SearchCap: The Day In Search, November 2, 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:

• Changes At Natural Language Search Company Powerset
  Big management changes are going on at Powerset, which has received much attention for its potential in using natural language processing for search. Barney Pell, who has been CEO at Powerset, posted today in his blog that he is transitioning to CTO, that Steve Newcomb, who had been COO, is…
• Search in Pictures: Halloween, Yahoo Bouncing Stools & Googlebox
  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….
• Blog Searches Now Included In Google Web History
  Google Operating System reports Google Blog Searches are now included in Google Web History….
• Yahoo’s Executive Apologizes Over Imprisonment Of Chinese Dissident
  Yahoo Executive Offers Apology to Lawmakers from the Wall Street Journal reports Michael Callahan, executive vice president and general counsel of Yahoo, issued a statement apologizing for providing incorrect information to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs over the jailed Chinese reporter. Part of the statement read: I neglected to…
• New York Times Adds BlogRunner To Technology Section
  The New York Times’ Blogrunner—A Techmeme Killer? from TechCrunch shows that the New York Times has added BlogRunner headlines on the Technology main page. BlogRunner is very similar to Techmeme, where the system aggregates top news, and automatically tracks the discussion from around the web via linkage data. The New…
• Google AdWords Manager Defined Spend (MDS)
  Shimon Sandler posted about a feature he found in his Google AdWords account named “Manager Defined Spend” or MDS. I emailed Google to find out more about this MDS feature, and this is the response they sent me: Manager Defined Spend (MDS) is a new, simple way for My Client…
• Taking On ARF, Engagement, Interruptive Advertising… And Whatever Else You’ve Got!
  In 2005, The Advertising Research Foundation (ARF), through their MI4 Initiative, decided to embark on the Quixotic quest of defining engagement. The impetus was finding a more appropriate and applicable metric that could stretch across the rapidly expanding number of channels that were exploding through digital delivery. So, the…
• Travel & Hospitality Marketers: Last Call For SMX Travel In Orlando
  Don’t miss the opportunity to attend SMX Travel @ PhoCusWright if you are responsible for driving online travel sales or managing the people who do. SMX Travel happens November 12-13 in Orlando, FL! Register today and secure your place. SMX Travel is designed for online marketers who want to dive…
• MySpace, Others Join Google-Led OpenSocial
  First reported by Silicon Alley Insider and then confirmed with additional detail by TechCrunch, Google has added more high-profile partners to its OpenSocial initiative. They are MySpace, Bebo, and SixApart, which now join LinkedIn, Plaxo, and Friendster, among several others, in the alliance or coalition….

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Google Notebook Adds Labels and Bookmarks, Google Operating System
• Under the sink with Pipes, Yodel Anecdotal

Business Issues

• FTC reviewing Google ad deal expeditiously, Reuters
• Imperium: Google’s March Towards Becoming America’s Biggest Company, TechCrunch
• Wikipedia cleared in French defamation case, Reuters

Conferences

• Pre-SES Seth Godin Webinar, BruceClay.com

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Getting the Local Scoop on Home Loans Through Yahoo! Real Estate, Yahoo! Local & Maps Blog
• Introducing the MGD Monitor, Google LatLong
• Your town in 3D, Google LatLong
• Majors Incompetent In Canadian Local Search, SEO Montreal
• Planets Layer in Sky Updated, Google Earth Blog

Link Building

• Composing the Perfect Letter of Surrender, Search Engine Guide
• Top 5 Warning Signs of a Bad Web Directory, Rock Coast Media

Paid Search & Contextual

• An update on channel reports, Inside AdSense
• Clicks, conversions, and Christmas, Inside AdWords
• Four Tips to Maximize Your Spend on the Google Content Network, Search Engine Guide
• October 2007 PPC Ad Spend: Google Jumps, Yahoo Slumps, Microsoft Steady, Rimm Kaufman
• Problems with Chitika’s non-existant support and uncashable check payments, JenSense.com
• Flying High – How to Write Great Travel Ads for adCenter, adCenter Blog
• Google AdSense Adds Resources Tab, Search Engine Roundtable
• Yahoo Search Marketing’s Block Domain Feature Encouraging Laziness at Yahoo?, Search Engine Roundtable

Searching

• hakia MEET OTHERS "who asked the same query", Hakia Blog
• Who programs the Ask.com search algorithm?, News.com
• Wikipedia: The Barry Bonds of Search Results, Search Engine Journal

SEM Industry

• Mr. Slawski Goes to Washington, SEO By The Sea
• Open Social Gets a Blog, SEOish
• Something For Everyone: Buffy, Paid Links, PageRank, and Hakia, Vanessa Fox
• The SEOBook Free SEO & SEM Job Boards, SEO Book
• What is it like to work at Google?, Scripting News

SEO & SEM

• All Google Penalties Are Created Equally — Or Are They?, Bob Massa
• Optimization Odds and Ends, BruceClay.com
• Expert Strategies for SEO, WebProNews
• Should You Optimize Your Site For Each Individual Search Engine?, SEOmoz
• Webmasters Report November 2007 Google SERP Changes, Search Engine Roundtable
• [Video] Creating Your Site’s Internal Link Structure for Google and Searchers, SEO Book

Social Media

• Can I please have s’mores, Google Code Blog
• OMG! You speak Twitter?!, Marloes Veldhuizen loves
• orkut opens to developers, Orkut Blog
• You Can’t Own the Community Without Understanding Them, Techipedia

Video, Music & Image Search

• Beta Invites For Social Music Site Jango, TechCrunch
• New languages & new features for international users, Google Photos Blog
• Updated Preview of New Videos Page (Begone, Red!), YouTube

Web Analytics

• 5 Heatmap Site Analytics Solutions, The SEO Scoop

Other Items

• Google cool carbon footprint calculator, SEO Home
• Google Summons Developers to Campfire One Event, Wired

Hot Items From Sphinn, Our Social News Sharing Site:

• Should You Optimize Your Site For Each Individual Search Engine?
• Life After Digg: Interview With a Banned Top Digger
• Wikipedia: The Barry Bonds of Search Results
• Is Google Now The Big Ugly?
• Exchanging Cold Hard Cash for SEO can be a Tricky Thing to Get Right
• Don’t Be Evil: Google Assigns Dollar Value to Search Results
• 12 of the most inspiring, helpful, and incredible blogs that you have never heard of, but probably should have.
• Why You Need A Social Media Consultant
• How to take a Domain from being worth $6 to $17,500 in 2 Months
• Search Engine Guide Surrenders to Google… And Gives Us a Glimpse of their Behind the Scene Conversations.
• Google Reputation Management Disaster With Open Social
• The Avatar Experiment – Stunning vs Cute vs Guy
• To Shout or Not To Shout: The Digg Dilemma