SearchCap: The Day In Search, March 15, 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:

• Google Anonymizing Search Records To Protect Privacy
  Google has announced that it will now anonymize the server log data that it collects after 18 to 24 months, as a way to better protect the privacy of its users. Until now, Google has retained server log data in its original form indefinitely, which made it possible for anyone…
• When AdWords Gets Sex Wrong
  Via Marketing Shift, Don’t Be Evil (Or A Dyke, Or Trans) at SFGate.com from Violet Blue shows how AdSense ads can totally go against the message of the sex content you may have published and covers concerns that Google may be banning some sexual orientation terms as offensive, even though…
• The Duplicate Content Penalty Myth
  One thing that has plagued the SEO industry for years has been a lack of consistency when it comes to SEO terms and definitions. One of the most prevalent misnomers being bandied about is the phrase "duplicate content penalty." I’m here to tell you that there is no such…
• Safa Rashtchy Leaving Piper Jaffray
  Piper Jaffray financial analyst Safa Rashtchy has been covering the search space seriously for years. He was one of the first analysts I recall looking hard at the industry before it became clear to the world how much money it was generated. He’s now leaving Piper Jaffray and has sent…
• Q&A With Link Building Experts
  Rae Hoffman posted a group interview with not just one link building expert but five. Rae asks Eric Ward (a columnist here), Rand Fishkin, Roger Montti, Todd Malicoat and herself ten questions where each expert gives their opinion. Here are the ten questions. For the answers, you’ll have to check…
• Choosing a Web Friendly Name for Your Business
  Groucho is not my real name. I’m breaking it in for a friend. – Groucho Marx One of the most important and one of the most difficult decisions that a business can make is what to call themselves. A friend managed to put together a business model in few…
• Google Webmaster Central Blog Jetzt Auf Deutsch
  Like the advice you get from the Google Webmaster Central blog? Heute kommt es auf Deutsch. Think I got that right. Two years of college German, and that’s the best I can do. German speakers can now keep up on the happenings with Google’s support for site owners in their…
• Blinkx Offers Video SEO Wiki & Whitepaper
  Spotted via ReadWriteWeb, multimedia search engine Blinkx has launched a video SEO wiki with lots of useful information for effectively optimizing video and other multimedia for search engines. Main sections cover preparing video for search engines using meta-data and other information, what to avoid, and a good list of video…
• Ask On Ad Campaign: Fun Way To Wake The "Sleep Searchers"
  I wrote earlier about Ask’s guerrilla marketing campaign now underway to raise awareness of the search engine in the UK. I’ve now talked with Ask CEO Jim Lanzone, who explained more about how the campaign is designed to unfold. He said it’s all meant in good fun, not to be…

Search News Headlines From Elsewhere

Applications & Portal Features

• Google Talk Gadget, Official Google Talk Blog
• Hehehe… Google Subsidiary Quiz, Small Business SEM
• Gmail’s Updated Quotas, Google Operating System
• Google Reader Update, Search Engine Roundtable
• Google Updates Gmail’s Navigation Links, Google Operating System

Business Issues

• Salim Ismail To Head Yahoo Brickhouse, TechCrunch
• Salim Ismail joins Yahoo!, Bradley Horowitz
• I join Yahoo…., Salim Ismail
• Google Is Reviving Hopes for Ex-Furniture Makers, New York Times
• comScore Hopes New Metric Will Add Clarity—And Please Publishers, Hold Off Auditor, PaidContent.org
• Can ‘Visits’ Replace Pageviews?, ClickZ
• News: Microsoft Deal For Large Customers: Use Live Search, Get Free MSFT Products, John Battelle
• BRAND ADVERTISING: Google’s neglected stepchildren, Valleywag

Local, Mobile & Maps

• Local Content Is King, ClickZ
• Sending Directions the Web 2.0 Way, Windows Live Local Blog
• 1-800-Free-411 Has 6% Market Share of U.S. 411 Market, TechCrunch

Paid Search & Contextual

• Google Tests New AdSense Logo Format Once Again, Search Engine Roundtable
• Microsoft adCenter Content Ads – Watch the Webinar!, adCenter Blog
• Invites Being Sent Out To Google AdWords To Test CPC Site Targeting, Search Engine Roundtable
• Google Testing AdSense Horizontal Images?, Search Engine Roundtable
• ContextWeb Lets Publishers Pick Rates, MediaPost
• Google Needs Sex Education, Marketing Shift

Privacy & Legal

• Is Your ISP Selling Your Clickstream Data? Do You Have Any Privacy At All?, TechDirt
• Can A Spider Enter Into A Binding Contract?, Eric Goldman
• Companies That Promised To Stop Advertising In Adware… Still Advertising In Adware, TechDirt

SEM Industry

• SES New York 2007 Discount Coupon, Google Analytics Blog
• Women of Internet Marketing Wednesday Part 13, Search Marketing Gurus
• The Lead-off – Chris Sherman, Search Engine Watch, Search Engine Land, Enquisite
• Selling SEO Services on a Performance Basis, SEO Book
• Legacy SEO Clients, Online Marketing Blog

SEO & SEM

• How To: Increase Back Links With a WordPress Theme, Link Building Blog
• Getting Out of a Bad Community, SEO Book
• You Can Diversify, or You Can Die, Small Business SEM
• Shari Thurow Talking Smack about Eye Tracking?, Out Of My Gord
• Personalized Paid Search and Tracking Long and Short Term Interests, SEO By The Sea
• Optimizing the Mix of Paid and Organic Listings, 10e20

Social Media

• Twitter Stats – Growing but Still Niche, Hitwise
• del.icio.us adds Tag Descriptions, Search Engine Journal

Video & Image Search

• Easiest YouTube downloads ever, Download Squad
• Brazilian court orders YouTube to remove Pele videos, Journal Peru
• Bloglines Image Wall Filled With Pornographic Images, Cartoon Barry
• Has Video Search Arrived? Spam Says So?, Search Engine Watch Blog
• Viacom Rivals Support YouTube Suit, Bloomberg
• While Viacom Sues, CBS Cuts Another YouTube Deal, This Time For March Madness, PaidContent.org

Other Vertical Search

• Search engine spawned from antiterrorism efforts finds place in business, Computer World

Other Stuff

• New From Microsoft Research: MyLifeBits Online Demo, ResourceShelf
• StatusBars: Firefox add-on of the day, Download Squad
• Bloglines Image Wall Filled With Pornographic Images, Yahoo Blog
• Daily SearchCast, March 15, 2007: Google Moves To Protect Search Privacy; Link Building Tips From Experts; Duplicate Content, No Worries? & More!
• Q&A With Ask.com’s Gary Price, SearchDay