SearchCap: The Day In Search, May 10, 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:

• 
  Yahoo Getting Academic On Social NetworkingYahoo hires economics, sociology researchers from News.com covers the news that Yahoo has hired two scientists to help in their social networking initiatives. Dr. R. Preston McAfee and Dr. Duncan Watts are the two scientists Yahoo has hired to work in the Yahoo Research department. Dr. McAfee will be the…
• 
  Yahoo’s CEO, Semel, Speaks At Microsoft’s Strategic Account SummitYahoo CEO arrives on Microsoft’s turf from News.com reports that Terry Semel, Yahoo’s CEO, took the podium at Microsoft’s Strategic Account Summit yesterday. Semel did not mention the recent merger rumors between Microsoft and Yahoo but did talk about working with Microsoft on creating standards for Internet advertising. Semel’s speech…
• 
  Google Map & Google Earth Get Official Blog: Google LatLongFinally, Google Maps and Google Earth get their own official blog: Google LatLong, which has just gone up. Given the amount of activity going on with both services, it’s long overdue. Welcome! I’ve added to my list of reading, along with the excellent unofficial blogs of Google Earth Blog, Google…
• 
  Don’t Sweat the Small SEO Stuff Among clients, forum members, newsletter subscribers, and seminar attendees, many hours of my day are spent answering questions about organic SEO. One thing I’ve noticed is that newbies and oldies alike are paralyzed when it comes to optimizing their websites because they have an irrational fear of doing something…
• 
  Small Business Advantages: Being Responsive Back in March, Christine Churchill wrote a Small is Beautiful column about the ability of small businesses to be flexible and creative, to think locally and explore niche markets that larger companies wouldn’t enter because they were too large or too slow to change in Survival of the Nimble….

Search News Headlines From Elsewhere

Applications & Portal Features

• Photo
  Feeds for Google Screensaver, Google Operating System
• Comparing
  Google Reader to Blogines: The Mobile Edition, Cartoon Barry

Business Issues

• Another
  NY Court Says Keyword Triggering Isn’t TM Use in Commerce–Site Pro-1 v.
  Better Metal, Eric Goldman
• Google,
  Yahoo and Microsoft in NAA Cage Match, ClickZ
• Old
  media turns combative against new media, Reuters
• Kevin ‘Digg’
  Rose goes for 3rd startup, GigaOM
• Agency
  urges delay of DoubleClick deal, Chicago Tribune
• Court:
  Not Illegal to Google Your Employees, Google Watch
• Amnesty
  backs Google shareholders, The Register

Link Building

• Linking
  In A Real World, Search Engine Guide

Local, Maps & Mobile

• New
  Satellite Imagery of Town Destroyed by Tornado, Google Earth Blog
• Having
  Fun with Google Earth and SpaceNavigator, Google Earth Blog
• Sounds bring
  Google Earth to life, BBC NEWS
• Goog-411
  Creative Uses, Mike Blumenthal

Paid Search & Contextual

• Search
  Engine Watch: Hear MY Plea, PPC Lab

• Social
  Media Marketing Do’s and Don’ts, Search Engine Watch
• Are
  all clicks equal or are some more equal than others?, E-Consultancy

• How To Get
  Reinstated After Being Banned from Google AdWords, Search Engine
  Roundtable

• Navigating
  vs. Steering: How the SEM-Client Relationship Style May Impact PPC
  Profits, Rimm Kaufman
• Yahoo!
  Search Marketing implements new gaming advertising policy, Big Mouth
  Media

Searching

• 
  Google
  Onebox with Maps Gone AWOL, Wolf Howl
• Search
  for Tomorrow, New York Times
• Taking
  Suggestions While Searching, New York Times

SEM Industry

• Coverage
  from SEW Live — Columbus, Search Engine Watch Blog
• Internal
  Departments & Your SEO Firm – A Play, Search Engine Guide

SEO & SEM

• Microsoft Exploring Popularity
  Data for Ranking Search Results, SEO By The Sea
• The Power of a
  Generic Domain Name, SEO Book
• Google’s Search Results Are
  Stuck in 2005, Threadwatch
• For Profit Websites
  Have No Value Until They Rank, SEO Book
• Fake German
  Google Search Quality Team Warning from DONOTREPLY@gmail.com, Search
  Engine Roundtable
• eBay Subdomain
  Spam, SEO Book
• Sweat
  The Small Stuff: Search Engine Optimization Is In The Details,
  Bruceclay.com

Social Media

• MySpace
  Plans ‘Presidential Town Hall’ Meetings, Wall Street Journal
• Facebook
  Classifieds Launched – Everything You Need To Know, Pronet Advertising
• Yahoo!
  Research Expands World-Class Team into Social Sciences, Yahoo Press
  Releases
• News and
  Updates, Twitter Blog
• Social
  Networking Sites and the Law, Eric Goldman

Video, Audio & Image Search

• Breaking:
  Odeo Acquired By SonicMountain, Techcrunch
• Web
  search is music to the ears at Hakia, News.com
• Joost
  Announces $45 million Funding From Sequoia, Index, CBS & Viacom,
  Techcrunch
• Last.fm
  and Music Video Search Tools, Search Engine Watch Blog
• Famous Landmarks
  Get the Flickr Treatment in Yahoo! Search, Yahoo! Search Blog

Other Stuff

• what kind of
  traffic can you get without pictures?, Vanessa Fox
• Baidu.com
  Launches Website Ranking Service, ChinaTechNews.com

• Chinese
  press test Google’s patience, CNET Asia

• Flippin
  Sites For Profit, Thinking Outside the Box, Affiliate Pimpin
• Bid4Spots
  Radio Ad Auction Launches in U.K., Search Engine Watch Blog

• Making
  that Ultimate Connection, Yahoo! Publisher Network

• Google
  News Played by Foreign Sources?, WebProNews
• Google’s
  EyeBox counts eyes in public, Engadget