SearchCap: The Day In Search, February 7, 2008

SearchCap: The Day In Search, February 7, 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: Ask Launches BigNews Ask has just launched a new search service called BigNews, similar to Google News with a side of Digg. It uses something called "BigFactor" to rank stories (using signals like freshness, impact, quantity of multimedia, and amount of related discussion), provides category clusters, and lets you browse by top Diggs... If You Like Digg, You'll Love Ask's Big News As Vanessa noted, Ask.com has revamped its news aggregation service, adding lots of bells and whistles and a few useful features. Most notably, Ask has embraced the social media tenet that you need others to tell you how important a news story is, with its new "BigFactor" ratings. Like Google... Google News' New Local Angle Just as Ask is introducing "BigNews," Google is offering local news. The Google News Blog says that the new capabilities allow users to "create a local section for any city, state or country in the world." As the Google News Blog admits, Google isn't the first to do this. Topix.com... Searching For Southern Tornado Maps Now that you can search for user-generated content more easily on Google Maps, I checked to see if people had been creating and sharing information about the tornadoes that tragically tore through the Southern US states of Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennessee. Surprisingly, there wasn't much there in contrast to... Microsoft Acquires 3-D Modeling Software Company Caligari Adding to its already impressive portfolio of mapping tools and capabilities, Microsoft has acquired 3-D modeling software company Caligari. The group will be a part of the Virtual Earth team, apparently, but the software is equally used for gaming and game development. Microsoft already had powerful 3-D modeling capabilities and... SEO & SEM Outside The U.S.�Tips & Advice As many SEO/SEM professionals already know, marketing to people outside of the United States presents many challenges. Search usability is quite different due to language nuances, variations in color psychology, and allocation of screen real estate, among other things. Where are the best places for a search engine optimizer... Does Online Video Pay? And How Much, Exactly? Grant Crowell's article on about video promotions through Internet Yellow Page programs raises a point that's probably on the mind of any serious marketer. The hype surrounding online video is deafening, and getting louder: its bizarre mix of content, the experiments by mainstream broadcasters, the sporadic announcements of success... January 2008: Search Engine Land's Most Popular Stories Below are Search Engine Land's 10 most popular stories from January 2008:... Search Month: January 2008 Search News, In Review Search Month is a monthly newsletter that recaps stories covered on Search Engine Land over the past month. It's also available by feed here. Below, news about Search Engine Land itself, then our 10 most popular stories from January 2008, then a major story for various search topics along with... Search News From Around The Web: Applications & Portal Features Official Google Blog: It's all about teamwork, Official Google Blog Google Apps Team Edition aims to move companies to the cloud, News.com Stop sharing spreadsheets, start collecting information, Official Google Docs Blog J-walking with Reader, Official Google Reader Blog iGoogle Settings Page, Google Operating System OpenID Welcomes Microsoft, Google, Verisign and IBM, TechCrunch Evolving the OpenID Foundation Board, OpenID.net Business Issues Should IAC Merge With AOL?, New York Times Time Warner Plans to Split AOL Businesses, New York Times AOL Exec Jumps to Discovery, Ad Age Google looks to develop greener energy sources, Reuters Rumor: Is Google About to Buy Bebo For $1 Billion To $1.5 Billion? Or Will it Be MySpace?, TechCrunch Bebo For a Billion? A 100 Percent Chance of Wrongness!, AllThingsD The Number of Google Employees, Google Blogoscoped Russian Internet Advertising Market To Grow To $685 Million In 2008, Quintura Blog The Chart: Why Google's unstoppable, Valleywag Google Properties Breakdown - by Pages, Hitwise Link Building What Tools for a Linkbuilder?, Search Engine War Do Directory Submissions Still Hold Any Value?, Search Engine Guide Google PageRank: It Means Nothing!, Search Engine Roundtable Local, Maps & Mobile Companies Betting on Location Based Mobile Ads, Read/Write Web The Details of Google Maps in the California Fires, All Points Blog Where does a Psychic turn when they need answer? Google Maps, Understanding Google Maps & Yahoo Local Search Google Mps Category Mystery Part 2: Background , Understanding Google Maps & Yahoo Local Search YellowBook Redesigns Amid Traffic Surge, Screenwerk Cool US Flights Visualization in Google Earth, Google Earth Blog What If Print Yellow Pages Become "Opt-in", Screenwerk ARM Google phone platform demo due Monday, Reuters Microhoo! Microsoft Bid for Yahoo Drops To $29.50 a Share, Silicon Alley Insider Microsoft Adversary Rises Instinctively at Yahoo Bid - New York Times, New York Times Diller Says a Microsoft/Yahoo Deal Good for Ask, ClickZ The Top 5 Reasons Nokia Should Bid On Yahoo, InformationWeek Yahoo faces takeover bid with new board chair, San Francisco Chronicle Time To Change Microsoft - Yahoo (MSFT/YHOO), Here's a Better Deal, Silicon Valley Insider Would The FTC Block A Google Deal With Yahoo?, Barron's Paid Search & Contextual Facebook Ads vs. Google Adwords - Facebook Ads Do Not Work, AU Interactive Amazon Product Ads, Comparisonengines.com Yahoo PPC Looking Attractive Again - Just Stay Away From The Content Network, SEM Geek Methods To Increase CTR on PPC Ads, Shimon Sandler Google AdSense Account Linking and Login Update, Search Engine Roundtable Kentucky Court Votes Keyword Ads = TM Use In Commerce, Eric Goldman Searching Searchles : The Multimedia Community Search Engine, Search Engine Journal Sputtr.com Aims to Unite Entire Search Engine Industry in a Single Multi-Search Engine -- Announces Release of New Feature, Press Release Google thinks my name = SEO, BlogStorm LinkedIn Announces New Research Platform, O'Reilly Radar What's India searching for online?, Official Google Blog Univeral Search - Not only for Public Consumption, Bill Hartzer Snow reports for skiers and boarders, Live Search Blog What Might Search Engines "One Day" Understand About Social Media?, SEOmoz Tools for travellers at Ask.com, Pandia Search Behavior Patterns - Boxes and Arrows: The design behind the design, Boxes & Arrows Why Search is Still Prehistoric - Part 2, Search Engine Watch How Mahalo social works part II, Jason Calacanis Welcome to the Neighborhood, Google, Topix SEM Industry Beware! the Search Engines want your SEO job, HuoMah.com Charity Contest, Microsoft's SEO Program & More PageRank Talk, BruceClay.com Should You Let Sam's Club Be Your SEO Company?, WebProNews Finding The Right Search Engine Marketing Company: Part Two, SEO Speedwagon 5 Reasons January Was a Bad Month For SEO's Reputation, Syzlak's SEM SES Updates! London, New York and Hamburg, Search Engine Strategies Learning SEO and SEM - Where to Start?, HighRankings Forums SEO & SEM Sham analysis optimization, SEO Theory Rating the Super Bowl Advertisers' SEO Record, Search Engine Watch Super Bowl XLII Ads -- Where's the URL?, Search Engine Watch Cruise your way to the top of Google for only £560,000!, SEOptimise How to Engage Customers in Search Marketing, Search Engine Watch Be That Stallion & Round Up The Herd, Cre8PC Search Marketing Bootcamp: What's a Keyword?, Search Engine Guide Social Media Notes from tonight's MySpace Developer Platform launch, Inside Facebook Relevance and Distribution: Two Essential Factors in Social Media Marketing, Dosh Dosh Step by Step Guide to Monitoring Feeds for Reputation Management, ViperChill Controversy Over Wikipedia's Use Of Muhammad Image, Google Blogoscoped Social Media Marketing's Disease: No Follow-Through, MediaPost You Have Mixx Messaging!, Mixx Blog Making sense of your Facebook friends, Yahoo Next Part Four: From Twits to Tweeple, Why I Embraced Twitter and You Should Too, Search Engine Guide Video, Music & Image Search Why you shouldn't ignore Google Images, SEOptimise YouTube Layer in Google Earth Updating Daily, Google Earth Blog Other Items The Evolution of Tech Companies Logos, Neatorama Recent Hot Items From Sphinn, Our Social News Sharing Site: I Jeff Quipp Am Not an SEO ... I'm an Authority Builder 21 Linkbait Headlines for Internet Marketers How Brian Wallace Sells Social Media... Catch the brainwaves with Muhammad Saleem 23 Top online retailers analytic packages revealed When You Should Pause Your PPC Campaign What Does Social Media Have to do with Search? Plenty Great Domain Name Strategy: Vacations To Go SMX WEST Time Baby! Come on Let's Go To Santa Clara Baby! The Unexplored Values of Twitter Interview: "Mike the Internet Guy" Belasco of seOverflow Hacked: It Could Never Happen to My Site (Famous Last Words) The Butterfly Growth Model Part Four: From Twits to Tweeple, Why I Embraced Twitter and You Should Too The Biggest Reason Small Business Owners Should Be Blogging The "Middleman" of Social Media is Your Friend Rating the Super Bowl Advertisers' SEO Record How to Uncover the Information Necessary To Plan A Successful SEO Campaign Top 10 Social Media Sites Lists [Meta-List] A Secret to Finding New Subscribers for Your Blog

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)