SearchCap: The Day In Search, March 19, 2007

By Fox News

March 19, 2007

0

94

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

From Search Engine Land:

30% Of Results
For Some Competitive Searches Found To Be Spam
Researchers Track Down a Plague of Fake Web Pages from the NY Times reports on
a recent paper from Microsoft Research released named "Spam Double-Funnel:
Connecting Web Spammers with Advertisers" [PDF download] (also note that Gary
linked to it Friday). The report categorizes search results spam by industry
category, showing…
TellMe: Is
Microsoft Shadow Boxing Against Google In Mobile Voice Search?
The recent acquisition of TellMe by Microsoft, piqued my interest in the free
voice driven directory assistance service, 520-Find and the possible role that
Google plays in the service. Mobile directory assistance will have a huge role
in both local search and local advertising going forward. Clearly, Google
has…
1-800-Free411
To Launch Local Category Search
Jingle Networks’ free directory assistance (DA) service 1-800-FREE411 is
slated this week to launch a new "category search" option, where you call to
get matches of businesses in an area that relate to a category of interest
(such as movie theaters in Los Angeles, or a dentist in San Francisco)….
Ingenio Adds
Medio Systems To Mobile Distribution
Pay-per-call provider Ingenio has added white label mobile search vendor Medio
Systems to its distribution network. In addition to a range of online
destinations, Ingenio is working with a number of mobile search sites and
providers: JumpTap, Live.com/MSFT, AOL, go2, UpSnap and 1-800-FREE411. Last
week Medio put out this release,…
Link Sense &
Sensibilites
Last week Danny had a great write up on the new anchor textreporting feature
Google added to its Webmaster Toolbox. According to Google, they’ve "enhanced
the information we provide and will show you the complete phrases sites use to
link to you, not just individual words. And we’ve expanded…
Need A Medical
Center Phone Number? Local Search Might Give The Wrong Number
Mike Blumenthal has a detailed look at some of the inaccuracies Google Maps
and other local search engines have when it comes to phone listings of medical
centers. He writes: "The medical center phone data is in critical condition
and in need of intensive care."…
GOOG
Acquisitions: Trendalyzer & Adscape Media
A quick heads-up on two new Google acquisitions. First, Google has announced
the purchase of Gapminder’s Trendalyzer software. Second, it confirms the
purchase of Adscape Media, an in-game advertising company, following rumors of
a buy last month….
YouTube To Hold
Online Awards Show
YouTube to Sponsor Video Awards Show from the Associated press reports that
YouTube will be holding the first YouTube Video Awards….
Travelocity:
"Profound Mistake To Think We’ve Figured Out How To Measure ROI On Search"
Jeffrey Glueck, CMO at Travelocity, offered some controversial, and to some,
nearly heretical comments while speaking at the IAB’s Performance Marketing
Forum this week in Chicago. According to coverage in Advertising Age,
Travelocity has found that it’s a waste to buy non-branded search terms. Fully
96% of Travelocity’s bookings coming…
Comcast May
Leave Google For Microsoft Search Partnership
Comcast Signals Unhappiness With Google from the Wall Street Journal reports
that Comcast is in talks with Microsoft to see if they would give them a
larger piece of the search revenue pie than Google currently does….
Hitwise: Slight
Google Rise In February 2007
Search popularity stats for last month are coming out once again, and I’m
diving in with the latest figures from Hitwise. They show Google had a slight
rise over the previous month, mainly at the loss of Microsoft Live. The
month-to-month figures are below, along with the long term trend…
Summize: Using
Heatmaps In Product Search Results
I wrote earlier this week about Wize a shopping comparison engine that
aggregated millions of reviews to compile a "WizeRank" for each product, based
on the total number of positive, neutral or negative reviews found on the web.
Today Alex Iskold over on ReadWriteWeb takes a takes a look at…
Webcast:
Alternative PPC Search Programs
Another webcast alert for SearchCap newsletter readers and anyone who visits
Search Engine Land. In just over a week, the Reaping Return From Alternative
Pay-Per-Click Search Engines webcast from our sister site Search Marketing Now
will be taking place with Search Engine Land executive editor Chris Sherman.
The webcast happens…