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SearchCap: The Day In Search, January 14, 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: Yahoo Shuts Down Content Match In UKThe PPC Hero blog said they received an email from Yahoo that they are shutting down Yahoo’s contextual network ads in the United Kingdom. This […]

Barry Schwartz on January 14, 2009 at 4:57 pm | Reading time: 8 minutes

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Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.

From Search Engine Land:

Yahoo Shuts Down Content Match In UK
The PPC Hero blog said they received an email from Yahoo that they are shutting down Yahoo’s contextual network ads in the United Kingdom. This product is named Content Match, which allows Yahoo Publisher Network publishers to display Yahoo ads on their sites. Yahoo matches the advertiser’s ads by the contextual relevancy of the page’s content to the keywords the advertisers purchased. In the email sent to PPC Hero, they said they will close it down officially by March 31st, the same date they are officially closing the Adobe PDF ads. Currently, the UK version of the Content Match product description page, says nothing about being discontinued but I do trust the people at PPC Hero.
Harvard Prof: Deceptive Ads ‘Widespread’ On Yahoo’s Right Media
Ben Edelman, an assistant professor at Harvard’s Business School, forcefully argues that “Yahoo’s Right Media ad marketplace features widespread ads exactly designed to deceive.” In his lengthy article he offers 10 examples and lots of specific documentation of the kinds of deception he alleges. The ad types in question feature the following kinds of copy according to Edelman: “You have been chosen to win a free…” “Free” and similar representations with NO disclosure language “Free” and similar representations with disclosure language Deceptive or questionably realistic offer Bait & switch advertising, i.e. offer from creative isn’t present on LP These ads either are false or fail …
Consumer Groups Trying To Preempt Behavioral Targeting For Mobile Ads
The Center for Digital Democracy and U.S. Public Interest Research Group, the same groups that initiated the FTC’s investigation into “behavioral advertising” online, have “amended their complaint” with the FTC to extend to mobile advertising. According to the 50+ page document filed yesterday: Right before the commission’s eyes, many of the same consumer data collection, profiling, and behavioral targeting techniques that raise concern in the more “traditional” online world have been purposefully brought into the mobile marketplace. The mobile industry has already developed extensive plans and techniques to help determine what it calls the “user journey” through the “mobile …
Adobe & Yahoo Discontinue PDF Contextual Ad Program
Amit Agarwal reports that Yahoo and Adobe have decided to discontinue the Ads for PDF product they launched in November 2007. If you visit the program landing page at
Google Apps Authorized Reseller Program
VentureBeat reports Google has launched a reseller program for Google Apps. The program is aimed at developers, hosting companies and others to take on the responsibility of billing, support and training, in exchange for a twenty-percent discount on the services. In short, Google will charge you 20% less of the standard fee and you can go to your client and charge them the price you see fit, for managing, billing, supporting and training them on Google Apps.
Google Creates Smart Sitemap Generator Tool
The Google Webmaster Central blog announced that they have just released a new Sitemap generator that works on both Linux/Apache and Microsoft IIS Windows-based servers. The Sitemap generator is different and possibly smarter than other Sitemap tools because it uses web traffic, log files and other methods to find new or modified URLs. You can download the new tool over here. Why go through the process of setting up a Sitemap file? Well, Google themselves said on the Sitemap Generator page, “you are more likely to get better freshness and coverage in search engines” if you …
Google Local Business Ads Score New Features
The Google AdWords team has announced a group of new features for Local Business Ads, some of which are in place now, and others that will be coming soon. In place now are new links that will appear at the bottom of the ad’s info window: Get Directions, Street View, and/or Save to My Maps. Here’s a look at my wife’s local business ad showing two of the new links: (We don’t have Street View in our little backwater hamlet, but maybe someday.) A “Send” link will be added soon, allowing searchers to …
Ask.com Partners With NASCAR, Says “Super Verticals” Will Put It Back In Search Race
Ask.com — saying it plans to compete against the likes of Google, Yahoo and Microsoft — has announced a new “Super Verticals” strategy to take on its much larger rivals. These are specialized search engines that provide direct answers to factual questions. First off the mark? A NASCAR search engine. And yes, Ask also becomes the official search engine of NASCAR. You won’t find the NASCAR search engine from Ask.com available yet. It will be released in conjunction with the Daytona 500 race on February 15, just part of an overall marketing plan that …
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Using Social Media To Control Brand Management Crises
For some companies, social media marketing is regarded as a fun engagement tool. Consequently, it’s often not a high-priority marketing initiative that gets the budget, attention, or credibility that other areas of marketing enjoy. However, social media marketing can provide serious value. In fact, a closer look at the scope and impact of social media marketing will reveal a tactic that can be quite effective at solving short-term brand management challenges. Understanding the value Social media marketing can be leveraged as a public relations tool during a brand crisis—think of it as a damage control device. In short, it can increase positive …