SearchCap: The Day In Search, September 10, 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:

• Google: Bigger Is Better When It Comes To Search Boxes
  

  Fresh off of patenting its home page design, Google is throwing caution to the wind and messing with success: It’s making its search boxes bigger. (Gasp!)

  The bigger search box will show both on the home page and on the top of Google’s search results pages. Google’s Marissa Mayer says the bigger search box is better because [...]

• Google Proposes Micropayment System To Rescue Newspapers
  

  Despite their frosty relationship, Google is proposing a micropayment system that could give the newspaper industry a way to charge for its online content. According to the Nieman Journalism Lab, the micropayment system will be based on Google Checkout and be available within a year “to both Google and non-Google properties.” The NJL has posted an [...]

• Google Books Settlement: Is The Open Book Alliance Trying To Get Something For Nothing?
  

  The legal briefs were flying fast and furiously as all the interest groups, supporters and competitors rushed to meet a deadline for third parties to weigh in on the Google Book Search settlement. The NY Times quotes legal scholars who argue that the “quality” and volume of the filings in the case will make it [...]

• Google Internet Stats
  

  It appears Google has pulled together a bunch of statistics throughout the web and created a small landing page named Google Internet Stats on the Google UK front. The page explains that this service “brings together the latest industry facts and insights together in one place.” Google collected this data from many third party [...]

• Get YouTube Videos In Your Google Product Search Feeds
  

  The Google Base Blog announced they have added a new attribute for Google Product Search merchants to submit product videos for specific products. Google Product Search can now show videos from YouTube. Here is a picture of the Nikon D90 with YouTube videos:

  How do merchants get their videos to show up for Google Product Searches? [...]

• Google And Newspapers Continue Their Ambivalent Courtship
  

  Ambivalent is word that best describes newspaper publishers’ relationship with Google and Google News in particular. Some publishers see Google as a partner or potential partner and some consider Google to be the devil incarnate, responsible for virtually all their woes. For its part Google sees itself as a supporter of newspapers, helping them by driving [...]

• Thoughts On Categorization In Local Search
  

  Properly categorizing your business at Google Maps is one of the most important Local Search Ranking Factors, as I mentioned in last month’s column. There’s been a lot of chatter about business categories since then, most notably at the Local Search Summit in San Jose, during August’s Search Marketing Now webinar on Local Search, and [...]

• Organic SEO As Another Marketing Channel
  

  SEO is confusing to many. It’s shrouded in mystery, often has a bad reputation and is not generally understood by traditional marketers. Heck, it’s not even understood by website developers nor some who sell SEO as a service. Yet SEO is nothing more or less than an additional marketing channel for your business. Let me explain, [...]

• HTML 5: A Dream Come True For Video SEM
  

  Imagine if you could click on a video and instantly watch it play without clicking through the annoying pop-ups that require you to download the latest plug-in, such as Adobe Flash. Even better, what if you could watch this instantaneous video in the palm of your hand without any unforeseen complications? This sounds like a [...]

• Two Webcasts Next Week: Online Holiday Retail & Coordinating Online Marketing Teams
  

  Search Marketing Now will host two free webcasts next week. On Tuesday, September 15 at 1 PM EDT, tune in for “How to Succeed Online this Holiday Shopping Season:5 Things You Can Do Today.” Shopping industry analyst Brian Smith will look at 5 actionable tactics that online merchants can do to maximize [...]

• Rate for SMX East Increases September 12 – Last Chance for Early Bird Savings
  

  The early bird rate for Search Marketing Expo – SMX East expires end of day tomorrow (Friday, Sept. 11). Register now and get three days of exceptional content and invaluable industry connections for only $1245. Join the Search Engine Land team in New York City October 5-7 for the most compelling and comprehensive search marketing [...]

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• New in Labs: Play Google Voice messages in Gmail, Official Gmail Blog
• Embeddable Google Document Viewer, Google Operating System
• Google Sites, now in Hebrew and Arabic, The Google Apps Blog
• Recurring problems with Google Checkout, CNET News

Business Issues

• Yahoo Ex-President Decker Returns to Harvard Business School, Wall Street Journal
• Copyright Office No Fan of Google Books Settlement, Wall Street Journal
• Questioning Baidu’s SEC Filings, Seeking Alpha
• U.S. Register of Copyrights Slams Google Book Search Settlement, Publishers Weekly
• Yahoo! to Participate at Upcoming Investor Conference, Yahoo Press Releases
• Yahoo’s Bartz On Alibaba Stake: ‘Very Good Investment For The Future’, paidContent.org

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Google’s New Ad Formats Include Mobile ‘Click to Call’, Internet2Go
• Screen Shots & Videos of Google Monopoly City Streets, Search Engine Roundtable
• Super Cool! California Non-Profit Using Lasers to Archive Cultural Landmarks, ResourceShelf

Link Building

• 17 Ways Search Engines Judge the Value of a Link, SEOmoz

Paid Search & Contextual

• Google shows off videos in text ads, CNET News
• Bing Loves The Porn Hounds, TechCrunch
• Do You Know Where Your Ads Are?, Yahoo! Search Marketing Blog

Searching

• Cool Uses of Government Data! Apps for America 2 Winners Announced, ResourceShelf
• Online Database: Learn About and Search the Western Soundscape Archive, ResourceShelf
• Tech Companies Push to Digitize Patients’ Records, New York Times

SEM Industry

• Search Marketing Certification Courses, Search Engine Guide

SEO & SEM

• Why Does Bad Stuff About Brands Rank So High?, AIM Clear Blog
• A Crash Course in Why SEO Matters to Branding Agencies Video Presentation, Site Visibility
• Bing’s Fake Referrer Spam Back, Now Hiding Referrer Now?, Search Engine Roundtable
• How to Choose an SEM Agency, SEMpdx

Social Media

• What You Can Learn About Social Media from MC Hammer, 10e20
• Coming soon: Finding your friends on YouTube, YouTube Blog
• Facebook’s Experimental Desktop Notifications App For Mac Is Very, Very Slick, TechCrunch
• Tag Friends in Your Status and Posts, Facebook
• The Battle for Social Media: SEO vs PR, blog.arhg.net
• Tornado: Facebook’s Real-Time Web Framework for Python, Facebook Developers News

Video, Music & Image Search

• Microsoft pushes Silverlight for HD video, Seattlepi.com

Other Items

• Google plans new mirror for cheaper solar power, Reuters