SearchCap: The Day In Search, March 15, 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
  Anonymizing Search Records To Protect Privacy
  Google has announced that it will now anonymize the server log data that it
  collects after 18 to 24 months, as a way to better protect the privacy of its
  users. Until now, Google has retained server log data in its original form
  indefinitely, which made it possible for anyone…
• When AdWords
  Gets Sex Wrong
  Via Marketing Shift, Don’t Be Evil (Or A Dyke, Or Trans) at SFGate.com from
  Violet Blue shows how AdSense ads can totally go against the message of the
  sex content you may have published and covers concerns that Google may be
  banning some sexual orientation terms as offensive, even though…
• The Duplicate
  Content Penalty Myth
  One thing that has plagued the SEO industry for years has been a lack of
  consistency when it comes to SEO terms and definitions. One of the most
  prevalent misnomers being bandied about is the phrase "duplicate content
  penalty." I’m here to tell you that there is no such…
• Safa Rashtchy
  Leaving Piper Jaffray
  Piper Jaffray financial analyst Safa Rashtchy has been covering the search
  space seriously for years. He was one of the first analysts I recall looking
  hard at the industry before it became clear to the world how much money it was
  generated. He’s now leaving Piper Jaffray and has sent…
• Q&A With Link
  Building Experts
  Rae Hoffman posted a group interview with not just one link building expert
  but five. Rae asks Eric Ward (a columnist here), Rand Fishkin, Roger Montti,
  Todd Malicoat and herself ten questions where each expert gives their opinion.
  Here are the ten questions. For the answers, you’ll have to check…
• Choosing a Web
  Friendly Name for Your Business
  Groucho is not my real name. I’m breaking it in for a friend. – Groucho Marx
  One of the most important and one of the most difficult decisions that a
  business can make is what to call themselves. A friend managed to put together
  a business model in few…
• Google
  Webmaster Central Blog Jetzt Auf Deutsch
  Like the advice you get from the Google Webmaster Central blog? Heute kommt es
  auf Deutsch. Think I got that right. Two years of college German, and that’s
  the best I can do. German speakers can now keep up on the happenings with
  Google’s support for site owners in their…
• Blinkx Offers
  Video SEO Wiki & Whitepaper
  Spotted via ReadWriteWeb, multimedia search engine Blinkx has launched a video
  SEO wiki with lots of useful information for effectively optimizing video and
  other multimedia for search engines. Main sections cover preparing video for
  search engines using meta-data and other information, what to avoid, and a
  good list of video…
• Ask On Ad
  Campaign: Fun Way To Wake The "Sleep Searchers"
  I wrote earlier about Ask’s guerrilla marketing campaign now underway to raise
  awareness of the search engine in the UK. I’ve now talked with Ask CEO Jim
  Lanzone, who explained more about how the campaign is designed to unfold. He
  said it’s all meant in good fun, not to be…

Search News Headlines From Elsewhere

Applications & Portal Features

• 
  Google Talk Gadget, Official Google Talk Blog
• 
  Hehehe… Google Subsidiary Quiz, Small Business SEM
• 
  Gmail’s Updated Quotas, Google Operating System
• Google Reader
  Update, Search Engine Roundtable
• 
  Google Updates Gmail’s Navigation Links, Google Operating System

Business Issues

• 
  Salim Ismail To Head Yahoo Brickhouse, TechCrunch
• 
  Salim Ismail joins Yahoo!, Bradley Horowitz
• I join Yahoo…., Salim Ismail
• 
  Google Is Reviving Hopes for Ex-Furniture Makers, New York Times
• comScore Hopes
  New Metric Will Add Clarity—And Please Publishers, Hold Off Auditor,
  PaidContent.org
• Can ‘Visits’
  Replace Pageviews?, ClickZ
• 
  News: Microsoft Deal For Large Customers: Use Live Search, Get Free MSFT
  Products, John Battelle
• 
  BRAND ADVERTISING: Google’s neglected stepchildren, Valleywag

Local, Mobile & Maps

• 
  Local Content Is King, ClickZ
• 
  Sending Directions the Web 2.0 Way, Windows Live Local Blog
• 
  1-800-Free-411 Has 6% Market Share of U.S. 411 Market, TechCrunch

Paid Search & Contextual

• 
  Google Tests New AdSense Logo Format Once Again, Search Engine Roundtable
• 
  Microsoft adCenter Content Ads – Watch the Webinar!, adCenter Blog
• Invites Being
  Sent Out To Google AdWords To Test CPC Site Targeting, Search Engine
  Roundtable
• Google Testing
  AdSense Horizontal Images?, Search Engine Roundtable
• 
  
  ContextWeb Lets Publishers Pick Rates, MediaPost
• 
  Google Needs Sex Education, Marketing Shift

Privacy & Legal

• Is Your ISP
  Selling Your Clickstream Data? Do You Have Any Privacy At All?, TechDirt
• Can
  A Spider Enter Into A Binding Contract?, Eric Goldman
• Companies That
  Promised To Stop Advertising In Adware… Still Advertising In Adware,
  TechDirt

SEM Industry

• 
  SES New York 2007 Discount Coupon, Google Analytics Blog
• 
  Women of Internet Marketing Wednesday Part 13, Search Marketing Gurus
• 
  The Lead-off – Chris Sherman, Search Engine Watch, Search Engine Land,
  Enquisite
• Selling SEO
  Services on a Performance Basis, SEO Book
• Legacy
  SEO Clients, Online Marketing Blog

SEO & SEM

• How
  To: Increase Back Links With a WordPress Theme, Link Building Blog
• Getting Out of a
  Bad Community, SEO Book
• 
  You Can Diversify, or You Can Die, Small Business SEM
• 
  Shari Thurow Talking Smack about Eye Tracking?, Out Of My Gord
• Personalized Paid Search and
  Tracking Long and Short Term Interests, SEO By The Sea
• 
  Optimizing the Mix of Paid and Organic Listings, 10e20

Social Media

• 
  Twitter Stats – Growing but Still Niche, Hitwise
• del.icio.us adds Tag
  Descriptions, Search Engine Journal

Video & Image Search

• 
  Easiest YouTube downloads ever, Download Squad
• Brazilian court orders YouTube to
  remove Pele videos, Journal Peru
• 
  Bloglines Image Wall Filled With Pornographic Images, Cartoon Barry
• 
  Has Video Search Arrived? Spam Says So?, Search Engine Watch Blog
• Viacom Rivals
  Support YouTube Suit, Bloomberg
• While Viacom
  Sues, CBS Cuts Another YouTube Deal, This Time For March Madness,
  PaidContent.org

Other Vertical Search

• 
  Search engine spawned from antiterrorism efforts finds place in business,
  Computer World

Other Stuff

• 
  New From Microsoft Research: MyLifeBits Online Demo, ResourceShelf
• 
  StatusBars: Firefox add-on of the day, Download Squad
• 
  Bloglines Image Wall Filled With Pornographic Images, Yahoo Blog
• Daily SearchCast,
  March 15, 2007: Google Moves To Protect Search Privacy; Link Building Tips
  From Experts; Duplicate Content, No Worries? & More!
• 
  Q&A With Ask.com’s Gary Price, SearchDay