipedia?, TechRepublic.com
• How to use Google’s calculator: convert to hexadecimal, binary, and decimal, Matt Cutts
• Danny Sullivan and Eric Enge Chat About the Evolving Search Market, Stone Temple

SEM Industry

• Search Engine Marketing Goes Gangsta, Jordan Kasteler
• SEMpdx Searchfest 08 Audience Mini-Interview: Adam Audette, SEMpdx
• What an SEO weekend looks like, Search Engine People
• How Many Internet Marketers Does It Take To Change A Light Bulb?, Hubspot.com
• AltSearchEngines Launches Forum, Read/Write Web
• Hundreds of SEO Interviews, The SEO Scoop
• An Interview with Danny Sullivan on SMX West , SEOmoz

SEO & SEM

• A google horror story: what happens when you are disappeared, Zephoria.org
• Does Google Automatically Index New Blogspot and WordPress Blogs?, Search Engine Roundtable
• How Brand Associations Help to Promote Your Website or Business, DoshDosh
• Scraping 101: Extracting Anchor Text with Regexp, Half’s SEO Notebook
• How Can I Lower My Google Rankings? Keyword Stuff, Link Spam , Search Engine Roundtable
• The Art of Competitor Analysis Discussed on WebmasterRadio.fm, Stepforth
• Verifying a googlepages site for Google Webmaster Tools, JLH Design
• Does Flash SEO still suck?, Tim Nash UK SEO Blog
• Your Brand Size Matters with Big Site SEO – Why Big is the new Blackhat – Intent, Extent, and Semantics, Stuntdubl
• Moving content with JavaScript , BlogStorm
• Age Factor in Google Hurting the SERPs, Irishwonder
• Meet The Google Fresh Content Blog "Penalty", Hobo SEO UK
• Does Google Prevent Some Sites from Displaying Fresh Content?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Free Google Booklet, beu blog
• WordPress.com and SEO Blogs – Love or Hate?, Online Marketing Blog
• Yahoo Phrase Based Indexing in a Nutshell, SEO By The Sea

Social Media

• Sniff browser history for improved user experience, Niall Kennedy
• Part One: What Is Yahoo! Answers?, Small Business SEM
• Visualizing Social Media Fatigue, Read/Write Web
• Create a Private Community, Orkut Blog
• 6 Successful Elements For Social Media Success, 10e20 Blog
• Twitter-proxy: Any Interest?, Assetbar
• How Sticky Is Membership on Facebook? Just Try Breaking Free, New York Times
• orkut trends: The State of orkuters, Orkut Blog

Video, Music & Image Search

• Images In Blended Search, Stone Temple

Web Analytics

• Avinash Wins Award For Great Content, Google Analytics Blog
• MySpace Reportedly Had A Traffic Surge In January, TechCrunch

Other Items

• More reason to be proud of Yahoo!’s technical prowess, Yodel Anecdotal
• Why Does Google Obfuscate Their Code?, Google Blogoscoped
• Google: I’m Going To Disneyland! 10 Signs Google Has Visited the Disneyland Resort, SearchRank Blog
• How Google decided what to give to, Slate Magazine
• Grand engineering challenges for the 21st century, Official Google Blog

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

• Desphinn Feature Now Live
• Social Media and Social Network Starting Points
• Rand Fishkin On The Oprah Show! (really!)
• Dealing With Dupes – Which Sphinn To Kill?
• Viral Marketing Idea Friday – Financial Planning Company
• Does Flash SEO still suck?
• How Brand Associations Help to Promote Your Website or Business
• VIDEO: Paid Search 101 Rap
• DazzlinDonna: 263 SEO Interviews!
• Meet The Google Fresh Content Blog Penalty(?)
• Court Finds That Trolls Can Remain Anonymous
• Microsoft on Reranking Search Results Based Upon Your Calendar
• AbleReach’s Elizabeth Challenges the SEO Fat Fighters
• Are Subscribers Over-rated?
• Link Building this Week
• Google News Offers Local News : Enter Zip Code & Town Name
• Daunting Secrets of Google Map Categories FINALLY Revealed!
• Search Behavior Patterns
• What an SEO weekend looks like
• Where does a Psychic turn when they need an answer? Google Maps
• How to Determine the Effectiveness of Your Internal Link Structure
• The Evaporating Yellow Line between SEO & Social Media
• Competitive Analysis for SEO
• To Charge or Not to Charge?