SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 23, 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:

• A Preview Of SMX London
  SMX London is coming up fast, and we’ve put together a great agenda with world-class speakers. Perhaps the best part, for those of you who weren’t able to attend our sold-out SMX Advanced conference, is that we’re running an SMX advanced track for the first time at the London show. This is cutting-edge content that [...]
• Google AdWords: Now With Images
  Some AdWords ads on Google are now showing associated images — and getting much larger in the space they take up — through a “Show products from” Plus Box implementation that some are seeing now when searching at Google. For example, try search for bluenile, which brings up a Blue Nile ad. Under the usual ad [...]
• SEM Tools: To Build Or Not To Build
  To build, or not to build, that is the question (with apologies to Shakespeare): Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous SEM Tools, Or to take arms against a sea of in-house engineers…… I know more than a few in-house SEMers. Many of them insist on building in-house SEM [...]
• Estimated Click Fraud Rate Remains At 16%, Says Click Forensics
  Click Forensics has released their estimated 3rd quarter click fraud numbers that they track. The numbers remain pretty much the same, at least as it pertains to the overall estimated industry average click fraud rate. The rate is now 16.0%, down from last quarter’s 16.2%. The main change was that botnets were said to [...]
• Location in the Browser: What Does It Mean?
  Not long ago, Google rolled out its “Geolocation API” (via Google Gears). Initially it was intended to enable third party publishers and developers to get location for their apps on mobile devices using a combination of the phone’s inherent location-awareness technologies (i.e., GPS) and Google’s cell-tower database (which has been expanded now to include WiFi [...]
• A Small Business Success Story: Element One Photography
  Picture this: You’ve spent two months creating a website for your small business. You’ve poured yourself into it. The web site is a thing of beauty, and it showcases your work very effectively. But no one can find it. Six months go by, and you’re not getting any traffic from search engines. You type your business name [...]
• Yahoo’s Inquisitor Now Available For Firefox & Internet Explorer
  My favorite search browser plugin, Inquisitor, is now available for Firefox and Internet Explorer. Inquisitor was Apple Safari’s only solid third-party search browser plugin back in the day. Yahoo acquired them back in May and then provided an upgrade in mid-August. Now, Yahoo has announced they have made this plugin available for Firefox and [...]
• IM Broadcast: “YouTube For Internet Marketers”
  Our friends, Loren Baker, David Snyder & Jordan Kasteler have launched a new video site named IM Broadcast. IM Broadcast, as Loren describes it, is “YouTube for Internet Marketers.” In short, it is a video sharing site focused around the Internet Marketing industry. The focus is not just to upload videos on [...]
• Relying On Print Yellow Pages? Most Local Customers Turn To The Web!
  Online marketers have been predicting the death of print yellow pages for years. While that will never happen, print yellow pages are no longer the primary way that people seek local information. In fact, the internet collectively — through search engines, local search sites, online yellow pages and other venues — is the top way [...]

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Introducing tax and shipping, Google Base Blog
• More changes to Gmail contact manager, Official Gmail Blog
• Sites goes international, Google Sites Blog

Business Issues

• Five reasons to buy Yahoo stock, CNN Money
• Former Yahoo! Vice President, Ram Gupta, Joins Marin Software as Chief Technology Officer, PRWeb
• Russian Anti-Monopoly Service Bans Google Acquisition of Begun, Profy

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Live Search Maps Argentina is Live!, Virtual Earth, An Evangelist’s Blog
• Live Search Maps China – New Features!, Virtual Earth, An Evangelist’s Blog
• Mobile ad network AdMob hits profitability, raises $15.7 million, VentureBeat
• Introducing Gmail for mobile 2.0, Official Google Mobile Blog

Link Building

• How to Know if a Link (or Redirect) Passes PageRank/Reputation/Authority, SEO Book
• Using 404 Pages for Link Juice, Link Building Best Practices
• The Art of Pitching – What’s Wrong With Link Building Email Requests?, SEO Book

Paid Search & Contextual

• 12 Steps To Effective Online Budget Allocation, adCenter Analytics Blog
• A Beginners Checklist for Writing Benefit-Focused Ad Texts, PPC Hero
• Buzz Pocket Mining Tutorial: An Intersection of Keyword Research , AIM Clear Blog
• Google Uses Public Service Ads to Link to Own Election Page, Google Blogoscoped
• Increase CTR Using Keyword Insertion with Default Text, adCenter Blog for Advertisers
• Let’s Take it Offline: Google TV Ads Launches Reach and Frequency Reports, Google Traditional Media Blog
• No Downtime Predicted During adCenter API System Maintenance Planned Oct. 23-26, adCenter API Blog for Developers
• Quick tip: Increase traffic with the Impression Share report, Inside AdWords
• Uncovering the value of retail search clicks, AdWords Agency Blog
• How to Increase Your Conversion Rates by Aligning Your Keywords, Ads, and Landing Pages, PPC Hero
• Stockholder Derivative Action Against Yahoo Based on Click Fraud Rebuffed–Brodsky v. Yahoo, Eric Goldman

Searching

• Accountability in Web Search, Hakia Blog
• Yahoo! Search Doing a SERPs Usability Survey, eKstreme.com

SEO & SEM

• Antiquated Delivery Models for SEO Can Hurt Both SMB’s and Search Agencies, Frank Thinking
• Five Unexpectedly Obvious SEO Tools, BruceClay.com
• How to Find the Top Sites in a Niche, SEOptimise
• SEM for ROI – Top 10 SEM Checklist, Closed Loop Marketing Blog
• SEO Basics: Will Moving or Changing My Site Hurt Rankings?, Online Marketing Blog
• SEO Training Criteria and Qualifications, BruceClay.com
• Best Place to Get Webmaster Help for Live Search, Search Engine Roundtable
• Five frequent & frustrating SEO fallacies, E-Consultancy
• Google Webmaster Tools Showing 0 Pages Indexed For Sitemaps Users, Search Engine Roundtable
• How To Serve Age Verification Pages to Google For Porn or Alcohol Sites, Search Engine Roundtable
• Travel SEO – How to Target Searchers at the Right Stage of the Buying Cycle, SEOptimise
• When is Hiring an SEO a Bad Idea?, Search Engine Guide

Social Media

• The Techmeme Myth, Inquisitr
• Twitter Through the Election!, AOL Search Blog
• 8 Social Media Sites for Local Networking, Small Business SEM
• Have a Commercial Website? Then Digg Won’t Like You, SEOmoz
• How ‘Follower Spam’ Infiltrated Twitter — and How to Stop It, PBS
• LinkedIn Announces $22.7 Million Infusion From SAP, Goldman Sachs, and McGraw Hill, TechCrunch
• Twitter Goes Mainstream, Wall Street Journal

Video, Music & Image Search

• Picasa — it’s not just for photos, anymore!, Google Photos Blog
• Google, MediaVest Gauge InVideo Responses, AdWeek
• Google, MediaVest Tap Biometrics for InVideo Ads Play, MediaWeek

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

• IMBroadcast : Video Sharing Community for Internet Marketers
• Track Hot Trends With Twitter Tools
• Google Analytics rolls out Enterprise Class Features – Adviso
• How The Election Changes Twitter, ORM, & The World!!!
• New Google Analytics Segmentation Tool Rocks for Ecommerce
• 18 Simple Tweaks To Get More Clicks From Your Organic Rankings
• Donna's New Tool: Introducing The Ad Rate Calculator
• What Does Industry Heavyweight Jill Whalen *Really* Think About SEO?