SearchCap: The Day In Search, April 8, 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:

• 
  US Court Rules Meta Tags Can Constituted Trademark Infringement
  Eric Goldman reports that an 11th circuit, US Court of Appeals has upheld a district court’s decision that the use of trademarked terms in meta tags can cause confusion and thus can constitute trademark infringement. North American Medical Corp. v. Axiom Worldwide, Inc. docket number 06-01678 CV-JTC-1 (PDF) doesn’t specifically…
• 
  Google Rolls Out Chicago Transit, Defends Water Naming Policy In Earth
  Google announced that it had expanded Google Transit to cover Chicago, the second largest public transit system in the US. That brings to 37 the number of cities in the US and abroad offered on Google Transit….
• 
  Holiday Links Come In Lots of Different Packages
  Did you know there’s only 261 shopping days left before Christmas? That might seem like a crazy thing to worry about in April but you know what they say, the early bird gets the link. Using the holidays to attract links is fun, good for trend watching and an…
• 
  How To Recover In Google After A Site Hack
  My site’s been hacked – now what? from the Google Webmaster Central team provides a much needed guide on how to recover from your site being hacked. Sites are sometimes in an attempt to inject code and links into that site, to try and boost the hacker’s site ranking in…
• 
  Gain Access To Google’s Infrastructure With Google App Engine
  Last night, at Campfire One, Google launched an Amazon S3/EC2-like product named Google App Engine. For non-techies, Google App Engine will allow you to host your web sites and applications on their infrastructure. Not only that, this service will automatically grow in resources and capacity, as your application or web…
• 
  Legitimate, Useful Subversion For Search Engine Marketers
  Often, the hardest part of any search engine optimization or marketing campaign is getting changes made to the website. Figuring out what to do is often easier than convincing all the stakeholders—including marketers, IT departments, web developers—to take the necessary actions, and coaching them along the way as they apprehensively…
• 
  Search Illustrated: Link Juice Is Good For You!
  Are all links created equal? Most search marketers know the answer to that question is a resounding no. But, how do you differentiate between links to figure out which ones are better than others? Today’s infographic visualizes the various site and link components that combine to form “nutritious, healthy”…
• 
  Top Causes of Errors in Online Mapping Systems
  Two years ago, my brother was getting married, and he had asked me to help design his invitations and the maps showing how to get from the church to the restaurant where we were holding the rehearsal dinner. I used to be a professional cartographer, so making a map…
• 
  SMX Social Media Marketing In Two Weeks! Register Now
  Are you responsible for driving traffic to your web site? Or building awareness with the difficult-to-reach demographic groups like teens and “20 somethings”? Then don’t miss Search Marketing Expo – SMX Social Media Marketing in Long Beach, CA, April 22-23. Register today to reserve your place. SMX Social Media Marketing…

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Social spreadsheeting, Official Google Docs Blog
• Put a finer point on your Gmail searches, News.com

Business Issues

• "Deep Integration" Between Google Apps and Salesforce to Be Announced Next Monday, TechCrunch
• Baidu Signs Cooperative Agreement with China Netcom, CNN Money
• Marin Software Raises $7.25 Million Second Round For Search Marketing Software, paidContent.org
• Our comments on the FTC’s behavioral advertising principles, Google Public Policy Blog
• Q&A: A Google ‘stalker’ deconstructs the secrets to its success, ComputerWorld

Conferences

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Foreclosures Shown On Scary, Encroaching Heat Maps, TechCrunch
• Street View Almost in Google Earth, Google Earth Blog
• Using My Location and Traffic features on Google Maps, Official Google Mobile Blog
• Google maps give close-up view of U.N. refugee camps, Reuters
• More Google MapSpam, Mike Blumenthal

Microhoo

• Ballmer’s Secret Weapon, Forbes
• Yahoo Shares Are a Coin Flip, Wall Street Journal

Paid Search & Contextual

• Blocking An Advertiser Via The Adsense Ad Review Center, Search Engine Roundtable
• Learn How to Track Your MSN adCenter PPC Keyword Data in Analytics, PPC Hero

Searching

• Children Search Engine Quintura Kids Gets New Look, Quintura blog
• More Reports of Google Suggest Feature as Default on Google.com, Search Engine Roundtable
• Search.com has a new look – and this is it., altsearchengines.com
• The Future of Travel Search, AppScout
• Will Yandex Take on Google?, Quintura blog

SEM Industry

• 3rd Annual Search Engine Marketing Scholarship Coming Soon – Sponsor Opportunities!, Marketing Pilgrim
• Pulling a Fast One: A Clever Internet Marketer Is Trying to Trademark "SEO", SEOmoz
• SEJ Guest Blogging Competition : Win Over $9,000 in Search Marketing Prizes, Search Engine Journal
• Best of the Web Adds DMOZ Editors to Directory Team, Search Engine Journal
• In Munich for SMX: jetzt geht’s loss!, Joost de Valk
• Marissa Mayer inside dirt, FuckedGoogle
• Why Search Marketing Standards are a Bad Idea, Wolf Howl

SEO & SEM

• Are you coping with Universal Search?, E-Consultancy
• Blog Marketing Tips #2: Increasing Traffic with Killer Slugs, Marketing Pilgrim
• Getting the Most Out of Your Corporate Blog, Online Marketing Blog
• How To Penalize Your Competitor’s Site in Google, Search Engine Roundtable
• How to Tell if Your Domain is Banned in a Search Engine, Search Engine Watch
• How Web Application Developers Can Ensure Their Sites Are Findable in Search Engines (SEO for Webdevs), Vanessa Fox
• Keep the Lines of SEO Communication Open, Search Engine Watch
• The Ethics of Using "Black Hat" SEO to Bring Down a Website’s Competition, Marketmou
• Why Most SEOs Can’t Do Reputation Management, Search Engine Journal

Social Media

• 5 Ways to Find More Friends on Twitter, Read/Write Web
• Case Study: Comparing Marketing Effectiveness of Linkedin, Facebook, MySpace, Stumbleupon and Twitter, NLC Internet Marketing Blog
• Connected Employees: Useful or a Liability?, BruceClay.com
• Phorm admits ‘over zealous’ editing of Wikipedia article, The Register
• Types of Social Media Content – A Conceptual Overview, Search Engine Watch Blog

Video, Music & Image Search

• Flickr Tip – Geotag your photos, Yahoo News loves them, danperry.com

Web Analytics

• The Analytics Audit: Is Your Data Accurate?, endlessplain.com

Other Items

• Blogging For Dollars: Time.com’s Top 25 Blogs, Valleywag
• Baidu Adds Obama to Logo, Search Engine Journal
• Bar Code Sales Tool Is Failing Campus Test, New York Times

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

• Why Search Marketing Standards are a Bad Idea
• Holiday Links Come In Lots of Different Packages
• 3 Letters That Can Improve Your Social Media Success
• A Clever Internet Marketer Is Trying to Trademark ‘SEO’
• Help! SEOs Hacked my Blog!
• Best of the Web Adds 30+ DMOZ Editors to Directory Team
• Matt’s Big Blogging Resource List
• Remove NoFollow From Comment Links With DoFollow In WordPress Blogs
• Merchants and bribery in the affiliate business
• Social Media Marketing is NOT a Direct Response Channel