SearchCap: The Day In Search, Dec. 25 & 26, 2006

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 Testing Video Ads “In Stream”
  AdWeek reports that Google is testing video ads at Beet.tv for AllState. The reports indicate that about a week ago, Beet.tv has 15 second Google ads for AllState in their videos. The ads linked to www.allstate.com/google with a special landing page for those users. The ads “were sold at $15 per thousand views, with…
• Ask.com Top Searches of 2006
  Ask.com sent us their top searches for 2006 by category. Categories include news, celebrity, health, entertainment, images, and sports…
• How Microsoft’s Behavioral Targeting Works
  Microsoft Ad Push Is All About You at the Wall Street Journal has a nice overview of how Microsoft’s behavioral targeting ad software works, nothing ground breaking, but a nice overview. I’ll quote a piece of the article for you…
• Google Partners With China Mobile To Launch Mobile Search
  Forbes reports that China Mobile and Google will be launching a mobile search service in 2007. The details are very fuzzy right now, all we know is that a China Mobile representative said something to the effect that they “begun developing their joint mobile search product for launch in 2007.” This comes a week after…
• Is Panama The Answer To Yahoo’s Problems?
  Why Yahoo’s Panama Won’t Be Enough at BusinessWeek looks at Yahoo’s troubles over the past years and asks the question, is Yahoo’s new ad platform, code named Panama, the answer to those problems. As we wrote in the past, Panama may have boosted Yahoo’s 2007 outlook but why should it? That is the questions…
• Google Shows Quality Score Indicator To Some AdWords Advertisers
  This morning I posted a screen shot of the quality score in AdWords, showing a rating of Great, OK and Poor. The quality score does not show all that much, but it does show more than before. Plus, Google has set up some more documentation on what the quality score column means. The help page says that this is a “customizable…
• Judge Dismisses Google AdSense & AutoLink Toolbar Lawsuits
  Judge dismisses lawsuit against Google at BusinessWeek shows John Shabaz, US District Judge, dismissed the AdSense and Google Toolbar AutoLink case brought by HyperPhrase Inc. against Google. HyperPhrase claimed that the Google Toolbar’s AutoLink feature & AdSense products were patent infringements. The judge dismissed…
• Wikipedia Founder To Launch Wikiasari Search Engine Early 2007
  Founder of Wikipedia plans search engine to rival Google by The Times unveils a new search engine named Wikiasari. The new search engine has investment backing from Amazon and others of over $4 million in capital. The “exclusive screen capture” Techcrunch has nothing to do with this new engine, according to the Wikia…

Search News Headlines From Elsewhere:

• Speech-friendly
  textual directions from Google Maps, Google Blog

• Verizon
  to Allow Ads on Its Mobile Phones, New York Times
• Google
  Preps Blogger For The Enterprise, Internet News

• The
  omnipresent search engines, Business Standard

• Special
  Logos: Ask.com’s Kwanzaa Logo, Ask UK’s New Year’s Eve Logo,
  ResourceShelf
• Meet
  the Mobile Search Engines, Search Engine Watch
• Internet
  Marketing Best [Blog] Posts of 2006: The Year in Review, Techipedia
• Giving
  Dr. Google The Test, courant.com
• Google
  to Write an ‘Integrated Story’?, InternetNews
• Why
  Yahoo’s Panama Project Is Important, Techcrunch
• Google
  AdSense Competitive Ad Filter Not Working?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Testing:
  Yahoo Mobile U.S. Now Showing Ads/Promos at Top of Homepage (Sometimes),
  ResourceShelf
• Explaining
  algorithm updates and data refreshes, Matt Cutts
• Google
  goes l337, Search Engine Tigers
• When
  AdSense Acts Like Gator, ClickZ
• Ad
  Costs on the Web Are Rising, but Perhaps a Bit Irrationally, New York
  Times
• Where
  on Earth is Santa?, Google Blog
• Power
  Your Search Apps with Yahoo! Search APIs, Yahoo Blog
• Australian
  Court Ruling Could Impact Search, Search Engine Watch Blog
• THE
  YEAR IN ASK 2006, Ask.com Blog
• Interview
  with Search Engineer Tim Converse, SugarRae Blog
• Google’s
  Listings of Internal Site Links for Top Search Results, SEO By The Sea
• How
  Google Might Decide to Index Your Site for Mobile Search, SEO By The Sea
• French
  court favors personal privacy over piracy searches (Thomas
  Crampton/International Herald …), Techmeme
• Gentlemen
  Stop Your Linking (William Patry/The Patry Copyright Blog), Techmeme
• Merrill
  Bets On Yahoo!-AOL Merger, Forbes.com
• S.F.,
  Google, EarthLink wrestle over plans for free Wi-Fi service for city
  residents, SFGate.com
• Yahoo
  likes these hackers, Philadelphia Inquirer
• The
  Best Blog Traffic & Monetization Posts of 2006, Hawaii Online Ad
  Blog
• A
  Ten-Minute Christmas, Yahoo Publisher Network Blog
• Happy
  holidays, Google Book Search Blog

About The Author

Barry Schwartz

Barry Schwartz a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land and a member of the programming team for SMX events. He owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry can be followed on Twitter here.