SearchCap: The Day In Search, January 15, 2009

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

From Search Engine Land:

• Carol Bartz’s ‘Gut’ May Stop Yahoo Search Sale To Microsft
  Clearly “the market” loves the MicroHoo dance and would like to see a transaction. And Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has said he would talk anew to the new Yahoo CEO. Now that it’s Bartz, apparently there has already been a call in which search was not discussed, according to the the Wall Street Journal: She added that she had spoken casually with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer since accepting her new job, these people said. They added that she didn’t go into details of the conversation, which she said was informal. Bartz also reportedly told employees that her instinct or “gut” was …
• Is Your SEM Strategy Ready For Web 3.0?
  As we move into the new year, the “Web 3.0” references appear to be picking up speed, and most define Web 3.0 closely along the lines of the social graph, with Facebook and Twitter as the poster children. Its not so much social media though, that is powering a fundamental shift on the web, but rather a change in how content is created, organized, indexed, and consumed. Perhaps the biggest shift is embodied in how we all think about content. If you think back just a few years, the content landscape was dominated by a notion of “containers”. Regardless of content …
• Yahoo Shows Wikipedia Some SearchMonkey Love
  Yahoo has just announced that the Wikipedia SearchMonkey App is now turned on by default for all Yahoo search users. Wikipedia becomes the sixth app that all Yahoo searchers will see, joining LinkedIn, Yelp, Yahoo Local, Citysearch, and Zagat. SearchMonkey adds enhanced content to the search results page. The Wikipedia app includes a snippet of text from the Wikipedia article summary, deep links to the first four sections of the article, and a photo if the article has one. Here’s a screenshot that Yahoo provided showing the Wikipedia app in action: With the new …
• 5 Ways To Rise Above The Noise
  One of the things I frequently mention is that content and advertising are blurring so much that in many cases people selling information would be willing to pay to give that same content away in a few years. It is not that all old information is bad (in many cases older information is more pure than new remakes) but it is hard to keep attention in a competitive marketplace. It is a fight for eyes and ears day in and day out. And it is even worse if you are starting from scratch. With that in mind I thought I would offer 5 ways to help new publishers rise above the noise and gain mindshare and marketshare in competitive markets.
• Microsoft Job Cuts May Come Next Week
  In Rare Move, Microsoft Is Exploring Job Cuts from the Wall Street Journal reports the rumored Microsoft job cuts may come as early as next week. It is uncertain if the job cuts will actually happen, the Wall Street Journal said Microsoft is looking for alternatives to cutting jobs. Those numbers are likely going to be “far less than the 15,000 positions” first thought, sources tell the paper. Microsoft, like Google, rarely has job cuts. Microsoft has over 91,000 employees, and has grown the employee base by 15%, from 2007 to 2008. It would be …
• Google Ends Google Video Uploads, Shutters Notebook, Catalog Search, Dodgeball & Jaiku
  Google’s announced they’re closing or ceasing development of a variety of products as part of an already continuing move to keep efforts focused on other products with greater usage. These include an end to video uploads to Google Video, closure of Google Catalog Search, Google Notebook, Dodgeball, the microblogging service Jaiku and the Google Mashup Editor. Google’s written officially about the closures and changes in these posts: Turning Down Uploads at Google Video Farewell, Google Catalog Search Stopping development on Google Notebook Changes …
• Google Cuts 100 Recruiters; May Replace Up To 70 Engineers Due To Office Closures
  The Google Blog wrote that Google may have to cut up to 70 engineering jobs. Google implied the cuts would be due to the engineers based in Austin, Texas; Trondheim, Norway; and Lulea, Sweden not being willing or able to relocate to Google’s Mountain view headquarters. Google explicitly made a point to say that their “long-term goal is not to trim the number of people we have working on engineering projects or reduce our global presence, but create a smaller number of more effective engineering sites.” Why is Google being so defensive? Possibly because of Valleywag’s Google’s Loss …

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Microsoft says it’s not concerned with Gmail’s growth, SeattlePi
• A new layer of data access security for Google Apps, Official Google Enterprise Blog

Business Issues

• Bartz Helps Boost Chance of Yahoo-Microsoft Deal, Wall Street Journal
• Sue Decker’s Goodbye Memo to the Yahoo Troops, AllThingsD by Kara Swisher

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Taking on Yelp and others, Zoodango tackles local search, TechFlash
• How Did Tele Atlas Improve Google Maps?, Search Engine Roundtable

Link Building

• 5 Tools to Help Assess the Link Building Landscape, Search Marketing Sage
• How to Optimize Your Site for Link Building, Search Engine Journal
• The Full List of Suppliers to Ask for Links, SEOmoz

Paid Search & Contextual

• AdSense for Feeds Ads Showing in Feedburner Email Updates, ProBlogger
• Optimize your campaigns for Valentine’s Day, adCenter Blog for Advertisers
• Sandbox Maintenance Today Wed 1/14, adCenter API Blog for Developers
• January Maintenance of MS adCenter API will Affect Some Calls to Campaign Management API, adCenter Blog for Developers
• Lessons Learned From SMN’s “Paid Seach for Big Sites, Big Brands” Webinar, PPC Hero
• Create Your Own Free TV Commercial, Google Traditional Media Blog
• Talking AdSense optimization in Google Ad Manager, Inside AdSense

Searching

• Baidu Japan to Offer Voice Search to Chinese Tourists, JLM Pacific Epoch
• Calais 4.0 Released: Linked Data Meets the Commercial Web, Read/Write Web
• New and Improved Search from Library and Archives Canada, ResourceShelf
• Did Google SMS Search Die Again?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Hear how Illinois State University uses Google Search, Official Google Blog

SEM Industry

• First Office Hours Show: Thursday, January 15 at 1pm Pacific, Nine By Blue

SEO & SEM

• Seamless verification of Google Sites and Blogger with Webmaster Tools, Official Google Webmaster Central Blog
• The 6 Goals of SEO: Choosing the Right Ones for Your Business, SEOmoz
• Does Google’s Supplemental Index Still Concern You?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Google: Closing the Loop on Content, Advertising, & Commerce, SEO Book
• Survey Says: Google Sitemaps Gets Credit For Faster Indexing, Search Engine Roundtable
• Landing Page Optimization: Getting Started, Shimon Sandler
• The final word on bounce rates as a ranking signal, Huomah.com
• The SEO Toolbar, SEO Book

Social Media

• User Choice and Music Licensing, YouTube Blog
• Adults and Social Network Websites, Pew Internet
• eBay Founder Omidyar Launching New Startup Ginx, A Twitter-Based Sharing Tool, paidContent.org
• Adding a social playlist to your site, Official Google Webmaster Central Blog
• What Is a Social-Media Agency?, Ad Age

Video, Music & Image Search

• Coming Up Next… YouTube on Your TV, YouTube Blog

Other Items

• Google Checkout for Non-Profits in 2009, Official Google Checkout Blog
• GoDaddy.com outage takes sites offline, Webware

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

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• The SEO Toolbar
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• The final word on bounce rates as a ranking signal
• How to Promote Australian Tourism to a Worldwide Audience for £70,000!
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• A Testament To Search Marketing Knowledge
• Twitter – 6 little reasons on why I think twitter is great
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• Cesar Serna launches a new WordPress forum, WPBulletin.com