SearchCap: The Day In Search, March 14, 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:

• The Big Viacom
  Sues GOOG & YouTube Roundup
  Yesterday, news came out about Viacom suing Google for $1 billion over alleged
  video copyright infringement on YouTube. With some dust settling, I thought it
  would be helpful to recap some of the analysis out there. I’m pulling this
  roundup mostly from coverage you’ll find on Techmeme. Come along, and…
• Microsoft
  Announces Tellme Acquisition
  Here’s the press release confirming the acquisition we reported on
  yesterday….
• Google Searches
  Used In Murder Trial
  Techdirt spotted a case where prosecutors used the search results of a
  defendant to help with their case. Allegedly, a woman searched for "how to
  commit murder," "instant poisons," "undetectable poisons," and "fatal digoxin
  doses," days before her husband was murdered. As the Daily Record reports the
  State Police digital…
• AOL Offers New
  Local Search Format
  AOL, which was one of the early players in local and has recently fallen
  behind, has now launched a new look and feel local search. The centerpiece is
  MapQuest maps plus content and ratings from AOL Cityguide (formerly Digital
  Cities). Here’s an example search for "Sushi, New York City." It’s…
• The 5 Secrets
  PPC Agencies Don’t Want You to Know
  Nearly three-fourths of companies that outsource their pay-per-click search
  marketing to agencies are dissatisfied with their results, and only 21 percent
  are completely satisfied, according to a Jupiter Research published late last
  year. What causes this dissatisfaction, especially for B2B marketers? There
  are five factors at work:…
• Microsoft Inks
  Distribution Deal With Lenovo
  Buyers of Lenovo computers, including ThinkPad notebooks, ThinkCentre
  desktops, Lenovo 3000 PCs and Lenovo-brand PCs available in China will soon
  have Windows Live software and and Windows Live Toolbar preinstalled on their
  machines. This is a minor coup for Microsoft. Lenovo computers (many branded
  with the IBM logo) previously shipped…
• Ask’s Guerrilla
  Marketing Campaign Against Google
  Via Valleywag, Ask.com appears to be running a guerrilla marketing campaign in
  the UK designed to seem like a grassroots effort against a Google monopoly in
  search. The picture above, taken by Ben Werdmuller, shows one of the
  campaign’s ads on the London Underground. The ad directs you to…

Search News Headlines From Elsewhere

Applications & Portal Features

• A Little
  Perspective On Ajax Home Pages, TechCrunch
• 
  Is Google Changing Its Position on Net Neutrality?, GigaOM
• A Modest Proposal
  To YHOO and MSFT: Spin Out A Search Company, John Battelle
• Hands
  On: Google’s Personalized Home Page, PC World
• Microsoft to sue ‘cybersquatters’,
  Threadwatch

Business Issues

• 
  AT&T, Yahoo end speculation, renew strategic partnership, DMNews
• 
  Google finds itself stymied by cybersquatters, FT.com

Censorship & Privacy

• Yahoo
  Inc. cleared in Hong Kong case, AP
• 
  More on Orkut and law enforcement: Brazil, Boing Boing
• 
  China: gov to expand "Great ‘Net Firewall," censor web even more, Boing
  Boing

Local, Mobile & Maps

• 
  The 10 Minute Map, Part 2 – Adding Custom Icons, Windows Live Local
• 
  Yahoo services to be preloaded on HTC devices, DM News

Paid Search & Contextual

• 
  More testers needed for Audio Ads, Inside AdWords
• 
  Google Caught Violating Their Own AdWords Guidelines, Search Engine
  Roundtable

SEM Industry

• 
  How to be an SEO Consultant without even trying, YugaTech
• 
  Yahoo! Search Submit Pro Gives You Yahoo! Quick Links, Search Engine
  Roundtable
• 
  Cracking Google’s ‘secret sauce’ algorithm, Computer World
• 
  Reader Poll: Best SEM Email Discussion Lists, Online Marketing Blog

SEO & SEM

• 
  How to Properly Implement a 301 Redirect, Bruce Clay Blog
• 
  The Cost of No SEO Migration Plan, Online Marketing Blog
• 
  Can Google Clean Up Its SERPs with AJAX?, Bruce Clay Blog
• 
  Interview with Google’s Matt Cutts about Next-Generation Search,
  Read/Write Web
• 
  Adam Lasnik comments on Spam Complaints and Dupe Content, Search Engine
  Watch Blog

Social Media

• Technorati Top 100 Blogs
  Confusion?, SEO By The Sea
• 
  Algorithm Update Changes, FeedBurner Blog
• 
  Social Nets Account for 6.5% of Web Traffic, Micro Persuasion

Video & Image Search

• Digg for
  Photos, Google Blogoscoped
• YouTube
  Speeder Doesn’t Leave Enough Evidence For Police, Techdirt
• 
  StumbleUpon Launches StumbleVideo: Great Discovery Tool, rev2.org
• VIA-GOOG:
  React Varies From Jeers To Cheers—And Lots Of Questions, PaidContent.org
• Viacom
  vs. YouTube: The Billion Dollar Question, Compete Blog

Other Vertical Search

• 
  Google Navigator, Launched in China, Google Operating System
• 
  Google Finance Means Business, The Street
• 14 Charity Search
  Engines : Searching for Good, Search Engine Journal

Other Stuff

• 
  Conference Paper: What Can Searching Behavior Tell Us About the Difficulty of
  Information Tasks? A Study of Web Navigation, ResourceShelf
• Red
  and blue make purple, Official Yahoo Blog
• 
  Welcome Avinash!, Google Analytics Blog
• 
  Unofficial Google Trends Blog, Google Blogoscoped
• Podcast: Google
  & Yahoo Link Updates, Searching Searches, Keyword Volume at AdWords, Getting a
  Job at Google, 404 Pages & More, Search Pulse
• 
  Resources of the Week: March Madness, ResourceShelf
• Podcast:
  Revisiting The Viacom/YouTube Suit; I Now Pronounce You MicroHoo? Ask’s
  Stealth Ad Campaign & More!, Daily SearchCast