SearchCap: The Day In Search, February 4, 2008

SearchCap: The Day In Search, February 4, 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: Microhoo Day 4: In Other News, Microsoft To Borrow To Buy Yahoo & Google Below $500 We've already covered separately big developments in news about Microsoft's bid to purchase Yahoo. But wait, there's more! Below, a recap of our stories plus other stories on the subject across the web that cover various angles, including the news that for the first time in its history, Microsoft... Google Files Screenshots Of Compensation Tool With SEC As a publicly traded company, Google is required to disclose certain types of information related to its employment and compensation practices to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which then makes the documents public. Google today submitted screenshots of a compensation tool available to Google staffing employees and certain employment... Yahoo! Addresses The Troops (And So Does Microsoft) With all the furor about Microsoft's potential acquisition of Yahoo!, how do the Yahoo! employees feel about the possibility? Top Yahoo! execs addressed employees on Friday and followed it up with a company-wide email. The email emphasizes that the bid was unsolicited, that no decisions have been made, and... Google Releases New Urchin Beta Once upon a time, there was a company called Urchin that made web analytics software. As tends to happen, that company was acquired by Google (in early 2005), the software became Google Analytics, and the price became free. Google Analytics grew in popularity, and many people forgot that the original... "Google Groove" Added To SMX West Networking Events! We're pleased to announce a significant addition to the line up of networking events at Search Marketing Expo - SMX West. The good folks at Google will be hosting the all new Google Groove @ SMX on Wednesday, February 27. You'll be able to celebrate all you've learned about search... Microsoft's Prize: Big Yahoo CPMs, Largest Display Share On Friday comScore put out ad publisher site rankings. Unsurprisingly, Yahoo ranked as the top site with just under 19 percent of US online display advertising. MediaPost took this data and further analyzed it, finding that Yahoo enjoys the industry's highest CPM rates at $12.65, more than $4 higher than... IAC Troubles, Ask.com And Post-Yahoo Search Share The New York Times and Wall Street Journal both report on the legal battle for control of IAC's board and thus the company itself. It's not pretty, and IAC claims that it's impeding the company's ability to effectively operate. The legal fight arguably prevents IAC from making any sort of... A Local Look At Microsoft's Bid For Yahoo Last Friday, shortly after the Microsoft bid for Yahoo was made public, Danny and I had an opportunity to discuss the proposed acquisition with Yusuf Mehdi, senior vice president of strategic partnerships for Microsoft. Our questions to Mehdi often returned to post-acquisition "integration" issues. I brought up local, maps... Use Lifetime Visitor Values To Raise Bids While Increasing Profits It's easy to set PPC bids based upon a direct response ROI. Using this simple metric makes it simple to base every keyword bid on its profit and conversion rate. However, are those bids accurately reflecting the entire revenue your PPC account generates? To get a complete picture of... Can Google Save Yahoo By Taking Over Search? Does Yahoo have any choice but to get purchased by Microsoft? Over the weekend, there's been much analysis and discussion of other suitors. While Google isn't seen as an outright buyer, there's more talk that it could help Yahoo by taking over search ads in various counties, with reports... Google Objects To Microsoft & Yahoo Wedding; Microsoft Responds -- Irony All Around Not surprisingly, Google's not happy about Microsoft's overture to buy Yahoo. The company has blogged an official statement suggesting that the move will hurt what it calls the underlying principles of the internet: "openness and innovation." Microsoft responds to say it is open and that only the shotgun marriage... EU Prepares "Objections" To Google-DoubleClick Acquisition Now back to news of that other acquistion that was dominating headlines and speculation until last Friday: Google-DoubleClick. DowJones newswires reports that "the European Union's antitrust regulator has prepared a draft 'statement of objections' to Google Inc.'s planned $3.1 billion takeover of DoubleClick." This does not mean that the EU... The Latest in Link Development Rae Hoffman has released her second annual set of interviews with link building experts. This year, she talked to 11 people in the search industry who are well-versed in the art of link development. Link building is a fundamental pillar of search engine optimization. Links from authoritative sources are strong... Search News From Around The Web: Applications & Portal Features Using Gmail As Feed Reader, Google Blogoscoped Business Issues Ask.com to Host Opening Event of the Israel Web Tour in Silicon Valley, Ask.com Blog Amid Yahoo Turmoil, AOL Makes An Acquisition, TechCrunch Goowy acquired by AOL, yourminis QuePasa Attempts Relaunch as Social-Networking Site, Ad Age Link Building When was the last time you checked your purchased links?, Dave Naylor Tapping into Unconventional Link Attributes, SEO Scientist Techmeme PageRank Penalty? , Andy Beard Google, That NoFollow Thing? Could You Explain How To Use It, Officially?, Search Marketing Gurus The Value of Fresh Links in the Eyes of Search Engines, Search Engine Roundtable Why Rand Fishkin's nofollow post was wrong, SEO Theory Nofollow Killed Google Social Graph API 3 Years Ago, Andy Beard Why All Links Are Paid Links in the Travel Trade, Search Engine Watch Local, Maps & Mobile Google Earth Blog: Real-Time Google Earth GPS Tracking, Google Earth Blog Google LatLong: All the news that's fit to map, Google LatLong Google Android - a sneak preview, The Register Google's Android Is Already Delayed, TechCrunch Paid Search & Contextual Take Advantage of Search Cycles with Ad Scheduling, PPC Hero Groundhogs, Seasonality, and Trends, Inside AdWords Google Adwords Still Getting Owned, ShoeMoney Contextual Advertising: How to Target Sites in AdSense, Search Engine Watch Google IP Exclusion, SEO Speedwagon Searching Search engine Nsyght is powered by the wisdom of crowds, Pandia Google Query Words Increase, Beu Blog The hacker tool MSN-LiveSearch is responsible for brute force attacks, Sebastian's Pamphlets Search Engines Still Lack Simple Features, TechConsumer Yahoo on Collecting User Data for Web Site Profiling, SEO By The Sea Great Firewall of China Faces Online Rebels, New York Times SEM Industry Congrats to the 2008 SEMMY Winners!, Small Business SEM A Critical Vote for SEOmoz Fans - Should We Be Covering the News?, SEOmoz Women of Internet Marketing Series - So What's Going to Happen, Search Marketing Gurus Best Ways to Learn SEO, Jordan Kasteler SEM Agency Differentiation, All Things SEM Rounding Up the Recaps, Wiep Welcome Becky Ryan - SES Social Events Coordinator, Search Engine Watch Forums "Google Groove" Added To SMX West Networking Events!, Search Marketing Expo Blog SEO & SEM Eric Enge interviews Google's Adam Lasnik, Stone Temple Finding crawl issues with Crawl Score, Joost de Valk Trademark Basics: Be First in Your Market, Be Distinctive, and Don't Confuse the Consumer, SEOmoz Rewriting URLs: SEO for CMS, E-Commerce, and Dynamic Sites, Search Engine Watch How to Herd Organic Search Traffic to Your Blog, Problogger Search Engine Optimization For Your Flash Site, BruceClay.com Controlling Search Engine Access with Cookies, SEOmoz Social Media StumbleUpon Going After Abusive Users, AIM Clear Blog How Are People Twittering on Twitter? Google Tells It All, Digital Inspiration Part Two: From Twits to Tweeple, Why I Embraced Twitter and You Should Too, Search Engine Guide Digg's New Algorithm is The Suck, SEOmoz The Value of Influencers: Why They Are Still Relevant for Marketing Campaigns, Dosh Dosh Interview With Lyndon Antcliff "Lyndoman", Distilled OpenSocial 0.7: Coming to a user near you, Google OpenSocial API Blog When Seth Godin isn't Seth Godin, Problogger Save the Date: Announcing Digg Town Halls, Digg Blog Super Bowl Related Ask.com's Super Bowl XLII Smart Answer, ResourceShelf Hulu Plans To Stream Super Bowl Commercials After Game, Wired Google LatLong: NYC Super Bowl specials map, Google LatLong Video, Music & Image Search YouTube and Viral Marketing, Rimm Kaufman Yahoo axes music subscription service, strikes deal with Rhapsody, News.com RealNetworks Climbs on Yahoo Deal, Wall Street Journal China sued over web music piracy, news.bbc.co.uk Other Items Doodle: Brazilian Carnival, Googlified Last 20 Hot Items From Sphinn, Our Social News Sharing Site: A Look Inside A Social Media Campaign Want Great LinkBait ... Provide Your Staff Small Digital Cameras! SEO Company �Clueless Numpties� according to Google What is Better Than Free? SphinnCon North Carolina SEO/M's Fighting a Losing Battle in SU Eric Enge interviews Google's Adam Lasnik Women of Internet Marketing Series - So What's Going to Happen? Are Social Networks Dying? Interview With Lyndon Antcliff AKA �Lyndoman How Search Really Works: The Keyword Density Myth From Twits to Tweeple, Why I Embraced Twitter and You Should Too-Part Two: Securing Your Name: If Seth Godin Can Be Faked, So Can You 15 Principles of Internet Marketing Networking With New Bloggers - Pros and Cons There Are A Lot More SEOs Than You Realize and Other Observations From the Logs Learn SEO: Competitor Analysis Why Rand Fishkin�s nofollow post was wrong Mine The Web's Socially-Tagged Links: Google Social Graph API Launched Did Digg Try to �Tigerproof� Their Course?

Upcoming Search Marketing Expo events you won't want to miss: SMX West - Santa Clara, CA (Feb 26-28). Check out the agenda! Register here. SMX Munich (in German, April 8-9) SMX Sydney (April 10-11) SMX Social Media - Long Beach, CA (April 22-23) SMX Madrid (in Spanish, May 20-21) SMX Advanced - Seattle, WA (June 3-4) SMX East - NYC - (Oct. 6-8)