SearchCap: The Day In Search, February 5, 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 Elections: Super Tuesday Map And Twitter Updates
  Google’s LatLong blog has two posts relevant to today’s "Super Tuesday" US presidential primaries. The first is about a Super Tuesday primary map that presents a range of content, including video, on election results — as Google has in the last couple of primaries. The map also features real-time Twitter…
• MicroHoo: Boon Or Bust For Yahoos?
  Yahoo has had a morale problem for some time, according to anecdotal reports from company insiders. Jerry Yang and other executives at the company have been trying urgently to fix that and restore the company’s former, dare I say it, esprit de corps. I had been told by one…
• When Linking Experts Go Underground
  For years I’ve seen a free and flowing stream of information and advice about how to build links, and as the engines have improved detection of the junk, the better link builders continued to thrive while those who sold crappy services to crappy content ran for cover. At least…
• Five Simple Linkbait Metrics (& How To Measure Them Cheaply)
  Many people jump into social media marketing because they feel they "should be doing it". Many times companies don’t take the time to identify their goals and why they want to engage in a campaign. Identifying and measuring social media metrics can be easy and inexpensive. Here are some…
• A Bad Month For SEO’s Reputation
  We seem to be going through another wave "SEOs are scumbags" incidents, and I find myself with little energy to push back against them with yet another defense of the industry. It’s not that SEO doesn’t deserve better treatment. It’s just that I feel anything I could say, I’ve said…
• Search Illustrated: Building A Company With Social Media
  So much discussion in the SEO community today centers around social media because of its potential to drive traffic, increase awareness, and build links. The challenge of this new medium, though, is to marry social media tactics with real business goals. Today’s infographic explores some ways that a business…

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Google offers security and compliance services for any e-mail system, News.com
• Yahoo’s Zimbra Releases v5.0 with BlackBerry Support, New Ajax Features, TechCrunch
• Simplifying email security, archiving and discovery, Google Enterprise Blog

Business Issues

• IAC’s Diller Summons Flixster To New York Just To Kill The Deal, TechCrunch
• Russia’s Rambler Doubled Revenues to Over $60 Million in 2007, Quintura Blog
• Fast deal heats up enterprise search, Vnunet.com
• AOL buys online affiliate marketing network buy.at, Reuters
• Comcast, eBay may bid for AOL, San Jose Mercury News

Link Building

• Boost Organic Results. Link Build with Social Media, Search Engine Watch Blog

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Mysterious Google Interface Design, SEO By The Sea
• Powers of 10 in Google Earth, Google Earth Blog

Microhoo!

• How Google Could Keep Yahoo From Microsoft, New York Times
• Outsourcing Search To Google Will Save Yahoo How?, Silicon Valley Insider
• Flickr’s Version Of A Mass Protest, TechCrunch
• Rupert Murdoch: $900M is better than -$45B, HipMojo
• Murdoch: Not Interested In Yahoo!, Forbes
• Privacy Groups Ready to Oppose Microsoft Takeover of Yahoo, Search Engine Journal
• The Best from Around the Web on the Microsoft / Yahoo! Deal, SEOmoz
• Takahashi: Google, Microsoft next battle in cloud computing, San Jose Mercury News
• Silicon Valley after a Microsoft/Yahoo merger: a contrarian view, Marc Andreeseen
• Yahoo Holders: What Are You Waiting For?, Wall Street Journal
• Google, Yahoo Going After Outlook, eWeek

Paid Search & Contextual

• Breaking News: New Leadership at Efficient Frontier, Search Engine Watch Blog
• Why AdSense Earnings Are Sharply Dropping, SEO Book
• Interesting Google AdSense Implementation, ShoeMoney
• 4 Ways Google AdWords Can Increase Small Business Profits, Search Engine Watch
• Microsoft adCenter Labs Unveils Digital Advertising Innovations at Fourth Annual Demo Fest, CNN Money
• Social Sites Don’t Deliver Big Ad Gains, Wall Street Journal

Primary Elections

• Barack Obama vs. Hillary Clinton : Super Tuesday , Search Engine Journal

Searching

• Google Files Known Highly-Ranked Queries Patent Application, Search Engine Roundtable

SEM Industry

• Don’t Waste Money on a So-Called SEO Specialist, Search Engine Watch
• Does The Search Engine Optimization Expert Really Exist?, BruceClay.com
• Why SEO collective wisdom lacks credibility, SEO Theory
• Don’t Touch Me, You’ve Got ‘Kudos’ Bill Slawski!, Learning SEO Basics
• New Events Calendar Feature – Support for iCalendar, SEOmoz
• Survey Says… Please Help Make SEO Book Better :), SEO Book
• Sphinncon Israel 2008, We’ve arrived! | Ophir Cohen – Web Marketing Done Right., www.ophircohen.com
• Going to SphinnCon Israel Today, Job Is A Four Letter Word

SEO & SEM

• How Long Does it Take to Rank in Google? How Many Hours do I Have to Work Each Day? SEO Book
• Website Grader Gives Out Free SEO Tips, TechCrunch
• Can You Click on a Google Listing to Increase Your Rankings?, Search Engine Roundtable
• How to Uncover the Fundamental Information Necessary To Plan A Strategically Successful SEO Campaing, Part I, Search Engine Guide
• Long Live Traditional SEO, All Things SEO
• Forget the Tail – Focus on the Head for SEM, WebMama
• Webmasters Report February 2008 SERP Changes, Search Engine Roundtable

Social Media

• PR Expert Chris Winfield On Tomorrow’s Shoemoney Show, Shoemoney
• First Impressions – Social News Central, Social News Central
• Part Three: From Twits to Tweeple, Why I Embraced Twitter and You Should Too, Search Engine Guide
• MySpace Developer Platform Goes Live (Sorta), TechCrunch
• Our doors are open to OpenSocial developers, OpenSocial API Blog
• The danger of social markers made public (more on the Social Graph API), Bokardo
• Is Google’s Social Graph API a Creeping Privacy Violation?, Read/Write Web

Video, Music & Image Search

• Google Images Prefers Showing Fresh Pictures In Search Results, Digital Inspiration
• Image Appears When Text Is Highlighted, Google Blogoscoped

Web Analytics

• Learn about Landing Page Optimization, Google Analytics Blog

Other Items

• Le générateur de mots clés de Google n’est pas très poli… [An unfortunate captcha at Google], Abondance
• Schadenfreude: Googlers stranded at the airport during company trip to Disneyland, Valleywag
• Brazil Carnival Google (and Orkut) Doodle, InsideGoogle

Last 20 Hot Items From Sphinn, Our Social News Sharing Site:

1. 25 Websites every seo should know
2. Google Predicts Super Tuesday Results
3. Rounding Up the Search Industry Recaps
4. A Bad Month For SEO’s Reputation
5. Search Illustrated: Building A Company With Social Media
6. How To Educate SEO/PPC Staff from Scratch
7. Rewriting URLs: SEO for Dynamic Sites
8. Don’t Touch Me, You’ve Got ‘Kudos’ Bill Slawski!
9. Does The Search Engine Optimization Expert Really Exist?
10. Search Engine Optimization For Your Flash Site
11. Optimizing the Planet: SEO on a Global Scale
12. Don’t Waste Money On a So-Called SEO Specialist, says AMEX ‘Expert’
13. Take TopRank Reader Poll: 35 Online Marketing Tactics for 2008
14. Why I Don’t Want to Twitter My Life Away
15. How to Successfully Moderate a Conference Panel, A Comprehensive Guide
16. Nofollow Killed Google Social Graph API 3 Years Ago
17. Stop Guessing – Study Your Competition!
18. Search Engine Strategies London 2008
19. The frog the scorpion and the alligator: A Parable
20. How to Herd Organic Search Traffic to Your Blog