SearchCap: The Day In Search, Jan. 17, 2007

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

From Search Engine Land:

• Where’s The Date In SearchCap Emails?
  I’ve had a couple readers ask me why the emails we send out for SearchCap don’t carry the date in the subject line. The answer is simple. Because we can’t. Not right now. But we will in the coming weeks, promise. SearchCap is mailed out through FeedBurner. They have a great system that automatically sends out your posts via email, to those who sign-up. Make a post, and later in the day they flawlessly turn that into an email newsletter. The problem is that the mailings don’t use the title of the post. If they did, you’d be getting subject…
• Linkbait Articles & Is It Linkbait Or Link Bait?
  Eric Ward mentioned link baiting in his Link Week column this week, which first got me thinking, is it better to say linkbait or link bait? To answer, I did some searches, which in turn brought up some good articles on the topic. And now another good one has come out from Todd Malicoat. So here’s a rundown on a few linkbait articles and the "to linkbait" or "to link bait" decision I had to make….
• Mapshark: A Search Engine For Mashups
  Since the advent of the Google and Yahoo (and more recently Virtual Earth) mapping APIs there are hundreds of developers and entrepreneurs who have built interesting and useful mashups. But how does one find them? Of course you could search on Google, Yahoo or Microsoft Live or look at some of the worthy blogs devoted to mapping such as Google Maps Mania or The Map Room. But you could also search Mapshark, pointed out to us by Philipp Lenssen. According to Philipp’s post the site was created by Alaska attorney Andrew Mitton, who says he’s only spent $100 on the…
• Are Lower Case Titles In Yahoo Coming From Anchor Text
  At the last WebmasterWorld PubCon, there was a site clinic where one of the issues that came up was Yahoo not using the title tag for a specific site. Instead, Yahoo got titles for these pages in a place no one could figure out, and the titles were all in lower case. Recently, this has appeared to become more widespread and the forums are starting to discuss it. As Ben Pfeiffer noted at Search Engine Roundtable, there is a large WebmasterWorld thread on Yahoo replacing title tags titles with titles Yahoo possibly creates from the links (anchor text) pointing to…
• Google Pushing Google Checkout More
  Google has sent out a promotion to Google Checkout Merchants, notifying them that all new Google Checkout customers get $10 from Google. Technically, this is a $10 sign up bonus, the details explain that if you sign up before February 15, 2007, and you are a new user to Google Checkout, you will get $10 to spend at Google Checkout merchants until March 31, 2007….
• Industry Moves: Peter Horan Goes To IAC
  Peter Horan, who was the About.com CEO until its acquisition by the New York Times and then moved west to head up small business portal AllBusiness.com, has now been appointed CEO of IAC Media & Advertising. According to the company, "The CEOs of the Media & Advertising businesses will now report to Mr. Horan, including Jim Lanzone of Ask.com, Briggs Ferguson of Citysearch, Richard Stalzer of IAC Advertising Solutions, and Scott Garell of IAC Consumer Applications and Portals."…
• Advanced Local Search Optimization Tips
  Extreme Local Search Optimization Tactics by Chris Silver Smith of SuperPages.com at the Natural Search Blog has given us seven "extreme" local SEO tips we might try in our local SEO campaigns. Here they are in short….
• Wired Looks At Yahoo Failures Over The Years
  How Yahoo Blew It by Wired, tells the story of Yahoo’s failures over the past years. The article starts off explaining that Yahoo could of bought Google, but Google turned down the $3 billion offer made by Yahoo. The article then summarizes Google recent success after their IPO and says, "And what must infuriate Semel: This could have been Yahoo."…
• Q&A With Gabe Rivera, Creator Of Techmeme
  Over the past decade, I’ve seen a lot of search tools that were supposed to transform my life. Few of them have. But Techmeme was one of those. When it kicked off back in September 2005, I wrote a review, gave it a preliminary thumbs-up and soon found myself addicted. It has become my newspaper, my front page guide to what’s going in the blogosphere relating to tech. I met Techmeme creator Gabe Rivera in person for the first time last August, during the Search Engine Strategies conference in San Jose. I roped him into being on the Meet The…
• Search Engine Land: Top Stories & Stats, Jan. 16, 2007
  Time for another daily stats review, since yesterday was our second busiest ever non-Digg day. Below a look at the top stories that sent us traffic, along with tips and suggestions on how you might do the same….
• Q&A Land: New Column From Search Engine Land
  One of my resolutions in starting Search Engine Land was to spend more time doing Q&As with people. There’s no better way to ensure I do that than to start a column. So I’m happy to announce that Q&A Land becomes the second column offered by Search Engine Land. Unlike Link Week, which started this week and runs on Mondays, Q&A Land is a "floating" column. It will happen once per week, but the actual day might change. I won’t be doing Q&A Land alone. Chris Sherman will also be writing for it, and from time-to-time we may have other…
• comScore: Email Top Reason For Mobile Internet Access
  Just released from comScore is a new wireless report that captures a range of metrics and attitudes from U.S. mobile users. Here’s the press release. Among the key findings were the following: 14% of users have given up their landlines 33% strongly agree they "feel lost" without their cell phone 17% subscribe to wireless Internet service…
• SEMPO Hits 500 Members, Wants Your Input On State Of SEM Survey
  The Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) announced today that it has 500 individual and corporate members in more than 20 countries. SEMPO also opened its 2006 annual survey focusing on the state of search engine marketing throughout the world. The 2006 Survey will include participants from Europe this year. Results of the survey will be presented at the London Search Engines Strategies Conference in February. The survey is open to all search marketers, whether SEMPO members or not. Click here to learn more about the survey or to add your voice to this useful snapshot of the industry….
• Vizu Seeking To ‘Democratize’ Market Research
  The Internet is awash in data, so much data in fact that one can find numbers on just about any subject. Yet primary research can be very expensive and cumbersome. There are inexpensive polling tools such as Zoomerang or Survey Monkey, which offer a cost-effective way to survey users. But the methodology doesn’t produce statistically significant results. Then there are a range of firms that will do online surveys/focus groups. Those can yield results with more statistical "integrity," but they cost more too. Now comes an interesting twist on the "Answers" social media phenomenon: Vizu, a San Francisco company that…

Search News Headlines From Elsewhere:

• Yahoo Not The Only Search Engine to Lower Case Title Text, First Page Fitness
• The Second Rule of Social Media Optimization, The Mu Life
• Measuring Search Success Webcast – now on demand, Search Marketing Now
• Google to Announce Fourth Quarter 2006 Financial Results, Google Press Release
• Top 5 Ways SEO Agencies and Clients Piss Each Other Off, Online Marketing Blog
• Starring Interesting Questions on Yahoo! Answers, Yahoo Search Blog
• Don’t Put All of Your Search Marketing Budget in the Google Basket, Search Engine Journal
• Googolgon, Anyone?, Official Google Maps Blog
• YouTube’s Suzie Reider on Google, Episodic Ads, and Why Marketers Had Better Start Tagging, PaidContent.org
• Google Joins Indian Police Against Orkut Abusers, Web Pro News
• If Search Engines Could Talk: Confessions Of A ChaCha Clickstream, MediaPost
• Search = Usability, Official Google Enterprise Search Blog
• Podcast: Is Google Pushing Checkout Too Much; What’s With Lower Case Titles On Yahoo? And More, Daily SearchCast
• Google erases British bases in Iraq, The Register
• Marketers Go on a Drinking Domain Binge, ClickZ
• Miva Consolidates Ads with Monetization Center, ClickZ
• Avenue A/Razorfish Buys a Footprint in Japan, ClickZ
• Yahoo! To Lower Minimum Bids in UK to 5P (£0.05), Search Engine Roundtable
• Yahoo! Slurp on the Loose?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Yahoo to launch ‘read and write’ Answers for third party websites, Journalism.co.uk
• Despite 100 Million IE 7 Installs, Microsoft’s Browser Still Loses Ground, Information Week
• Nokia Patents Voice Tagging of Pictures, SEO By The Sea
• Google Docs Spam?!, Chris Pirillo
• Traditonal PR with a touch of social media, Pronet Advertising
• Quantcast Launches Keyword Research Tool, ClickZ
• How to Disable Google Personalized Search, Google Blogoscoped
• WSJ’s Big Hype Job on Mobile Advertising, PaidContent.org
• Haifa University Search Engine Conference Recap, Eric Goldman
• SEO World Championship, SEO World Championship
• GlobalWarming Awareness2007 SEO Contest, Google Blogoscoped
• Jimmy Wales Discusses Search Wikia With MarketWatch, SEW Blog
• UNCF/Google Scholarship, Official Google Blog
• New Map Tiles for India, Singapore, and Hong Kong Added to the Google Maps API, Google Maps API Official Blog
• Yahoo! looks into TV service tie-up with BT Vision, Brand Republic
• Caldwell tries to land Google, Citizen-Times
• Google Checkout: Small retail footprint at retail’s big show, ZDNet.com
• Google porn earns jail term, The Australian
• Google Helps Us See How Much Options Are Worth: Graef Crystal, Bloomberg.com
• Google Patent Filing Hints at Digital Billboard Ad Network, ClickZ
• Google killed the radio star, LunchoverIP
• Chirac’s Waterloo? Why Quaero Won’t Win Battles or Find WMDs, Diplomatic Traffic
• Google Patent Filing Hints at Digital Billboard Ad Network, ClickZ
• SEO Best Practices: 20 Questions, ClickZ
• An Introduction to SEO Best Practices, SearchDay
• How to get Google to notice you, USATODAY.com