SearchCap: The Day In Search, March 24, 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:

• Is Microhoo a Done Deal?
  Lately, a merger between Yahoo! and Microsoft is looking more and more probable. Not only have reports been flying around that Yahoo! and Microsoft are in negotiations, but Yahoo!’s SEC filing last week (Tuesday March 18 2008) has added significantly more fuel to the merger fire….
• I Go Buy With A Little Help From My Friends
  My family was recently in Boulder, CO—a place we had hitherto not been. Nice town, but where to go? We spent most of our time at The Spot rock climbing gym because our kids were competing in the bouldering national championships. After a day of intense heart-stopping competition, with…
• Court: Use Of Trademark In AdWords Copy Is An Infringement
  Eric Goldman commented on a case between one advertiser using another advertiser’s trademark in Google AdWords. The court has made a decision (PDF), ruling for the plaintiff, Storus, who sued Aroa for using their trademark in the AdWords title text. Eric Goldman said this is one of the first times…
• Google AdWords Officially Launches Demographic Bidding? Maybe Not
  On Friday, Google announced they launched demographic bidding to every advertiser in the AdWords program. In short, demographic bidding allows advertisers to show their ads to specific age groups and genders. They did a beta launch of this earlier this year, where they dropped using comScore data for their own….
• Google News Makes Commenting More Visible
  The Google News Blog announced that they have made two changes to the commenting feature, in order to make it more visible to their users….
• Online Marketers: Stop Funding Virtual Blight
  Urban blight is easy to recognize: seedy liquor stores and payday lenders on alternating corners, trash-strewn lots and front yards, graffitti-covered buildings, crumbling sidewalks, broken glass, and billboards everywhere you look. Websites afflicted with virtual blight are just as easy to spot: banners promising hot sexy singles and cheating spouses,…
• Google Deemphasizes Search In Experimental Mobile Interface
  Spotted over the weekend by Garrett Rogers, Google has quietly introduced a new, experimental mobile interface called “LCB” that emphasizes browsing instead of search. Something of a radical approach for Google, which is synonymous with search, the site allows users to get to results in top “local search” categories such…
• A New Scourge For Yahoo: Affiliate Mapspam
  I’ve been writing about Mapspam appearing in both Google and Yahoo search results for some time now. Mapspam is where black hat SEOs spam local search and map listings, and like all black hat techniques, it seems to get more sophisticated as the search engines find ways to combat the…

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Newest Gmail features now available for Google Apps users, Official Gmail Blog

Business Issues

• Start-up Askpedia: IAC doesn’t like our name, News.com
• Google outlines proposal for ‘Wi-Fi on steroids’, News.com
• Google wants to fill in the TV white spaces, News.com
• Yahoo! denies posting web photos of Tibetan protesters, AFP
• Google-DoubleClick: The next phase, News.com
• The Central Council of Jews in Germany seeks to sue Google, International Middle East Media Center
• YouTube unblocked in China–but could Google have cooperated?, cNet
• Google Distorting Info on 20% Time?, Google Blogoscoped
• Ask Won’t Ask Again… Cease & Desist, Startup Earth
• Yahoo! and Computational Research Laboratories to Collaborate on Cloud Computing Research, Yahoo Press Releases
• Patriot Act haunts Google service, reportonbusiness.com
• Search Specialist 360i Buys Design Shop i33, Ad Age

Local, Maps & Mobile

• How do you read a map?, Google LatLong
• "Ten Pack" Boosts Google Maps Traffic, Screenwerk

Link Building

• How to Get 1 Million Dollars Worth of Links, Gray Wolf
• Are You Buying Links or Outsourcing Your Link Building?, Link Building Best Practices
• Many SEOs Feel The Minus X Penalties Are Back Link Related, Search Engine Roundtable
• Link Building Part 2: Link Analysis, Vanessa Fox

Paid Search & Contextual

• Will AdWords Parked Domain Exclusion Option Burst the Parked Domain Bubble?, Search Marketing Sage
• Google’s AdWord changes may increase CPC, DMNews
• A New Tool From Google Alarms Sites, New York Times
• Media Cos. Battle Web Portals on Ads, The Associated Press
• Alert: More Google AdWords Phishing Attempts, Search Engine Roundtable
• Developing a Unique Selling Proposition in PPC Ads, Shimon Sandler
• Understanding goals part 2: keyword metrics and the buying cycle – adCenter Advertiser, adcentercommunity.com

Searching

• New Semantic Search Engine Swotti, altsearchengines.com
• Custom Google Search, Google Operating System
• Taking Search Assist to the Streets, Yahoo Search Blog
• Track NCAA Scores on the Go with Yahoo! oneSearch, Yahoo Search Blog
• Quaero gets off the ground to challenge Google, International Herald Tribune
• MetaCarta Launches GeoSearch News, Screenwerk
• SearchMedica Powers Search on ModernMedicine, altsearchengines.com
• The iSEEK Search Engine – Targeted Discovery, altsearchengines.com

SEM Industry

• SES NY 08 Conference Recap, BruceClay.com
• Happy Easter From Cre8asiteforums, Cre8tive Flow
• Jason Calacanis – Why I Didn’t Throw Veggies At Him At SES New York, Search Marketing Gurus
• Easter Logos from Search Engine Industry, Search Engine Roundtable
• SEO Opinions, SEO Facts, and SEO Wisdom, John Andrews
• Aaron Wall Interviewed By Todd Mintz, SEMpdx Blog
• Are Search Conferences Worth the Money?, Search Engine Roundtable

SEO & SEM

• Get More Business on Business.com: How to optimize your business.com campaign, PPC Hero
• Whiteboard Friday – SEO Agency Insights with Tanya Vaughan, SEOmoz
• .info Domains are Not Worthless!, Search Engine Journal
• Using Powerful Titles for Effective SEO, SEOptimise
• Using Anchor Text to Determine the Relevance of a Page, SEO By The Sea
• Is the SEO/SEM Job Market Growing?, All Things SEM

Social Media

• Successful Networking Tips for LinkedIn and Facebook, Search Engine Journal
• Quotably: The Perfect Tool To Make Sense Of Twitter, TechCrunch

Video, Music & Image Search

• SBS Mailbag: Marketing on Flickr and Flickr’s TOS?, Small Business SEM
• Product Update: Now Encoding at 700 KBPS, Yahoo! Video Blog

Web Analytics

• Interview with Google Website Optimizer’s Tom Leung, Search Marketing Gurus
• YouTube Awards — Winners Announced!, YouTube

Other Items

• How I Blew My Google Interview , Silicon Alley Insider
• Google’s Design Guidelines, Google Operating System
• Interview with Bharat Mediratta About the Google Web Server, GInside
• Google Zurich (Video), Google Blogoscoped

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

• Microsoft Develops TIPIS – The Influential Persons Identification System
• That Was, Indeed, Kim Krause Berg Up There
• Skype & Importance of Phone Numbers in a Meta Description
• New Wordpress 2.3.3 Exploit/Vulnerability – Adds Spam Directory /wp-content/1/
• A New Tool From Google Alarms Sites – New York Times
• The Internet Marketing List: 59 Things You Should Be Doing But Probably Aren’t
• Successful Networking Tips for LinkedIn and Facebook
• SES Video: Chris Winfield interview
• PageRank sculpting – Siloing and more
• Official – Mahalo is Spam, According to Google’s Internal Spam Documents
• 11 Ways to Recognize a Bad SEO Firm
• Natural SEO : Reciprocal Linking and Interlinking
• Being Off-Topic, Off-Message, Or Off-Brand Can Be Good For Your SEO!
• Ten Strategies For Avoiding Search Marketing Burnout
• 50 million links : Inside the Digital Point Coop
• Screw You: Alaska Airlines Teach Us About Internet Marketing and Customer Service
• 20 Resources For Google Analytics
• Video Interview With Todd Malicoat & Brent Csutoras @ SES New York 2008
• SEMpdx Searchfest 08 Speaker Reflections
• Disguising Text Links: Passing Manual Reviews the Grayhat Way
• 6 Psychological Changes of the Webmaster
• WHAT is Social Media Marketing Good For Anyway?
• SES New York 2008: Video Interview With Greg Boser by WebProNews