SearchCap: The Day In Search, June 20, 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:

• Search In Pictures: New Yodelers, Sergey In Space & Ask.com’s Got Milk
  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….
• Google Trends Comes To Web Sites: Trends For Web Sites
  Google has launched a major addition to Google Trends named Trends for Web Sites. Trends for Web Sites extends Google Trends by enabling you to search for web site addresses, as opposed to just searching for trends by keyword. R.J. Pittman, Google’s Director of Product Management, told me that by…
• Google Celebrates First Day Of Summer With Solstice Logo
  Google has a special logo up today, in honor of the summer solstice, AKA the first day of summer. The solstice is when the “Earth’s axis is most oriented toward or away from the Sun, causing the Sun to reach its northernmost and southernmost extremes,” according to Wikipedia Danny…
• SMN Webcasts: Search as Strategy on Tuesday, Local Search Wednesday
  Next week, we have another doubleheader for our sister company, Search Marketing Now: On Tuesday, join Gord Hotckiss and James Lamberti for a webcast on “Search as a Strategic Planning Tool.” How can you use search to better understand your customer demographic – or to size your market opportunity? How…
• Yahoo The Failure: Myth Versus Reality
  As SS Yahoo appears to be sinking, let me be the contrarian about her future. I admit, I find it as hard to believe as anyone that Yahoo has much life left in it after all executive departures this week, plus the latest news of Delicious founder Joshua Schacter going….
• Google News To Run Experiments
  The Google News Blog announced that they will be running limited tests on the Google News portal and search engine. Google did not specifically let us know what they are testing within Google News. If you see any weird search results or weird interface changes at Google News, please let…
• Miss The Google Webmaster Help Group Chat Last Night?
  Did you miss the Google Webmaster Help Group Chat that took place last night? If you did, no need to worry, I was able to record the audio and export the full Q&A transcript, with well over 300 questions answered by Googlers. You can find the audio recording and downloadable…
• Triage Time For Yahoo, Delicious Founder Latest Departure
  Are we watching an awkward transition at Yahoo or something more like a collapse? To declare my biases openly, I hope it’s the former. The Internet needs a healthy Yahoo and Google needs strong competitors to keep it on its toes. But what’s happening at Yahoo certainly does not look…
• Google “Sometimes” Case Sensitive When Searching + The Rest
  Over the past several months, we have been hearing report after report that Google is changing the search results based on the case sensitivity of the search phrase. Matt Cutts of Google in May was confused by my reports of case sensitivity as well but never really confirmed or denied…
• Should Advertisers Fear GoogleHoo?
  Forget the business issues over the deal where Yahoo will selectively serve Google ads on the Yahoo site. What about the impact on the advertisers? Overbidding on Yahoo and potentially underbidding on Google’s network system will likely be the most immediate changes. But there are positives, as well….

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• New feature review: auto-save, linking, page names, and landing page, Google Sites Blog

Business Issues

• Google needs to rethink its customer service strategy, Googling Google
• The Matt Cohler Exit Interview, TechCrunch
• Google, Yahoo Clients Defend Advertising Partnership , Bloomberg
• Has Microsoft Sent Yahoo into a Death Spiral?, New York Times

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Google Maps: More Mapspam, Again, Mike Blumenthal
• Talk to us: GOOG-411 now available in Canada, Official Google Mobile Blog

Link Building

• Headsmacking Tip #1: Link Requests in Order Confirmation Emails, SEOmoz
• A Bakers Dozen: Ways to Increase Link Density, Stepforth

Paid Search & Contextual

• adCenter billing: payment methods and what to do if your credit card is declined – adCenter Advertiser, adcentercommunity.com
• How To Set No End Date for an Ad Group in adCenter API version 5.1 – adCenter API, adcentercommunity.com
• adCenter API v5.1 Update Live Meeting – Events, adcentercommunity.com
• Google AdWords Conversion Tracking Goes Missing for Advertisers, Search Engine Roundtable
• How I Get Special Treatment from My Google and Yahoo reps. And How you Can Too!, PPC Hero

Searching

• Internet Explorer now officially more del.icio.us, delicious blog
• Accoona, Once Pretender to Search Throne… Now Niche B2B Service, Read/Write Web
• How to change Google’s favicon to the old one, AlexTips.com

SEM Industry

• My first SES conference: Search Engine Enlightenment, Traffick
• My Conversation With Matt Cutts At SMX Advanced, SEMpdx Blog
• Google to present at SEM Canada, SEOish
• Hey Matt Cutts Be Fair if You Are Going After Paid Links, Michael Gray
• Ooops..I did it again. Sorry Andrew., Out Of My Gord
• Search Engine Optimization Myths – SES Toronto, Online Marketing Blog
• SES Toronto: Web 2.0 and Search Engines, Online Marketing Blog

SEO & SEM

• How Much Testing Is Too Much?, BruceClay.com
• Yahoo Site Explorer adds subdomain data, SEOptimise
• Can Quality Sites Be Google Bowled & Hurt in Google’s Search Results?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Can You Remove a Site From a Country Specific Google Search Engine?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Crawl Rate Tracker, Yoast
• Google Does Not Give Preference to .COM’s over .INFO’s or Other TLDs, Search Engine Roundtable
• Internal Architecture SEO : Navigation Menu Versus In-Content Links, Search Engine Journal
• Site Explorer is a First Step: How Could Yahoo be Friendlier to Site Owners?, SEO By The Sea
• What is Acceptable Hidden Flash Content?, Search Engine Roundtable

Social Media

• Why LinkedIn is the One Social Network I Couldn’t Work Without, Search Engine Guide
• Facebook Blows Past MySpace In Global Visitors For May, TechCrunch

Web Analytics

• New Plans for More Flexible Service, Official Google Website Optimizer Blog

Other Items

• AP Says Drudge Retort Excerpt "Matter" Closed; No Official Policy Announced, paidContent.org
• Forget the New York Times: Google Should Buy The AP, Wired
• Blackhat SEO Redux, Yahoo Google talk, Yoast Launch and more – ShoeMoney Show, ShoeMoney
• Whiteboard Friday – PPC Basics, SEOmoz

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

• How to change Google's favicon to the old one
• Compete: Google Keeps Stomping The Others In Search Traffic
• Yahoo The Failure: Myth Versus Reality
• My Conversation With Matt Cutts At SMX Advanced
• Plurk Karma Secrets Unravelled – tips on the road to Nirvana
• Matt Cutts — Be Fair if You Are Going After Paid Links
• Optimize Your Employees Happiness with Subsidizing the Cost of Gas
• Is Desphinning rude?
• Google Bangin' The "No Paid Links Drum" Again
• Why LinkedIn is the One Social Network I Couldn't Work Without
• Live Recording of Google's Live Webmaster Chat
• Courts: WHOIS Does Not Establish Domain Name Ownership
• There's No Shortcut for Link Building: A Case for Relationship Building
• 4 Steps to Avoid the Google AdWords Ignorance Tax
• Google Flies the Rainbow Flag
• XML Sitemaps: The Most Overrated SEO Tactic Ever