SearchCap: The Day In Search, September 15, 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:

• SMN Webcast Tomorrow – PPC’s Hidden Opportunity: Advertising on Content Networks
  Our sister site, Search Marketing Now, will be hosting a webcast tomorrow titled “PPC’s Hidden Opportunity: Advertising Networks,” featuring David Szetela of Clix Marketing. This webcast takes you through the secrets of controlling ad spend and placement, from the right way to assemble keyword lists to making optimal use of…
• PPC Payment Options – Risk & Reward
  There are several different payment options you can use to pay your ever-growing paid search bills. Each method has its own risk and reward, so it’s best to consider your options against your business model. Please note, Microsoft adCenter is similar to Yahoo in billing, but they also have…
• Three Web Reference Building Tips for Google Maps
  One of the first things most local search marketers have on their to do lists is getting their listings to appear in a Google Onebox at the top of Google’s search results. To be in the box, you usually need to be in Google’s top local search results. And…
• Real Time Quality Score Coming In “Days” To Google AdWords
  The AdWords Blog announced that the new real-time quality score algorithm will be live within days. This means that Google will now calculate the quality score of your keywords at the time of the search query. Second, Google has removed the “minimum bid” metric and replaced it with “first page…
• Information Architecture Is Crucial To Good SEO
  You have probably heard the phrase “information architecture” but may not have given it much thought. That’s a mistake! In today’s article I am going to talk about why SEOs should care about the concept. The Information Architecture Institute defines “information architecture as the art and science of organizing…
• Newspaper Opposition Emerges To Google-Yahoo AdWords Deal
  Last week the Association of National Advertisers sent a letter on behalf of its 400 member companies to the US Justice Department (DOJ) asking the government to block the pending Google-Yahoo search advertising deal. Then there were reports that the DOJ had hired attorney Sandy Litvack, its chief antitrust attorney…
• Searching Yahoo’s Hack Day 2008
  Yahoo hosted Hack Day this weekend, the Yahoo Yodel Anecdotal blog has four blog posts on the event: The hackers are back “6 PM Food, Beer & Games” Talkin’ about Girl Talk Highlights from Open Hack Day The event looked incredibly fun! I just wanted to highlight the demo’s that…
• NY Times On Google’s AdWords Quality Score As Monopolistic & Unfair?
  Stuck in Google’s Doghouse from the New York Times profiles the story of Dan Savage’s Sourcetool.com and how it was hit by Google’s AdWords quality score algorithm. The article discusses the practice of arbitrageur in the search ad game. Savage used AdWords to drive traffic to Sourcetool.com and then monetized…

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Google wants your Hotmail, Yahoo and AOL contacts, Googling Google
• Gears For Safari, Gears API Blog
• Google Chrome Q&A, Google Blogoscoped
• WSJ.Com’s Redesign Sneak Peek: See Tuesday’s Paper Today, Alley Insider

Business Issues

• Google: Monopoly or marketplace?, BuzzMachine
• Judge Limits Searches Using Cellphone Data, Washington Post
• Search engine Cuil is valued at absurdly high level of $200M, despite flop, VentureBeat
• BOTW In Talks To Purchase DMOZ Directory From AOL, ShoeMoney
• EU competition officials probing Google-Yahoo deal, Reuters
• Newspapers Around World Oppose Yahoo-Google Ad Deal, paidContent.org

Local, Maps & Mobile

• SearchMe Is Coming To The iPhone (Naturally), TechCrunch
• Alaska-bound!, Official Google Blog

Link Building

• Is Guy Kawasaki Guilty of Link Payola, Michael Gray
• Link Juice is a Finite Resource, Stone Temple

Paid Search & Contextual

• Quality, not quantity, Inside AdSense
• Discover 5 Landing Page Design Changes that Build Authority and Boost Conversions, PPC Hero
• How Aggressively Should You Bid In Paid Search? (3 min video), Rimm Kaufman
• Show Me the Money: Bidding for Profitability, Search Engine Watch

Searching

• Introducing Mortgage Search Engine LoanKrunch, altsearchengines.com
• Google Desktop 5.8 for Windows: increased performance, Official Google Blog

SEM Industry

• Microsoft’s Nathan Buggia discusses Live Search Webmaster Tools, Stone Temple

SEO & SEM

• How Does the Algorithm View Your Website?, SEO Book
• Is your Robots.txt file on the clock?, Live Search Webmaster Center Blog
• Black Hole SEO, Don’t Get Sucked In, BlogStorm
• How Detailed Are Your Monthly SEO Billing Reports?, Search Engine Roundtable
• How to Use Link TITLE Attribute Correctly, Search Engine Journal
• Tested Advertising Strategies Respun For SEO, SEO Book

Social Media

• FriendFeed Updates Beta Interface, Read/Write Web
• LinkedIn To Launch Its Own Ad Network, TechCrunch
• One in five employers uses social networks in hiring process, ComputerWorld
• The social web: All about the small stuff, Official Google Blog
• Are Your Employees Vulnerable To Social Media Headhunters?, AIM Clear Blog
• Facebook Isn’t A Social Network. And Stop Trying to Make New Friends There, TechCrunch

Video, Music & Image Search

• New Features For Channels: Category Browsing & Comments Moderation, YouTube Blog
• More Advanced Search Options for YouTube, Google Operating System
• P2P Is Coming To YouTube, NewTeeVee
• The Dark Truth About China’s Baidu, Music 2.0

Web Analytics

• SiteMeter’s Attempted Challenge to Google Analytics Falls Flat, louisgray.com

Other Items

• 10 Videos About Google, Google Operating System
• Video Recap of Weekly Search Buzz :: September 14, 2008, Search Engine Roundtable

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

• The 6 Viral Seeding Must-Haves
• Google Fundamentally Changes The Way They Handle 302 Redirects (Welcome Back 302 Hijack!)
• BOTW In Talks To Purchase DMOZ Directory From AOL
• Wordpress has some SERIOUS (security) issues
• Demystifying the the "duplicate content penalty" – Officially
• 5 experts demystify SEO link building
• 25 Outdated SEO Terms & Tactics vs Their Modern Alternatives