SearchCap: The Day In Search, July 31, 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:

• How To Create A Viral Facebook App
  Back in May, Facebook launched a platform that allowed developers to tap into the Facebook hub itself. The Facebook Platform is a set of resources and tools that enables rapid development of applications for Facebook users. It’s proven wildly popular, and companies are leveraging it to gain thousands if…
• IAC Reports Q2 Earnings, Ask.com Revenue Down On A Per Query Basis
  Ask.com’s parent company, IAC, released their second quarter earnings statement today. Ask.com is bundled into the “Media & Advertising” category, which overall reported higher revenue than the previous year by 33%. However, Ask.com realized a “lower revenue per query since the launch” of Ask 3D in June. Why? Because the…
• Microsoft Works To Be Ad Funded
  Microsoft Works to become a free, ad-funded product from ZDNet reports that the next version of the Microsoft Works office suite is to be ad funded….
• iCrossing Acquires Proxicom After $62 Million Funding
  Internet marketer iCrossing acquires Va. firm from the Arizona Republic reports iCrossing has purchased Proxicom, a web development firm based in Virginia after getting $62 million last week. Janet at Marketing Pilgrim looks at the other firms they have recently acquired and speculates that iCrossing is on a value building…
• Google, Yahoo, Microsoft: Year-To-Date PPC Report Card
  As 2007 is now half over, it seems a good time to compare the performance of the Big Three search engines year-to-date. The punch line: Google reigns dominant, providing the lion’s share of clicks, and Google clicks convert well. Microsoft offers strongly converting clicks at a lower-than-expected cost—good efficiency,…
• Google Launches Campaign Optimizer For Automated AdWords Tips
  The Inside AdWords Blog announced the launch of AdWords Campaign Optimizer. This is an automated AdWords tool that gives you tips on how to improve your campaign, in just minutes. When you run the tool, Google says it will “automatically analyze your budget, keywords, and landing page, and create a…
• The Future Of Rich Media On Local Sites
  If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video may speak volumes. Yet despite the popularity of rich media elsewhere on the Internet, the use of photos and videos on local sites is in its infancy. And with earbuds sprouting across the human landscape delivering podcasts on…

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Google hires browser hacking guru, Ryan Naraine
• Google Documents Can’t Be Deleted Entirely, Google Operating System
• Have a date with your favorite stock, Official Gmail Blog
• Hide and go sort, Google Docs & Spreadsheets Blog

Business Issues

• Alibaba.com IPO Confirmed, Techcrunch
• Fixing Yahoo!: Building a Yahoo! Platform, Read/Write Web
• PriceGrabber Lands CNET Deal, ComparisonEngines.com

Conferences

• Danger, Excitement, Romance - Coming Soon to an Auditorium near SEOmoz, SEOmoz

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Where in the world is… (Answers), Google LatLong
• Google bets on mobile market, News.com
• Microformats in Google Maps, Google Maps API Blog

Link Building

• Dangling Links, Search Engine Roundtable
• The Emotions that Make Us Link, SEOmoz
• My Favorite Traffic and Backlink Attraction Method, The SEO Scoop

Paid Search & Contextual

• Transferred Google Domain: AdScapeMediaInventoryTest.net, ResourceShelf
• Zango Practices Violating Zango’s Recent Settlement with the FTC, Ben Edelman
• Inside AdWords: How to use the new Search Query Performance report, Inside AdWords

Searching

• Search Engines Defend Your Privacy (to Target You Better), Ad Age
• Yahoo Collaborative Tagging Suggestions Use Goodness to Combat Tag Spam, SEO By The Sea
• Yahoo Testimony About Imprisoned Reporter Contradicted, InformationWeek
• New search engine for FAQs - QueryCAT, Pandia
• Top 10 Yahoo! Properties, Read/Write Web
• Yahoo! launches Trip Panner in the UK, Travolution.co.uk
• Does Google Opt For Non Exact Matches In Organic Search?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Hakia: semantic search… set to music: Page 1, Ars Technica
• IR: SRU and Open Search Initiative Begun, ResourceShelf

SEM Industry

• Pioneer Bullish on Local, Video, Google, Ad Age
• What Makes a Top SEO Blog?, Online Marketing Blog

SEO & SEM

• Explaining Search Engine Optimization to Muggles, BruceClay.com
• How to Turn Content Into a Valuable Keyword List, SEO Book
• More Yahoo Search Ranking Changes, Search Engine Roundtable
• Avoiding Cookie Cutter SEO, Search Engine Watch
• Think You’re Done With SEO? Think Again!, Search Engine Watch

Social Media

• The internet is for porn [on Reddit], Reddit
• Web 2.0 Inefficiency: Crossposting On Twitter, Facebook, Google Reader, Etc, publishing2.com

Web Analytics

• Reporting Delay Update, Google Analytics Blog

Other Items

• Google Picnic, Googlified
• Top Internet Marketing Blog Posts’ Ever, ViperChill
• Podcast: Microsoft Buys Ad Exchange; Search Wikia Gets Grub Crawler; Search Engines Try Games To Get More Queries, Daily SearchCast
• Podcast: Microsoft Works To Be Free (But With Ads); Is Google Pitching Its Own SEO Work? And More!, Daily SearchCast

Hot Items From Sphinn, Our Social News Sharing Site:

• Google Trends Updated Through July 17
• Want a free link from CNN.com? Here’s How to get one…
• Sphinn Doctor
• Beginners Guide to Social Media
• Is Google Misleading Search Marketers?
• SEO with Usability: What The People Want
• The Unavailable_After tag is totally and utterly useless
• The Future Of Rich Media On Local Sites
• What Can Google Analytics Tell You? That Vanessa Fox Visited Your Site When Staying At The Drake Hotel
• Washington Post Offering Biagra
• Google Stealing Your Clients? Offers Proposal To Do Video SEO