SearchCap: The Day In Search, November 5, 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:

• Study: Fortune 500 Doesn’t Get SEO
  The Fortune 500 are “woefully unrepresented in natural search,” according to a new report out this week. Conductor, a New York-based search/analytics agency, studied the natural search visibility of Fortune magazine’s 2008 Fortune 500 — a list of America’s biggest companies. “The Fortune 500 as a whole,” the report says, “had extremely limited natural search visibility for the terms in which they have the greatest investment in paid search.” Some findings from the study:
• Citing Risk, Google Ends Yahoo Paid Search Deal
  Only days after the two companies submitted a modified proposal to try and win the favor of anti-trust regulators, Google has unilaterally decided to discontinue its paid-search agreement with Yahoo, citing “a protracted legal battle but also damage to relationships with valued partners.”
• Tech Companies Win ‘White Spaces’ Airwaves Decision
  The US Federal Communications Commission approved a plan to allow unlicensed broadcast TV spectrum to be used by companies to create wireless broadband services that amount to “WiFi on steroids.” This was a hotly contested issue, with tech and electronics companies like Google, HP, Microsoft, Intel, Dell and Motorola, among a number of others, lining up in favor and a coalition of sports teams, theater producers, musicians and broadcasters, among others, opposing the plan.
• Google Institutes ‘Unofficial Hiring Freeze’
  I’m struck that people always seem interested in stories that appear to reveal Google as “an ordinary company,” subject to the same rules and economic pressures as others. That’s partly schadenfreude, partly about Google as internet bellwether and partly about Google’s own self-promoted uniqueness and related curiosity about how long it can be sustained. But Google is a company that ultimately, like other companies, is about earning money and not immune from the pressures of the recession we’re now in. Accordingly, the company is looking for cost savings and has recently tightened controls over its free food and a few other perks. There is also, apparently, a de facto hiring freeze now in place at Google.
• Yahoo Image Search Adds Search Features
  Amit Agarwal reports Yahoo Image Search has added some additional search filters and options. I personally do not see these options when I access Yahoo Image Search, but Amit posted screen captures. The options include the ability to filter by sizes include wallpaper, large, small or even a custom size. You can select black & white and or color, you can select photo or graphic and you can restrict the search to Flickr only or not from Flickr.

Search News From Around The Web:

Business Issues

• B2B Search Engine Accoona Acquired by Masterseek, Bill Hartzer
• Google executives to face trial in Italy: sources, Reuters
• IAC reports loss in 3Q, The Associated Press
• Online Sales Are Expected to Slow Pace, Wall Street Journal
• Sue Decker’s Memo to the Yahoo Troops, New York Times
• Suing Google over Yahoo, Search Engine Watch

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Google Maps: New Customer Complaint Arena, Mike Blumenthal
• Street View elects DC, Baltimore, and Seattle, Google LatLong
• Google Street View Easter Egg, Google Blogoscoped

Link Building

• Google Blog Search Link Command Now Scanning Blogroll Links, Search Engine Roundtable
• Knowing When To "Go", BBC Internet Blog
• Social Media Link Building: From Fantasy to Reality, Search Engine Watch

Paid Search & Contextual

• Google AdWords Keyword Tool Now Clearly Showing Trademarked Keywords, Search Engine Roundtable

Searching

• Happy Holidays from AOL Search, AOL Search Blog
• Top searches on Election Day (part 2), Official Google Blog
• Google Groups Search Expanded To More Forums, Search Engine Roundtable
• Top searches on Election Day (part 3), Official Google Blog
• Web forums in Google groups, Google Blogoscoped

SEM Industry

• How To Speak At SMX West 2009, searchmarketingexpo.com
• Pubcon Next Week: Sessions, Parties, Werewolf Games and More, SEOmoz
• SMX London 2008 – Day 1 Summary, Ophir Cohen
• SMX London: European Search Marketing Challenges, Andrew R H Girdwood
• Blow Your Mind Link Building Techniques (at SMX London), Wiep.net
• Eric Ward’s Link Building Masterclass, WordTracker
• How to Become a Famous SEO Overnight, DaveN
• Kandace Hudspeth: Search Blogger of the Day, The SEO Scoop
• Macht mit beim ersten Google Webmaster Live-Chat auf Deutsch, Google Webmaster Zentrale Blog
• SMX London 2008 – Day 2 Summary, Ophir Cohen
• SMX London: Search 3.0: Local Search , Andrew R H Girdwood
• SMX London: Search 3.0: Video Search , Andrew R H Girdwood

SEO & SEM

• The Filing Cabinet Theory of Site Architecture, SEOmoz
• 10 Reasons Why Your Website Looks Like Spam, We Build Pages
• 5 Ways to SEO Your FireFox Status Bar, Search Engine Journal
• Content Development Basics, Web Optimist
• Managing Online Reputation with SEO, Social Media & PR, Online Marketing Blog
• Some Lyrics Websites Experienced Ranking Drops, Google Blogoscoped

Social Media

• Study: LinkedIn Users Rich, Annoying, TechCrunch
• Twitter Gives Japan Groups, Takes Delete Away from Everyone Else, Read/Write Web

Video, Music & Image Search

• Insight for Google Video: A New Way to Track Your Videos, Official Google Video Blog
• Examples of YouTube Ads, Google Blogoscoped
• Two Year’s Later, Google Still Can’t Deliver YouTube Without Stuttering, SteamingMedia

Web Analytics

• Tracking Email with Google Analytics, Analytics Talk

Recent Hot Items From Sphinn, Our Social News Sharing Site:

• SMX London 2008 – Day 1 recap
• Google.com International VS. Google.com USA
• Official Google Blog: Ending our agreement with Yahoo!
• Why Obama kills it online, McCain not so much
• Circuit City will close 155 stores this holiday season – reputation management needed
• Seth Godin: World's Most Wanted Marketer (with full Video)
• Backlink Research : Essential Checklist
• High Limit Room Bar at Mirage Wednesday Night Pubcon!
• Google’s Hypocrisy: Search Spam and Map Spam
• SEM Basics: How to Use a Proxy IP in Firefox
• Top 25 Most Powerful Web Directories List