SearchCap: The Day In Search, September 23, 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:

• Truveo Says It’s The Most Comprehensive Video Search Provider
  An internal Truveo study conducted during the past month found that Truveo has a more comprehensive video search coverage than its top competitors. According to Truveo it undertook the study itself because “there is no major testing organization, publication or consulting firm publicly conducting ongoing quality studies of video search…
• Blog Marketing & Pay Per Post: They’re Not The Same
  The vitamin supplement company Berocca has been engaged in a vaguely interesting piece of blog marketing over here in the UK recently. Taking their cue from the recent NY Times article suggesting that blogging can be highly stressful, they have put together a blogger relief pack which consists of…
• Google Maps Transit Information For New York Metro Area
  The Google Blog announced the availability of extremely comprehensive transit information throughout the New York metro area. Google Maps now plots transit information for subway, commuter rail, bus and ferry services from the Metropolitan Transit Agency (MTA), the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, New Jersey Transit and…
• First Android Phone: “T-Mobile G1 With Google”
  If the video shown during the press conference is any indication, T-Mobile’s “G1 with Google” should give the iPhone a run for its money. Much was made during the press conference of the “totally open” platform (vs. Apple), though Apple wasn’t mentioned by any of the presenters. Here’s the press…
• Google Says, Don’t Rewrite Dynamic URLs To Static URLs
  Almost two years ago, Google updated their guidelines to say that they can now properly handle crawling dynamic URLs. But last night, Google posted a blog entry now telling webmasters not to use rewrite rules for dynamic URLs, at least in most cases. Google say, in bold, “avoid reformatting a…
• 5 Ways to Target Media Outlets For Links
  Knowing where key decision-makers go for information and what type of digital media outlets influence their actions can give you a competitive edge in marketing your products, developing content and securing links. Recently, Forrester Research conducted a survey to determine the value of various publications and how key decision-makers…
• Google’s Hal Varian Expounds The Virtues Of ‘Data Democratization’
  Hal Varian is a UC Berkeley economics professor now on leave at Google as its Chief Economist. In that latter capacity Varian waxes poetic on the Google Blog about the “democratization of data” in the internet era. The essence of his post is that volumes of relevant data, and tools…

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Chrome antics: did Google reverse-engineer Windows?: Page 1, Ars Technica
• Why Google Knol will never be as good as Wikipedia, slate.com

Business Issues

• Is Latency Crippling Yahoo’s Right Media? Yep., VentureBeat
• Another Trademark and SEO Related Lawsuit: U-Haul vs. Hire A Helper, SEOmoz
• Yahoo-Google pact faces more advertiser opposition, MarketWatch

Local, Maps & Mobile

• AndroidTunes? Amazon launching a mobile music/movie store for Google’s platform, VentureBeat
• New Google user happiness survey offered amidst growing smb complaints, Mike Blumenthal
• With Google Phone, HTC Comes Out of the Shadows, New York Times

Paid Search & Contextual

• Early Read on Google’s Quality Score Changes, Rimm Kaufman
• Increase in Google AdWords Accounts Being Hacked Into?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Making More Money With Google AdSense in 2008?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Online Ad Slowdown Looms, BusinessWeek
• Pay per Click Marketing – SBM Unleashed, Search Engine Guide

Searching

• Paul Newman, and the Upset Google Can Cause, A Slice of Grice
• hakia Issues Open Call to Librarians and Information Professionals: Help Us Guide Web Searchers to Credible Web Sites, ResourceShelf
• Search in Israel III, altsearchengines.com

SEM Industry

• Mike Banks Valentine: Search Blogger of the Day, The SEO Scoop

SEO & SEM

• 17 Useful SEO-Related FireFox Quick Searches, Search Engine Journal
• .TV & . ME TLDs Can Be GeoTargeted In Google Webmaster Tools, Search Engine Roundtable
• Copywriting Workshop – SBM Unleashed, Search Engine Guide
• How a Search Engine Might Add Related Information about People, Places, and Things into Search Results, SEO By The Sea
• How to put your website on Google News, E-Consultancy
• How To Target Hispanic Searchers, HispanicTrending
• On-Page SEO WorkShop – SBM Unleashed, Search Engine Guide
• Q&A: What is a good Click Through Rate?, BG Theory
• SEO Checklist: Using Page Headings Correctly, Search Engine Journal
• Who Audits the Auditor?, Search Engine Watch
• Worried About the Economy? Why Not Try SEO?, Search Engine Watch

Social Media

• Social Media Conversations – SBM Unleashed, Search Engine Guide
• Viral Marketing Workshop – SBM Unleashed, Search Engine Guide
• Why Isn’t Facebook Making More Money? (Hint: Advertiser Value and User Value Are Not Aligned), Publishing 2.0
• Your life, on the line, Plurk.com

Video, Music & Image Search

• The Text Tool: enabling your photos to speak for themselves, Google Photos Blog
• Announcing the Microsoft Image Composite Editor, HD View
• Hulu Launches All Kinds Of Stuff To Keep You Defocused On Joost, TechCrunch

Web Analytics

• New Conversion Report Maximizes Online Form Performance, ClickTale Blog
• Understanding Analytics – SBM Unleashed, Search Engine Guide

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

• Google Says, Don't Rewrite Dynamic URLs To Static URLs
• Write a Solid Article in 15 Minutes
• 15th Anniversary: Hooking Google to the Evil Meter
• Case Study: Turning $100 into 10,000 visitors and 100+ Links
• Google says Stay Away From URL Rewriting! Seriously?
• Obama's Secret tool? GoogleVote.com to map all polling locations?
• The Definitive Guide To Website Geo-Location
• Link Shaping & Bot Herding