SearchCap: The Day In Search, February 28, 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:

• SMX West Day Three Coverage
  SMX day three, the final day, is now complete. I am sitting in the airport for the next few hours, so I thought I push out this last recap. Here is all the coverage I found on day three:…
• Google Webmaster Tools: Now On Your iGoogle Homepage
  Google’s Webmaster Central is giving you a new way to access the diagnostics and stats for your sites. Rather than log into your Webmaster Tools account, you can add the Webmaster Tools gadget to your iGoogle page and access information from there. You can choose what components to display on…
• Local Business Listings: Dealing with Negative Reviews
  Last month, I wrote about Why Local Businesses Should Be Like the Jerk, which examined the basics associated with businesses being listed in local listing and results. Now I want to take a look at the logical next consideration: How can businesses respond when they receive less-than-favorable reviews?…
• Google Sites Launches: Replaces Jotspot With Team Sharing Software
  Google launched Google Sites, basically a relaunch of Jotspot but with many more features. In short, this new software allows teams to share much like you could with Microsoft’s SharePoint. Google sites offers users five templates as TechCrunch explains:…
• Google Health Formally Announced This Morning
  Google Health has been an open secret for more than a year. Last week the company announced a pilot program with the Cleveland Clinic as a prelude to a formal announcement of the service. That formal announcement came this morning at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society conference in…
• Does Your Site Have Sex Appeal?
  The secret’s out: men and women are different—in person and online. Gender differences matter in web design, content, and marketing. It takes more than a girlish color scheme and soft focus photos of smiling children to draw women to your site and earn their loyalty. Color and design matter,…
• Video Search Engine Optimization: Catering To The Masses
  Video is easier to digest than ever before. High speed wired and wi-fi services, iPhones and other video-enabled mobile devices are helping hungry users scarf down a smorgasbord of video treats. And publishers are going back to the kitchen to serve up more and more. So how do publishers…
• Is Your Website Copy Crystal Clear?
  Pretend you don’t know anything about what your company offers and you stumbled onto it somehow. Can you tell immediately what it’s all about? Can the search engines? Do this exercise with each inner page of the site as well. Is what each page has to offer, truly crystal…
• Sitemaps.org Update: You Can Now Store Your XML Sitemap Files Anywhere!
  The major search engines have announced an update to the sitemaps.org protocol which enables site owners to store their XML Sitemap files in any location — even on a different domain than the one referenced in the Sitemap. This will be a welcome change for those who manage multiple domains…

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Download a Gmail Conversation, Google Operating System
• Google Gives All SF Homeless Free Voicemail, msnbc.com
• How to Add Google Sites to an Existing Google Apps Account ?, Digital Inspiration
• How To Make Google Gadgets - Lesson Seven, SEOish

Business Issues

• Rescuecom v. Google Oral Arguments Finally Calendared, Eric Goldman
• Google to Present at the Bear Stearns 21st Annual Media Conference, Google

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Google bets on Android future, BBC NEWS
• Introducing the Maps API Demo Gallery, Google Maps API Blog
• WorldWide Telescope vs Google Sky, Google Earth Blog

Link Building

• "nothing a competitor can do to harm your ranking" goes 404, JLH Design Blog
• Google Finally Updates Webmaster Tools External Link Data: February 2008 Update, Search Engine Roundtable
• Google Sites Jumps the rel=nofollow Shark, FeedBlog
• Training Programs To Develop Your Link Building Skills, Link Building Best Practices

Microhoo

• Ballmer on EU, Yahoo, News.com
• We’re Sorting Through Some Crazy Google/Yahoo Rumors, TechCrunch
• Yahoo says Microsoft’s bid is distracting workforce, News.com
• Many Yahoo holders may be wary of a higher bid, MarketWatch

Paid Search & Contextual

• 8 Methods for Tracking Phone orders from Search, Shimon Sandler - SEO Consultant
• Beyond ad performance optimization, Inside AdSense
• Does Google Read Email Attachments in Gmail for AdSense Ads ?, Digital Inspiration
• Dynamic Landing Page Content: How to Increase Conversions through Increased Relevancy, PPC Hero
• Mainstream media fails to understand paid search, E-Consultancy
• Microsoft adCenter’s Fixes Dynamic Keyword Feature, Search Engine Roundtable
• Want to Win Google’s Love? Pony Up the Cash, Wired

Searching

• 4,000 search engines you’ve never heard of, Alt Search Engines
• Google is an Optimist. Newspapers are Pessimists., Search Engine Watch
• Obituaries Are Not Wanted in Google News, Search Engine Roundtable
• Quintura Releases Site-Specific Search Cloud Widget, TechCrunch
• Using digital signatures to improve Web content and search, SEO Theory
• Why Mahalo will Fail and the Problems with General Search, Search Engine Journal
• Wikia Open Sources Social Networking - Focused Now Open to All, Read/Write Web
• Wikia’s Weird Dream, Los Angeles Times
• Your library, my library, Inside Google Book Search

SEM Industry

• Comparing SMM SEO and PR Tactics is Pure Poppycock, Micro Persuasion
• Google Gifts Really Seem to Have Gone Downhill, Site Visibility

SEO & SEM

• Advanced SEO Course Review - SEMPO Institute, Online Marketing Blog
• Microsoft Tracking Search and Browsing Behavior to Find Authoritative Pages, SEO By The Sea
• Online SEO Training Options, Search Engine Watch
• Stand Out: The Power of the Press Release, ProBlogger
• Upper Case & Lower Case Searches May Return Different Google Search Results, Search Engine Roundtable

Social Media

• Bill Gates Joins LinkedIn, Wall Street Journal
• Building a Web of Influence, New York Times
• Facebook Opens News Feed, But Not Enough, Read/Write Web
• Guidelines for competing with Twitter, Scripting News
• How to Increase Your Twitter Following 438% in 30 Days, Collective Thoughts
• Kevin Rose opens up and Diggs in, News.com
• LinkedIn Revamps Design, Adds Status Updates, TechCrunch
• Sites like Facebook are proving the value of the "social graph", ResourceShelf
• Timeline Oddity Update, Twitter Blog

Video, Music & Image Search

• Picnik Evolves, Picnik Blog

Other Items

• Google Sites - spoiled by usability issues, ZDNet
• Hello, Pittsburgh, Official Google Blog

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

• Not at the SMX? Want to be? I can help…
• Yahoo on Segmenting Web Sites into Topical Hierarchies
• Being Sexy On The Internetz
• Why Yahoo! Buzz is a Brilliant Idea
• Social news sites are like retailers
• Google’s Latest Competitor - The BBC?
• Analyzing Your Competitor’s Backlinking Strategies
• It Took 16 Months, But Google Relaunches Jotspot
• Authority Building: Tools of the Trade
• Google SERPs – Barack Obama vs Hillary Clinton
• Google Images… Won’t someone please think of the children!
• Search Marketing Tips from Online Marketing Heroes
• Network Solutions Sued For Defrauding Millions
• Spammer? Or Budding Creative Marketer?
• Yahoo - An Open Approach to Search
• Search Illustrated: How To Use Social Media Sites
• Data Mining your Way to Profit