SearchCap: The Day In Search, September 2, 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 AdSense Improves The Competitive Ad Filter
  

  The Google AdSense blog has made improvements to the competitive ad filter. The two major changes includes increasing the size of the competitive ad filter list from 250 sites to 500 sites and speeding up the filtering. The number of sites allowed in the competitive ad filter is clear cut, Google basically doubled the number [...]

• Google’s Home Page Clears United States Patent Office
  

  Gawker reports Google’s home page patent application, which was filed back in March 2004, has finally been approved yesterday, September 1, 2009. The patent is for the simplicity of the Google home page. Here is a picture of the patented home page:

  Postscript From Danny Sullivan: It’s unclear yet whether Google intends to enforce its patent [...]

• Google Loses A(nother) Top Online Ad Executive
  

  David Fischer, who’s had his hands in Google’s AdWords, AdSense, and Book Scanning programs (among others), is on his way out. Silicon Alley Insider is reporting from an internal Google memo that Fischer will take a sabbatical later this month and return to Google “at the end of the year” in a new role that [...]

• Using Classic PR Techniques To Support Brands In Social Networks
  

  Marketers nearly all agree that properly published recurrent content feeds, pumped into social channels and Google’s index, serve SEO, branding and public relations stakeholders alike. Social media channels are huge: 300 million people use Facebook and Twitter alone. Figuring out how to share content and be a good citizen in these networks is easy. Techniques for [...]

• Bruce Clay’s Advanced SEO SMX East Dream Agenda
  

  I often state that every Monday, Internet marketing is a new industry. Each day is an exploration of emerging observations (only some are valid), trends, and quite subtle changes in online marketing methodologies. Continual training and education are some of the best weapons available when facing a moving target like SEO. One of the next [...]

• Idearc Brings True Local Search To Twitter
  

  A version of local search has existed on Twitter for some time: asking your followers for local recommendations about places to stay, things to do and so on. One can also use Twitter search itself, though it’s very hit and miss in terms of the quality of results. And there are also the third party [...]

• NetBase Debuts “Semantic Search Showcase” With HealthBase
  

  Netbase is an enterprise-facing software and search company that appears to have one of the most advanced search platforms in the market. Earlier this week during a briefing Netbase marketing and product VP Jens Tellefsen asserted that no other search provider in the consumer or enterprise segment was as advanced — an audacious claim. Tellefsen went [...]

• Yahoo Meme Coming Soon … In English
  

  Yahoo appears to be readying an English-language version of its Yahoo Meme microblogging platform. When visiting meme.yahoo.com from my U.S. location, I’m redirected to an English-language version of the service. There are two versions of this home page: one specifically mentions that the service is coming soon, and both include an email form that appears [...]

• Germany Challenges Google Book Settlement
  

  Germany has joined the growing chorus of people, groups, and even nations that are against the proposed settlement of a lawsuit over Google’s scanning of copyrighted books and making them available online. The Wall Street Journal reports that the German government filed its opposition on Monday. The full filing appears to be available on Justia.com. [...]

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• More on today’s Gmail issue, Official Gmail Blog
• Happy 10th birthday, Blogger, Official Google Blog

Business Issues

• Amazon Urges Rejection of Google Settlement With Authors Guild, Wall Street Journal
• Google Broadens Attack On Amazon Kindle, Partners With COOLERBOOKS, TechCrunch
• Keeping Google out of libraries, BBC NEWS
• Report: Google readying its checkbook, CNET News

Local, Maps & Mobile

• There’s an app for that!, Blogger Buzz
• Waiter, There Is a Fly in My Soup (and I Have an iPhone), New York Times
• Yelp Is Growing 80 Percent A Year, While Citysearch Remains Flat, TechCrunch

Link Building

• Review of AutoPligg Backlink Tool, Blue Hat SEO
• Try the Best Link Building Tool on the Web Free for the Next 24 Hours, SEOmoz

Paid Search & Contextual

• Western Union launched in South Korea, Inside AdSense
• 5 “Hidden” Things that May Be Hurting Your PPC Account, PPC Hero
• Adding Testimonials to Your PPC Ads Can Help Increase Click-Through Rates, PPC Hero
• Checking the Pulse of Ads and Brands, Inside AdWords
• Google AdWords Promotional Credits After Upgraded To MCC, Search Engine Roundtable
• Illegal Free-riding on the Interflora Brand, Interflora

Searching

• "Halal" search engine lets Muslims search "safe", Search Cowboys
• Google News is fluent in Arabic!, Google News Blog
• Saying No To Google’s "Did You Mean" Response, Search Engine Roundtable

SEM Industry

• Can you show us something that you have programmed yourself?, YouTube

SEO & SEM

• Bing May Allow Management of Quick Preview Box, Search Engine Roundtable
• Conspiracy Theories – Google, David Naylor
• Directory Submissions: Still a Tool for Gaining Traffic and SEO Help, Search Engine Journal
• How to Diagnose the Reason of Google Penalty, dailyseotip.com
• Linking Your Checkout and Base Accounts, Google Base Blog
• Using Reverse Dictionaries for Keyword Research, Search Engine Journal
• Why Real Professional SEOs Advocate Page Title On Page Heading Variation, SEO Book

Social Media

• 6 Tips for a Positive Social Media ROI, Search Marketing Sage
• Twitter Tracking Outbound Link Clicks, eKstreme.com

Video, Music & Image Search

• YouTube in Talks to Stream Rental Movies, Wall Street Journal