IndustryThe Search Engine Update – Number 234 – Nov. 30, 2006

The Search Engine Update - Number 234 - Nov. 30, 2006

Search Engine Watch editor-in-chief Danny Sullivan's recap of top search engine stories from the second half of November 2006.

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In This Issue
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+ Upcoming Search Engine Strategies Events
+ Goodbye Search Engine Watch & Best Wishes!
+ Top Stories
+ More From The Search Engine Watch Blog
+ Our Search Newsletters & Feeds
+ About The Newsletter

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Upcoming Search Engine Strategies Events
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In less than two weeks, SES Chicago 2006 begins, running Dec. 4 through Dec. 7. The show features over 70 sessions covering search marketing, involving search engine representatives and experts in search engine marketing.

Netscape general manager Jason Calacanis will be doing keynote conversation with me on Tuesday, December 5. Among other things, we’ll discuss his surprise resignation from Netscape earlier this month. I’ll also be doing an evening keynote covering the year’s events in search.

See the SES Chicago 2006 web site for full details. Aside from Chicago, here are other upcoming SES events:

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Goodbye Search Engine Watch & Best Wishes
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Today is my last day with Search Engine Watch, with me heading to my new digs at Search Engine Land tomorrow. I wanted to wish Search Engine Watch all the best going forward, plus help readers understand some of the changes that are happening.

Over at Search Engine Watch, my article Goodbye Search Engine Watch & Best Wishes! explains things in more detail, such as how I will still be involved with the Search Engine Strategies shows in the US during 2007 but why I also felt it was better to go off on my own in writing for my own new web site.

I also explain how I wish Search Engine Watch all the best. During my time at SEW, I’ve worked hard to be inclusive of content wherever it is, even if it is on a “rival” publication. In my new home, I fully expect to still be linking and referring to tall the great content old and new that Search Engine Watch will have.

My managing editor Elisabeth Osmeloski remains in charge going forward, for the time being, and she has more to say about Search Engine Watch’s future here: End of an Era… Beginning of a New Chapter.

It’s been a privilege to have served my newsletter readers by sending out information over the years. My sincere thanks for your readership.

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Top Stories
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Below is a recap of major articles from our daily SearchDay newsletter and important Search Engine Watch Blog postings since the last newsletter. Want to receive these stories daily or via RSS/feed? See the Search Engine Watch Newsletters & Web Feeds page for sign-up instructions.

=== Nov. 30, 2006 ===

Google Ordered By Another North Carolina Court To Remove Pages
Apparently, North Carolina is going to start a trend of people who get court orders to remove material Google has spidered when left out in public view. This week, Google was ordered to remove material by a court in that state. It follows a similar court order in a different case earlier this year. See also:

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Making Search Accessible to Visually Impaired Users – Until recently, the needs of visually impaired users wasn’t a top priority for search engines. That’s changed, but there are still issues that need to be resolved, according to people with vision challenges.

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How The Digg Editorial Process Differs From Search Engine Editorial Process – Digg has to regulate humans in the way that Google and other search engines have to regulate their machines.

=== Nov. 29, 2006 ===

Goodbye Google Answers – Google is shutting down its Google Answers service. The company has announced that new questions won’t be accepted after the New Year, though the site will continue to let people view the question archives. Killing off the service, which never seemed to catch on much, certainly will help Google seem like it is focusing efforts toward more needed areas. But it still feels like an odd, almost surrendering move in the face of Yahoo Answers being such a success.

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Alexa Ain’t So Bad, Says Site Search Comparison – Alexa has come under plenty of fire recently as not being accurate (old hands have known better for years), as more and more people are using it to “prove” how hot their sites are. Sean Ryan at SLI Systems says lay off the Alexa bashing!

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Search Marketing 2006: Facts & Figures – If you’re looking for hard data about the world of search engine marketing, arguably the best single source of metrics is MarketingSherpa’s annual “Benchmark Guide.”

=== Nov. 28, 2006 ===

Exalead CEO Warns Of “Google Monster” & Closed Yahoo & Microsoft – CEO Francois Bourdoncle taking a big stick and swinging at Google in a keynote talk at SES Paris. He positions his own service as potentially the savior for those in Europe worried about the “Google monster.” Beyond Google, he also criticizes Yahoo and Microsoft for collaborating on a “closed” sitemaps protocol. I’d say the Cold War against American-based search engines is going up a notch.

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Google Audio Ads Sign-Up Page Live – Google Audio Ads now appears to be opening to sign-ups, sort of. Googlaxy.com sent me a heads-up about three new URLS that are (somewhat) active. See also:

=== Nov. 27, 2006 ===

Search Engine Forums Spotlight – Links to the week’s topics from search engine forums across the web: Press Release Services For Links Or Publicity – How To Optimize For Large Retail Sites – MSN Dumb Decision on Unrelevant Links – Important SEO Tips from Pubcon – Yahoo! Cuts Deal With Newspaper Groups, and more.

=== Nov. 26, 2006 ===

Google Settles With Some Belgian Publishers Over Belgium News Inclusion – Google has settled with two Belgian publishing groups involved in a lawsuit against it over content included in Google News Belgium. This comes a day after Google’s legal case was reheard in an appeal. The settlement, following what seems a similar settlement with AP earlier this year, seems to open the door that Google is going to continue making such appeasements rather than fight cases in court. See also:

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More From The SEW Blog
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Below are posts from the Search Engine Watch Blog since the last newsletter and not mentioned above. Want to keep up on daily news from the blog? Visit the home page or subscribe to the blog feed. Note that references to “I” may becoming from any of the Search Engine Watch staff who post to the blog.

=== Nov. 29, 2006 ===

IAC To Launch AskCity; Local Info Services Site – IAC and Ask.com are launching a new local information services site named AskCity on December 4th. The site will combine IAC’s portfolio of Ask.com, CitySearch, Evite and TicketMaster by providing information and services such as Web search, city guides, maps and event listings.

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Name That Search Marketer Game – David Wallace at SearchRank.com has a game; SEO/SEM Trivia – How Well Do You Know It’s Stars? Basically, he took pictures of well-known SEMs and SEOs and blacked out some features from the pictures.

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Alexa Ain’t So Bad, Says Site Search Comparison – Alexa has come under plenty of fire recently as not being accurate (old hands have known better for years), as more and more people are using it to “prove” how hot their sites are. Sean Ryan at SLI Systems says lay off the Alexa bashing!

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A Superbowl Marriage Proposal? – Joe Morin thinks he’s got the next Million Dollar Home page mixed with romance going. To wit: someone named JP (to stay secret from his girlfriend) wants to make his wedding proposal in a TV commercial during next year’s SuperBowl. How search marketers can help.

=== Nov. 28, 2006 ===

Live’s Erik Selberg On Microsoft’s Tough Search Challenge – Talk about the echo chamber coming full circle. The stats on Microsoft’s search share decline that I posted last week were commented on by Erik Selberg of Microsoft’s Live.com search team in his General disarray at The Big 3 post. He provides a fresh, honest assessment of Microsoft’s search challenge ahead from someone in the rank-and-file.

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Linkbombing Against Anti-Martin Luther King Jr Site – In case you missed it, there’s a new link bombing campaign underway to try and reduce the rankings of an anti-Martin Luther King Jr. web site.

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Ask.com Challenges You To Stop The Fat Naked Man From Dancing – Phil Bradley spotted an ad in the London Metro today, asking you to take the Ask.com Challenge and win prizes by searching. ChallengeAsk.com has more details.

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Google: Not TV Network But TV Adjunct – No, Google isn’t free pay TV, but on exec says it can be an adjunct to television.

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Yahoo China’s President Xie Wen Resigns After Six Weeks – Xie Wen, president of Yahoo China, has resigned after only six weeks on the job.

=== Nov. 27, 2006 ===

The Complete Google Master Plan – Google Operating Systems located and posted the Full Google Master Plan 1.0. Remember about a month and a half ago, the Google Master Plan was erased? Well, according to Google OS, said it was erased because it was getting a bit “crufty.” The image was taken by Chris diBona, here it is.

=== Nov. 22, 2006 ===

Google Book Search Catches Victorian Plagiarists – We tend to assume that plagiarism is a reasonably modern day phenomena but a fascinating article from Paul Collins “Dead Plagiarists Society” illustrates that is not always the case. In fact it would appear that Victorian authors stole work from earlier authors who in turn had stolen it from even earlier ones, and the article gives some nice examples of this.

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Our Search Newsletters & Feeds
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News each day, throughout the day, alerts of new discussion threads from our Search Engine Watch Forums and more — we have a newsletter or feed that covers all of these. See our Search Engine Newsletters & Web Feeds for a full rundown on everything we offer, as well as special buttons to let you subscribe via news readers such as Rojo, My MSN, Bloglines, Feedster, Newsgator, Pluck and My Yahoo. Thanks to FeedBurner for providing our feed tracking and management services!

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About The Search Engine Update
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The Search Engine Update is a twice-monthly update of search engine news. It is available only to Search Engine Watch members. Please note that long URLs may break into two lines in some mail readers. Cut and paste, should this occur.

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