SearchCap: The Day In Search, July 13, 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:

• Needs Assessment: Key 1st Step For Successful Search Marketing
  My last article, How To Structure an In-House SEO Team, stated that once business goals and KPIs are established, in-house marketers must conduct a needs assessment for both the in-house search team and the Web site. Your Search Engine Marketing Needs Assessment Report (SEMNAR) is the anchor for future…
• Microsoft On Search Gains & Live Search Club
  Earlier this week, Microsoft got some positive news about its search share growing thanks to a Live Search Club program it started in May. But then came the criticisms. Was the traffic just off people using robots to win prizes? Nope, says Microsoft. I had a short talk with the…
• Search in Pictures: Google Toes, Yahoo & Trump, Ask’s Marketeers
  In this week’s Search In Pictures, here are the latest images culled from the web, showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have and more….
• Jakob Nielsen On Search Usability
  I’m currently working on a column (series?) for Just Behave where we’ll explore what the search results page might look like in the year 2010. As part of that I sent out invitations to a number of my contacts in the usability world, including Marissa Mayer (Google), Michael Ferguson…
• Google Free Friday: Ask.com’s Turn Moves To Next Monday!
  Remember Google Free Friday? Last week, I posted info to help those trying out AOL as an alternative. Today, it was supposed to be Ask.com’s turn. But I’m afraid the launch of our Sphinn social news and sharing site has put me behind. So I’m moving Ask’s Google Free Friday…
• Google’s Schmidt: Viacom, A Company Built From Lawsuits
  Google takes swipe at Viacom, talks social networks from Reuters reports Google’s CEO, Eric Schmidt as saying “Viacom is a company built from lawsuits, look at their history.” Schmidt said this while be asked questions at a hotel bar at the 25th annual Allen & Co. Schmidt added, “Look who…
• Google AdSense For Mobile Begins Limited Beta
  Self Made Minds informed us that he has been invited to participate in a new beta for AdSense for Mobile ads. He received an email last night offering him an invitation into this limited beta. The email said in part:…
• Chinese Company, Guge, Sues Google Over Name
  Cheeky China company says to sue Google over name from Reuters reports Beijing Guge, a Chinese company, is suing Google over their name. Beijing Guge wants Google to change their corporate name to something else. Beijing Guge says that they get tons of phone calls with people confusing Guge for…
• Free Webcast Next Week – Offline Conversions: The Missing Metric
  Join us next week for a free webcast from our sister site, Search Marketing Now: Offline Conversions: The Missing Metric, Thursday, July 19 at 1:00 PM EDT. Tracking offline conversions has always been a challenge for online marketers. Studies show that nearly two-thirds of sales that being online are closed…

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• CIOs Speak Out On Google Apps Vs. Microsoft Office, InformationWeek
• Nonprofits mix it up with Google Apps, Google Blog

Business Issues

• Google Expected To Post Double-Digit Profit, Sales Gains, CNN Money
• Google’s Brin does not see Facebook up for sale, Reuters
• Incisive Media Announces Launch of Beta Version of Mortgage Industry Search Engine Powered by Convera, Yahoo! Finance
• Yahoo! Q2 2007 Earnings Conference Call Tuesday, Yahoo – Press Release

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Mobile Search V2 released – Improved Navigation, Cache, Movie Searching, GPS, Traffic reporting and more!, Virtual Earth Blog
• 14 Ways to Use a Google Visual Mobile Search System, SEO By The Sea

Paid Search & Contextual

• A SiteSearch to behold, Inside AdSense
• Google AdWords Using Non-Selected (and often Non-Targeted) Keywords?, Marketing Pilgrim
• Google AdWords Editor Tips and Tricks, Search Engine Roundtable
• The power of Adsense unveiled : ultimate Adsense beginner guide, Performancing

Searching

• Review: Content-Based Image Retrieval: Tools, Writings and Demos, ResourceShelf

SEM Industry

• Don’t Click on “SearchEngineLand”, Grok
• Breaking News: Danny Sullivan = Old, Rand Fishkin = Not Old, SEOmoz
• Search Engine Land launches online community, Pandia
• Tired Of Digg? Sp(h)inn It, Search Engine Blog
• Sphinn.com SEM social book marking site, SEO Fox
• Sphinn Combines Social Search and Forum Discussion, Search Engine Roundtable
• Search Engine Marketers Have a New Home at Sphinn.com, Jason Bartholme

SEO & SEM

• Back to Basics: 5 Easy tips for higher Search Engine Rankings, Web Analytics Workshop
• Latino Search Market Presents Opportunities, Search Engine Watch Blog
• Google Global Firefox Extension, Redfly Marketing
• Site Command That Shows Zero Supplemental Results, Search Engine Roundtable
• Does Yahoo Lower Case Banned Site’s Page Titles in Site Explorer?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Whiteboard Friday – “Fridata The 13th”, SEOmoz
• Business benefits of SEO, E-consultancy.com
• Quality Link Building : Social Links, Reciprocal Links and .edu & .gov Links, Search Engine Journal

Social Media

• Targeting Facebook Users Through Applications, Bruceclay.com

Video, Music & Image Search

• First YouTube video cited in court opinion, News.com
• Call for Production Value Standards in Search Marketing Videos, Search Engine Watch

Other Items

• Exalead Adding Millions of Citations from France’s Institute of Scientific and Technical Information (INIST) Database, ResourceShelf

Hot Items From Sphinn:

• Yes, Virginia, There ARE Followed Wikipedia Links
• Google AdSense for Mobile Beta?
• New Firefox Extension To See Google Results In Other Countries
• 10 Cool Things you can do with Clicktracks
• Short Term SEO is Shortsighted
• How to SEO Your Site in Less Than 60 Minutes
• Add Sphinn Bookmarking To the Share This Wordpress Plugin
• 5 Signs That You Need A Break From SEO
• The Basic Common Sense Law: Sphinn’s Terms, Conditions, Guidelines & All That Stuff