SearchCap: The Day In Search, January 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:

• Spying On Your Paid Search Competitors
  Last time around, I wrote about paid search planning and some cool tools to help you understand your customers and your target market (here). This time around, I’ll take a look at the competitive landscape and understanding competitors in general—and show you some excellent tools that can help you…
• Search Engine Land Column Switcheroo
  Heads-up to all of you faithful Link Week and Paid Search column readers: Today we’re swapping days for the columns. Paid Search will now appear on Mondays and Link Week on Tuesdays. No worries if you’ve subscribed to the feed for either column—you’ll still get the content you’ve asked…
• Google Experimental Search Adds Info View & Map View
  The Google Blog announced they have added some new features to Google Experimental search. Google has added map view and a new info view that allows you to show different results on the page. Let me take you through each new view….
• Google A “Mystery Buyer” In Colorado?
  Denver area residents were treated to some fun over the weekend with reports of the purchase of a 432-acre former campus of Storage Technology by a “mystery buyer,” for as much as much as $60 million. The buyer insisted on absolute secrecy from everyone involved in the deal, including Sun…
• Search Marketing Expo – SMX West – 1 Month ‘Til Showtime – Register Today!
  Just 30 days until Search Marketing Expo – SMX West in Santa Clara, CA. Register today and join the search marketers from more than 450 companies who will attend SMX West. SMX West will deliver cutting-edge SEO and PPC content, insightful keynotes and community-building networking events for an experience like…
• New UK-Based Real Estate Search Engine DotHomes Launches In US
  Just when you thought there were enough competitors in the real estate vertical, here comes some more. Last week a new real estate search engine, Roost, launched in selected US markets. Today UK-based DotHomes, which has been operating in the UK and South Africa, makes its US debut. DotHomes seeks…
• Today Is “Data Privacy Day,” Bush Admin Launches Internet Monitoring Initiative
  For most people today is Monday, January 28. However, today has been designated “Data Privacy Day” in North America and in 27 European countries in conjunction with the International Association of Privacy Professionals. Google’s privacy counsel Jane Horvath says the company is joining in an international privacy conference being held…
• New “Addressless” Search Feature On Google Maps
  As the Google LatLong Blog explains, Google has added a nice feature to Maps (it would seem something rolls out weekly these days). That feature allows users to get directions or locations of businesses without inputting a destination address. Below are some examples….
• Google Lego Logo: Google Offers Lego 50th Birthday Wishes
  Google has a special logo up on the Google home page today. The Google logo is made up of legos, to celebrate Lego’s 50 year birthday. Google’s culture has always had a special place for Lego. Google’s first servers were “modded” up with Legos. The Google founders have admitted to…
• Why Local Businesses Should Be Like The Jerk
  “The new phone book’s here! The new phone book’s here!” Steve Martin’s character in the movie The Jerk is ecstatic. He rifles through the pages and finds his name. “I’m somebody now! Millions of people look at this book everyday!” He knows the importance of being listed. “This is…

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Google Reader Shows the Published Date, Google Operating System
• Gmail Help Discussion to the rescue, Official Gmail Blog
• How To Make Google Gadgets – Lesson Three, SEOish
• What Gmail feature do you want the most?, Matt Cutts
• Three more languages for Blogger, Official Google Blog
• Google Docs in Firefox Sidebar, Google Operating System
• The Google Acquisition of Innuvo, and the Google Web Toolkit, SEO By The Sea
• Share Almost Any Blog Post in Google Reader, Google Operating System
• Google Docs Offline Access, Google Blogoscoped

Business Issues

• Google to grace Austin, News.com
• IAC Might Enlist Help In Splitting Off Units, Wall Street Journal
• IAC Acquires a Minority Stake in The HealthCentral Network, CNN Money
• What to Expect From Google, Amazon and Yahoo Next Week, Wired
• Yahoo’s Search for a Vision, BusinessWeek
• Yahoo (YHOO) Going Forward With "Drastic" Layoffs–Source, Silicon Alley Insider
• Yahoo encounters a fork in the road, USA Today
• Should Yahoo Cede Search? Yeah, When Pepsi Bottles Coke, Ad Age

Conferences

• SMX West – 1 Month Til Showtime – Register Today!, Search Marketing Expo Blog

Local, Maps & Mobile

• First Google Earth release of 2008, Google LatLong
• Yahoo! Mobile: Claims Ubiquity, But What About Innovation , Read/Write Web
• Creepy Google Maps (Sci-fi Video), Google Blogoscoped
• Superpages in Distribution Deal with Marchex, Screenwerk
• Water Bodies in Google Earth – See Australia’s!, Google Earth Blog

Link Building

• Have a High PageRank Site? Link to Us for a Free Membership, SEO Book

Paid Search & Contextual

• AdGroups as a Barrier to Success, Rimm Kaufman
• Google Fixes Referrals Commission Issue, Search Engine Roundtable
• New Python Client Library, AdWords API Blog
• Quack, Quack: Made-For-AdSense Spam, Rimm Kaufman
• Google: Landing Page Quality , Jonathan Mendez’s Blog
• Where the Action Is: CPA or CPC?, Search Marketing Sage
• Effective PPC Strategies For Political Campaigns, Search Marketing Gurus
• Google Doing Paid Reviews via AdSense? Why not!, ShoeMoney
• Inside AdWords and Contextual Advertising: The Tipping Point, Search Engine Watch
• Learn the Basics of Testing Ad Copy: A PPC Primer, PPC Hero
• Research Study: Search & Branding with Sony, adCenter Blog

Searching

• Quintura Launches Site Search – Private Beta Offer for RWW Readers, Read/Write Web
• RipOff Report Responds: You Be the Judge, SEOmoz
• Gary Price on the soul of Ask, Pandia

SEM Industry

• SearchGuild.com Domain Auction at Sedo, SEO Book

SEO & SEM

• How Google Convinced Me to Stop Paying For Sex, Search Marketing Sage
• Google Picks Up Geographic Target Setting Within Two Months, Search Engine Roundtable
• Illegal & Illicit vs Who’s Getting Paid?, SEO Book
• Real Estate Webmasters Banned by Google, Greg Boser
• Spammers or Reputation Management Problem?, Serengeti Communications
• SEO strategy for new websites, E-Consultancy
• Pay Per Click Management (PPC) Advertising and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) For Multilingual Web Sites, Search Lab
• Choosing the Right CMS Platform for Your Website (from an SEO perspective), SEOmoz
• 8 Types of Reputation Management Issues, ViperChill
• Sculpting with Nofollow Works Pretty Darn Well, SEOmoz
• Site Got Hacked? Google Offers Advice on Next Steps, Search Engine Roundtable
• Bad Information Still Runs Rampant in SEO, Justin Davy
• Barack VS. Hillary Above the Fold, SEO Speedwagon

Social Media

• Facebook Extends Platform to the Web, The Unofficial Facebook Blog
• Twitter Devices Abound, Twitter Blog
• An Open Letter to the Twitter Guys, Global Neighbourhoods
• Harness the Power of the Internet: People Power!, 10e20 Blog
• Delver Comes Out Of Stealth With a New Twist on Social Search, TechCrunch
• How to Make Google Gadgets – Lesson Four, SEOish
• The killer Twitter-tracker just arrived and its name is Tweetmeme, TechCrunch

Video, Music & Image Search

• Site Update 1/23, YouTube Blog
• YouTube Shares The Love, Forbes
• YouTube Co-Founder Rails EU Regulators For Stifling Progress, mashable.com
• SmugMug’s Private Pics Are Public, Google Blogoscoped
• Have Some Fun and Sip Some Interactive PhotoSoup with Yahoo and Flickr (Beta), ResourceShelf

Web Analytics

• Netvibes Reporting Incorrect Subscriber Numbers?, Vanessa Fox
• Eric Enge interviews comScore’s James Lamberti, Stone Temple

Other Items

• Doodle: Australia Day, Googlified
• Google’s Sergey Brin accepts Peres’ invitation to visit Israel, Ynetnews
• Android Helicopter, Googlified

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

• Choosing the Right CMS Platform for Your Website (from an SEO perspective)
• SpostareDuro’s Gone Porn!?
• The Facebook Marketing Toolbox: 100 Tools and Tips to Tap the Facebook Customer Base
• SEM Skinny : The Dirty Little Secret of the SEO Industry
• 5 Reasons Guest Blogging is a Good Idea
• A 6-Step Approach To Writing Scannable Content
• Don’t Get Too Comfortable at the Top!
• The Art of Propaganda: 7 Common Tactics Used to Influence Behavior
• 24 million links & Google looks the other way
• Matt Cutts: Industry Leaders Are Incapable Of Performing Editorial Discretion
• Usability or User-Experience?
• PPC Advertising and SEO For Multilingual Web Sites
• 12 Tips To Make The Front Page of the “NEW” Digg
• Google reinclusion requests: A “scalable” solution
• Optimizing the Fortune 100 – Enterprise SEO
• A Step Inside Of Google’s Mind: Understanding their Red Flags
• Top Experts Dish with their Best Kept Marketing Secrets
• SEO Community: Do your bit against RipOff Report
• Flickr for SEO Value: A Short Example
• How To Build A Facebook Application
• Blog Readability Test Or Link Building Scheme?
• Illegal & Illicit vs Who’s Getting Paid
• Hey, Donna… Your Lips Tired Yet From Puckering That Long?
• Andy Hanging Up The Towel At Sphinn
• Real Estate Webmasters Banned by Google