SearchCap: The Day In Search, May 9, 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:

• Coming Search Marketing Webcasts From SMN
  Our sister site, Search Marketing Now, is offering a nice mix of free webcasts later this month, ranging from dealing with big PPC campaigns, big brand SEO and bridging the offline-online gap in analytics. SMN webcasts run about 40-50 minutes and start at 1 PM Eastern Time. Here’s more…
• Search In Pictures: Cinco De Mayo At Yahoo, Google Lego Monster & Yahoo’s Soccer Team
  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….
• Yahoo Buys My Favorite Search Browser Plugin, Inquisitor For Apple Safari
  Yahoo has acquired my favorite search browser plugin for Apple Safari, Inquisitor. Inquisitor is an extremely useful search refinement and search aid tool for the Apple browser market. Inquisitor offers autocomplete, refinements, suggestions, and also allows you to add any search engine you like, plus create your own personalized and…
• Google Executives Defend Potential Yahoo Search Deal, Microsoft Releases “Proxy Directors” And Looks Beyond Search And “The Last Click”
  Yesterday before Google’s annual meeting of shareholders, Google CEO Eric Schmidt and co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page fielded questions from reporters on a range of subjects, including a potential paid search deal with Yahoo and its anti-trust implications. Their argument was that a future paid search deal could be…
• Search Engine News, An In-Depth Look At Google’s Tools & The Google SERP Tester
  In The Trenches is a weekly spotlight of tips, tricks, and news about the tools search engine marketing professionals use to give them a leg up on the competition. Today: News from the search engines, today’s in-depth look, “Google’s Tools Section, Part 1 – Intro” and this week’s free…
• SMX Advanced Selling Out — Book Soon!
  Today’s the last day to get the "early bird" rate on a ticket to our SMX Advanced show this June 3 & 4. Perhaps more important for those thinking of going, 85 percent of our available tickets have now gone. We’ve got less than 100 left. You typically see a…
• Google Maps Adds Pictures & Explore Feature
  Some users like Mathew Ingram noticed that Google has now added images from Picasa and Panoramio into the bar beside their maps….
• Google AdWords Adds Landing Page Load Time Metric To Reports & Launching Mid-June
  As expected, Google has announced that landing page load time will become a quality score factor in Google AdWords starting mid-June. In preparation for that launch, Google has started showing advertisers their metrics for the landing page load time for each keyword’s landing page. Here is a picture of what…

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Aliza’s chronicles: climbing out of document hell, Official Google Docs Blog

Business Issues

• Antitrust: Microsoft officially hiring "Google killers", Valleywag
• Google sees YouTube products soon, warm on Yahoo, Reuters
• Larry Page on how to change the world, Fortune
• Inside Microsoft’s War Against Google, BusinessWeek
• Liberty Media Keeps Options Open in Legal Tussle With IAC, Wall Street Journal

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Armageddon Pills and KML in Google Earth, Google Maps API Blog
• Yahoo Go 3.0 beta a go for Windows phones, Download.com
• Google Takes Street View Snaps in Paris; Lawsuits May Follow, PC World
• Using Google Earth to inform cyclone response, Google LatLong

Link Building

• Agency Client = Superhero Link Building Team | Online Marketing Blog, Online Marketing Blog
• Content as Marketing for Link Building (and the Win), SEO Book

Microhoo

• Inside The Deals: Forget Yahoo. Microsoft Needs To Go On The Ultimate Corporate Diet, paidContent.org

Paid Search & Contextual

• A Quick Review & Expansion on "Best Paid Search Practices", PPC Hero
• Ad by Google on Yahoo Anwsers, David Naylor
• Ad Positioning: Tactics to Increase Your AdSense Earnings Overnight, ProBlogger
• Getting Married: How To Change Your AdSense Payee Name, Search Engine Roundtable
• Video Ad Support Comes To Google AdWords API Sandbox, Search Engine Roundtable

Searching

• Quantcast Launches Demographic Search, Read/Write Web

SEM Industry

• SEO Bloggers Parade Their Best, Marketmou
• Sphinn is a Dysfunctional Social Network Because Internet Marketers Don’t Understand Social Networking, Bill Hartzer

SEO & SEM

• New WordPress SEO Blogging Software , Andy Beard
• Buying Sites? Use Trusts To Avoid Google Domain Demolitions, SEO ROI
• Does Setting Your Geographic Target In Google Webmaster Tools Work?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Google Webmaster Tools smoke n mirrors, David Naylor
• Optimization by Numbers, Search Engine Watch
• Sharing Content for Fun , SEOmoz

Social Media

• The SEO Industry’s 25 Most Popular Twitter Users, Apple Pie & Custard
• Confessions and Reflections of a Former Digg Addict, Techipedia
• Live Twittering A Conference? Try Live Twitting!, daggle.com
• The Ultimate Twitter Revenue Model, Read/Write Web

Video, Music & Image Search

• A New and Improved Grid View, Official Google Video Blog

Web Analytics

• Piwik: Open Source Google Analytics Alternative, Read/Write Web

Other Items

• Doodle: Yom Ha’atzmaut, Googlified

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

• When Submitting to Social News Sites is a Complete Waste of Time
• Sphinn: A Dysfunctional Social Community?
• The Most Powerful SEO Tactic: Simplify, Simplify, Simplify
• Top 10 Reasons Why You Should Never Drink While Doing Google Adwords
• Post-Launch PPC Process and Optimizations
• Yes Shoemoney SEO Does Have a Future
• Hey ShoeMoney (and Andy) SEO DOES have a future
• The Tao of Being a Social Media Dad
• David Mihm Interviews Matt McGee
• Tips on Content Centered Link Building
• As Long As There Are Search Engines, SEO Will Survive
• SEO Has a Future! CM Blog Tells ShoeMoney & Mkt. Pilgrim to Jump In a Lake
• Sneak Peak: Content Sharing Survey Report