SearchCap: The Day In Search, August 22, 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:

• 
  Ask.com Adds Counting Clock Feature
  Ask.com is now displaying a new counting clock feature on local searches. What I mean by “counting clock,” is that the clock counts up the seconds, in real time. So a search on san jose, ca returns the current time, all the time, on the right hand side of the…
• 
  SES San Jose Coverage Roundup – August 22, 2007
  Below is a roundup of all the coverage I was able to find throughout the day of the SES San Jose conference. This coverage is for the third day of SES, taking place on August 22, 2007. If I missed any, please add a comment below….
• 
  Live Search Webmaster Portal: SEO Tools Coming From Microsoft
  Later this year, Microsoft has announced that there will be a public beta of "Live Search Webmaster Portal," a collection of tools and information for site owners akin to the Google Webmaster Central and Yahoo Site Explorer offerings from those respective search engines. A private beta of these tools…
• 
  Google AdWords Top Ad Promotion Formula Now Live
  The Inside AdWords blog just announced that the new top promotion algorithm is now live. Advertisers who want to take advantage of this, can now begin to do so. Yes, there is a lot of debate and reaction towards this new formula. I suspect now that it is live, we…
• 
  Yahoo Slurp Gets More Efficient & New Index Update
  The Yahoo Search Blog announced that they have made major changes to their crawling process, plus rolled out a new update to their “crawl, index and ranking systems.” Recently, there have been many complaints that Yahoo’s crawler, Yahoo Slurp, is crawling a site to heavily. Yahoo has taken this feedback…
• 
  Getting To The Heart Of Things: Big Pharma Marketing Challenges
  While I don’t recall asking for her opinion, I got it all the same. My wife—of course—thinks that my cholesterol problem is due to my diet. She says that I could eat in a more healthy way (whatever that means). However, I, on the other hand, like to think—as…
• 
  Low B2B Click-Through-Rate: Inexperience Or Wisdom?
  Have you ever analyzed the click-through-rates associated with B2B search listings? Organic versus paid? Business versus consumer? The data is interesting… and can be interpreted in several ways. It’s hard to tell if business marketers are simply behind their consumer counterparts in terms of expertise and experience—or if they…
• 
  Microsoft adCenter Labs Launches Ad Text Writer
  Gary Price reports that Microsoft adCenter Labs has launched a new tool named Ad Text Writer. You basically plug in a URL, Microsoft will read the site and come up with search ads based on the content of the site. So I figured I give it a try….
• 
  Search The Skies With Google Earth Sky
  In Google Earth, a Service for Scanning the Heavens from the New York Times reports that Google Earth released a new version that allows you to look up at the sky and see the galaxy. The new feature will let you virtually look up at the sky, from any location…
• 
  When To Work With Agencies
  While the ideal for in-house search marketing is to perform all tasks related to search marketing internally, the reality is that there are times when help is needed from outside sources. There are several reasons for this, but when it does happen, the prime motivator should be that the…

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Picasa adds support for seven more languages, Googling Google
• Access Google Calendar Directly From Outlook, Lifehacker
• Blogspot Down, Google Blogoscoped

Business Issues

• Ask.com debuts TV ad campaign to promote Ask3D, BtoB Magazine
• Google CEO says mobile auction bid still probable, Reuters
• Last Month in China – Baidu, Google and Alibaba, Search Engine Journal
• Digital-Ad Firm Launches Buying Spree, Wall Street Journal

Conferences

• Google Dance 2007 Gallery, Google Blogoscoped
• Quick Video of Google Dance 2007, Cartoon Barry
• The Paid Links Debate Rages On – SES San Jose 2007, SEOmoz
• SES San Jose LIVE / Day 2: Jim Lanzone’s Keynote, Ask.com Blog
• SES San Jose LIVE / Day 2: Legalese, Bizspeak, and Vulcan, Ask.com Blog
• Google Dance 2007 Photos, Online Marketing Blog
• Video POV: Exposition Hall Tour SES San Jose 2007, AIM Clear Blog

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Google now zaps faces, license plates on Map Street View, news.com.com

Link Building

• 10 Tips to Tune Up Paid Search Efforts, Search Engine Journal
• Just Get People to Talk About You, SEO Book

Paid Search & Contextual

• 12 Do’s & Don’ts on Increasing Landing Page Conversions, PPC Hero
• 5 Common Content Network Mistakes, SEOptimise
• New Rate Sheet Reductions, AdWords API Blog
• Temporary Google AdWords Billing Problems, Search Engine Roundtable
• Unscheduled AdWords Maintenance – August 25, AdWords API Blog
• Update to management of the Microsoft adCenter trademark policy, adCenter Blog

Searching

• Accoona : AI Powered Search, Search Engine Journal
• Google says mobile usage has surged this summer, Reuters
• UK ticket search engine launches in US, E-Consultancy

SEM Industry

• Hats off to Search Engine College’s Latest Graduates, Ask Kalena
• Interview with Matt / "Dockarl", johnmu.com
• Cre8asite Forums Is Now 5 Years Old, Search Engine Roundtable

SEO & SEM

• How Aaron Wall Got Google To Spam their Own Results and How You Can Get Away With it Too, Bob Massa
• Internal Navigation vs Spamvigation, SEO Book
• Search Pulse 34: Paid Links, Supplemental Results, Ad Control, Search Engine Roundtable

Social Media

• The Reddit New Page – A Great Source of Traffic, Pronet Advertising

Other Items

• Using More than 3 Sites When Building a Google Custom Search, ResourceShelf

Hot Items From Sphinn, Our Social News Sharing Site:

• How To Write An SEO Technician Resume
• Happy 5th Birthday, Cre8asite Forums
• Ten Commandments of Social Media Marketing
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• Paid Links & Reviews Are Necessary For Relevant Results
• SES: The Paid Links Debate Rages On
• How to Hit the Digg Homepage on a Daily Basis
• Where Are The Moderators?
• Top 10 list of why you should not stop posting top ten lists.
• Sphinning the Spham – the Onslaught Has Begun ::
• Witness Landing Page Perfection by Google