SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 29, 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 adCenter Adds Instant Editorial Reviews & More
  The adCenter Blog announced new changes that have been implemented in the adCenter console. The changes include a real time editorial ad feedback feature, changes to campaign management features and additional reporting upgrades. The largest change was the immediate editorial feedback on keywords or ads you create in the adCenter…
• Internet Now The Primary Local Medium
  Judy’s Book last week joined the list of companies that have tried but stumbled or wiped out in local. The market’s complexity and business model challenges make it tough for most startups to succeed. Yet, paradoxically, consumers have clearly embraced the “local Internet” and are using it with increasing…
• Viacom And Google Reprimanded By Frustrated Judge
  In what is starting to become the tech equivalent of the OJ Simpson trial, The Hollywood Reporter says that the judge in the Viacom litigation against YouTube/Google has grown frustrated with delays and resistance by both sides to the discovery efforts of one another. Discovery is a pre-trial phase of…
• Hotly Debated Video Destination Hulu Launches In Private Beta
  TechCrunch and Techmeme offer lots of discussion and long posts about the NBC Universal and News Corporation joint video venture and challenge to YouTube: Hulu. The site is not yet open to the public but many of the videos it will be streaming can be seen today on distribution partner…
• Search For Google Maps Coupons
  Mike Blumenthal explains how you can use Google Maps to now find Google coupons. As you may know, Google Maps allows businesses to add their listings plus add coupons to their listings. Reportedly, now you can search for those coupons in Google. One example Mike gave was a search for…
• Google Updates PageRank Again? Adjusts Paid Link Penalty?
  Andy Beard reports that Google seems to have made their third PageRank update this month. This one appears to have reversed some of the downgrades in PageRank seen by some sites. We know that some of the PageRank changes were due to paid link selling, as we reported was happening…
• Everyscape 3-D Mapping To Give Google, Microsoft A Run For Their Virtual Money
  Three dimensional mapping company Everyscape has been busy building its product out for the last several months. This morning it finally launched with four US cities to show for its effort: Aspen, CO, New York, Miami, FL and Boston. And while Google and Microsoft have been battling it out in…
• Yahoo’s VP of Sales Strategy, Jacki Kelley, Leaves Yahoo
  Another Yahoo Exec Departs from BoomTown reports Jacki Kelley, Yahoo’s Vice President of Sales Strategy has left Yahoo this past Friday. Kelley will be working at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. as the Executive Vice President of media sales. Yahoo’s Executive Vice President Hilary Schneider sent out a company email:…
• Is It Time To Change Your Linking Attitude?
  Last week Google tweaked it’s visible PageRank in what seems to be an attempt to stifle the paid link trade. Scores of well known web sites saw their PageRank fall as they were slapped for what many believed was selling links and/or participating in excessive cross-linking. Google has confirmed…
• Google’s Mario Queiroz To Keynote SMX London
  Search Marketing Expo – SMX London’s keynote speaker will be Mario Queiroz, Google’s Vice President, Products, Europe, Middle East & Africa. SMX London is being held 15-16 November. You can register for the event today. Mario Queiroz will cover how Google makes products such as YouTube, mobile search, AdWords, AdSense,…
• Yahoo To Fix Site Explorer Link Counts
  We reported earlier about Yahoo Site Explorer not showing all link data. Yahoo has just posted an update for us on that topic. Yahoo says to “disregard any counts for inlinks reported by Site Explorer from October 11 through next week.” Yahoo is rolling out fixes for the tool over…

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• AOL Goes to Sweden, Launches New Language Portal, ResourceShelf
• The Growing World of Google Gadgets, Google Operating System
• Ask.com to launch shopping portal with PriceRunner, NMA
• Google Gadgets on Blogger – Bigger News Than You Might Think, SEOish
• Unofficial poll on Google Reader features, Matt Cutts

Business Issues

• About the Google Education Summit, Official Google Blog
• Google’s Marketing Dashboard, Google Operating System
• Facebook’s New Hiring Hurdle?, Wall Street Journal
• Google Opening Office In Downtown Austin, www.kxan.com
• Online Investing: Searching for the next Google, San Francisco Chronicle
• Verizon Wireless Drops Its ‘Open’ Stance For 700 MHz Auction, InformationWeek
• Apple, Google vs. Big Wireless, BusinessWeek
• Blinkx -9% On Maiden 1st Half, CEO Confident On Fiscal Year Sales, SmartMoney.com

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Google Patent app describes efficient database storage of Google Maps, Google Earth objects, ZDNet
• Ranking factors for Your Google Earth Video and Other Objects, SEO By The Sea
• Drive for show, Putt for Dough – 10 Reasons to Love the New Live Search Maps, Live Search
• EveryScape Scopes Google Maps’ Territory, Red Herring
• Google Transit Graduates from Google Labs , ResourceShelf
• Hey Vanessa: My Thoughts About Zillow, Search Engine Guide
• YourStreet Relaunches as Elegant Local News Site, Read/Write Web

Link Building

• Link Whores and Liquor Thieves, www.gregboser.com
• [Video] Using Google Date Based Filters to Detect Link Building , SEO Book
• Matt Cutts Confirms Paid Links , Search Engine Journal

Paid Search & Contextual

• Avoiding Ad Fatigue, Yahoo Publisher Network Blog
• ‘Gray Googlers’ strike gold, USATODAY.com
• Google’s Keyword Suggestion Tool Goes Offline, Search Engine Roundtable
• What Happens When an Google AdSense Publisher Dies?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Custom channels up and running again, Inside AdSense
• Media Buyers Welcome More Open Yahoo, MediaPost

Searching

• "Do what I mean, not what I say!" [Part 2 of 2], Live Search

SEM Industry

• SEOmoz – Beyond the Blog, SEOish
• Answers to Questions for Rand, Round 1, SEOmoz
• If I were Google, I’d be just about to, John Andrews

SEO & SEM

• The Battle of Black Hat vs. White Hat, Squareoak
• Competition Winner for PageRank Slam competition, www.problogger.net
• How This Blog’s Move Went With Google, Google Blogoscoped
• [Video] Domain Names & Search Engine Marketing, SEO Book
• [Video] Optimizing Your Meta Description Tags for Google Searchers : SEO Book.com, SEO Book
• Are 404 Errors Bad for SEO?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Negative Keyword Tool Gone. Is Google Becoming a Search Marketing Agency?, Search Marketing Standard
• Old Time Spam Tactics Still Work (Sometimes), Search Engine Watch Blog
• Search and Brand Authenticity, Search Engine Watch
• [Video] Why Does Google Trust Old Websites So Much?, SEO Book

Social Media

• Please Don’t Ask Me to Sphinn Your Stories (and How to Use Sphinn and Similar Social News Websites), Techipedia
• Confessions of A Vote Begging Sphinn Whore (Not Really), AIM Clear Blog
• Social Media Marketing and Irrational Exuberance, John Andrews
• User-Generated Content Sucks, Vanessa Fox
• Top 6 Ideas for Incredible Viral Content, Techipedia

Video, Music & Image Search

• Customize YouTube’s Player, Google Operating System
• Google Image Index Update, Search Engine Roundtable
• MTV Networks launches online lyrics initiative, Webware

Web Analytics

• Live Webcast: Setting Standards and Making Sense of Web Analytics, BruceClay.com

Other Items

• I ( heart ) DMOZ…Why I Joined And Why I Love It, DMOZ Blog
• My Wife Got Yahoo-ed!, www.marketingpiranha.com
• Thoughts On The World’s Obsession With Google, Google Tussles With Autonomy Over Search Criticism
• Brian Acton Yahoo Farewell, Yahoo! Video
• California Wildfires 2007: A Web Archive From Archive-It, Keyword Searchable, ResourceShelf
• Doodle: Turkey Republic Day, Googlified
• Google "People" Reader, GigaOM

Hot Items From Sphinn, Our Social News Sharing Site:

• The Seller’s Motivation
• The Clueless SEO – Meet Our Staff
• Facebook and the Art of User Retention. They Argue If You Try To Quit
• Top 6 Ideas for Incredible Viral Content
• How Stumbleupon is Beating Google, Yahoo, and MSN in Social Search
• What’s A Nice Girl Like You Doing With Links Like That?
• SEO blogger to SEO evil link selling bad ass spammer b*******
• How Amazon.com Became the SEO-Smartest Retailer Online
• Strategic Blogging: Creating the Right Content to Achieve Your Income Goals
• Matt Cutts Confirms Paid Links & Google PageRank Update
• Top 4 Ways To Apply Your Marketing Knowledge To Blogging
• 15 Things I’d Love to See Ad Networks and Affiliate Programs Do to Help Us Earn More Money Blogging
• Master Sphinner Lyndon Flipping UNLOADS (In a Good Way) in Comments Thread!
• So you want to be an SEO
• Google PageRank algorithm leaked (humor)
• “Google Action Figures Limited Edition Matt Cutts”
• This Is How You Respond To Criticism
• Differentiate (Your Avatar) or Die
• What the Blogosphere Needs More Of
• MarketMotive: Never, Ever, Pay For Traffic
• Breaking News: Sphinn Has PageRank
• An Essential Tool in any SEO’s Toolbox
• Ok… Who’s The Smartass That Spam-Reported YouTube?
• An Amazingly Detailed Post on Why PageRank Should Be Ignored
• The Day PageRank Died
• Google Scares The Search Crowd
• A Lighter Look at PageRank, LOLCATS Style :-)
• The Google Page Rank Pendulum Swings…. Again
• Retirees Are Making Lots of Money with Google Adsense
• Real or Fake PageRank Update In Progress (round 3)
• Confessions of A Sphinn Vote Begging Whore (Not Really)
• How A Broken Site Can Rank #1 In Google
• What Can You Do With MyBlogLog? Tips from 18 Members
• PPC Engines ARE Intentionally Diluting Traffic Quality!
• A pragmatic defence against Google’s anti paid links campaign
• Link Building 101: What Should Be Evaluated With Each Link Opportunity
• Are SEOs Better Searchers?
• Please Don’t Ask Me to Sphinn Your Stories (and How to Use Sphinn and Similar Social News Websites)
• Lorena “Cutts” Bobbitt (cartoon)
• Google’s Behavioral Targeting Flaws in Local Search Queries (VIDEO)
• How The Right Marketing Mix Can Get You Laid
• Google’s NoFollow & Small Business Websites
• Get Off Your High Horse – We Aren’t Stupid
• Facebook Expands Targeting Opportunities for Advertisers and Marketers