SearchCap: The Day In Search, December 12, 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:

• Search In Pictures: Yahoo’s Party, Google Slackers & Purple Power
  In this week’s Search In Pictures, here are the latest images culled from the web, showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have, and more.
• Who Owns The Search Page?
  We have a recurring argument with clients. See if this sounds familiar: Us: You have no search visibility for “keyword” Client: We don’t want visibility for “keyword” Us: Why? Client: Because that’s not us. We don’t use “keyword” to describe ourselves. That’s not what we’re about. Us: Yes, but that’s what the searcher is looking for. They’re using “keyword” to express their need. Client: But we don’t offer “keyword”. We offer an alternative. Us: But they’re not searching for the alternative. They’re searching for “keyword”. You get the idea. If I combined all the time spent in having this circular argument over the past several years, I’d have enough banked to spend a good portion of the next year in some sunny location, preferably with a beach. I realized that central to this argument is the question of ownership of the search results page. This requires a bit of a shift in thinking, so bear with me. Perhaps it would be easier if I used a more concrete example than the one above.
• Live Search Testing New Crawler; MSNBot/2.0b
  The Live Search Blog announced they are letting a new robot loose. The new search engine crawler is named msnbot/2.0b and will be added to the army of current MSN spiders, currently named msnbot/1.1. The new spider is currently being tested but will ultimately replace the old spider. The new spider will respect the current robots.txt protocol set up for MSNBot, so no need to set up anything new in your robots.txt file. In addition, Microsoft promised to crawl slowly in their msnbot/2.0b tests.
• Google Improves APIs For Webmaster Tools & AdWords
  Google announced they have or will be improving the API controls for both Webmaster Tools and AdWords. API access gives developers a way to communicate with Google through a structured coding format, in short, it can help automate functions that are done through the standard Google interfaces.
• Indian Government Wants Google Earth Censored
  On the heels of the tragic terrorist attacks in Mumbai last month, legal advocates in India are asking the country’s High Court to demand that Google blur sensitive locations on Google Earth. The Times reports that the Indian petition says Google Earth “aids terrorists in plotting attacks” and offers “absolutely no control to prevent misuse or limit access” of the service, particularly access to photos of sensitive locations such as the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre.

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Launched: Google Health PHP Client Library, Official Google Data APIs Blog
• Gmail Preferred By Students, But Nothing Beats Texting, Read/Write Web
• Google Apps partners offer a marketplace of solutions, Official Google Enterprise Blog

Business Issues

• Microsoft bets on Yahoo’s former wizard of search world, Seattle Times
• Now Flickr is hit by Yahoo layoffs, The Guardian
• Patent Lawsuit Filed Over Google Reader–Priest v. Google, Eric Goldman
• Perks: Filet mignon on menu at Google’s NYC holiday party, Valleywag
• Lycos Europe Opts For Liquidation, 50 Million Paid Back To Shareholders, paidContent.org

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Our Maps Are Googley Now, Redfin Corporate Blog

Link Building

• How to make sure your affiliate program passes PageRank , BlogStorm

Paid Search & Contextual

• Q and A with Qi Lu, Microsoft’s new President of the Online Services Group, adCenter Blog for Advertisers
• Quick tip: Use keyword matching options with negative keywords, Inside AdWords
• 3 Google AdWords Reports That Will Get You a Raise, Search Engine Journal
• Google AdWords Bans Horse Racing Ads But Allows Hard Liqueur?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Want Google AdSense Integration in Google Analytics? Here is How, Search Engine Roundtable

Searching

• Afternoon Mystery: Google Banishes Self From SERPs, ClickZ
• Searching the Google Timeline, Google Custom Search
• Search Engine Qitera Launched Yesterday, AltSearchEngines

SEM Industry

• Pay Per Conversation: Changing Our Mindset, AIM Clear Blog
• A Six-Pack (of Q & A) With Todd Malicoat, www.semportland.com
• Chicago SES – A Christmas Lover’s Conference, Cre8PC
• Kimberly Krause Berg: Full Circle Marketing, AIM Clear Blog

SEO & SEM

• The Rarity of the Shared SEO Experiment, BruceClay.com
• 30 Web Trends for 2009, www.seoptimise.com
• 5 Tips for Successful Blog Optimization, Online Marketing Blog
• Differential Diagnosis #2: A Double Mystery, SEOmoz
• Online PR Industry in UK Can Learn Lessons from SEO Industry, Search Engine Watch Blog
• Stop GoogleBot From Indexing You At Busy Times, Search Engine Roundtable
• Why Small Businesses Need Search, Search Engine Guide

Social Media

• Facebook, Google and MySpace Represent the Future of Web Registrations, Ad Age

Video, Music & Image Search

• Images read from human brain , Yomiuri.co.jp

Web Analytics

• Google Analytics YouTube Channel, Google Analytics Blog

Other Items

• I Google You (music video), Google Blogoscoped

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

• PPC TLA’s: WTH are KPI’s?
• Can Twitter Be Useful For Business?
• SEO Link History: Linking Means Moving Backwards Too
• 9 Social Media Questions with Cameron Olthuis
• Facebook Ads 101 – How to Set up & Track Facebook Ads
• Keyword Research Strategy Flowchart : SEO Book.com
• Jordan Kasteler: PocketCam Interview at SES
• Guest Posting. Just do it!
• Want to know everything about Google? Read this!
• How To Gain Trust And Influence People

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's personal blog is named Cartoon Barry and he can be followed on Twitter here.