SearchCap: The Day In Search, May 10, 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:

• Yahoo Getting Academic On Social Networking
  Yahoo hires economics, sociology researchers from News.com covers the news that Yahoo has hired two scientists to help in their social networking initiatives. Dr. R. Preston McAfee and Dr. Duncan Watts are the two scientists Yahoo has hired to work in the Yahoo Research department. Dr. McAfee will be the…
• Yahoo’s CEO, Semel, Speaks At Microsoft’s Strategic Account Summit
  Yahoo CEO arrives on Microsoft’s turf from News.com reports that Terry Semel, Yahoo’s CEO, took the podium at Microsoft’s Strategic Account Summit yesterday. Semel did not mention the recent merger rumors between Microsoft and Yahoo but did talk about working with Microsoft on creating standards for Internet advertising. Semel’s speech…
• Google Map & Google Earth Get Official Blog: Google LatLong
  Finally, Google Maps and Google Earth get their own official blog: Google LatLong, which has just gone up. Given the amount of activity going on with both services, it’s long overdue. Welcome! I’ve added to my list of reading, along with the excellent unofficial blogs of Google Earth Blog, Google…
• Don’t Sweat the Small SEO Stuff
  Among clients, forum members, newsletter subscribers, and seminar attendees, many hours of my day are spent answering questions about organic SEO. One thing I’ve noticed is that newbies and oldies alike are paralyzed when it comes to optimizing their websites because they have an irrational fear of doing something…
• Small Business Advantages: Being Responsive
  Back in March, Christine Churchill wrote a Small is Beautiful column about the ability of small businesses to be flexible and creative, to think locally and explore niche markets that larger companies wouldn’t enter because they were too large or too slow to change in Survival of the Nimble….

Search News Headlines From Elsewhere

Applications & Portal Features

• Photo Feeds for Google Screensaver, Google Operating System
• Comparing Google Reader to Blogines: The Mobile Edition, Cartoon Barry

Business Issues

• Another NY Court Says Keyword Triggering Isn’t TM Use in Commerce–Site Pro-1 v. Better Metal, Eric Goldman
• Google, Yahoo and Microsoft in NAA Cage Match, ClickZ
• Old media turns combative against new media, Reuters
• Kevin ‘Digg’ Rose goes for 3rd startup, GigaOM
• Agency urges delay of DoubleClick deal, Chicago Tribune
• Court: Not Illegal to Google Your Employees, Google Watch
• Amnesty backs Google shareholders, The Register

Link Building

• Linking In A Real World, Search Engine Guide

Local, Maps & Mobile

• New Satellite Imagery of Town Destroyed by Tornado, Google Earth Blog
• Having Fun with Google Earth and SpaceNavigator, Google Earth Blog
• Sounds bring Google Earth to life, BBC NEWS
• Goog-411 Creative Uses, Mike Blumenthal

Paid Search & Contextual

• Search Engine Watch: Hear MY Plea, PPC Lab

• Social Media Marketing Do’s and Don’ts, Search Engine Watch
• Are all clicks equal or are some more equal than others?, E-Consultancy

• How To Get Reinstated After Being Banned from Google AdWords, Search Engine Roundtable

• Navigating vs. Steering: How the SEM-Client Relationship Style May Impact PPC Profits, Rimm Kaufman
• Yahoo! Search Marketing implements new gaming advertising policy, Big Mouth Media

Searching

• Google Onebox with Maps Gone AWOL, Wolf Howl
• Search for Tomorrow, New York Times
• Taking Suggestions While Searching, New York Times

SEM Industry

• Coverage from SEW Live — Columbus, Search Engine Watch Blog
• Internal Departments & Your SEO Firm – A Play, Search Engine Guide

SEO & SEM

• Microsoft Exploring Popularity Data for Ranking Search Results, SEO By The Sea
• The Power of a Generic Domain Name, SEO Book
• Google’s Search Results Are Stuck in 2005, Threadwatch
• For Profit Websites Have No Value Until They Rank, SEO Book
• Fake German Google Search Quality Team Warning from DONOTREPLY@gmail.com, Search Engine Roundtable
• eBay Subdomain Spam, SEO Book
• Sweat The Small Stuff: Search Engine Optimization Is In The Details, Bruceclay.com

Social Media

• MySpace Plans ‘Presidential Town Hall’ Meetings, Wall Street Journal
• Facebook Classifieds Launched – Everything You Need To Know, Pronet Advertising
• Yahoo! Research Expands World-Class Team into Social Sciences, Yahoo Press Releases
• News and Updates, Twitter Blog
• Social Networking Sites and the Law, Eric Goldman

Video, Audio & Image Search

• Breaking: Odeo Acquired By SonicMountain, Techcrunch
• Web search is music to the ears at Hakia, News.com
• Joost Announces $45 million Funding From Sequoia, Index, CBS & Viacom, Techcrunch
• Last.fm and Music Video Search Tools, Search Engine Watch Blog
• Famous Landmarks Get the Flickr Treatment in Yahoo! Search, Yahoo! Search Blog

Other Stuff

• what kind of traffic can you get without pictures?, Vanessa Fox
• Baidu.com Launches Website Ranking Service, ChinaTechNews.com

• Chinese press test Google’s patience, CNET Asia

• Flippin Sites For Profit, Thinking Outside the Box, Affiliate Pimpin
• Bid4Spots Radio Ad Auction Launches in U.K., Search Engine Watch Blog

• Making that Ultimate Connection, Yahoo! Publisher Network

• Google News Played by Foreign Sources?, WebProNews
• Google’s EyeBox counts eyes in public, Engadget