SearchCap: The Day In Search, July 22, 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:

• Click Fraud Rate Mostly Unchanged, Says Click Forensics
  Click Forensics has released the second quarter results for 2008, showing a slight drop in click fraud. Last quarter, Click Forensics reported a 16.3 percent rate, they are now reporting a 16.2 percent rate for Q2 of 2008. However, the rate is up from a year ago, which was a…
• The Google Logos Video
  I thought I share with you a video from Appappeal.com, named “Just Google.” The song was created by Lex Friedman and Seth Brown. Here is the video/song:…
• The Link Building Kiss of Death
  If you are an experienced link builder, you might be tempted to read something other than today’s column, which on first glance may appear a bit to rudimentary for your skills. If you do stick around, and I hope you do, I’ll share with you what I consider to…
• Are You BLVD Status? New Analytics Package Tracks Conversions
  Last week, my friend Chris Bennett at 97th Floor and his brother Patrick at Modern Blue launched a new analytics package called BLVD Status that I am particularly excited about. I was one of the original pre-beta testers and was able to see this grow into a really powerful…
• Google Maps Walking Directions Now Live
  Earlier this month, I reported that Google Maps was testing walking directions on a small subset of users. This morning, I noticed that Google Maps now is offering walking directions for all Google Maps users. For example, conduct a search for 200 Madison Ave to 200 Lexington Ave and you…
• Microsoft Virtual Earth Adds New Imagery
  The Virtual Earth Blog announced that they have released a bulk of new imagery to Virtual Earth and Live Maps. I am not going to list out all the new locations you can find the new satellite, ortho and bird’s eye imagery, but here are a few:…
• Will Software Patents (Including On Search Algorithms ) Go Away?
  It’s fairly safe to say: 1) patent law is a mess, 2) patent law is in transition and 3) newer court rulings are reducing the rights of patent holders. But in a very provocative argument, based on recent cases, the PatentlyO law blog argues that new rules and tests imposed…

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Better Comment Moderation in Blogger, Google Operating System
• AOL expands health site, News.com
• Google Mail has more spam, heise online
• Google Suggests Sites for Your Profile, Google Operating System
• NYTimes To Customize Headlines For LinkedIn Users, TechCrunch

Business Issues

• A word on today’s announcement, Yodel Anecdotal
• Yahoo’s Settlement Conditions; Icahn Must Retain 30 Million Shares; Must Not Disparage Company, paidContent.org
• A first for France: the City of Lyon and Google partner up to digitize books, Inside Google Book Search
• Google shows off its bench, ZDNet
• Velocity Interactive Group Names AOL Corporate Strategy And M&A Veteran, Jorge Espinel, Investment Partner, Yahoo News

Local, Maps & Mobile

• 600 Starbucks Closures in Google Earth, Google Earth Blog
• Mobile Tricks with the Google Mobile App, Official Google Mobile Blog
• More on Ad Geotargeting, Screenwerk
• New iPhone Compatible Online Business Directory Released by LogoNav.com, PRWeb
• SatNav danger revealed: Navigation device blamed for causing 300,000 crashes, Mirror.co.uk
• Should We Do Away with the Word "Local", Screenwerk

Link Building

• Google’s Take On NoFollow vs. DoFollow, Link Building Best Practices
• Link Building Search Queries Collection, Search Engine Journal
• Realistic Link Building, WebProNews
• Why Links are Like Shoes, Search Engine Watch

Paid Search & Contextual

• A peek into recent AdWords developments, Inside AdSense
• Helping the Garden Grow, Yahoo! Search Marketing Blog

Searching

• To Save Gas, Shoppers Stay Home and Click, New York Times
• Did Robert Scoble Break Google?, Marketing Pilgrim
• Paving the way to Semantic Search, Yahoo Search Blog
• Search 3.0 – Web Search in Evolution, altsearchengines.com
• Updates for our Beta Product, Live QnA

SEM Industry

• Sadness In The Search Industry : Respect Each Other, Search Engine Roundtable
• Steve Gerencser: Search Blogger of the Day, The SEO Scoop

SEO & SEM

• B2B Content SEO, Yoast
• Dealing with Pagination for High Rankings, Search Engine Roundtable
• Does Google Every Totally "Forgive" A Site For Being Penalized?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Google Webmaster Tools Warns Of Spikes in Bandwidth Fees, Search Engine Roundtable
• Headsmacking Tip #3: Run Your Blog Post Titles Through Keyword Research Before You Hit Publish, SEOmoz
• It’s an SEO and PPC Party, but are They Missing an Important Friend?, endlessplain.com
• Search Burn…Guardian’s Finest Wakes Up (in a Cold Sweat) to Search…, Search Engine War
• SEO Rule #1 : Don’t Lie to Google, Search Engine Journal
• Seven Building Blocks of a Destination Website: #1b Seven Types of Expert Information, Search Engine Guide
• Usability and SEO, Search Engine Watch
• What’s the Real Benefit from Google Sitelinks?, Search Engine Journal

Social Media

• An Ongoing Battle, Twitter Blog
• Judge rules against YouTube star in divorce court, Reuters
• Facebook Asks Developers to Agree to Social Contract, All Facebook

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

• Where did WordPress go wrong?
• How Google Would Build Links For Mortgage Rankings?
• Tips for Using the New Google Keyword Tool & How To Use the Data Wisely
• Visual Comparison of Search Results: A Censorship Case Study
• You Can't Separate Social Media and SEO
• Link Building Search Queries Collection
• Share Your Reddit Favorites… Again
• Link Builder for Wordpress – Download it Now!!!
• The Google Cookbook
• Is the BlogHer Conference Guilty of Sex Discrimination?
• Spam detection using historical factors
• FireFox for SEOs: Working with Several FireFox Profiles
• The Complete Guide to Robots.txt Files
• The Holy Grail of SEO
• Newsflash: BlogHer Supports Women
• Word-of-Mouth Marketing: It's About Being Remarkable
• I Refuse To Participate In The Vicious Nastiness Going On In Our Industry
• Tracking Backlinks w/Analytics Tools
• Reduce Your Risk By Including A Warranty In Your Client SEO Contracts
• The Sphinn Exposé – My Story About Social Media Networking
• By the Numbers: Conversion Rate