Below, a recap of stories posted today to the Search
Engine Watch Blog, along with other items we’ve spotted but not blogged
separately:
From The SEW Blog…
Social
Media Optimization: It’s Like SEO, For Social Sites
One of the coolest things about the rise of social networking and sharing
sites like MySpace and YouTube are the new opportunities they offer to
marketers, even to search marketers. Into that space seems to have come a new
term, SMO — social media optimization….
New
Search Patent Filings: August 29, 2006 – Yahoo looks at Interactive TV and
VOIP
Yahoo patent filings include one detailing bidding for placement in paid
search filed this past April, another that details a very interactive
environment for watching television programming, a third describing a method
of soliciting consumer reviews, and a granted patent for a Voice Over IP (VOIP)
system that doesn’t require Telephony Interface Cards. Microsoft had two new
patent applications published, including one which provides a means of
suggesting alternative spellings for words, and another that interacts with
searchers to help them construct queries. IBM filed a patent application for
building social networks within a business organization, and was granted a…
Update
On Coupon Shortcut, Yahoo Adds Cheap Shortcut
Last week I told you about Yahoo’s new Coupon Shortcut. In that post, I said
that the comments on Adam Viener’s Revenews post seem to suggest that Coupon
Cabin is providing the coupon codes, but Chris Saito of Yahoo! Shopping told
me that Yahoo! “aggregates coupons/rebates from multiple sources but hasn’t
released specific partners.” When I talked to Chris, he also alerted me to the
new ‘cheap’ shortcut which highlights products which have been marked down in
Yahoo! Shopping/Yahoo! Product Submit. Just search for ‘cheap [insert
product]’. Here are some examples: cheap plasma tv, cheap shirts, cheap
jeans….
InsiderPages’ ‘Answers’
InsiderPages, one of the top “social directory” sites, has launched its
equivalent of Yahoo!’s Answers: “Insider Advice.” It’s only available to
members but allows people to ask open-ended questions of the community. The
press release offers an explanation and some examples: Posting a question on
Insider Advice is quick and easy. Members simply click on the Insider Advice
button, type in a question and hit “submit”. They can add as much detail or
background to their question as they like. Insider Pages alerts them to
replies to their queries via email and then they can sit back and read the…
AOL
Launches New Music Store
Reuters reported yesterday that AOL has lunched a revamped AOL Music portal.
AOL has reportedly added a new music store and a subscription based service
that includes “audio and video streaming, programmed radio and downloads that
can be transferred to compatible digital media players.” The store has over
2.5 million songs and videos and costs $10 (5 pounds) to $15 a month for
access to AOL Music Now….
Flickr
Adds Geo Tagging
Techcrunch reports on the Flickr blog announcement that Flickr has added Geo
Tagging to their feature set. Geo tagging will enable Flickr users to mark the
pictures with geographic specific information, this way people can know where
you took that photo. You can also search for photos within a specific location
and then refine that search based on a keyword. Flickr has two very useful
screencasts on (1) how to geotag your own photos and (2) searching and
exploring geotagged photos. These are neat features, for sure, but I think
they seriously need to work on making the registration easier…
Yahoo
Revamps Real Estate Portal
The Yahoo Blog announced that they have revamped Yahoo Real Estate. They have
also added some more Yahoo Shortcuts that pulls data from Yahoo Real Estate,
directly on Yahoo Search. For example, a search on suffern, new york mortgage
rates brings back a Shortcut with a chart of rates, with more links to more
detailed information. They added some more shortcuts, including a listing
short cut, so if you search on chicago real estate you get links to Yahoo Real
Estate, if you search on home values you get a instant home valuation tool, if
you search on a specific…
Stepping
Down From Search Engine Watch
I’m leaving Search Engine Watch as of December 1, given that its owner
Incisive Media and I have been unable to agree on terms to renew my contract.
I’m also leaving the Search Engine Strategies conference series at the end of
this year. Leaving Search Engine Watch on my personal blog Daggle explains my
reasons for departing in more detail. I won’t get all mushy and sad to say
goodbye to readers yet, since I’m still planning to work just as hard as ever
for Search Engine Watch through the end of November. I have no news on who
will…
Google,
Favored Sites, and Editorial Opinion
There’s a lot of blog coverage of a new patent from Google, System and method
for supporting editorial opinion in the ranking of search results, which was
originally filed with the US Patent Office in December of 2000. I’m seeing a
lot of questions related to the patent……
New
Search Patent Filings: August 28, 2006 – Identifying Web Spam and Adult Images
New Microsoft patent applications include one that attempts to identify web
spam based upon signals within the content of a page, another looks at ways to
search using pattern matching and relevance to answer specific questions, a
third describes a method of relating people to each other during a search
based upon things such as being co-authors of documents, a fourth defines a
process of refining searches based upon previous searches for the same query
or by providing additional context to searchers, and a fifth allows users or
communities of users to provide reviews of web pages independently of the…
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