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Stories Discussed In The Show

• Mapping The Southern California Fires
  I'm back home (my original home) in Southern California for vacation, and to welcome me back, the Southland is on fire. Ah, just like old times. As I was keeping up with the news, I came across some maps online from Google Earth, Google Maps, Virtual Earth, and elsewhere that...
• Microsoft Makes $240 Million Investment In Facebook
  The conference call is going on now. Here's what the press release says: Facebook and Microsoft Corp. today announced that Microsoft will take a $240 million equity stake in Facebook’s next round of financing at a $15 billion valuation, and the companies will expand their existing advertising partnership. Under the...
• Facebook Raises $500 Million More
  It appears that $240 million is not enough. Forbes is reporting that Facebook has raised an additional $500 million from two New York based hedge funds, each contributing $250 million at the same $15 billion valuation. That would mean Facebook has raised about $740 million in this round, giving up...
• Live Search Almost Certainly Coming To Facebook
  During this afternoon's Microsoft-Facebook conference call, the question was asked whether the new deal would include paid search. Microsoft's Kevin Johnson and Facebook's Owen Van Natta declined to directly answer the question and made general statements about future collaboration and that the deal a "win win win." Nobody listening was...
• Facebook Opens Application Pages to Indexing By Search Engines
  Last month Facebook made user profiles available to everyone -- including anyone not logged in to Facebook and search engines. Today it announced it was opening up the application directory and application "about" pages. In terms of privacy, this means that if you comment on an application anyone can see...
• Google News Launches Facebook Application
  Google News has announced a Facebook application that allows users to specify custom topics to receive news about from within Facebook. When you add the application, you can choose from a predefined set up topics (that Google News calls "news sections") or you can enter keywords. This seems to work...
• Google's International Headache: Orkut
  Google Under Fire Over a Controversial Site from the Wall Street Journal has an outstanding summary of all the controversy, politics, legalities and moral issues Google has run into due to their Brazilian favored social networking site, Orkut. The article covers how Google had to pull the ads on Orkut...
• Add Your Google Maps Profile
  The Google LatLong blog announced that you can now create a profile for the MyMaps you make. For example, you can find my profile over here. It shows all my public maps, that I have created, plus a little bio that I wrote about myself. It also shows all the...
• Yahoo! 360 Quietly Slips Away
  Yahoo! has decided that their blogging and social networking platform, Yahoo! 360, is a failed experiment, and they're pulling the plug. The news comes via Techcrunch, which noted that Jerry Yang announced it in a blog post on October 16. The Yahoo 360 blog explained the shut down in more...
• Yahoo's Chief Marketing Officer To Leave Yahoo
  Marketing Chief Leaving Yahoo from BoomTown reports that Cammie Dunaway, Yahoo's Chief Marketing Officer, has decided to leave Yahoo in pursuit of new opportunities. Dunaway was appointed the Chief Marketing Officer on June 4, 2003. Her responsibilities over at Yahoo included global branding and marketing efforts, consumer insights, user experience...
• Yahoo's Ex-CEO, Semel, Sells Off 750,000 Yahoo Shares
  Yahoo Chairman Semel exercises options from CNNMoney reports that Terry Semel, Yahoo's old CEO, has exercised 750,000 options. He exercised options for $15 each and then sold those options for $29 to $29.90 each. You can see the detailed transactions on this SEC filing, which shows he first exercised 500,000...
• Yahoo Beats The Street: Revenues Up, But Earnings Down
  Here's the earnings release. They slightly beat the street. Revenues were up, earnings were down however. Search monetization and traffic are improving. Henry Blodget live blogged the earnings call with some good detail and quick analysis. Yahoo shares are up about 10 percent in after-hours trading. Below are the top-level...
• Report: Yahoo Search Gaining
  Based on a report from SearchIgnite and RBC Capital Markets, there's considerable discussion, in advance of Yahoo's Q3 earnings reporting later today, that Yahoo may be gaining momentum and grabbing some incremental search spending. MediaPost summarizes the report:...
• Microsoft Has Huge Quarter, Online Not As Good
  Because Google has been so successful financially, one tends to think of Microsoft as the underdog these days. It's not. Microsoft had a huge overall quarter, with revenue of $13.76 billion and profit of $4.29 billion. Vista appears to be selling well, despite mixed to negative reviews. So are Office...
• Microsoft Says Search Ads Will Shift Elsewhere
  Microsoft Ad Chief Says Market to Shift From Search from Bloomberg reports Microsoft's Senior Vice President, Brian McAndrews, as saying that the search ad business will shift towards display ads in the next several years. He said: Search has been a significant driver of growth. In the next several years,...
• Microsoft's Ballmer: Bidding On 700 MHZ Would 'Alienate The Telecom Industry'
  Speaking on Tuesday at the CTIA mobile trade show, Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer definitively said that the company would not bid for wireless spectrum licenses next year. Reuters quotes Ballmer as saying, "What would it buy us to buy a piece of spectrum, one piece of spectrum in one country...It...
• Search, Ads And Apps: The Google Q3 2007 Results
  Google's combo of search, ads & apps gave it a very strong Q3. Here's the top-line from the press release: Google reported revenues of $4.23 billion for the quarter ended September 30, 2007, an increase of 57% compared to the third quarter of 2006 and an increase of 9% compared...
• Alibaba.com Set For High Flying Chinese IPO
  In what is widely expected to be the biggest technology IPO since Google and the biggest Internet IPO by a Chinese firm, Alibaba.com is ready to sell just over 850 million shares on the Hong Kong stock exchange. Those shares could fetch as much as $1.49 billion. Yahoo owns 39...
• Larry Page & Sergey Brin Video Interview
  Each year, Google hosts a private conference for its "partners" called Zeitgeist. Very little from these events is ever made public, but this year, James Fallows' closing interview with the Google co-founders made its way onto YouTube. Jim, best known as a columnist for the Atlantic Monthly magazine, asks a...
• Google Analyst Day Roundup: Search, Ads, Apps, And The Big Dashboard
  There are a number of stories this morning recapping aspects of the Google Analyst Day discussions, which were overshadowed to some degree by the Microsoft-Facebook announcement yesterday. While most of it appears to have been a basic overview intended to remind financial analysts and some press about the range of...
• Google Made 20 "Improvements" To AdWords In Q3 2007
  Google bullish on advertising system from the Financial Times reports that Google has made 20 or so improvements to their search ad system in the last quarter. Nick Fox, director of product management in the advertising division, said that in the third quarter of 2006, Google only made 2 or...
• Google AdWords Adds More Detailed Quality Score Explanations
  Google announced a new keyword analysis page that offers more insight into why Google scored your keywords with a certain quality score. Now, if you have a poor quality score, Google may share a reason. The reason can be found by viewing your keywords tab, then clicking on the magnifying...
• Block Domains Feature Now Live In Yahoo Search Ads
  Earlier this month, Yahoo told us they will be launching a block domains feature. The block domains feature enables advertisers to specify which domains, subdomains or URLs they do not want their ads displayed on. As I reported this morning, the block domains feature is now live. For more information,...
• Google's Alumni Reveal Reasons for Departure
  At the Web 2.0 conference John Battelle interviewed several prominent former Google employees about their reasons for the leaving the company, the culture there, and its challenges as the company continues to grow. InformationWeek captures some of that discussion....
• Ullah, Google's Director Of Corporate Development, Quits
  Another day, another key Googler departs from Venturebeat reports that Salman Ullah, Google's director of corporate development, has left Google. Ullah has started his own venture firm named Merus Capital according to GigaOM, and has brought with him Sean Dempsey from his team at Google....
• Google Employee #53, Charlie Ayers (The Google Chef) Profiled On MSNBC
  MSNBC has profiled Charlie Ayers, Google's original chef, in this video. Charlie Ayers was employee number 53. He left Google back in 2005 to pursue his dream of running his own restaurant. He left with a great way to get started -- 40,000 shares in Google worth about $26 million....
• Eric Schmidt, Google's CEO, Confident DoubleClick Deal Will Be Approved
  Google In 'Good Shape' Awaiting OK On DoubleClick Buy - CEO from SmartMoney reports that Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt, is very confident the DoubleClick acquisition will be approved by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. Schmidt said at Google Analyst Day that Google is in "good shape" for the deal to...
• Google Health To Launch In Early 2008
  Marrisa Mayer, taking over the Google Health initiative from Adam Bosworth, who recently left the company, announced at the Web 2.0 conference yesterday that people could "expect a lot of activity in the coming months." This points to an early 2008 launch for the product....
• Judge Rejects Google's Motion To Dismiss American Airlines Suit
  Eric Goldman reports Judge John McBride has denied Google's motion to dismiss of the American Airlines search ad trademark suit. The court document does not explain why the judge denied Google's motion. All it says is that he dismissed the motion. Eric Goldman feels that taking this case to court...
• Got "Google" In Your URL? Sorry, No AdSense For You
  AdSense Disallowed On URLs Containing "Google", Google Says from Google Blogoscoped shows an almost comical AdSense ban of a portion of his site. Reportedly, Google has disallowed him from displaying Google AdSense ads on the Chinese version of his site, because it is located at http://google.blogoscoped.cn/. Google sent him the...
• Google AdSense To Launch Code Free Ad Changes
  The Inside AdSense blog announced that they will be releasing a new ad management solution to enable code-free ad changes. Currently, if you want to change your AdSense layout to a different color, format, channel, or whatever, after you make that change in the AdSense console, you need to copy...
• The Big SMX Social Media NY '07 Roundup
  The first SMX Social Media conference is now wrapping up. The only session left is a clinic, which normally are not covered. Below is a list of all the coverage, stories, blogs and so on that I have found that discussed the conference and/or covered sessions. The list is in...
• SMX Santiago & Buenos Aires This Week
  Just a brief reminder that Search Marketing Expo - SMX Buenos Aires and SMX Santiago are taking place this week. These are Spanish-language events and are among the first in Argentina and Chile to dive deep into the topic of search marketing. These events are being programmed by Tomy Lorsch...
• Next Week: Join Us For SMX Stockholm!
  The first Search Marketing Expo - SMX Stockholm is next week. Don't miss this opportunity to attend SMX Stockholm, an event tailored to the needs of SEMs in one of the most sophisticated search marketing regions in the world. Register today and join us October 31 and November 1 at...
• Sneak Preview: SMX Travel Coming To Orlando In November
  Attend SMX Travel @ PhoCusWright if you are responsible for driving online travel sales or managing the people who do. SMX Travel is designed for online marketers who want to dive deep into the travel vertical, and delivers techniques and best practices you’ll implement immediately to improve the effectiveness of...
• 5 Reasons To Register For SMX West Today!
  Search Marketing Expo - SMX West is coming to the Santa Clara Convention Center in the heart of Silicon Valley, February 26-28, 2008. Here are 5 reasons why you should register today for an event that's five months away: 1) This 3-day, multiple track event has programming for all levels...
• Social Media Marketing: The New SEO?
  Fall is the time of year when we start to look at where search marketing is heading. Looking at the latest search marketing conference agendas, articles, and online news in the SEM space, it certainly appears that social media marketing and networking are the wave of the future. To...
• Did Dalai Lama Award Cause China To Redirect Google, Yahoo & Microsoft Search Traffic To Baidu?
  Reports have been coming in that people trying to reach Google, Yahoo and Microsoft from within China or via Chinese ISPs are being redirected to Baidu. Some have accused Baidu of hijacking the traffic, but we think it's likely that China is upset with the US over the award it...
• Jerry Yang & Friends Called To Testify On Chinese Dissidents Case
  Yahoo execs called to testify about 'false information' from MarketWatch reports that Yahoo's Jerry Yang and general counsel Michael Callahan were told by the House Foreign Affairs Committee to testify on November 6th about Yahoo's involvement in giving false information in the jailed Chinese dissidents case. The statement released by...
• Congress May Penalize Tech Companies That Cooperate With 'Internet Restricting' Governments
  Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft are all doing business in China. There's been bad PR and even congressional hearings for Yahoo about its cooperation with the Chinese government in the country's effort to censor the Internet and crack down on dissent. Turkey and Thailand have blocked YouTube, and so on. Now...
• Local Search Site Judy's Book To Shut Down
  TechCrunch first reported (confirmed on CEO Andy Sack's blog) that local search site Judy's Book is shutting down and/or looking for a buyer. After struggling to monetize its traffic, the site shifted its business model to emphasize coupons and local deals. The firm had raised over $10 million in two...
• Google's PageRank Update Goes After Paid Links?
  Seems like there is a PageRank update taking place now that seems to be impacting sites that sell links. Can't say that we were not warned about this. Danny Sullivan wrote Official: Selling Paid Links Can Hurt Your PageRank Or Rankings On Google over two weeks ago, and now it...
• Google Adds Sitelinks Control To Webmaster Tools & Much More
  Google has informed us that today they are releasing a new update to Google Webmaster Central's tools. The new features include a way to manage your Google Sitelinks, more historical query statistics, an extension of sitemaps to support code search, an improved message center and a warning that may help...
• Confirmed: Google Sitelinks Grow To Eight Links
  We have received confirmed reports that Google Sitelinks has been expanded to up to eight links. The other day we reported the finding and today we now have official confirmation. The new feature that will allow you to manage sitelinks in webmaster tools is not connected to this expansion of...
• Consolidating Sitemap Files With Google
  Mickey Kataria has posted on the Google Webmaster Central blog that if you can verify ownership of multiple sites, you can consolidate the Sitemap files for those sites and either combine the URLs from those sites into one Sitemap or create separate files for each site, but store the files...
• Yahoo Site Explorer Not Showing All Link Data to All Users
  Yahoo Site Explorer Showing Different Counts For Registered vs. Non-Registered Users from the Search Engine Roundtable is where I reported that Yahoo Site Explorer seems to be showing a lot more linkage data to a logged in user who authenticated their site in Site Explorer as opposed to a user...
• Google Analytics Adds Site Search Reporting & Event Tracking, Urchin Software Also Updated
  Google announced today at the eMetrics Summit in Washington, D.C. new features for Google Analytics, plus a much desired beta release of Urchin software....
• Google Fixing Search Typos With URLs
  Google Operating System discovered that Google is now attempting to fix search typos of URLs. For example, a search on http://searchengineland.com/googles.php returns: No results found for http://searchengineland.com/googles.php. However, there are results from websites with similar addresses...
• Gmail To Increase Email Capacity With New Counter Algorithm
  The Gmail Blog announced that in an effort to continue to gradually increase the storage space for their Gmail users, they have updated their counter algorithm. The new formula will speed up the rate at which they increase the capacity for email storage in Gmail. Googlified documents how this new...
• Gmail Now Supporting IMAP Protocol
  It appears that Gmail is now supporting the IMAP protocol as of today. Download Squad was one of the first to report the new functionality found under the Gmail settings section. There is now a ton of coverage on the new Gmail feature. On the Gmail What's New page, we...
• Report: 7 Out Of 10 Americans Experience 'Search Engine Fatigue'
  A recent report issued by Autobytel, based on findings from a poll of 1,001 US adults conducted by Kelton Research, examined "The State of Search" and how automobile shoppers interact with search engines in particular. Below I excerpt some of the general search findings from the report. The big takeaway...
• With Dogpile Beating Google In Satisfaction, Owner InfoSpace Needs To Reinvent Itself, Be Risky With Metasearch
  InfoSpace recently sold both its local and directory assets and its mobile platform business to Idearc/Superpages and Motricity respectively. So what's left? Specifically Dogpile and its cousins Metacrawler, Webcrawler and the domain InfoSpace.com. The company also owns the kid-friendly search site Zoo.com. Amid all this, JD Power & Associates named...
• StumbleUpon's Toolbar Adds More Search Engines
  StumbleUpon Expands Social Search Across the Web from TechCrunch reports StumbleUpon has expanded their toolbar from enhancing Google, Yahoo, or Windows Live search results to now also include AOL, Ask.com, Google News, Yahoo News, Flickr, Wikipedia, and YouTube. That means, if you use the StumbleUpon and search at YouTube, you...
• Google Translate Drops Systran For Home Brewed Translation
  Google Operating System reports that Google Translate has dropped using Systran as the technology used by Google for translations. Google now uses their own home brewed version of translation technology to translate between the 25 languages available. Yahoo's Babel Fish still uses Systran technology, so if you are in a...
• Yahoo's Flickr to Add Online Photo Editing from Picnik
  Flickr To Add Online Photo Editing Tools Via Picnik from TechCrunch reports that Flickr, Yahoo's popular photo sharing solution, has reached a deal with Picnik to allow users to easily edit their photos online. The new photo editing features are expected to be launched in the "next few months," reports...
• Flickr Wants To Show You The World Through Pictures
  At Web 2.0 Summit this week, Flickr previewed a feature that will provide a new way to browse photos based on geographic location. They are making over their map explorer and introducing new Places Pages that will make it easier to see what's going on around the world through pictures....
• Google Reader Now Reporting Subscriber Figures
  Earlier this year, iGoogle started reporting the number of readers putting a blog on their personalized home pages at Google. Now Google Reader is doing the same, showing how many readers a blog has within Google's dedicated feed reading service. More on this below, especially how in contrast, FeedBurner/Google Feedfetcher...
• Are Google Reader Stats Correct? Can We Trust Feed Stats In General?
  There has been a lot of buzz recently about Google Reader reporting subscriber statistics. Google Reader Stats are Bullshit (With Proof) from Mashable calls these statistics downright incorrect. Why? A default feed, in case you don’t know, is a feed which is presented to users on signup. Google Reader, for...
• Google Reader Says It Does "Dailyish" Update Of Subscriber Counts
  When Google Reader launched new subscriber figures earlier this week, I touched base with Google to find out if they'd be doing a real top blogs list rather than the ad-hoc ones now out there, plus how often the stats were updated and a few more things. Answers have come...
• The Politics of Book Search: Some Research Libraries Decline to Offer Books to Microsoft, Google
  An article in the New York Times today explores the "book search" initiatives at Google and Microsoft and the resistance of some research libraries to participating. The reason cited is that both search providers are asking for exclusivity: "Libraries that agree to work with Google must agree to a set...
• Google To Launch YouTube Piracy Filter Today
  Google Begins Offering New YouTube Piracy Fighter from CNNMoney reports Google will be announcing their YouTube video ID tool to help prevent content piracy, as soon as this today. The source of this information has not been disclosed, nor has any additional details. The source did say that Google would...
• Viacom May Want To Work With Google In Future
  Viacom could work with Google in future: CEO from Reuters reports Philippe Dauman, Viacom's CEO, as saying "I suspect at some point in the future we'll work with Google." He made that statement Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco even after Viacom claimed they would still continue their legal action...
• Viacom Will Still Sue Google, Even After YouTube Piracy Filter
  Viacom Says The Google Suit Is Still On from MediaPost reports that Viacom will continue their $1 billion suit over unauthorized YouTube videos, even after Google launched the YouTube piracy filter. Viacom spokesman Jeremy Zweig said the video identification tool "doesn't have any impact" on the lawsuit. Zweig added that...
• Preview YouTube's New Video Browsing Page
  The YouTube Blog announced that new features are going to be launched in the upcoming months. One new feature is a new user interface for the video browsing page. You can preview the new page at this location. You will notice that if you mouse-over the video tab, up come...
• YouTube Comes to Google Earth; Pity YouTube Itself Doesn't Offer Geosearch
  I just posted a bunch of videos to YouTube yesterday of skating down the boardwalk in Newport Beach. Maybe one day they'll show up in Google Earth. That's because Google Earth is now showing video clips that have been geotagged to particular areas, according to Google's LatLong Blog. To find...
• Google And Nielsen Partner For TV Ads Demographic Measurement
  Google has teamed up with Nielsen to offer demographic data to advertisers in its TV Ads program. Google is currently working with distributors EchoStar and San Francisco Bay Area cable provider Astound. Nielsen demographic data are being combined with "aggregated set-top box data" in the new program to offer the...
• Report: HTC To Be Handset That Goes With Google Mobile OS
  In the now-you-see-it-now-you-don't game of anticipating the Google Phone or Google mobile OS on a handset, UBS analyst Benjamin Schachter issued a report that predicts "Taiwanese handset manufacturer HTC will ship about 50,000 cell phones running on a mobile operating system made by the Mountain View, Calif.-based search giant by...
• Microsoft Releases New Maps, Local And Mobile Upgrades
  Late last month, at its "Searchification" event, Microsoft introduced a wide range of search enhancements and improvements. The company also said there would be additional updates to follow. Those are now rolling out and include feature and content enhancements for maps, local and mobile services. The biggest news is the...
• Microsoft Introduces 'Windows Live Events'
  Microsoft has introduced an Evite-like events service, Windows Live Events. Rather than an "Evite killer," think of it more as a home page or website for events, with public events eventually to most likely be integrated into the broader local database and other services that Microsoft has. Currently it integrates...
• InfoSpace Sells Mobile Services Business, What Next?
  Only weeks ago InfoSpace sold Switchboard and its local/directory business to Idearc/Superpages for a reported $225 million. Today, Motricity announced that it had acquired the company's mobile services business for $135 million. Motricity wants the business for the revenues and carrier relationships and to tell a better story to the...
• GOOG-411 Is Out Of Beta
  The Google Blog announced that GOOG-411, Google's voice enabled search service, is now out of beta. To use GOOG-411 just dial 1-800-466-4411 (aka 800-GOOG-411) and listen to the voice prompts. As part of a promotion for GOOG-411 leaving beta, Google said they will unveil which Googler is the voice behind...
• Google StreetView Rolling In Rural Indiana
  We were sent a picture (click below to see the shot) of a Google Chevy Cobalt, presumably taking StreetView images, from a reader who snapped the picture in rural Knox, Indiana, which has a population of 3,721. It's interesting that Google is straying so far from the "major metro" path...
• MapQuest Rebuilds 'From The Ground Up'
  MapQuest has launched a new beta site, which represents a new and rearchitected site with a host of new features and capabilities. The new MapQuest blog offers some additional insights and explanations. MapQuest says that the changes respond to user feedback. I'm sure that's true, but the onslaught of mapping...
• Karen Wickre: Mother Of The Google Blog On Google's Official Blogging
  When Google launched the Official Google Blog back in 2004, it started as sort of a ho-hum event. There wasn't anything particularly gripping, and some wondered if the company should be more edgy with its posts. Since then, Google has launched more than 70 additional official blogs over the...
• Top Countries To Search On Sex, Hitler, Viagra, Jihad & Hangover
  Sex, Nazi, burrito and Viagra: Who Googles what? from Reuters reports on keywords released by Google by country. Reuters ordered the list by country that is most likely to search on certain words. Here is a brief rundown:...
• Congratulations, Elisabeth Osmeloski & Matthew Ostrander
  Elisabeth Osmeloski is well know within the search marketing industry, especially for having started and run the Search Engine Watch Forums for three years. Today, she tied the knot with Matthew Ostrander. Best wishes from all of us here at Search Engine Land! Some more pictures are below:...