SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 11, 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:

• Microsoft Now Serving Digg’s Ads
  Chris Winfield reports that Digg is now featuring ads from Microsoft adCenter. Digg and Microsoft announced a partnership back in July 2007 and this is one of the first visible steps of that partnership. We expected then that the switch over from Google AdSense ads to Microsoft ContentAds would be…
• Yahoo After Facebook Again?
  By now the story of how Yahoo came close but then lost the chance to buy Facebook for $1 billion last year is a famous Silicon Valley tale. But is a sequel in the works? Kara Swisher over at All Things Digital says yes. Yahoo is seriously considering an investment…
• Make That Google Jets: Google Founders Add A Boeing 757 To Their Fleet
  Google Founders Pick Up Another Big Plane from the New York Times confirms last week’s Valleywag report that Google’s cofounders have added a Boeing 757 to their current air fleet. Yes, the Google founders already have a Boeing 767 and a helicopter, so they decided it was time for another…
• Survey: Search Now Top Resource For Local Information
  Local SEM firm WebVisible and Nielsen last year surveyed U.S. consumers about their local search behavior. There were some very interesting and striking findings. For example, 51% of users were doing category searches for local businesses without a geographic modifier. Today findings from a second wave of that survey were…
• Google’s DoubleClick Acquisition Likely To Be Approved
  Google-Doubleclick deal seen winning approval from Reuters reports that some antitrust experts believe that Google will win the right to acquire DoubleClick. The Federal Trade Commission is reviewing the details of the acquisition, but even with the opposition from Microsoft, Yahoo and privacy advocate groups, the deal seems likely to…
• Google Maps Adds “Community Maps” To Default Map Searches
  The Google LatLong Blog announced that Google Maps is now displaying “community map” results by default for your map queries. These are maps and map points made through the Google My Maps feature….
• Which Google Products Should A Small Business Use? (Part Two)
  Google offers a variety of products beyond its traditional search engine, and many of those products could help a small business owner grow an online business. Even more enticing is the fact that many of Google’s products are free. But that doesn’t necessarily mean a small business should use…
• Google Checkout Googler Benjamin Ling Checkouts To Facebook
  Back in June, Justin Rosenstein — a Google product manager — generated some buzz when he left for Facebook with an email calling it "The Google Of Yesterday." Today, news that another Googler has gone over, this time Google Checkout product manager Benjamin Ling. Netly News has more details, and…

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Google Docs Partly Down Today, Google Blogoscoped
• Google Search Appliance takes five, Official Google Blog

Business Issues

• Yahoo’s Australia Arm Undergoes Shakeup, TechCrunch
• AFP v. Google News Redux–AP v. Moreover, Eric Goldman
• Answers.com Partners with Wordpress to Offer AnswersLink Button, Search Engine Journal
• Google, DoubleClick EU Review Will Focus on Market, Not Privacy , Bloomberg

Conferences

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Canada’s Yellow Pages Group Expands Google AdWords Agreement, Now Reselling AdWords in Canada, Search Engine Journal
• Give Local Search Marketing a Shout Out with PlaceShout, BruceClay.com
• Live Search Local, Maps, and Mobile, Stone Temple
• Top 25 Takeaways from Search Engine Marketing LoMo , Utah Search Engine Optimization

Link Building

• Solving the Link Building Puzzle: Do or Die., Search Engine Watch
• 11 Considerations When Hiring a Link Building Service, Search Engine Journal

Paid Search & Contextual

• PPC Benchmarks: How does your program stack up?, Rimm Kaufman
• AdWords Keyword Tool, New Features, PPC Discussions
• Gearing up for the holidays, adCenter Blog
• Google AdSense Reporting Delayed, Fixed, Search Engine Roundtable
• Microsoft adCenter to Add Daily Budget Feature, Search Engine Roundtable
• PPC Discussions: Google no longer claims AdWords/AdSense doesn’t influence the natural results, PPC Discussions
• The Adventures of PPC Hero – Heroic Feats of Pay Per Click Management : 25 Possible Reasons Why Your PPC Campaigns are Failing, PPC Hero

Searching

• Google Launches SMS Text Messaging Service in India, Search Engine Journal
• Asking a Question Got a Lot Easier…, Askville Blog
• New and improved product results in Web search, Live Search
• EU privacy verdict on Google set for new year, The Register
• Two more reasons to type in Hindi, Official Google Blog

SEM Industry

• SiteLogic joins Market Motive, SiteLogic
• 10 Tips to Finding a Quality SEO Firm, Search Engine Journal
• Search Engine Optimization: Skip The Ads, Get The Clicks, Investor’s Business Daily
• Top 100 SEO & Internet Marketing Blogs, BlogStorm
• What To Do If You’re The SEO Client Nobody Wants, www.ranksmart.com

SEO & SEM

• 4 Stategic Lessons to Avoid an Ill-Advised SEO Campaign, Search Engine Guide
• Bringing Qualified Traffic to Your Site, BruceClay.com
• How to Optimize for Ask, Search Engine Guide
• Rewriting the Beginner’s Guide – Part I continued, SEOmoz
• Small Business Guide to Optimizing Universal Search, Online Marketing Blog
• Blended searches for cavemen, News.com
• Has Google Fixed the Proxy Hijack Problem? Google.com Cleaner, Search Engine Roundtable
• How To Ask GoogleBot (Google) To Crawl Your Site, Search Engine Roundtable
• Is the Yahoo Site Explorer API Broken?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Keyword Research Research on Keywords = Better ROI, SEO Speedwagon
• Matt Cutts Clarifies Appropriate Uses of the nofollow Tag, Search Engine Roundtable
• Nothing Beats Customized Search Marketing, Search Engine Journal

Social Media

• What Do You Want to Learn from SMX Social Media?, Search Engine Journal
• Al Gore’s Current TV Makes Impressive Foray Into Social Networks at Digital Inspiration, Digital Inspiration
• Getting More Users, Yahoo Publisher Network Blog
• Time, Social Media, Crowdsourcing, Being Cranky, and Shiny Things, Vanessa Fox

Video, Music & Image Search

• Lesser-known (and secret) Picasa features, cont’d, Google Photos Blog
• Happy 1st Anniversary YouTube and Google; Now Move Over a Bit, TechCrunch

Web Analytics

• Widgets, Landing Pages and Feed Stats, Jonathan Mendez’s Blog

Other Items

• The Opposite of SEO, ClickZ
• Google Learning Speech Recognition for Voice Search from MTV?, SEO By The Sea
• German Publishers Offer Alternative to Google Books, Deutsche Welle
• Google Vanity Ring and More, Google Blogoscoped
• Our Corporate Equality effort, Official Google Blog
• Wikipedia moves to San Francisco, Reuters

Hot Items From Sphinn, Our Social News Sharing Site:

• How to time your Sphinn Submissions Perfectly to Hit Front Page | Apple Pie & Custard
• Beginner’s Guide to Surviving Traffic Spikes
• Shame on you CBS….Know Your SEO!
• Negativity Reigns
• 10 Tips to Finding a Quality SEO Firm
• Are your SEOs making too much money?
• Do Negative Comments Hurt Social Media?
• A Comprehensive Guide to Hidden Text & Search Engines
• How do You Use Your Power Account?
• How Google Determines Paid Links
• Search Engine Optimization: Skip The Ads, Get The Clicks
• Part Three – NoFollow is for Blog Spam…no Paid Text Links, wait…Paid Ads…Aww Heck, Just Stop Linking and Let Calac
• Google Internet Evangelist: “SEO Doesn’t Work!”