SearchCap: The Day In Search, July 30, 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:

• Google Now Notifies Of “Search Customization” & Gives Searchers Control
  Google is now showing "search customization" messages to inform searchers when their search results have been modified from "normal" due to a searcher’s geographic location, previous query or web surfing and search history. It’s a nice move to help searchers know what exactly is going on "under the hood"…
• YouTube Sued By Italian Broadcaster Mediaset
  In a factually similar claim to the current Viacom litigation, Google/YouTube was sued by Italian media company and broadcaster Mediaset, which is owned by Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. The company is seeking a minimum of EUR 500 million for copyright violations and hypothetical, lost ad revenue….
• Live Search Adds Home Page “Hotspots”
  Microsoft just announced the official U.S. launch of their new home page. The home page was seen in test mode a few months back, but now it is officially live. The home page contains a background image, which contains “hotspots,” used to show off some of the search queries available…
• How Cuil Is The SEO Industry?
  Philipp Lenssen’s The World According to Cuil blog post inspired me to take snapshots of how Cuil, the new search engine, matches up the names of our industry, to pictures. Danny Sullivan’s Wikipedia article, but showing a picture of Danny Sullivan the race car driver:…
• Google Slightly Updates Google Merchant Search
  Loren Baker covered a small update to Google’s Merchant Search, which we outed back in May. Currently, Google Merchant Search is available in the UK and allows you to compare loan providers. When I covered it originally, it wasn’t available to everyone, but now it appears to be live. Conduct…
• Total Search Marketing, Part 2
  In the first installment of this series, Total Search Marketing, Part 1, I wrote about the eConsultancy research showing that natural search (SEO) was the most frequently used online marketing tactic for lead generation. Yet, most marketers put the bulk of their search marketing budget into paid search. Many…
• SMX Sao Paulo Next Week
  The first Search Marketing Expo conference in Brazil takes place next Thursday and Friday, August 7-8 in Sao Paulo. Reserve your spot by registering today! The SMX Sao Paulo agenda includes programming for search marketers of all skill levels, from novice to advanced. Session topics include link building, landing page…
• Marchex Launches Platform And Tools That Seek To Better Connect Online Search And Offline Buying
  One of the reasons that “local search” has struggled in some quarters has been the challenge of tracking the internet’s influence on in-store or local transactions. This is a theme I heard raised by large retailers at a ShopLocal partner event a couple of weeks ago and one that came…
• Five Steps To Successful Site Architecture For B2B SEO
  A couple months ago, I noted that one of the 6 mistakes B2B marketers continue to make with organic search was inadequate site architecture-the fact that many B2B sites don’t have sufficient content to respond to desired search terms. The solution, however, isn’t simply adding more content. Proper site…

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Gmail Shows "Never Send It To Spam" Filter, Google Blogoscoped
• Notebooks to go, Official Google Notebook Blog

Business Issues

• Amazon Payment Services Debut, PC World
• EarthLink Indicates It Is Open To a Deal With AOL, Wall Street Journal
• Google’s Former Product Director Joins the Board of MarketSharePartners, MarketWatch
• IAC Posts Loss on Charges, New York Times
• Google Moves to Reinvent Transportation, GigaOM
• Google spent $730,000 to lobby in second quarter, Forbes
• John Battelle on how to beat Google , iMediaConnection.com
• FCC.politics.gov, Wall Street Journal
• YouTube and Omnisio Join Forces, YouTube Blog

Local, Maps & Mobile

• ESRI ArcGIS 9.3 Desktop Now Features Microsoft Virtual Earth, Virtual Earth, An Evangelist’s Blog
• Chatting with a Google Street View Driver, eKstreme.com
• Google Announces the Google Map Guide Staffers, Search Engine Roundtable
• Google Maps Updates Design & Features But Users Not Happy, Search Engine Roundtable
• Headed to London, Three Year Anniversary, Google Earth Blog
• Driving some value into Google’s Street View, The Register
• Power to the print, Google LatLong
• Sergey Brin: iPhone Users Conduct 30x More Mobile Searches (and other fascinating stats), RyanSpoon.com

Link Building

• Open Questions #4 – Deminishing Values On Outbound Links, Blue Hat SEO
• Are Links From Blogs As Valuable These Days?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Google vs. Yahoo on Paid Links, Search Engine Watch
• Traffic Marks: Terrific New Linkbuilding Tool, Small Business SEM
• What if a Human Reviewer Looked at your Backlinks?, Jim Boykin

Paid Search & Contextual

• Ad Position Best Practices for PPC – adCenter Blog for Advertisers, adcentercommunity.com
• Common questions: Impressions past page 1, Inside AdWords
• Create AdSense Charts, Google Blogoscoped
• Google AdWords API Reports and Fixes Database Issues, Search Engine Roundtable
• Trying to cut a slice of Google’s search-ad billions, News.com
• adExcellence Tutorial Series: Editorial Guidelines – adCenter Blog for Advertisers, adcentercommunity.com
• Google testing "AdSense for Games" in bid to shake up in-game advertising, VentureBeat
• Sharing your ad space, Inside AdSense
• What’s a Good Click-Through Rate?, Yahoo! Search Marketing Blog

Searching

• Comparing Search Engine Performance: How does Cuil Stack Up to Google, Yahoo!, Live & Ask, SEOmoz
• ChiefMall Contractor Search Engine, Google Blogoscoped
• Cuil’s Query Suggestions, Google Operating System

SEM Industry

• What Are Your Favorite SEO Analogies?, SEO Book
• An Interview with Rob Murray, President of iProspect, SEM Geek
• SMX is an Old Boy’s Club, ShoeMoney
• The Mother of All SMX Local/Mobile Recaps, David Mihm
• It’s all in Vain, Twailer Twash
• SMX Local-Mobile Post Mortem, Screenwerk

SEO & SEM

• SEO Terminology: Orphan and Dead-End Pages, Search Engine Journal
• Conversion Optimization Part of Internet Marketing? If Not, It Should Be!, Search Engine Guide
• Google Recommends Using Microsoft SEM Tools, Search Engine Roundtable
• Google Webmaster Tools Verification Bot Not Passing The Reverse DNS Test, Search Engine Roundtable
• Online Marketing Tips Video: Local Search Optmization for Small Businesses, Search Marketing Gurus
• Seven Building Blocks of a Destination Website: #6 Voice, Search Engine Guide
• Ways to Find Out if Your Site Has Been Hacked or Hijacked, Search Engine Journal
• eMail Spammers be warned – you are hurting your SEO, lightsoutmarketing.com

Social Media

• Twitter As News-wire, Twitter Blog
• Life after Techmeme, Inquisitr
• Study: Women Outnumber Men on Most Social Networks, Read/Write Web
• StumbleRead brings Stumbleupon style page viewing to FriendFeed, Inquisitr

Video, Music & Image Search

• Face Swapper Privacy, kk.org
• YouTube Partner Program Expands to Brazil and Spain, YouTube Blog

Other Items

• Finally, Google!, Google Operating System

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