SearchCap: The Day In Search, September 18, 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:

• Facebook’s Focus Is Friend Search; Bing ‘Sort Of’ Adds Value
  

  When it comes to search, Facebook’s focus was, is, and apparently always will be on the idea of “friend search.” That’s the main conclusion you draw from reading paidContent’s interview with Akhil Wable, the man leading Facebook’s search product. Friend search is becoming a core part of the social web experience, and it’s an area where [...]

• Google News Labels Some Sources As “Blogs”
  

  The Google News blog announced that they have begun labeling some sites, sites they consider to be a “blog” as blogs in the Google News search results. For example, here is a snap shot of how Google labels this site in Google News.

  How does Google determine which site is a blog versus a newspaper? [...]

• Wikipedia As A Website Usability Role Model
  

  For all its faults, Wikipedia has a lot to teach us about usability. Here are three things that Wikipedia does right that I think websites should emulate to better engage users, boost time on site, and hopefully lead to more conversions. Summary sections Wikipedia offers summaries at the top of its feature-length articles. While I haven’t got [...]

• DOJ To Drop Hammer On Google Book Search Settlement?
  

  Friday could be an important day in the ongoing battle over the Google Book Search settlement. According to the Wall Street Journal, the US Department of Justice is expected to announce its concerns over the proposed $125 million settlement of the lawsuit over Google’s scanning of copyrighted books and making them available online. The DOJ formally [...]

• Google Formally Announces New DoubleClick Ad Exchange
  

  DoubleClick’s advertising exchange has been in the works since at least 2007 and before Google acquired the company. But this morning Google is formally announcing the new DoubleClick Ad Exchange, which reflects a milestone of technology and platform integration between Google and its DoubleClick unit. Google sees this an an opportunity to attract more display and brand [...]

• Search In Pictures: Bing Soda, Taxi & Beer, Yahoo’s Team & Google’s Flutebox
  

  In this week’s Search In Pictures, here are the latest images culled from the web, showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have, and more. Bing Soda Can:

  Bing Taxi:

  Bing Beer:

  Yahoo Search Team:

  Yahoo in Hungary?:

  Nathan “Flutebox” Lee and Beardyman @ Google, London:

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• An Aert if You Use Google Docs and link to them from public websites, Parry Aftab’s Blog
• New and improved look, yprofileblog.com
• Whoops! Students "Going Google" Get to Read Each Other’s Emails, Read/Write Web

Business Issues

• Google CEO questions Murdoch’s online pay plan, Reuters
• Yahoo! CEO Bartz Has a Lot of Explaining to Do, Seeking Alpha

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Google urges developers to focus on local searches, Mercury News
• Spreading the word about Local Business Center, Google LatLong
• Facebook lets users decide who has the Golan Heights, VentureBeat
• Google Maps and Hospital Hell Soon Coming to an End? Three Cheers!, Mike Blumenthal
• Introducing Quick Search Box for Android, Android Developers Blog

Link Building

• Are relevant links overvalued by SEOs?, Econsultancy
• Link Building through Relationships, 10e20
• Using Articles for Link Building, SEO.com

Paid Search & Contextual

• Google AdSense Poison Words & The AdSense/AdWords Double Standard, Search Engine Roundtable

Searching

• Discover Books and Magazines using Search Options, Inside Google Books
• Google Clusters Results from Forums, Google Operating System
• Google’s Related Command Now More Accurate?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Mashing-Up Google and Bing, Wall Street Journal
• Online Database: Search and Browse for U.S. Trademarks with Trademarkia, ResourceShelf

SEM Industry

• Why Outspoken Blogs & You Maybe Should, outspokenmedia.com

SEO & SEM

• 10 Insightful Uses of Google Webmasters Tool, Daily SEO blog
• How Do You Hide Affiliate Links From Google?, Daily SEO Tip
• How to track the time and manage the resource of your SEO team, Site Visibility
• SEO Automatic Tool: Now for the iPhone, Search Engine Journal
• SEO Copywriting Tips: Avoid the Deadly Sins, Online Marketing Blog
• SEO for PDF Documents, Bruceclay.com.au
• Whiteboard Friday – The Value of In-Person Networking for SEOs, SEOmoz
• Will Google’s Caffeine Update Really Change Search Results?, Read/Write Web
• Wordpress SEO: How to Create Living URL’s, Michael Gray

Social Media

• Facebook’s Big Advertising Experiment Drives New Revenue, Inside Facebook
• Log In with Your Facebook Username, Facebook
• Twitter Rolls Out Some Design Tweaks For Web App, TechCrunch
• Burglar leaves his Facebook page on victim’s computer, journal-news.net

Video, Music & Image Search

• When Google Gets Musical, Google Blogoscoped
• YouTube Challenges Local Television News, by Frank Beacham, www.tvtechnology.com

Web Analytics

• Quickly Diagnosing Problems in Analytics, Search Engine Guide

Other Items

• Disgusting Google scam loose on Twitter, blog.arhg.net