SearchCap: The Day In Search, May 20, 2008

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

From Search Engine Land:

• You Can Search Techmeme
  You can now search for past Techmeme articles directly on the site or at https://techmeme.com/search/. Techmeme’s founder, Gabe Rivera, announced the new feature today at his blog. He explained that the Techmeme search engine only searches full headlines on Techmeme, in reverse chronological order but not "discussions" listed under the…
• Yahoo Search Marketing Console Updated With Minor Enhancements
  The Yahoo Search Marketing blog announced that they have released several minor updates to make the use of the search ad console easier for advertisers to work with. Here is a list of changes and enhancements made to the system:…
• Nielsen: Google Hits New Search Share High
  Another ratings service shows Google hitting an all-time high for search share in the United States. This is according to April 2008 search share stats from Nielsen Online that were released (PDF) today. Last week, Hitwise also reported Google hitting a new record. Microsoft also dips below the 10…
• Today’s MicroHoo Roundup: Google Considers Its Response, Google Says It Would "Hire" Yang, Icahn Might Be Thwarted By Slimmed-Down MicroHoo & MSN Reorgs
  Yesterday at Google HQ in Mountain View, during the Q&A session following the discussion of Google Health, a reporter sneaked in a question about Microsoft-Yahoo. Marissa Mayer declined to answer the question, as Google CEO Eric Schmidt and co-founders Brin and Page were mulling their collective response to the new…
• US Senator, Lieberman, Asks For Al-Qaeda Content To Be Removed From YouTube
  US Senator, Joe Lieberman, asked Google’s Eric Schmidt to remove terrorist videos, including those of Al-Qaeda, to be removed from YouTube. In response, Google has removed some of these videos. Lieberman, in his role as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs explained “Islamist terrorist…
• SearchCap: The Day In Search, May 19, 2008
  …
• Screen Shots Of Google Health
  Greg Sterling is now at Google, for the Google Factory tour and the news is already buzzing about the US launch of Google Health. Greg may swing by and postscript with some of the details he learned from Google’s presentation, until then, let me share with you screen captures of…
• How to Solve Communication and Differentiation Problems
  Last week, Page Zero Media held a seminar in Toronto called Winning the Paid Search Game. In the intensive half day seminar, we focused on tactical PPC issues like ad copy generation, landing page optimization and the differences between the search engines. But strategy is possibly even more important…
• The “Google Factory Tour”: Display Ads Coming In Image Search, Google Health Live
  I’m at the “Google Factory Tour,” which is presenting bloggers and the press with an update on the state of search and search-related product development at Google. Apparently there are going to be some updates on Google Health later. The first announcement today, however, is about the integration of image…
• Bienvenido To Search Engine Land En Español!
  We’re very happy to announce Search Engine Land en Español, which is being produced by our SMX Madrid partners OME. It has launched to coincide with the opening of the first SMX Madrid show tomorrow. On the site, you’ll find selected articles from Search Engine Land which have been translated…
• Display Stumbles As Search Remains Strong
  The NY Times has a wide ranging article that discusses online ad trends and the apparent weakening of the display segment, which is roughly 21 percent of online ad spending. The article discusses how marketers are looking for measurable results and concrete audiences and in that context niche networks/sites are…
• MicroHoo Act III: Microsoft Looks For A Piece Of Yahoo, Yahoo Offers A Bland Response, Facebook Wants Its Independence
  Yahoo responded late last night to Microsoft’s statement that it had proposed a new deal but something less than a full acquisition. The Yahoo response was boilerplate and bland and betrayed nothing about Yahoo’s potential receptiveness to a scaled-back deal. The speculation and rumor is that Microsoft wants to buy…
• Google Aids Indian Government In Arrest Of Political Defamer
  TechCrunch reports that Google has aided in the arrest of an Indian man who wrote in an Orkut community, “I hate Sonia Gandhi.” Sonia Gandhi is a politician in India. Google reportedly handed over IP information to the Indian government, to help the government track down and arrest this individual….
• NearbyNow About To Make Local (Product) Search Widely Available
  There are a handful of companies that have been building local product inventory databases, many of them under the radar. They include Krillion, NearbyNow, Shopatron, Where2GetIt, Channel Intelligence and ShopLocal. Krillion was the first to start syndicating that data. But NearbyNow is now going to take its billion product database…
• Google Enables Third Party Tracking For Content Network
  Google has announced that they will now support the ability for advertisers to track their ads using third party advertising tags. This new feature is only available within Google’s content network (aka AdSense) and only available for North America based advertisers. In the past, the only way to track your…
• YouTube Adds Search Suggestions, Demographic Stats, Google Contacts Import & More
  Over the past week, YouTube has announced the addition of several features. In a recent YouTube blog post, YouTube announced the addition of search suggestions on YouTube.com, the import of your Google contacts and a new and improved notification system for video comments. Plus, the Google Blog announced the addition…
• 10 Fundamental Tips To Improve Your SEO
  In my colleague Matt Lester’s recent Search Engine Land column he discussed ten tips for a more effective paid search campaign. For this article, I’ll follow up Matt’s advice with ten tips to help you develop a more effective Search engine optimization (SEO) campaign. But before we dive into…
• Microsoft And Yahoo Apparently Back At The Bargaining Table
  What would Sunday afternoon/evening be lately without more intrigue in the MicroHoo drama? Today was no exception as Redmond issued a cryptic statement that says it’s offering to join forces with or acquire some of Yahoo — potentially the search business — in a deal short of the total acquisition…
• Google Celebrates Bauhaus B’Day With “Broken” Logo
  I love Google’s special holiday logos, which typically honor unique individuals or special holidays. Today Google has a special logo recognizing the birthday of Bauhaus (“house of building”) founder Walter Gropius. But it’s a weird tribute: In some respects, the logo can be seen as a rendition of the Googleplex…
• SearchCap: The Day In Search, May 16, 2008
  …
• Search Biz: Guerilla Artists Protest Google, Search Tops Online Spending Categories, Google Potentially Moving Mini To The Cloud, Predictions About Google Consumer Marketing
  Other than discussion of online advertising revenues, it’s an all-Google day for Search Biz: rumors of Google Mini being replaced by a hosted solution, a “public art” protest about Google doing business with the Chinese government and speculation about the future of consumer marketing at Google….
• Creating An Enhanced Listing With Yahoo!’s SearchMonkey Application Development Platform
  I’ve been playing around with Yahoo!’s slick new SearchMonkey Application Platform which was first introduced by Amit Kumar, Director of Product Management at Yahoo! Search, at the SMX West conference earlier this spring. Yahoo! hosted a Developer Launch Party yesterday in Sunnyvale top open the platform up to all…
• Search In Pictures: Disposable Cups, Google’s Great Firewall, & Yahoo’s Bird Problems
• Google Adds Real Estate Pull-Down Filter To Maps
  Google has offered the capacity to search real estate listings for a long time. For example, when entering queries such as “homes for sale in San Francisco,” a “one box” result used to show pull-down menus for “location” and “listing type.” Activating these boxes would then lead into a specialized…
• Google Feeling Green: Testing Green Color Scheme
  iCrossing reported noticing that Google is showing a green user interface within the Google Directory search results and also, in some occasions, for main Google web search results. The most shocking green interface is when you look compare the typical blue bar to a green bar, when Google is showing…
• Google Logo: First Laser Logo
  Google has a special logo up on the home page today, a laser logo. The logo links to a search results for first laser, which shows image results at the top, followed by search results from University of Chicago, Wikipedia and then Propeller.com. Why does Google have a laser logo…
• Search Engine Accreditation Programs, Google Tools, Part 2, & Visual Map Of Website Links
  In The Trenches is a weekly spotlight of tips, tricks, and news about the tools search engine marketing professionals use to give them a leg up on the competition. Today: Search engine accreditation programs, today’s in-depth look, “Google Tools, Part 2” and this week’s free tips and tools….
• Human Hardware: The Illusion of Conscious Searching
  You know what you’re doing, right? We are all rational beings. We are all blessed with huge neocortexes and use them on a regular basis. This is especially so when we do something as thoughtful as use a search engine. Our rational loop is kicked into high gear. Right?…
• Yahoo To Icahn’s Takeover Letter: We’re Just Fine, Thank You Very Much
  Dear Carl. We here at Yahoo got your letter telling us how much we suck. We think you suck more And let us tell you why. That’s the short summary of Yahoo’s response to Carl Icahn’s letter yesterday telling Yahoo he will fight to oust their board and do a…
• SearchCap: The Day In Search, May 15, 2008
  …
• Carl Icahn Makes His Move To Oust Yahoo Board, Which Has “Completely Botched” Microsoft Merger Talks
  As Danny reported earlier, Billionaire investor Carl Icahn is making a proxy move to oust the Yahoo board in an effort to reignite takeover talks with Microsoft. Just a few minutes ago a press release was issued by Icahn explaining his intentions and rationale….
• Yahoo! SearchMonkey Now Open For Everyone
  Today, Yahoo! is making its SearchMonkey developer platform publicly available and is kicking things off with a launch party and a developer challenge. As we noted a few weeks ago when SearchMonkey launched in private beta, Yahoo! is encouraging the use of microformats and semantic web standards by providing an…
• How Search Engine Redirect Users To Country-Specific Sites
  Yahoo just started redirecting people in the UK who are trying to reach Yahoo.com instead to its Yahoo UK web site, something that Google has done for a long time. With the change, this seemed a good time to revisit how all the major search engines may intercept people trying…
• Google Maps Adds “More” Button For Displaying Videos, Pictures, Wikipedia & More Content
  Google’s LatLong Blog announced new ways of finding more content on Google Maps, including geo-tagged YouTube videos, pictures from Panoramio and localized Wikipedia content. We already covered the Google Maps Explore feature, but let me take you through similar content by way of the new “More” button. Lets travel to…
• Supercharge Your URLs For Maximum SEO Impact
  When optimizing URLs for high rankings, little attention is given to optimizing the URL for maximum clickthrough. Yet the URL undeniably affects searcher clickthrough rates in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages), as demonstrated by MarketingSherpa in their eyetracking study published in the 2008 Search Marketing Benchmark Guide. Specifically,…
• Ask.com Buying Lexico, Owner Of Dictionary.com
  In a move that is interesting and perhaps even surprising for several reasons, IAC/Ask is buying Lexico Publishing Group, which owns and operates “iconic” domains Dictionary.com, Thesaurus.com and Reference.com. These sites get most of their traffic through direct navigation and will increase Ask’s reach by 145 million unduplicated users (or…
• What Are Your Search Questions For Microsoft President Kevin Johnson?
  In about three weeks, I’ll be asking Microsoft president Kevin Johnson, who oversees the Windows and Online Services division, questions relating to search as part of his keynote at our SMX Advanced search marketing conference in Seattle, June 3-4. I want your help! What questions would you like to see…
• Icahn To Make Yahoo Move; Google Worries Yahoo Will Learn From Ad Deal
  More rumors about yesterday’s news that Carl Icahn may want to take control of Yahoo. He apparently plans to nominate 10 directors to replace Yahoo’s board later today, reports the Wall Street Journal, using an unnamed source. But Microsoft might no longer be interested in Yahoo. Plus, that Google-Yahoo ad…
• Eight Keyword Research Mistakes That Are Costing You Money
  One of the reasons search marketing is so effective is that it delivers information on products and services to people who are actively seeking them out. People enter search terms into a search engine and the engine provides sites and ads that are relevant to the terms. This arrangement…
• All New SMX Local & Mobile Agenda Now Up
  This year’s SMX Local & Mobile conference features two jam-packed days of cutting edge sessions, enlightening keynotes and stimulating networking opportunities. See the agenda here for this event, which will be held July 24-25 in San Francisco. SMX Local & Mobile is the only event 100% dedicated to getting internet…
• SearchCap: The Day In Search, May 14, 2008
  ..
• Google & Other Search Engines Dominate Traffic Drivers To Wikipedia
  When writing about Powerset this week, I covered how its hopes to gain Wikipedia users was complicated by the fact that Wikipedia itself gets so many people from search, rather than direct navigation. New stats (PDF) from Nielsen Online reaffirm this — four of the five top referring sites to…
• Hitwise: Google Again Hits New High; Microsoft & Yahoo Again New Lows
  Hitwise released the latest statistics for search engine share in the United States for April 2008. Google has again hit a new high, jumping up 0.65% from the prior month’s high, to 68% of the US search market. Microsoft and Yahoo hit all-time lows — though Yahoo, at least,…
• Summize Gains “Local” Twitter Search Option
  Summize has already turned into my preferred tool to search for what people are saying on Twitter. Now it’s gained a way to see what people are twittering about near a local area. Say I want to see what’s been happening in Newport Beach, California, in terms of Twitter activity….
• Travel Search Engine Kango Relaunches As UpTake
  Does the world need more travel sites and search engines? UpTake (formerly Kango) thinks so. Travel is one of the most developed and “mature” vertical online. It’s also one of the most competitive segments. However, there’s still considerable frustration in doing online travel planning notwithstanding the plethora of tools and…
• Google Updates Earth Imagery & Begins To Blur Faces
  Google has announced a new earth imagery update has been pushed out to their mapping product. With that update, Google has updated their Manhattan images, which includes higher quality images, better naming of specific buildings and areas, plus Google has begun blurring the faces of people in their street view…
• Increase Online Registrations By Improving Downloadable Assets
  Many B2B search marketing programs are designed to generate online registrations, inquiries and leads. Typically, something of value (such as a white paper, product demo, or presentation) is offered in exchange for personal contact information. Today I’ll offer three tips to enhance the value of these downloadable assets and…
• Are We In-House SEO Experts? Not Really… And Here’s Why
  When you hear the phrase “in-house SEO expert” or “in-house SEO,” certain things immediately flash to mind. There’s the glamour bits built around the perceptions fostered from hearing of six-figure salaries, or direct involvement in big projects and depth of contact many in-house search marketers seem to have within…
• Can Icahn Or Microsoft Stop Google’s “Natural Monopoly”
  Reports are that Carl Icahn has acquired about 3 percent of Yahoo’s shares, apparently in hopes of taking over the company. And then? Well, you know — maybe go back to Microsoft. Except Microsoft may no longer want to talk, plus that poison pill of a Google-Yahoo ad deal still…
• Searching for “Kitten Videos?” Me Neither
  A new survey from ClipBlast! about how people find video content has started a discussion about search and how it relates to entertainment content. In the survey, ClipBlast! asked 1000 online consumers if they had a preferred method for finding video content on the Web. Of those surveyed, almost…

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• AOL gives out $100,000 in prizes to AIM plugin coders, Download Squad
• FeedBurner FeedFlare for Blogger Comments, Google Operating System

Business Issues

• Google Health, privacy, and HIPAA, Google Public Policy Blog
• Terry Semel: A Man Of Few Words (On Yahoo), TechCrunch
• A Gamble, but What if He Wins?, New York Times
• Another hedge fund backing Icahn on Yahoo, Reuters
• Baidu Catches Yahoo as Microsoft Bid Wobbles: Chart of the Day , Bloomberg
• Google co-founder targets Russian homeland, Reuters
• IAC buys virtual fashion site GirlSense.com, Reuters
• ImageShack Rumored To Raise Money From Sequoia, TechCrunch
• Yandex To Raise Up To $2 Billion at IPO In Fall 2008, Quintura blog
• Yet Another Microsoft Memo. Satya Nadella, VP of Search Writes, GigaOM

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Google News Layer Available for Google Earth, Google Earth Blog
• Google’s Local Ad Targeting Strategies, Screenwerk
• Yell Launches Facebook Application, Screenwerk

Link Building

• Home Builder Links – "DoFollow" Tuesday, Link Building Best Practices
• Link Buys & Link Exchanges: Should You Compete in a Google World?, Search Engine Roundtable

Paid Search & Contextual

• V5 Reporting Sample in Java Now Available on MSDN – adCenter API, adcentercommunity.com
• adCenter API Live Meeting Tomorrow — – adCenter API, adcentercommunity.com
• Better? You Bet, Yahoo! Search Marketing Blog
• Big News for Publishers: Google AdSense Now Supports Third-Party Ad Serving Technology, Search Engine Roundtable
• Constructing an Effective Call to Action for Your Ad Copy – adCenter Advertiser, adcentercommunity.com
• Web monitoring for ads? It may be illegal, News.com

Searching

• A German search engine for cheap flight tickets, altsearchengines.com
• RSS Feed ranking, reading, ignoring and locating the right waterfall, The Social Networker
• Firefox addon summarizes Google search results, Pandia

SEM Industry

• Matt Cutts Electrocuted By Solar Panels [Video], Solar Dave
• New Googler Spotted, JLH Design Blog

SEO & SEM

• Don’t Hire a Butcher to do a Baker’s Job – Part 2 , Search Engine Watch
• How to Fail at Social Marketing, Search Engine Guide
• How to Use Your WWW. to Prevent Duplicate Content, Search Engine Guide
• Image Hotlinking and SEO : Are There Any Benefits?, Search Engine Journal
• Players With Money – Devastating The SERPS, Andy Beard
• Possible Ask.com Search Update?, Search Engine Roundtable
• SEO & Checking Your Page Size, Search Engine Journal

Social Media

• Blogging 2.0 and Professional Blogging, Inquisitr
• Destroy Enemies Using Social Media Tools, AIM Clear Blog
• Adopting Social Media in the Enterprise, Online Marketing Blog
• Bubble Alert: Facebook Traffic Declines 10% in April, mashable.com
• How Many Social Networking Friends do you Have?, Marketing Pilgrim
• How to Make Facebook Useful Again, Read/Write Web
• Power-Tweeting: 101 Everyday Uses for Twitter, Inside CRM
• Social Media Marketing in an Enterprise Environment, Search Engine Watch
• Twitter as the canary in the news coalmine, BuzzMachine

Video, Music & Image Search

• BBC’s Sound Index is good, but we won’t get the data, TechCrunch
• Hulu Shares Usage Stats, Expands Distribution Network, TechCrunch
• Videos Taken Down From YouTube, Google Operating System

Web Analytics

• Google Restores Google Analytics Data, Search Engine Roundtable

Other Items

• Can You Win Back A Scorned Evangelist?, BruceClay.com
• Google China’s Homepage in Mourning, Google Operating System
• Steve Ballmer egged at Hungarian University, CNet

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