SearchCap: The Day In Search, July 16, 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:

• The Coke Vs. Pepsi Challenge: Who Redirects Better?
  Both Coca-Cola and Pepsico have seen fit to set up redirects on their homepage URLs—a very common practice among commercial websites. Classically, search optimization experts have advised clients that if their sites perform redirects on pages, they should use only server-side redirection, and it should ideally be a 301 redirect…
• See Google Results From Any Country With Firefox Extension
  RedFly Marketing developed a Firefox extension that enables you to see Google search results from any country. It is well known that Google will change the search results for a keyword phrase based on the country you are searching in. This new Firefox extension easily allows you to see the…
• Microsoft adCenter Adds Negative Keywords To Campaign Level
  Microsoft announced that they now are allowing advertisers to use the negative keywords feature at the campaign level. This way, you can apply a negative keyword to all the ad groups within the campaign, as opposed to adding the negative keyword to each and every ad group….
• SuperPages Taps 1-800-Free411 For Mobile Distribution
  Jingle Networks’ 1-800-Free411 and Idearc’s SuperPages have announced a distribution deal whereby SuperPages advertisers and will be accessible to Free411 callers. This is significant for both companies. It gives SuperPages strong mobile distribution for its advertisers, as part of a larger local search network. It also provides Jingle Networks with…
• Google Sitemaps Offers New Warnings Within Webmaster Central
  The Google Webmaster Central Blog announced new warning notifications that are now being displayed to Google Sitemaps with minor problems. Previously, Google showed any problem, be it large or small, as an error. Now small issues that are “confusing or inaccurate” are considered “warnings” and large issues that render your…
• Google Places Graphical Ads On Search Results Page
  I reported at the Search Engine Roundtable on a WebmasterWorld thread that shows Google is showing a graphical ad for the search jason bourne….
• Local Is Social By Definition
  Several years ago I was having lunch in a restaurant in New York with a couple of Yahoo executives, discussing the challenge of motivating people to rate local businesses. Yahoo was way ahead of the online curve back then, although now ratings and reviews of local businesses are seemingly…
• The Link Saboteurs, And Why They Will Ultimately Fail
  There’s an interesting thread over at SEOmoz about how some unscrupulous marketers will try to sabotage a competitor’s web site by engaging in social media communications and link seeding/spamming tactics that they hope will spark a rash of bad publicity, and maybe even trigger some sort of rankings and/or…
• Ask.com: Today’s Google Free Alternative
  Today’s the day we’re encouraging people to try Ask.com as part of our Google Free Fridays in July. But why is it happening on a Monday? Because I’m a day behind, as I explained last Friday. Shush, you! What’s that? Why do we hate Google so much to be promoting…

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Google Sidebars, Google Operating System
• Add Color to Your iGoogle Page, Google Blogoscoped
• Download Published Documents and Spreadsheets, Google Operating System
• Cookies: expiring sooner to improve privacy, Google Blog

Business Issues

• Google wins another copyright case, News.com
• Umdum Web Directory Acquired by Aviva, Search Engine Journal
• Yahoo hires first NZ employee to push Panama, Stuff.co.nz
• European content regulation and the Audiovisual Media Services Directive, Google Public Policy Blog
• Google hotly denies deception over links, Telegraph
• Another Googler Leaves Google, Googlified
• Reports On Google And Yahoo In Talks To Acquire Rediff Are Baseless, contentSutra.com
• ValueClick to Buy MeziMedia, Forbes.com

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Encompassing the Globe, Google Earth Blog
• Real estate information from Yahoo and Google, San Jose Mercury News
• 5 Quick Ways To Optimize For Local Search, Search Engine Journal

Paid Search & Contextual

• Getting an AdSense Account Banned, Irish Wonder
• Paul Buchheit on Gmail, AdSense and More, Google Blogoscoped
• June 2007 Paid Search Market Share: Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Rimm Kaufman
• Online Video Ads: Just Wait, BusinessWeek
• Google PPA…Not So Great, PPC Discussions
• Yahoo! Publisher Network Suffers Major Ad Serving Slow Down, Search Engine Roundtable
• Google writes a bad check at mobilejones, Adsense Nonsense 2.0
• Are Google AdSense Publishers Gaming Google Pay Per Action?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Boosting CTRs in a Search Fragmenting World, Search Engine Watch
  

Searching

• Disagreeing with Dr. Nielsen: Google’s Dynamic Search Box, SEO By The Sea

SEM Industry

• Andy Beal q & a, Mimasm
• Search Engine Marketing is Bogus for Sites That Simply Don’t Function, Cre8PC
• Win A Date With Lisa Barone, Evil Green Monkey
• Introducing the “Sphinn Effect”, Small Business SEM
• Danny Sullivan launches social news site, E Consultancy
• Sphinn - The Social News Site Every Search Marketer Should Be Using, SEOmoz
• is searchengineworld.com cloaking backlinks, DaveN

SEO & SEM

• When Google loses interest in your content, SEO Buzz Box
• SpyderTrax 3.0 Beta 1 PHP: Track Good Bots + Block Bad/Scraper Robots, Darrin Ward

• Does Googlebot Index Faster When Integrating Google Custom Search?, Search Engine Roundtable

• Google Webmaster Link Tool July 2007 Update, Search Engine Roundtable
• Conspiracy Theory Friday: Is Yahoo Tracking SEOs via Site, Threadwatcher.com

Social Media

• LinkedIn Traffic Up 323% in Past Year, Users More Likely to be on Gmail, Hitwise

• Google Reader + Facebook Application = Digg killer?, Scobleizer

• The ABCs and 123s of Social Networking Sites, Dazzlin Donna

Video, Music & Image Search

• Google’s Picasa Being Used by Nigerian Bank Scammers!, Marketing Shift

Other Items

• Xinu: More Stats For Any Site, Techcrunch
• Google Alerts for New Results from Old Searches, SEO By The Sea

• Penguins, We Have Google Desktop Now!, Googlified

• Doodle: Bastille Day, Googlified
• Google’s Evolution as Seen on Wikipedia, Google Operating System

• Google voted ideal employer by European students, Reuters

• Google Analytics: adding search engines, Joost deValk
• A Study in Contrasts: Yahoo and Google, New York Times Blog

Hot Items From Sphinn:

• A Letter to the Women of SEO
• Sphinn – The Social News Site Every Search Marketer Should Be Using
• Linking to Wikipedia is lazy and a disservice to someone else who really deserves the link!
• Search Engine Marketing is Bogus for Sites That Simply Don’t Function
• Tips On Using Sphinn
• New! Sitemap Warnings Offered By Google Webmaster Central
• Sphinn Bookmarklet
• Jakob Nielsen On The Future Of Search
• What’s The Weirdest Thing You Rank For?
• Do A Press Release That You’ve Sneezed