SearchCap: The Day In Search, July 30, 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:

• 
  Microsoft vs. Google: Street Photography Rigs Compared
  Gizmodo, in something of a tongue-in-cheek post, compares the cars and cameras Google is using to capture its StreetView imagery with those being used by Microsoft for what has been known as StreetSide. StreetSide is a Live Local product that predated Google’s StreetView but has been limited to San Francisco…
• 
  Google Maps Bulk Upload Spam?
  First Case of Large Scale Abuse at Google Maps? from Mike Blumenthal reports cases of companies using the Google Maps business location bulk upload feature to potentially spam the local vertical. I am not going to list out the reported violations here, because Mike Blumenthal did so in his blog…
• 
  From eTours To Commanding Ask.com: Jim Lanzone’s Story
  I Fought the Law from the New York Times tells the story of how Ask.com CEO Jim Lanzone abandoned pursuing a legal degree and learned his true passion was for internet companies. Lanzone attended Emory University’s School of Law in Atlanta. He then worked for Justice Hugh P. Thompson at…
• 
  Live Image Search Adds Face, Portrait, B/W, & Related Features
  The Live Search Blog announced new image search features over the weekend. The new features include a way to search for images of people by face, portrait, black & white and related people. Here are examples of the new features in action, by searching for [paris]:…
• 
  5 Deadly Sins Guaranteed To Kill Your Link Requests
  Here in the Link Week column, we mostly discuss intermediate to advanced linking related subjects, but I’m compelled to cover a very basic topic this week. Link requests. The link builders are out in force this summer. The proof is in my inbox. Over the two weeks since my…
• 
  Yahoo Monday: Today’s Google Free Alternative
  As part of our Google Free Mondays series this month, today is the day to try Yahoo. What are Google Free Mondays all about? My past post explains the intent of the series more. The short scoop is NOT to be anti-Google but rather stress that trying alternatives is good,…

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Mozilla CEO Denies Google Decided Thunderbird’s Fate, PC World
• Gmail-ganization, Official Gmail Blog
• How can you take your Enterprise Search to the next level?, Official Google Enterprise Blog
• Limited-edition Google Desktop developer patches, Google Desktop APIs
• Open source firm reaps Google benefits, Stuff.co.nz

Business Issues

• 100 Days For Yahoo: Read/WriteWeb Files, Read/Write Web
• AOL to Change Name to TMZ, Bill Hartzer
• Google finds R&D opportunities, pitfalls abroad, Computerworld
• Microsoft’s Gates Plans Leave Amid Great Change, New York Times

Conferences

• 10 Secret Benefits of Attending SEM Conferences. Shhh., Online Marketing Blog
• Search marketing to Latinos: Interview with Nacho Hernandez of iHispanic, Search Engine Watch Blog
• SES Travel: a Nice Little Getaway, SEOmoz

Local, Maps & Mobile

• New Imagery Update – July 27th, Google Earth Blog
• Search Engine Marketing Implications for Real Estate, Search Engine Journal
• FCC to Rule on Wireless Auction, Washington Post
• The 700 MHz spectrum auction: where things stand, Google Public Policy Blog
• Gates sees no Google threat in phone software: report, Reuters
• Improved International Polar Year Content for Google Earth, Google Earth Blog
• Japan’s KDDI to offer Google-based PC, phone e-mail, InfoWorld
• Metacrawler Obovo.com Goes Mobile, Search Engine Watch Blog

Paid Search & Contextual

• We bought AuctionAds.com :), Link Building Blog
• A Peak Inside Your Google AdSense Filter List, Search Engine Roundtable
• AdWords Quality Score Survey Results Are In, PPC Hero
• Behavioral Targeting is Not Just Banners, Jonathan Mendez’s Blog

Searching

• Now there’s Google Finance for Canada-update, Official Google Blog
• ChaCha Search – Is People Powered Search Better?, SEO By The Sea
• New Data in Google Trends, Google Operating System
• Report: Query Types and Search Topics of German Web Search Engine Users, ResourceShelf

SEO & SEM

• Why you should not use XML Sitemaps, Joost de Valk
• Optimal Title Tag Code For WordPress, Performancing.com
• The power of search: driving traffic to your blog (a BlogHer recap), Vanessa Fox
• SEO with Usability: What The People Want, Cre8PC
• What are the Effects of Two Addresses in the Footer of a Website?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Yet a New Way to Find Supplemental Results in Google, Search Engine Roundtable

Social Media

• Unique Ways to Optimise for Social Media, ViperChill
• Facebook banned by City firms, Daily Telegraph
• Please Link Responsibly – Relevancy Does’t Matter Anymore In Blogging!, smartwealthyrich.com
• Twitter Blog: Friends, Followers, and Notifications, Twitter
• Measuring Social Media Marketing: It’s Easier than you Think!, Search Engine Journal
• Discussion On Facebook Bankruptcy, Techmeme
• Facebook Bankruptcy, Jason Calacanis
• Google vs Jimmy Wales, GigaOM
• Social Network Exhaustion (or Facebook Bankruptcy Redux), Jason Calacanis

Video, Music & Image Search

• YouTube says September is target time to block copyrighted videos, International Herald Tribune
• Yahoo! Music hunts for new legal chief, TheLawyer.com

Web Analytics

• Update: Temporary Reporting Delay since Saturday Night, Google Analytics Blog

Other Items

• Is Google Checkout Confusing?, Google Operating System
• Google Shop, Googlified
• Watch Matt Cutts Zap a Spammer!, The SEO Scoop
• Harry Potter font looks like Yahoo logo?, Matt Cutts
• I’m Engaged, Jeremy Zawodny

Hot Items From Sphinn, Our Social News Sharing Site:

• In-House SEM Networking – how are you doing it?
• 7 Tips for Training Link Developers
• Scaling Your SEO Across a Really Big Web Site
• Networking: The In-House Search Marketer’s Most Powerful Tool
• 12 Ways to Butcher Your SEO Campaign
• Google launched a free ranking checker
• 10 Blogger Types: The Good, the Bad, and the Sleazy
• “Subvert and Profit” Profits No One
• Watch Matt Cutts Zap a Spammer!
• Ultimate List of Nofollow & Dofollow Plugins
• WordPress Sponsored Themes – How To Game The System
• Forget SEO; Think RDC — Relevance, Discoverability & Crawlability
• Please Link Responsibly – Relevancy Doesn’t Matter Anymore In Blogging!
• Shoemoney Gets Rich, Media Whiz Buys AuctionAds
• Is It Worth the Effort? An ROI Calculator for Social Network Campaigns
• Social Media Questions For Lee Odden