SearchCap: The Day In Search, January 29, 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:

• Microsoft adCenter To Power Ads On Wall Street Journal Digital Network
  The adCenter blog announced Microsoft will be powering the contextual and paid ads on the Wall Street Journal Digital Network. The WSJ Digital Network includes sites such as WSJ.com, Barrons.com, Marketwatch.com, allthingsd.com and others. This is a huge deal for Microsoft, giving their ad program exposure to 20 million unique…
• No Recession For Link Building
  In 2007, half your links stopped helping you and in 2008, half your budget has likely been whacked. Now what do you do?
• 15 Fundamental Truths About Social Media Marketing
  In September 2007, I was offered the role of ‘Social Media Manager’ at a company in Cape Town, South Africa which I took without much hesitation. I knew my job would focus on the ‘general’ projects such as proposals, running campaigns and devising social strategies for clients who had…
• Byzantine Legal Fight For Control Of Ask.com Parent IAC
  The Wall Street Journal covers the “open warfare” between IAC CEO Barry Diller and Liberty Media, one of its largest backers and investors. Liberty Chairman John Malone has grown increasingly frustrated with IAC’s financial and stock performance and Diller himself. Diller has control of the company through a Byzantine procedural…
• Once Again, A Google Murder Case
  In the UK, a woman has been convicted of trying to murder her husband after researching methods on Google. It’s one of several cases like this that have come up in past years. Google poisoner tried to murder husband describes the method this woman used to try to kill her…
• How To Create Compelling Social Media Profiles
  Social media is not really new anymore, but many people still struggle with the subtle things that might help or hurt success within the top social communities. Recently Muhammad Saleem published a great article on the various tips you can follow to help you succeed in most social media…
• The Nominees Are In For SEMPO’s 2008 Board Of Directors
  Bill Hartzer has the scoop on the 33 individuals who are on the nominee list for SEMPO’s board of directors of 2008. Thirteen of the nominees will be elected to be on the board of directors for a two-year period. The voting process is internal and will begin on Wednesday,…
• Google’s Position Six Penalty (Or Bug) A Reality
  A week ago we wrote about Google’s Mysterious Position Six Penalty. The phenomenon described has now been confirmed by Google’s Matt Cutts in one of our Sphinn threads on the topic. It appears from Matt’s comments that the drop for pages impacted was an “unintended consequence,” as Glengara puts it…
• Search Illustrated: B2B Long Tail SEO
  It’s hard to dispute that the Long Tail is an important concept in Search. A lot of times, though, we tend to think of the long tail as being a B2C concept by relating it to specific product names in ecommerce situations. But, it’s just as relevant in the…

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• 11 Power Tips for Gmail, Matt Cutts
• Go To Google Groups. Get Tricked Into Downloading Malware. Do Not Pass Go, TechCrunch

Business Issues

• Yahoo Senior Director Joins SocialMedia, WebProNews
• ABA IP Section Quietly Considering Anti-Consumer Proposals to Regulate Keyword Advertising, Eric Goldman
• Google Mafia Update: AdSense’s Gokul Rajaram Joins Tumri Board, TechCrunch
• Yahoo’s Jerry Yang Struggles to Lift Profit as Google Dominates , Bloomberg
• Digg Joins the DataPortability Project, Digg the Blog
• Google Expected To Report Stellar Earnings, Forbes
• Will Yandex Go IPO in 2008?, Q-blog

Conferences

• SphinnCon Israel Sold Out, Search Engine Roundtable

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Google Coupon results in Main SERPS Part II, Understanding Google Maps & Yahoo Local
• Google now integrating Coupon Results in Main Search Results, Understanding Google Maps & Yahoo Local
• One-town wonder [Yelp Review], San Francisco Magazine
• San Francisco Mag, Conflicts and Yelp, Greg Sterling
• Official Google Maps API Blog: Put your map on the map!, Google Maps API Blog
• Techland Wireless auction update: C-block spectrum bidding stalled, FORTUNE
• Doing our homework, Google LatLong
• Searching the Sky: Pattern Recognition Search in the Sky, ResourceShelf

Link Building

• Google Says EDU Links Are Not Better Links, Search Engine Roundtable

Paid Search & Contextual

• Geo-Targeting Headaches with Yahoo Search Marketing, Stepforth
• Project Panama Impact Wanes, Study Says, AdWeek

Searching

• PC World – Hackers Rig Google to Deliver Malware, PC World
• Geeking with Greg: Incremental caching for web search, glinden.blogspot.com

SEM Industry

• Learn the Fundamentals of Search Marketing – SEMPO Institute, Online Marketing Blog
• SEMpdx Searchfest 08 Mini-Interview: Marty Weintraub (aimClear), SEMpdx Blog
• The Dark Age of SEO, www.allthingssem.com
• New Tagline at SEO Book…, SEO Book
• Hottest Geeks? What About Hottest SEMs!, Smart Keywords
• Take the SEO Industry Survey, SEOmoz
• IAB Search Council releases Search Best Practice Resource, BigMouthMedia

SEO & SEM

• Are You a SEO Asstard?, SEOish
• Yahoo Search January ‘08 Update Complete, Search Engine Roundtable
• Keyword Analysis and Measurement, www.shimonsandler.com
• Google Free Proxy Server via Language Translation Is Gone Forever, Digital Inspiration
• Online Retail SEO: Holiday Shopping Seasonality, Search Engine Watch
• SEO Millionaire: Who Wants to Be One? – Part 2 , Search Engine Watch
• How I Increased My Blog’s Subscriber Count By Over 1000% In Less Than a Year, Search Engine Guide
• Jonathan Simon of Google Answers Questions from Pubcon 2007, Search Engine Roundtable
• Republican Rudy Giuliani: 2008 Presidential Candidates & Online Marketing Strategies, Search Marketing Gurus
• SEO Tools – Firefox Addons for Search Engine Optimization, Online Marketing Blog

Social Media

• 34 Reasons Why Readers Unsubscribe from Your Blog, Problogger
• Introducing Prologue , WordPress.com
• Is the Tipping Point Toast?, Fast Company
• Digg Nearly Triples Registered Users In a Year, Says Sleuth Programmer, TechCrunch
• Mahalo Expands Multiprofiles: One Stop For Various Social Networking Sites, TechCrunch
• Googlers: Old media’s not dead, it just has to be Google-ized, News.com

Web Analytics

• Move FeedBurner RSS Feeds From One Account to Another, Digital Inspiration

Other Items

• Google’s Newspaper Ads: Big Hopes For Small Barcodes, Silicon Alley Insider
• US: Google Health – Predicting Google’s Next Move, Hitwise Intelligence

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

• Link Diagnosis – examine your link competition
• Sick of SEO Snake Oil Sales Pitch
• The Snake Oil SEO Company Manifesto – 17 Fibs
• How To Create Compelling Social Media Profiles
• 4 Don’t-MissTips For Video & Image Optimization
• Why Your In-house SEO Will Fail in Social Media
• Will Super Bowl Advertisers get it Right in 2008?
• Google Says EDU Links Are No Smarter Than Others
• Your First Blackhat Setup: Blackhat 101
• Google Removes the Position 6 Penalty/Filter/Glitch
• 9 Tools For Generating Keyword Lists – PPC or Otherwise
• 8 Types of Reputation Management Issues
• How to Write or Buy Paid Posts
• Do You Swear on Your Blog? [POLL]
• Who ARE The Users? Facebook Demographics Breakout
• Don’t Waste Your Money Marketing to Influencers
• Determining the Right Keywords – Keyword Analysis and Measurement
• StumbleUpon – The Most Popular Social Bookmarking Site for (Pro)Bloggers
• SEO and Tech Daily: Changes at Google Blog Search
• Target Tells a Blogger to Go Away
• Interview with Peter Meyers AKA Dr Pete – website usability specialist
• Is The Blogosphere Being Gamed?
• Worst Link Building Email I’ve Ever Received
• SEO Certification – Something to Perk Up Your Resume?
• Ranking “Above the Fold” and Why it Matters!