SearchCap: The Day In Search, March 14, 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 Big Viacom Sues GOOG & YouTube Roundup
  Yesterday, news came out about Viacom suing Google for $1 billion over alleged video copyright infringement on YouTube. With some dust settling, I thought it would be helpful to recap some of the analysis out there. I’m pulling this roundup mostly from coverage you’ll find on Techmeme. Come along, and…
• Microsoft Announces Tellme Acquisition
  Here’s the press release confirming the acquisition we reported on yesterday….
• Google Searches Used In Murder Trial
  Techdirt spotted a case where prosecutors used the search results of a defendant to help with their case. Allegedly, a woman searched for "how to commit murder," "instant poisons," "undetectable poisons," and "fatal digoxin doses," days before her husband was murdered. As the Daily Record reports the State Police digital…
• AOL Offers New Local Search Format
  AOL, which was one of the early players in local and has recently fallen behind, has now launched a new look and feel local search. The centerpiece is MapQuest maps plus content and ratings from AOL Cityguide (formerly Digital Cities). Here’s an example search for "Sushi, New York City." It’s…
• The 5 Secrets PPC Agencies Don’t Want You to Know
  Nearly three-fourths of companies that outsource their pay-per-click search marketing to agencies are dissatisfied with their results, and only 21 percent are completely satisfied, according to a Jupiter Research published late last year. What causes this dissatisfaction, especially for B2B marketers? There are five factors at work:…
• Microsoft Inks Distribution Deal With Lenovo
  Buyers of Lenovo computers, including ThinkPad notebooks, ThinkCentre desktops, Lenovo 3000 PCs and Lenovo-brand PCs available in China will soon have Windows Live software and and Windows Live Toolbar preinstalled on their machines. This is a minor coup for Microsoft. Lenovo computers (many branded with the IBM logo) previously shipped…
• Ask’s Guerrilla Marketing Campaign Against Google
  Via Valleywag, Ask.com appears to be running a guerrilla marketing campaign in the UK designed to seem like a grassroots effort against a Google monopoly in search. The picture above, taken by Ben Werdmuller, shows one of the campaign’s ads on the London Underground. The ad directs you to…

Search News Headlines From Elsewhere

Applications & Portal Features

• A Little Perspective On Ajax Home Pages, TechCrunch
• Is Google Changing Its Position on Net Neutrality?, GigaOM
• A Modest Proposal To YHOO and MSFT: Spin Out A Search Company, John Battelle
• Hands On: Google’s Personalized Home Page, PC World
• Microsoft to sue ‘cybersquatters’, Threadwatch

Business Issues

• AT&T, Yahoo end speculation, renew strategic partnership, DMNews
• Google finds itself stymied by cybersquatters, FT.com

Censorship & Privacy

• Yahoo Inc. cleared in Hong Kong case, AP
• More on Orkut and law enforcement: Brazil, Boing Boing
• China: gov to expand "Great ‘Net Firewall," censor web even more, Boing Boing

Local, Mobile & Maps

• The 10 Minute Map, Part 2 – Adding Custom Icons, Windows Live Local
• Yahoo services to be preloaded on HTC devices, DM News

Paid Search & Contextual

• More testers needed for Audio Ads, Inside AdWords
• Google Caught Violating Their Own AdWords Guidelines, Search Engine Roundtable

SEM Industry

• How to be an SEO Consultant without even trying, YugaTech
• Yahoo! Search Submit Pro Gives You Yahoo! Quick Links, Search Engine Roundtable
• Cracking Google’s ’secret sauce’ algorithm, Computer World
• Reader Poll: Best SEM Email Discussion Lists, Online Marketing Blog

SEO & SEM

• How to Properly Implement a 301 Redirect, Bruce Clay Blog
• The Cost of No SEO Migration Plan, Online Marketing Blog
• Can Google Clean Up Its SERPs with AJAX?, Bruce Clay Blog
• Interview with Google’s Matt Cutts about Next-Generation Search, Read/Write Web
• Adam Lasnik comments on Spam Complaints and Dupe Content, Search Engine Watch Blog

Social Media

• Technorati Top 100 Blogs Confusion?, SEO By The Sea
• Algorithm Update Changes, FeedBurner Blog
• Social Nets Account for 6.5% of Web Traffic, Micro Persuasion

Video & Image Search

• Digg for Photos, Google Blogoscoped
• YouTube Speeder Doesn’t Leave Enough Evidence For Police, Techdirt
• StumbleUpon Launches StumbleVideo: Great Discovery Tool, rev2.org
• VIA-GOOG: React Varies From Jeers To Cheers—And Lots Of Questions, PaidContent.org
• Viacom vs. YouTube: The Billion Dollar Question, Compete Blog

Other Vertical Search

• Google Navigator, Launched in China, Google Operating System
• Google Finance Means Business, The Street
• 14 Charity Search Engines : Searching for Good, Search Engine Journal

Other Stuff

• Conference Paper: What Can Searching Behavior Tell Us About the Difficulty of Information Tasks? A Study of Web Navigation, ResourceShelf
• Red and blue make purple, Official Yahoo Blog
• Welcome Avinash!, Google Analytics Blog
• Unofficial Google Trends Blog, Google Blogoscoped
• Podcast: Google & Yahoo Link Updates, Searching Searches, Keyword Volume at AdWords, Getting a Job at Google, 404 Pages & More, Search Pulse
• Resources of the Week: March Madness, ResourceShelf
• Podcast: Revisiting The Viacom/YouTube Suit; I Now Pronounce You MicroHoo? Ask’s Stealth Ad Campaign & More!, Daily SearchCast