SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 27, 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:

• Google Explains Malware Warning Policy & How To Fix Your Site
  Some search industry watchers have called Google the “internet’s traffic cop,” and it’s a role Google seems to be growing more comfortable in, too. Late last week, for example, Google published an explanation of how it handles pages that are found to house malware, and how webmasters can clean up the problem and get back [...]
• The PPC Buying Cycle: Buyer Beware!
  How often have you heard that keyword level performance data can be misleading? That PPC managers need to consider the phases of the buying cycle when evaluating terms? That specific keywords tend to steal conversions from the more general keywords that started the customer’s consideration, and that you should keep spending money on [...]
• Are You Content With Your Online Advertising’s Content?
  An advertisement is only as effective as its content. If the content doesn’t reach out to potential customers and make a compelling case, the ad doesn’t make the sale, which means the people at your business never get the chance to do the same. But even good ads can get lost in the shuffle of [...]
• Microsoft Adds Virtual Earth Images To Live Search
  Microsoft has added Virtual Earth “Birds Eye” panoramas to Live Search image search results. They appear to be live in the US only right now and around selected points of interest (images below) but they’re very striking. You can pan and zoom and switch from a Birds Eye view to aerial or map views and [...]
• YouTube Adds Deep Links & Customizable Home Page
  YouTube had added a couple new things over the weekend. The more exciting feature is that you can now link to a starting point within a YouTube video. The other feature is that you can now customize the YouTube home page, based on your preferences. TechCrunch described the feature as “deep linking” to specific [...]
• Google Earth For iPhone
  Google announced the release of Google Earth for the iPhone (iTunes link). It is a free app that brings many of the features of the desktop version of Google Earth, to your iPhone. I played around a bit with the app and I am very impressed. It takes advantage of many of the iPhone’s [...]
• The Silver Lining For Advertising During A Down Economy
  Recently, those that are close to me have noticed a new obsession.  I’ve always been tethered to my Blackberry reading e-mails, twitter, blogs and other online fodder as I’m on the road (and, I shouldn’t admit, while driving – watch out for me on the road). But recently I’ve found a new item to [...]
• SMN Webcast, Tuesday Oct. 28: “Measuring An Ad’s Value”
  How do you measure the value of an ad if it’s one of several in a campaign? If a customer purchases your product after clicking on 3 search ads, which ad should get credit for the sale? Should branded search get more credit? What about the combination of online and offline ads? Next Tuesday, October [...]

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Live: Yahoo Previews Its New Application Platform, TechCrunch
• AOL announces final resting place for AOL Pictures, Xdrive files, News.com
• Ongoing Phishing Attack Exposes Yahoo Accounts, Netcraft
• Featured gadget: Gantt charts in spreadsheets, Official Google Docs Blog

Business Issues

• An Interview With Yahoo’s Jerry Yang, Part 2: On Opportunities, Carl Icahn and Leadership, AllThingsD
• Do No Evil? Google Uses Shady Ad Tactics To Edge Out Competitor, TechCrunch
• Lawmaker questions Google-backed spectrum plan, Reuters
• To Survive, Net Start-Ups Slow Their Metabolism – NYTimes.com, New York Times

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Security Flaw Is Revealed in T-Mobile’s Google Phone, New York Times
• Street View for Spain Arriving by Tuesday, Google Earth Blog
• Google Scrambles to Patch Buffer Overrun Exploit in Android G1, eWeek
• Google Street View Tidbits, Google Operating System
• iPhone still reigns supreme on Flickr, Edible Apple

Paid Search & Contextual

• Google AdWords Continues to Excel in Transparency , Closed Loop Marketing
• Sample XML API V5.1 Reports, adCenter API Blog for Developers
• SEO in the Past: Fun with Overture Bidding, BlogStorm
• Google Gives Marketers More Places to Put Ads, Ad Age
• A New Google AdSense Ad Style?, Search Engine Roundtable
• adCenter Fall Upgrade: New Features, adCenter Blog for Advertisers
• From Google – Paid clicks more likely to convert, Brad Geddes
• Google Gives Marketers More Places to Put Ads, Ad Age
• Google Serving Anti Gay Marriage Ads On Gay Community Site, Google Blogoscoped
• Is Google Liable For Typosquatting Domains That Use AdSense?, TechDirt
• Microsoft Gives adCenter a Logo, Search Engine Roundtable
• Numerous Google AdWords Editor Issues Reported, Fixed, Search Engine Roundtable
• Those Mysterious Quality Scores: Fundamentally Simple, Search Engine Watch
• Upcoming Google Marketer’s Playbook sessions, AdWords Agency Blog

Searching

• Five years of quotes in Google News, Official Google Blog
• People Search Site 123people Goes International, mashable.com
• Mahalo Launches Incentive Program to Spur Use, Micro Persuasion
• Silobreaker : News search with Thorough Aggregation, Search Engine Journal
• The Future of Search? Faceted Search, altsearchengines.com

SEM Industry

• Eric Enge interviews Yahoo’s Dennis Mortensen, Stone Temple
• Ask Jeeves Now a Porn Star, Search Engine Roundtable
• Book Review: SEO – An Hour A Day (2nd edition), Small Business SEM
• Danny Sullivan – Search Life Meets Real Life, Chris Pirillo
• http://www.webuildpages.com/blog/we-build-pages-news/we-build-pages-blog/, We Build Pages

SEO & SEM

• Another Google Directory Submission Update, beu blog
• Google Sitemaps Bug To Be Fixed Soon?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Hosting Adult Images? Use Directories So Google Doesn’t Filter You, Search Engine Roundtable
• SEO Company Search Results – An Embarrassment to Google and the other Engines, SEOmoz
• Travelin’ Light: SEO Tools to Have in Your Back Pocket, Closed Loop Marketing Blog

Social Media

• Is Twitter the next Netscape?, Scripting News
• New Facebook Design: Running the Numbers on Applications, All Facebook
• Terrorist ‘tweets’? US Army warns of Twitter dangers, Yahoo! News
• Your Privacy Is An Illusion: Twitter bug reveals friends-only messages, Valleywag
• MySpace Launches Profile 2.0 With Drag And Drop Interface, TechCrunch
• LinkedIn Search: Finding that former colleague of yours just got easier, The LinkedIn Blog

Video, Music & Image Search

• Search from YouTube’s Player, Google Operating System

Other Items

• Video Recap of Weekly Search Buzz :: October 26, 2008, Search Engine Roundtable

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

• The 7 Simplest Ways To Lower Your Bounce Rate and Get More Conversions
• Lisa Barone Blogs Again … At Last!
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• Forum Spam Is In The Eye Of The Beholder
• 20 Digg users revealed
• Myths & Truths About Google GrayBar PR
• Key Relevance Review of Google Patents
• Travel SEO – How to Target Searchers at the Right Stage of the Buying Cycle
• What Is Search Engine Spam? The Video Edition
• Be Careful Traditional Media… Social Media is Invading!