SearchCap: The Day In Search, September 19, 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:

• Spock: People Search With A Man + Machine Approach
  Last week, I wrote about the overall people search landscape, which, while not new, has been recently expanding and making full use of all that is shiny Web 2.0. Spock is the latest of these services to leverage social networks, intelligent web crawling, and community involvement. Spock launched in private…
• Digg To Get Truly “Social” With Major Update Today
  At some point today, Digg will be rolling out a massive update to help users of its service connect more and to basically become more social. As BusinessWeek reports these changes “might seem more at home on Facebook or MySpace than on a web site where users post links to…
• Why I’m Bullish On Mobile Search
  I am a strong believer in the future of mobile search or what I prefer to call mobile access to information. This takes into account not only what we think of search today but also audio, video, text messaging, location based info, and more. This article is part of…
• Google Presentations Security Issue Leaked Email Addresses
  Nathan Weinberg reports that Google fixed a security issue with the new Google Presentations, which leaked user email addresses to the public. What happened was that when webmasters tried to embed presentations into their web pages, it would then log people into Google Talk via their Google Account. After they…
• Google Uses Outdoor Billboards To Promote Goog411
  Photo by Mike Blumenthal. Used with permission. Mike Blumenthal took a picture of a billboard ad in upstate New York for Google’s free directory assistance alternative, Goog411. This is interesting and amusing for a number of reasons….
• Weird Results At Google Being Reported
  AltaVista is now in the top search results for a Google search on SEO? And what’s with all these Chinese pages suddenly showing up. Folks are noting that Google’s results have suddenly seemed to have gotten funky….
• Reuters Introduces Video People Search
  Google Operating System reports on a new video search engine from Reuters that uses face recognition technology developed by Viewdle to find people in videos. Riya, which became, Like, uses similar “visual search” technology applied to product search. The Reuters engine only yields Reuters video results — at least for…
• Live.com Gets New Home Page Ahead Of “Searchification” Next Week
  Next week, Microsoft takes a page from the Google Searchology Day book and is planning a special day of its own to talk about its search efforts. Called Searchification, Microsoft has invited a number of bloggers and journalists for the event next week, on September 26. But Microsoft apparently can’t…
• Google Hires NY Ad Exec To Lead New ‘Creative Lab Unit’
  Both the Wall Street Journal and AdAge are reporting this morning that Google has hired Ogilvy & Mather’s Andy Berndt to run a new New York-based group it’s calling the “Creative Lab Unit.” The Wall Street Journal article says the unit “will look for more creative ways Google products can…
• Turf Wars: How Aggregator Search Results Can Affect Your Brand
  Are you a marketer looking for additional online sales outlets? If so, you’re probably considering partnering with aggregation sites as they have proven to be a highly effective solution for many marketers. However, keep in mind that partnering with such sites is not risk free. Doing so can both…
• Google: Got A “Bad” Site? Then All Your Landing Pages Might Be Poor Quality
  The Inside AdWords blog has provided more detail into what makes for a low landing page quality score. Google also said they will now not pre-announce all quality score algorithm changes prior to implementation. In fact, Google details which types of sites can cause all your landing pages to be…
• The Pros And Cons Of Mobile Marketing
  Managing a mobile marketing campaign can be a challenge because there are many different entities contributing to a successful campaign. At minimum, we have the carriers, advertisers, and consumers. But in the background, we have third-party technology companies like Enpocket, ThirdScreen and Quattro; not to mention industry organizations like…
• B2B Search Tips: Writing Killer Ads
  One of the most fundamental elements of any successful B2B advertising campaign is the ad itself… The message… The copy. I’ve found that writing great ads really comes down to five simple principles:…
• Google Expands Google Gadget Ads For Advertisers Beta
  Google has announced they are expanding Gadget Ads Beta to AdWords advertisers worldwide. Before now, Gadget Ads was a very limited beta, but now, Google is expanding this program to more advertisers. Google Gadget Ads are interactive ads that contain rich media capabilities. Gadget Ads can contain data feeds, images,…
• Podcast: SMX Local & Mobile Preview
  Want to understand more about all that’s happening in the local and mobile search space? That’s what our SMX Local & Mobile conference on Oct. 1 & 2 in Denver is all about! To give you a preview of what will be covered, Search Engine Land executive editor Chris…

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Time Warner mulls sale of U.S. AOL access business, Reuters
• Email: Yahoo Mail Innovates, Gmail Stagnates, Lifehacker
• Maybe We Do Need Badges After All, Yahoo Widgets Blog

Business Issues

• MSN and Variety Forge Distribution Relationship, CNN Money

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Google LatLong: Every percent counts, Google LatLong
• Google will definitely launch its own branded handset, Engadget
• New Google Earth Layers Update, Google Earth Blog
• Previewing content in Google Earth, Google LatLong

Link Building

• How do you buy text links?, ShoeMoney

Paid Search & Contextual

• "rc:0" in Google AdSense Code Represents Rounded Corners, Search Engine Roundtable
• Reporting Issues at Google AdWords, Search Engine Roundtable
• Dissecting a Taboo: Phone Numbers in PPC Ads, PPC Hero

Searching

• Google Patent on Desktop Search and Implicit Queries Based Upon Active Documents -SEO by the SEA, SEO By The Sea
• Live.com Usability Case Study, Google Blogoscoped

SEM Industry

• SEM Agencies In Crisis? Good!, Rimm Kaufman
• Goodbye Google, Hello Zillow! – The Vanessa Fox Exit Interview, Seattle 24×7

SEO & SEM

• An Exhaustive List of Search Engine Based Keyword Research Data, SEOmoz
• Googlebot DNS Caching Issue Reportedly Resolved, Search Engine Roundtable
• International Search Engine Marketing and Arbitrage, SEO Book
• Keyword Optimization Mistakes – More Popular Isn’t Always Better, Online Marketing Blog
• Links or Content? Nope, the Issue is Attention, SEO Book
• Quick security checklist for webmasters, Official Google Webmaster Central Blog
• Keyword Metatags Revisited, Eric Goldman
• Working with spiders, News.com
• What are the Pros and Cons of the "noarchive" Metatag?, Search Engine Roundtable

Social Media

• Digg Goes Deeper with Social Networking, BusinessWeek
• Adapting to the Influence of a Social Media Internet, Search Engine Guide

Video, Music & Image Search

• YouTube Accounts For 1/3 Of All Google, InsideGoogle
• Flickr Adds Share Photo Links, Barry Schwartz
• Flickr and Explorer Bar Expand in Image Search, Yahoo Search Blog

Web Analytics

• Split Traffic, Raise Conversion Rates, Repeat, Multiply, Search Engine Watch

Other Items

• SEO Cartoon Quiz, The SEO Scoop
• Talk Like A Pirate Day: Dogpile, Flickr, Roundtable, Search Engine Roundtable
• Daily SearchCast, September 14, 2007: Google’s Moon Landing Prize; Yahoo’s Buys Ad Network; Is Google Really 10?, Daily SearchCast
• Daily SearchCast, September 17, 2007: Iran Blocks Google; Yahoo Buys BuzzTracker, Daily SearchCast
• Daily SearchCast, September 18, 2007: TechCrunch40 Search Recap; Google’s PowerPoint Contender Released, Daily SearchCast

Hot Items From Sphinn, Our Social News Sharing Site:

• Digg To Get Truly “Social” With Major Update Today
• Chinese Spam Invading Google?
• Free Full Conference Pass to SMX Local and Mobile
• StumbleUpon Networking: How to Easily Share Content and Build Relationships
• Technorati – Sending Out An S.O.S.
• Jessica Bowman Leaves Business.com and Joins Yahoo!
• Thank you Sphinn for helping BlogStorm hit 1000 RSS readers in 3 months
• Google sending 23% of Mahalo’s traffic
• Sphinn: In Depth Traffic Analysis And Advice
• 15 Link Building Methods, Get The Most Out Of Each Of Them
• Content is Dead. Community is King Now.
• CopyBlogger Offers 10 LuminousTips to Overcome Creative Roadblocks.
• SES Interviews: SEOmoz’ Matt Inman on Linkbaiting
• Bloggers Are the Biggest Copy Cats
• Don’t Rush to Sign Up for BlogRush