SearchCap: The Day In Search, November 16, 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:

• SMX London Recap
  SMX London is now over. Chris Sherman and Danny Sullivan hosted the event. Don’t you worry, we have lots of live coverage, just in case you could not attend. Here is the run down of what I was able to find, in no specific order:…
• Search in Pictures: Barack Obama, Google Schwag & Life Size Google Toolbar
  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….
• AdSense “Godfather” Leaves Google For Own Projects
  Gokul Rajaram, apparently known internally at Google as one of the “godfathers of AdSense,” is leaving the company to pursue his own entrepreneurial projects and writing. Fortune paraphrases Rajaram’s motives for departing: “he said he misses working on a small team and he hopes to recreate the startup environment when…
• Google Checkout For Non-Profits Customers Get AdWords Checkout Badges
  The Google Checkout Blog announced that Google Checkout for Non-Profits users will now get the Google Checkout icon on their Google AdWords campaign. The Google checkout icon adds more visibility to your AdWords ads. In this case, it should help non-profits earn more money and also save with zero transaction…
• Microsoft Seeks 30 Percent Of Search Market And Much Bigger Chunk Of Online Ad Revenues
  Reuters reports on a speech given at an investor conference by Microsoft’s Kevin Johnson, president of Microsoft’s platforms and services division. In the speech Johnson reportedly said that Microsoft wants to capture 30 percent of the consumer search market as well as a much larger slice of the online ad…
• Google To Defend Against “Selling Top Spot” In June 2008
  Australian court sets June date for Google case from Reuters updates us on the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) suit against Google. The Australian watchdog sued Google over deceptive search ads back in July of this year. They then went to court to have their case adjourned to October…
• Yahoo China Appeals Ruling To Remove Links To Unlicensed Music
  Yahoo China Appeals ‘Deep Link’ Ruling from Billboards reports Yahoo China is appealing the ruling for Yahoo China to remove links to the unlicensed music and pay record companies $27,000 in damages. Yahoo released a statement:…
• Live Search Webmaster Center Blog Now Open For Business
  Microsoft announced the launch of the new Live Search Webmaster Center Blog. The Live Search Webmaster Team promises to use the blog to communicate: New tools and features available to webmasters Search engine optimization tips A method of open communication with SEOs and Webmasters…
• Google Gears Up For Spectrum Auction And More (Perhaps)
  We’ve written here several times about Google’s probable bid on 700mhz wireless spectrum licenses that will be auctioned by the FCC in January, 2008. This morning the Wall Street Journal has a kind of free-ranging article that explores a variety of possibilities and scenarios that could come out of Google…

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Google UK Releases Gadgets for the Retailer, SEOish
• The past, present and future of email with Google Apps, Official Google Enterprise Blog
• To sign in, or not to sign in: that is the question, Google News Blog
• Gadgets on the Go, The Sydney Morning Herald Blogs

Business Issues

• Yahoo Poised for Pain in Downturn?, Red Herring
• Baidu Cache System Sued For Libel, Pacific Epoch
• Baidu Readies Google Defense in China Mobile Arena, PC World
• Google plans new child care center in Palo Alto, Mercury News

Conferences

• Designing the Perfect Small Business Marketing Conference, Search Engine Guide

Local, Maps & Mobile

• 5 Essential Mobile Web Apps, Read/Write Web
• Clearwire an Option for Google in Wireless Quest, eWeek
• Map of the day: My Maps for teaching Physics and Literature, Google LatLong
• Surprise! Microsoft And Yahoo Cool To Google Mobile Effort, CNN Money
• Armor All Promotion in Google Earth, Google Earth Blog
• Local Search: Competing All Over the Map, Search Engine Watch
• Tropical Cyclone Sidr in Google Earth, Google Earth Blog

Link Building

• Check if Wikipedia Links To Your Site, Search Engine Roundtable

Paid Search & Contextual

• More Holiday Campaign Strategies, adCenter Blog
• PPC Outsource or In-House? Rules of thumb, Rimm Kaufman
• A change to text ads on the content network, Inside AdWords
• Accidental clicks fade into the background, Inside AdSense
• Early Feedback on Google AdSense Click Area Change, Search Engine Roundtable
• How To Optimize Your AdWords Content Optimization, PPC Hero
• Quick Tips for PPC Optimization, BruceClay.com
• Retail (Ad Copy) Therapy: Our Top 5 Insider Hints for Writing Amazing Retail Copy, adCenter Blog
• Zappos Clever "Contextual" Advertising, Screenwerk

Searching

• Get Ready For Wikia Search; First Screen Shots Shown In South Africa, TechCrunch
• Live Webcast: Search, Privacy and Community in the Digital Age, BruceClay.com
• Whiteboard Friday – "Searching High and Low", SEOmoz

SEM Industry

• I Know All About SEO, Bob Massa
• Dogpile.com’s Arfie Joins Other Canines in Raising $25,000 for Animals In Need, InfoSpace

SEO & SEM

• Optimize Your Wordpress Blog as a Whole, The CLM Blog
• Webmaster Tools: Open for Business, Live Search
• Domain Names and SEO – The True Value of a Name, SEO.com
• Microsoft funding bankrupt Live Search experiment with porn spam, sebastians-pamphlets.com
• Onpage SEO: 7 Tips That Are Easy to Implement, Performancing.com
• The 10 Most Common SEO Mistakes, Search Engine Watch Blog
• ZeroRank – More PageRank Carnage (Round 5), andybeard.eu

Social Media

• A word of advice: On Facebook, don’t play the name game, News.com
• Guide to Twitter as a Tool for Marketing and PR, Online Marketing Blog
• Videos, Presentations, and Code Introduction from OpenSocial Campfire One Available, OpenSocial API Blog
• Social Media Marketing in a Nutshell, Dosh Dosh
• Social Networking with the Elite, BusinessWeek
• Wikipedia boss Jimmy Wales to create Facebook competitor?, matthewbuckland.com

Video, Music & Image Search

• YouTube Cofounder Echoes Google’s Lust for Platform Dominance, Wired
• Picasa Web Integrates with Google Image Search, Google Operating System
• Web Videos Stealing TV Viewers, and Marketers, New York Times

Web Analytics

• UK Search Engine Marketing Benchmark Report Available to Download Free, www.prweb.com

Other Items

• Yahoo! Search Contextual Precaching, Ajaxian

Hot Items From Sphinn, Our Social News Sharing Site:

• Popular Blog Posts – Women of Search 2.0
• Viral Marketing Disasters, When the Web Strikes Back
• Google Goes after the Everyday Blogger
• How to deal with bad blog comments
• Like it Or Not, You’re a Marketer
• 5 Ways Small Business Can Benefit From Social Media/Networking Sites
• Is Your Search Engine Optimization Campaign Broken?
• 100+ Untapped Link Building Strategies
• Stop Steampunk SEO, Start Being Friendly to Your Peers
• ZeroRank – More PageRank Carnage (Round 5)
• Shopzilla paying to get paid links removed…
• Where Do Forums Fit on a Social Network Driven Internet?
• Google Says OK To Hiding Content
• What’s A Little Guy Have To Do To Get Some Links?
• Eytan Seidman of MSN/Live Search on Dozens of Topics
• Analysis of Digg top 100 articles
• SEG Announces New Search/Marketing Conference: Small Business Marketing Unleashed
• Guide to Twitter as a Tool for Marketing and PR