SearchCap: The Day In Search, February 12, 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:

• Google Maps Adds Street Views For Seven New Cities
  The Google Earth Blog reports Google Maps has added street views for seven new cities. The seven new cities that now support street views includes:…
• LinkSpotting – Headlines That Lead To Links and Why
  My last column When Linking Experts Go Underground elicited some interesting responses, and a private email with the following awesome request: OK Eric – if you really follow hundreds of SEM news sources every day, you are seeing literally thousands of headlines every week. How do you spot the…
• Looking For Generation Google Panelists
  At our SMX West conference later this month in California, we have a special session I’m really looking forward to: Generation Google: A Talk With Today’s Teens. I thought it would be fun to let the audience ask some teenagers about how they use search engines and what they think…
• Tech Companies Go After Yahoo Employees In Wake Of Microsoft & Layoff News
  Silicon Valley Recruiters Zero In On Yahoo Employees from CNNMoney reports that technology recruiters are being inundated with requests from technology companies for them to find and secure Yahoo employees. Specifically, these technology companies are seeking developers, project managers and key executives who may want to jump ship ahead of…
• Internet Ads Grow; Google Sees Slight Decline
  IDC reports that overall Internet advertising has grown 27% year over year to $25.5 billion in 2007. The fourth quarter of 2007 grew about 28% over the fourth quarter in 2006 to $7.3 billion. Google saw a dip in its share of the US market for the first time in…
• How To Shout On Social Media Sites Without Screaming
  No feature that I can recall in recent memory has polarized the social news sphere more than the ability to mass-alert stories to other users for immediate votes. StumbleUpon has the “send to” feature, Propeller has “site-mail” and Digg has “shouts.” As I’ve said before, the feature is a…
• Mobile Musical Chairs: Google Befriends Nokia; Yahoo Snags T-Mobile Europe
  Coming out of the Mobile World Congress this morning are two major mobile search (and probably ad) deals involving Google and Yahoo. Yahoo appears to have replaced Google as the search provider for T-Mobile in Europe, and it also appears to be ousting T-Mobile search partner Medio Systems in Europe…
• Only 2 Weeks Until SMX West – Register Today!
  Procrastinators. Most of us. Good news is there’s still time to register for Search Marketing Expo – SMX West in Santa Clara, CA. But time is running out, so register today and join the search marketers from more than 500 companies who will attend SMX West. SMX West will deliver…
• Microsoft Responds To Rejection: Will Take “All Necessary Steps” To Consummate “Full & Fair” Proposal
  Yahoo may have said no to being acquired by Microsoft, but Microsoft isn’t having it. The company has put out a statement saying the rejection was "unfortunate" and pledging to "pursue all necessary steps" to get what it called its "full and fair" proposal to be accepted. The wording suggests…

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Gadgets spec and new API preview, googlegadgetsapi.blogspot.com
• Gmail Delivery Delays – Will a Reply from Google Ever Arrive?, Read/Write Web
• Valentine’s gadgets, Inside Google Desktop
• Survey says: love at first ping, Official Google Blog
• Will You Continue to Use Google Checkout After Trial Period?, Search Engine Roundtable
• How to Make Google Gadgets – Lesson Six, SEOish
• Who owns your address book?, CNN Money

Business Issues

• Recalling Rep. Lantos, who assailed Yahoo over China policies, News.com
• AOL Redesigns Seem To Be Paying Off, Somewhat Frank
• 10-Q Watch: News Corp: Photobucket Acquisition Price: $300 Million, paidContent.org
• Baidu CEO Talks About Japanese Market [Part 5], Tech-On!
• Let’s (Not) Make a Deal With YouTube, MediaWeek
• Nokia to Offer Google Search, Signs Orange Agreement, Bloomberg
• Yahoo! Acquires Maven Networks, Inc., Yahoo! Finance

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Intuitive Mobile Search, Google Operating System
• New Stats for Google Earth – Over 350 Million Downloads, Google Earth Blog
• Show us your supermodel(ing) talents, Official Google Blog
• Microsoft on Personalized Phone Portals, SEO By The Sea

Link Building

• Where Do You Start Your Link Marketing Campaign?, Wiep.net
• Five Situations Where You SHOULD Use NoFollow for Linking, Search Engine Journal
• What Do You Do to Manage a Group of Link Builders?, Search Engine Roundtable

Microhoo

• Microsoft May Take Case for Yahoo Bid to Shareholders, Bloomberg
• Microsoft may pick own services over Yahoo’s, News.com
• Big Yahoo shareholder: There are few alternatives to Microsoft bid, ZDNet
• MSFT-YHOO: On To Round II, paidContent.org
• Yahoo! Hoo-Ha Shareholders, Ballmer Pour On The Pressure, www.nypost.com

Paid Search & Contextual

• AdWords Downtime: February 16, 10am-2pm PST, AdWords API Blog
• Audio Ads Webinars: sign up now, Inside AdWords
• Google Updates AdWords Display URL Policy, PPC Hero
• Office Live Small Business Launches Featuring adManager, adCenter Blog
• Study: Heavy Clickers Account For Half Of Display Click-Throughs, MediaPost
• VisualCalc Announces New Dashboard and Analysis Software for Pay-Per-Click Advertisers, VisualCalc
• AdWords Charts Generator, Google Blogoscoped
• The Coming Ad Revolution, Wall Street Journal
• IAB Board Formally Adopts Behavioral Targeting Guidelines, MediaPost
• Yours, Mine and Ours: Whose Behavioral Targeting Data Is It Anyway?, MediaPost
• Clickability Launches On-Demand Platform, MediaPost
• WPP creates global ad search business, marketingeasy.net

Searching

• My Favorite Google Search Command Hack, Im Not A Doctor
• Delver Reinvents Search – ReadWriteWeb, Read/Write Web
• Quintura Search Cloud for St. Valentine’s Day, Quintura blog
• Beta Update at hakia.com, Hakia Blog

SEM Industry

• Fun Photo Fridays on a Monday Afternoon, Search Marketing Gurus
• Gearing Up For SES London!, BruceClay.com
• Graham From Google Reader Help Leaves, Search Engine Roundtable
• WebmasterWorld Version 5: Software Updates , Search Engine Roundtable
• Find Your Dream Job with the New SEW Job Boards, Search Engine Watch Blog

SEO & SEM

• 11 Tips for Appearing at Google Definitions, SEOmoz
• High Performance SEO Requires Fast Load Times, Search Engine Watch
• IAB Advanced Search Marketing Handbook, Mel Carson
• Keyword research for UK sites is a different ball game, E-Consultancy
• SEO Outsourcing: Don’t! Until You Read This, Search Engine Watch
• SEO Request for Proposal RFP, Vizion Interactive
• Special relationships with the search engines, News.com
• Guide to Link Cloaking, Masking, and Url Redirection, ShoeMoney
• New Netconcepts tool supports DIY SEO, DMNews
• Online Marketers See High ROI from SEO, Marketing Pilgrim
• Set Geographic Webmaster Tool Works, SEOCO Blog
• What is your robots.txt file telling your competitors about you?, Jennifer Slegg

Social Media

• orkut going more social, Official Google Blog
• Weekend Update, Twitter Blog
• Rose Demonstrates that New Digg Algo is "Fair and Balanced", Soshable
• What is Good Content? A Working Definition and Some General Principles, Dosh Dosh
• Bill Gates Quits Facebook, Wall Street Journal
• Part Five: From Twits to Tweeple, Why I Embraced Twitter and You Should Too, Search Engine Guide
• Part Two: Why Use Yahoo! Answers, Small Business SEM
• Social media marketing strategies: Why and how, Pandia

Video, Music & Image Search

• Nielsen to Track Online Video Use Through Its TV Panel, Ad Age

Web Analytics

• Search Analytics Select from Compete, Search Marketing Gurus

Other Items

• Chris Anderson: it’s a fun idea, The Longtailers
• Briefs: Ski Reports and Search Results Pages; Obama Briefly Mentions Google in 60 Minutes Interview, ResourceShelf
• Gallery: How Google Got Its Colorful Logo, Wired
• Podcast: Feb. 11, 2008: Yahoo To Microsoft: No! Will Yahoo Go With AOL? Google Takes Over Disney(land) , Daily SearchCast
• The DMOZ Virus, DMOZ Blog

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

• Part Five: From Twits to Tweeple, Why I Embraced Twitter and You Should Too
• How To Shout On Social Media Sites Without Screaming
• Creating Firefox Quick Search Bookmarks
• How & Why To Grow A Thick Skin For Longevity In Social Media
• Google Is Doing More Than Indexing The Web, They’re Making Their Own Web
• Yahoo Phrase Based Indexing in a Nutshell
• Five Situations Where You SHOULD Use NoFollow for Linking
• Link Building and Development Mistakes
• Dealing with Negative Criticism of Your Blog
• 6 Successful Elements For Social Media Success
• Google Shows the Indexing Date for Each Search Result
• 100+ Useful Web Resources for Small Business and Non Profits
• Where Do You Start Your Link Marketing Campaign?
• Adam Audette: Growing Up In Search Marketing
• Eric Enge Interviews Danny Sullivan
• Social Media Spam or Clever Marketing?
• How I Ranked in 5 Of The Top 10 Search Results in Google
• A Case Study on Social Media ROI: Buzz on Blogs and Social Networks increase album sales
• NoFollow: An SEO Red Flag?
• Google: I’m Going To Disneyland! 10 Signs Google Has Visited the Disneyland Resort
• My Network Sphinns, Story Subscribe, Best Of Sphinn & More Coming
• Defining Success on Digg – New Stats Report
• WordPress.com and SEO Blogs – Love or Hate?
• Search Engine Marketing Goes Gangsta
• Desphinn Feature Now Live