Search Headlines & Links: Jan. 24, 2007

A selection of stories posted to the Search Engine Watch Blog, along with search-related headlines from around the Web:

From the SEW Blog:

• Future of Search: The European View
  Yahoo’s Richard Firminger predicts 2007 will see advertisers and search companies respond to consumers becoming more demanding and sophisticated in how they use search engines.
• Search Is The Ticket, For Movie Distributors
  There’s a correlation between search expertise and how movies are delivered and sold online.
• It’s Elementary, My Dear Watson
  Intellext and AOL launched the AOL@SCHOOL desktop sidebar, designed to help K-12 elementary school students with their homework, but without having to search the open Web for the answers.
• Microsoft offered cash to blogger for Wikipedia edits?
  The AP reported that Microsoft was bribing developers to favorably edit Wikipedia articles, but the reality seems more misguided than nefarious.
• Fingerprinting Videos, Music May Help Stop Piracy
  Advestigo, a French company that helps guard digital assets, will soon roll out AdvestiSearch — technology for fingerprinting digital video and music so companies like YouTube and MySpace can quickly find and remove offenders.
• Online Directories Enhance Mobile Search Products
  Yell.com, the online directory of UK based Yell Group, will enhance its mobile directory platform.
• Google Image Search Redesigned
  Users of Google Image Search will find a changed, redesign results page.
• Reed’s Zibb.com asks competitors to participate in its vertical search initiatives
  Reed Business Information is inviting all publishers, including its competitors, to be a part of Zibb.com, its new business-to-business vertical search engine.
• Yahoo Announces New Content Match Products
  Yahoo announced today that it will be adding to the areas where and the methods how content ads will be served.
• The PPC Challenges of B2B Marketers
  Are business-to-business marketers being penalized by pay-per-click networks for following a sound marketing strategy? They may be losing out if they’re not balancing CTR and conversions.
• Search & Outdoor: Separated at Birth?
  Apparently SEM is not so different from outdoor advertising. High-level strategies for outdoor are strikingly similar to those of search marketing.
• Search from your Wii
  Clusty released a new version of its search engine, optimized for the Nintendo Wii.
• WhitePages.com Expands People Search
  Expanding further from its phone directory roots, WhitePages.com has added third-party results from Web search, public records, and professional profiles, and a fledgling e-mail search product.
• Yahoo To Add Quality Score To Panama Feb. 5th
  Starting next month, Yahoo will begin using the new “Panama” ranking algorithm for U.S. ads, which will incorporate quality in addition to keyword bid price.

Headlines & News from Elsewhere:

• Beyond Google: Social Media Engines First, Other Search Engines Second, Search Engine Land
• Link Ninjas vs. Bait Pirates, SEOmoz
• Being Successful by Committing to Constant Growth, Search Engine Guide
• “Undetectable” spam, Matt Cutts
• Matt Cutts vs V7N Contextual Network, Threadwatch
• You Say Search, I Say Query, Search Insider
• Google’s Most Common Penalty, Threadwatch
• SEO Secrets for Better Public Relations, Online Marketing Blog
• Social Media – Under the Microscope, SiteLogic
• Andy Hagans Leaving Text-Link-Ads & ReviewMe, Link Building Blog
• BUSTED! 4 Paid Search Myths Debunked, iMedia Connection
• Difficult Queries and Identifying Missing Content in Search Engines, SEO by the Sea
• Yahoo Search Marketing’s New Quality Ranking: Patent Info & How To’s, Search Engine Journal
• The Birth of DOPA Jr., learning.now
• Headline Hyperbole – Spin doctors at work, Don Dodge
• Report Center Series (Part 1), Inside AdWords
• Lijit Receives $900k In Funding for Personalized Search Product, paidContent
• Scripting.com Blocks TechMeme, TechCrunch