SearchCap: The Day In Search, Feb. 16, 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:

• 
  Google AdWords Quality Score Has Major Bug
  After several emails from readers and spotting Jeremy Mayes post I have learned of a bug with Google’s new AdWords quality score algorithm. Google AdWords Adds Quality Score Column & To Improved Quality Algorithm from Wednesday warned us of the new changes coming but apparently there is a bug that…
• 
  Searcharazzi, Feb. 16, 2007: SEMPO Elections, The US Elections & SEO-PPC Warfare
  Welcome to the first edition of Searcharazzi, Search Engine Land’s gab sheet about movers, shakers, rumors and more. As we said in our initial announcement, Searcharazzi (the name suggested by reader CK Chung) is meant to be a fun, good-spirited column full of tidbits to brighten your day and…
• 
  Searcharazzi: New Column From Search Engine Land
  Our latest Search Engine Land column, Searcharazzi, launches today. The first edition is here. Searcharazzi is Search Engine Land’s gab sheet about movers, shakers, rumors and more in the search industry. Searcharazzi is meant to be a fun, good-spirited column full of tidbits to brighten your day and perhaps…
• 
  Google Reader Reporting Subscriber Numbers, Offers New Publishers Guide
  Google Reader has now announced that it is now providing subscriber counts, the number of people who read your blog through feeds at Google Reader or the Google Personalized Homepage. In addition a new Google Reader Publishers Guide has been posted with tips on how to get add to Google…
• 
  Wikipedia Enters Top Ten Most Visited Sites
  Impressive. Scanning the latest top web sites rankings from comScore for January 2007 , Wikipedia sites are highlighted for just entering the top ten most visited. OK, technically — they’re in the top ten for having the most unique visitors. In December 2006, Wikipedia sites were ranked 13th of all…
• 
  Title Tags, An SEO’s Most Trusted Friend
  Title tags remain one of the easiest and most important on-page SEO factors you can use to gain traffic. Jill Whalen provides a helpful review of how to write your title tags with All About Title Tags at Search Engine Guide. She goes over her feelings on if company names…
• 
  Google Local Search Algorithm Explored
  Matt McGee’s 10 Likely Elements of Google’s Local Search Algorithm explores what makes Google Local different from Google.com algorithmically. Here they are in summary:…
• 
  Pause Individual Ads or Keywords In AdWords But Are There Bugs?
  Google announced that you can now pause individual ads or keywords in your AdWords accounts. Brad Geddes has screen captures showing how to do this visually. But Jeremy Mayes reports that some paused campaigns were not completely paused and advertisers were getting billed for clicks and impressions. Maybe the launch…
• 
  Contact Google Via Legal Action: Texas School Left No Options?
  This is a funny one. InfoWorld reports a network infrastructure manager for a school district in Texas who manages 9,000 employees and 64,000 students recently changed the IP block they use to a new IP block. Since that change, anyone using Google within that IP block would be sent to…
• 
  Yahoo’s Sung Nak-Yang, Yahoo Korea CEO, To Resign
  Yahoo Korea CEO to Resign at the Korean Times reports Sung Nak-yang, Yahoo Korea’s CEO, will be resigning from the company. Sung says he is leaving Yahoo on his own will, because he and Yahoo USA disagreed on several undisclosed items. Sund did say “sales have grown by more than…
• 
  Aaron Stanton Earns Meeting With Google?
  A reader (shor) pointed me to a site at http://cangooglehearme.com/, that tells the story of a guy named Aaron who wanted to meet with Google. Aaron had a business proposal, but his attempts to contact Google via phone or email did not work. So he decided to fly to Google,…
• 
  Yahoo’s Jerry Yang Donates $75 Million To Stanford University
  Yahoo co-founder gives millions to university via Reuters reports that Jerry Yang, the co-founder of Yahoo, has donated $75 million to Stanford University. Yang did attend Stanford University for his bachelor’s and master’s degrees but never completed his doctorate in electrical engineering. Stanford says they will “spend most of the…
• 
  Google Buys Adscape For $23 Million
  Red Herring reports Google has bought Adscape Media for $23 million. As suspected, Google wants to begin venturing into placing ads within video games and the like. So when will we see Google ads while playing Madden on your PS3? No one knows for sure, as both sides declined to…

Search News Headlines From Elsewhere

Business Moves:

• 
  Microsoft Hires Michael Gartenberg as New Evangelist, Techcrunch
• Spot
  On, Yahoo! Publisher Network
• 
  How Smart Is LookSmart?, 24/7 Wall St.
• 
  Google offer was sweetened, Charlotte Observer
• 
  Measuring the Impact of Copiepresse Victory over Google, NewsFactor
  Network
• 
  The Wall Street Journal Online Partners With B-to-B Search Leader
  Business.com, Business.com
• 
  University bags $1.6m in YouTube sale, Cherwell 24
• Chelsea
  FC strike YouTube deal, Guardian Unlimited

Paid Search:

• 
  PPC Management Strategy – Part 2, SEO Speedwagon
• 
  How to find your AdWords Quality Score, eWhisper.net
• 
  New YSM: All that and a bag of chips?, Karl Ribas.com Blog
• 
  Google Fights for Right to Use Trademarked Search Keywords,
  InformationWeek
• 
  Google AdWords Professional verification pages fixed, SEOptimise
• Review
  of Yahoo’s Panama: The First Week, Conversation Marketing

SEO:

• 
  The Ultimate Guide To Increasing Web Traffic, Link Building Blog
• 
  Internal Anchor Text – Making Site Wide Changes, Search Engine
  Roundtable
• 
  Why Should You Use Unique Meta Descriptions, Search Engine Roundtable

Search Community:

• 
  Search Engine Strategies London, Day 2, Bruceclay.com
• 
  Search Engine Strategies, Day 3, Bruceclay.com
• 
  Last Night in London, SEOmoz
• 
  How to See Paris in Seven Hours, SEOmoz
• 
  The Lisa – Search Engine Conference Clothing from Lisa Barone, Wolf Howl
• 
  Google Holds 2007 Company Ski Trip, InsideGoogle
• SEO
  Poker Tournament by Quadszilla, Caydel’s SEO Blog

Other Stuff:

• 
  Yahoo Suggestions – Suggestion Deleted, David Dalka
• 
  More localized search controls, Google AJAX Search API Blog
• 
  Google Stumbles on Chicago Area Transit, Chicagoist
• 
  Quick Enhancements to Site Statistics, Burning Questions
• 
  Updated Interactive Maps from Maplecroft: Global map of displacement &
  Global map of hunger, ResourceShelf
• 
  Determining the correct values for new attributes, Official Google Base
  Blog
• 
  “Google Me” The Movie, Google Blogoscoped
• 
  Podcasting? Add a Podzinger Search Box to Your Web Site, ResourceShelf

• ---

  
  

  About The Author

  

  Barry Schwartz

  Barry Schwartz a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land and a member of the programming team for SMX events. He owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry's personal blog is named Cartoon Barry and he can be followed on Twitter here.

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  Channel: IndustrySearchCap