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 Backs Private Moon Landing With Google Lunar X PRIZE
  It has nothing to do with organizing the world’s information — but I don’t care, it’s pretty cool. Google’s backing a private moon landing. In particular, it’s putting up $30 million for the Google Lunar X PRIZE, a contest for private landings on the moon….
• The New Google Moon
  Google Moon went live back in July 2005 with relatively low resolution images of our closest neighbor. In conjunction with today’s news about Google backing private moon landings through the Google Lunar X PRIZE, a new version of Google Moon has been released….
• A Crucial SEO Element: Web Site Credibility
  Part of making a site a success from an SEO standpoint is making it credible and trustworthy. Being trustworthy means a site is more likely to draw high quality organic links, more likely to be mentioned in the press, and more likely to convert for consumers in your target…
• Local SEO For Retail Store Locators
  Many companies have brick-and-mortar locations spread out across the country or around the world, and most have some type of store locator utility on their websites. Restaurant chains, hotels, retailers, service providers, and more will frequently have a substantial web presence coupled with the desire to make it easy…
• The Power Of Branding For Small Business, Part Two
  People often associate brands with money. And lots of it. Generally, if you try to run a branding campaign such as you see from big companies like Target, you certainly will have to fork over a big chunk of change. But we small business owners don’t have that kind…
• Yahoo MapMixer & Shop By Color
  Yahoo has released two products that have come out of its Hack Days: Shop By Color which lets you use Yahoo Shopping to find products matching colors, and MapMixer, which allows you to layer your own maps over Yahoo Maps….
• Your Guide To The Google Jet
  It’s now confirmed that NASA has granted Google’s cofounders landing rights for their private jet at Moffett Field. That’s a NASA-run airport practically next door to Google, now making the founders the envy of other Silicon Valley execs who could only dream of the same. With the news out, it…

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Google denies ownership of users’ words, News.com
• Microsoft details search changes coming in Vista Service Pack 1 , All About Microsoft

Business Issues

• August Search Market Share: Back to Status Quo, Compete
• Some Details About Google Related Genome Start-up, 23andMe, GigaOM

Conferences

• Thank You, SES San Jose 2007 Speakers!, Search Engine Strategies
• Shop.org Annual Summit, Comparison Engines
• adCenter Blog: Microsoft adCenter workshop available at PPC Summit, adCenter Blog
• Attention Denver Search Marketers, Search Newz

Link Building

• Making Sense of Linking and Site Promotion, Online Marketing Blog
• "I, Google" Addresses "Evil Paid Links" Debate, Search Engine Watch
• Using NoFollow to Manage PageRank flow, Stone Temple

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Environmental Protection Agency chooses Virtual Earth Platform, Live Maps Blog
• 1st European deal for MEDIO, Jupiter Research
• UK Ordnance Survey’s Explore: Off track, Ogle Earth
• Google SMS Adds Location-Based Personalization, Google Operating System
• Mobile Shopping: We’re Not Ready, Comparison Engines
• Will Technology Push Local Search Advertising to the Next Level?, ClickZ

Paid Search & Contextual

• The Internet Ad Spending Not-So-Recession, Paul Kedrosky
• GraphSense For Adding Graphs To AdSense, InsideGoogle

Searching

• Useful Google feature: better date search, Matt Cutts
• Surprising Thumbnails in Google Search Results, Google Operating System
• Kosmix Launches Health Search Vertical, Mashable
• Google’s Roald Dahl Logo Illustrates Universal Search, Google Blogoscoped
• Google SERP for Wiki Jacking, Wolf Howl
• deliGoo Mashes Google with del.icio.us, Read/Write Web
• Bypass Google – Reference tools you need, no search required, Download Squad

SEM Industry

• Will The Google Bashers Please Shut Up? | Performancing.com, Performancing.com
• An SEO Quiz, Shady Optimization Companies, BruceClay.com

SEO & SEM

• Wordze Keyword Research Tool for SEO, Search Engine Journal
• Get Creative With Your 404 Error Pages, SEOmoz
• Laying the Foundation for Paid Search Success in Large Organizations, Search Engine Watch
• Cheap vs. Free, Hitwise

Social Media

• Who’s using Yahoo Answers?, Small Business SEM
• The Downside of Social Media (Or Why it Sucks to be on Top), Techipedia
• The Biggest Loss from Netscape Social News Becoming Propeller.com , 10e20
• Bloglines Beta 1.0.2 - Listening to Blogliners; Edit Feeds and Folder for Beta, Bloglines Blog
• Mixx To Take A New Look At Social News, TechCrunch
• It’s called "social" for a reason – stop criticizing and start participating, Muhammad Saleem
• Digg Security Hole Promotes Story with 2 Votes, Wolf Howl
• Demand Your Presence on Digg With 6 Simple Steps, Search Engine Journal
• Barack Obama Ad on LinkedIn, Natural Search Blog
• What Is Yahoo Mash? – Bits – Technology – New York Times Blog, New York Times
• Social Media for Firefox, 97th Floor

Video, Music & Image Search

• Prince lashes out at YouTube, eBay and The Pirate Bay, WebWare
• The economic value of "fair use", Google Public Policy Blog
• Fair Use Worth More to Economy Than Copyright, CCIA Says, Information Week

Web Analytics

• A Short History of Web Analytics, Traffick
• Analytics KPI Gadget for iGoogle, Marketing Pilgrim
• Google Analytics Blog: Reverting Back to Original "Average Time on Site" Calculation Today, Google Analytics Blog
• Google Analytics Was Partly Showing Wrong Absolute Visitors, Google Blogoscoped

Other Items

• Google.org launches $10 million request for investment proposals to advance sustainable transportation solutions, Google Press Release
• Google Grants Enforces Spending Cap Policy, RB Digital Rodeo

Hot Items From Sphinn, Our Social News Sharing Site:

• Are You a Sphinn User or a Contributor?
• BlogCatalog – Blog Catalog Doesn’t Pass Pagerank
• Pink Hat Method To Get Social Voting Users To Click Your Title
• PPC Helping SEO – Preview Your Organic Conversion Using PPC
• Why You Should Give Internet Marketers a Second Chance
• The SEO Song – Classic
• 7 Reasons Why Niche Social Media Outlets are Better Than Digg
• Annnouncing NEW TOOL: Social Media for Firefox
• Blue Hat SEO-Advanced SEO Tactics » SEO Empire – Part 1
• The Importance of Domain Names for Effective SEO
• Are you a short sighted link monster or do you understand the worthwhile marketing tactics of a quality link?
• Social Networking: Now for Ages 20 - 60 And Up
• Chop Content Thieves Up and Feed Them to the Ducks
• Google Recommends Screwing Affiliates for Better SERP Positioning
• Call 911, FaceBook Ripped Off Lyndoman’s Family
• Stop Digging Where There Are No SEO Potatoes

Related Topics: SearchCap

About The Author: Danny Sullivan is editor-in-chief of Search Engine Land. He’s a widely cited authority on search engines and search marketing issues who has covered the space since 1996. Danny also oversees Search Engine Land’s SMX: Search Marketing Expo conference series. He maintains a personal blog called Daggle (and maintains his disclosures page there). He can be found on Facebook, Google + and microblogs on Twitter as @dannysullivan. See more articles by Danny Sullivan

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