SearchCap: The Day In Search, November 4, 2009

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.

From Search Engine Land:

• Build Your Own Google News Home Page With Custom Sections
  

  Google News has made it easier to customize its home page with the creation of a Custom Sections Directory that includes material created both by Google and by Google News users.

  The directory includes sections such as “Mobile Technology,” “Google,” “Social Networking,” “Apple Inc.” and “NFL.” You can browse the directory by category (Business, Science, Sports, [...]

• 2010 Planning: 3 Tips To Improve Search Results Next Year
  

  To say that 2009 has been a challenging year for B2B marketers would be an understatement at best. Over the past twelve months, we have seen conversion rates drop as searchers do more and more research, but aren’t quite ready to do business. While everyone is hopeful for economic improvement next year, there are measures that [...]

• Google AdWords Partner Sites Gain SEO Benefit From Paid Ads
  

  When an in-house search engine marketer lovingly crafts a new paid search ad, spends time testing multiple ad texts, labors over search term lists to pick the perfect words, the last thing the advertiser wants is to have all that work help another site’s search engine optimization efforts. And yet, increasingly, I see AdWords ad [...]

• Google Doodles For Sesame Street & Wallace & Gromit
  

  Today is the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street and the 20th of Wallace and Gromit, the two beloved children shows. For the special day, Google has several logos (doodles) up at the various Google properties, depending on the local preference of show. Big Bird is the most noticed one and it is featured in the [...]

• Bing & Google Maps Update Map Imagery
  

  Both Bing and Google have updated their maps imagery. The Bing blog announced an additional 9,460 square kilometers of imagery added to Bing Maps. Not to be outdone, Google announced that not only are they updating their imagery, but they will increasing the frequency of those updates. In addition, Google Transit [...]

• A Year Later, Google To Host New Webmaster Chat
  

  A year or two ago, Google hosted a webmaster chat even every few months. They were designed to allow webmasters to see presentations from Googlers on web search and SEO topics and then ask questions to Googlers, who would answer those questions in real time. The Google Webmaster Central blog announced the first [...]

• MSN Introduces Dramatically Improved Redesign, Portal Drives Nearly 50% Of Bing Queries
  

  Billed as the first major redesign in a decade, Microsoft has introduced a dramatic new look and feel for the MSN portal. The redesign simplifies and cleans up most elements on the site. Among other things, it makes video more central, incorporates Facebook and Twitter, creates a dedicated new local area and emphasizes search. MSN, which [...]

• Yahoo Confirms Real-Time Search Test
  

  Yahoo has confirmed the recent rumors that it will test a real-time search feature in its search results. According to the Wall Street Journal, Yahoo will run a test “in the coming days” with OneRiot, a real-time search engine that focuses on links and content from Twitter and other social media sources. PaidContent reports that [...]

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• MSN Homepages throughout Time, MSN blog
• Nasty Gmail Bug Erroneously Marks Unread E-mails As Read, TechCrunch

Business Issues

• What Will Become Of Ask.com After The Brains Drain?, MediaPost
• Exclusive: More Microsoft layoffs, www.techflash.com
• Google’s 3Q lobbying costs eclipse $1 million, The Associated Press
• Microsoft Loses Don Dodge. This Is A Huge Mistake, TechCrunch
• Microsoft Plans Cloud-Computing Center in Taiwan, Wall Street Journal

Local, Maps & Mobile

• November Imagery Update, Google LatLong
• Touchscreen Mobile Phone Adoption Grows at Blistering Pace in U.S. During Past Year, comScore
• Featured Map Maker: Mihai, Google LatLong
• Google Maps and PO Boxes – When can they be used?, Mike Blumenthal

Link Building

• The Curly Theory of Link Building, Eric Ward
• Can I use "nofollow" in JavaScript?, YouTube
• The Holiday Link Building Blitz: A Plan for eCommerce Sites, Search Engine People

Paid Search & Contextual

• Discover v2009: Getting ideas with TargetingIdeaService, AdWords API Blog

Searching

• More Digitization Underway: This Time Footnote.com is Digitizing the U.S. Census from 1790-1930, ResourceShelf
• Semantic Search: The European Research Project Named MESH (Part 1), ResourceShelf

SEM Industry

• PubCon 2009 In Vegas Live Blogging Schedule, Search Engine Roundtable

SEO & SEM

• How Much Work Should You Giveaway in a SEO Proposal, Shimon Sandler
• How to Fine Tune Your International Campaigns in AdWords, PPC Hero
• 5 Useful Yahoo! Pipes to Monitor Your Brand, Search Engine Journal
• Debunking the “Everyone Is Equal” Myth, outspokenmedia.com
• Hacked Website Spam Running Rampant in Google Search Results, Streamline Metrics
• How To Sitemap: Search Engine Submission [Learn SEO], The SEO Scoop
• Non–Latin Character Domain Names – Why Should We Care?, Search Engine Journal
• November 2009 Google Webmaster Report, Search Engine Roundtable
• The Most Important Blogging Analysis Ever, ViperChill

Social Media

• A Pocket Guide to Social Media and Kids, ResourceShelf
• Qué estás haciendo, Twitter Blog
• Can SMB Owners Make Social Media Useful?, Small Business Trends
• Digg Launches Trends Experiment To Expose Better Content, TechCrunch
• Google Friend Connect, now more personalized, Official Google Blog

Video, Music & Image Search

• Google’s Music Search Launches Its Artist-Powered Promotion, TechCrunch

Web Analytics

• The Ultimate Comparison between Google Analytics, insightr.com