Highlights from the SEW Blog: Apr. 16, 2007

We’ve collected all the search marketing news from selected posts to the Search Engine Watch blog in the past week, along with recent search-related headlines from around the Web.

From the SEW blog:

Organic Search

• Enhancements to Sitemaps Announced At SES New York
  Ask is now supporting the Sitemaps protocol; and support for auto-discovery has been added.

Search Advertising

• Google to Buy DoubleClick
  After much rumor of multiple suitors, Google wins the DoubleClick prize, buying the ad serving company for $3.1 billion.
• Miva Usurps Google in the Publishing Industry
  Miva’s focus on certain verticals and web publishers allows it to make better contextual matches, compared to more broadly applied publisher networks.
• MSN adCenter Update Coming Soon
  A new release is planned for 4 to 6 weeks, but you can play with it today at the adCenter Beta site.
• Wordtracker Launches Wordtracker Academy
  This new initiative is designed to offer webmasters expert articles, tips and tricks, and case studies to help them make better use of keyword research.
• 24/7 Adds Mobile Search Ad Management
  With the latest version of the Decide DNA platform, marketers can now manage mobile search campaigns in the same interface as Web-based paid search, SEO, and feeds.
• AOL Launches Google-Powered Search Marketplace
  AOL and Google are now offering advertisers the ability to buy search ads that will only be seen on AOL Search, using a white-label version of the AdWords platform.

Linking Issues & Social Media

• Ready To Advertise In Social Networks?
  To reach more engaged prospects, advertisers also must create content and actively communicate with consumers too.
• Is Search to Social Media a Natural Progression?
  The definition of what is and isn’t search marketing is expanding to include other related disciplines. Today, one area that more and more search marketers are moving into is social media marketing.
• Report: Social Media More Than a Fad
  A new study from iProspect shows that social media sites are growing into a viable marketing channel, and are more than just a fad among teens.
• SES Coverage: Blending Advertising and Social Networking
  One of the perennial challenges of tying together marketing and social networking is the lack of control. This challenge relates to local advertising as there can be ways to combine the viral aspects of social media and local.

Analytics & ROI

• Jupiter Research Report Says Most Search Marketers Happy with ROI
  A majority of search marketers are planning on spending more on search this year, and are mostly satisfied with the return on investment (ROI) they are seeing from search.

Vertical & Specialty Search

• An Interview with a Google Custom Search Engineer
  Eric Enge talks with Google’s Rajat Mukherjee, project lead for the Google Custom search engines group.
• Yahoo China Launches Social Networking Service
  Yahoo China has launched a social networking service called Yahoo Space.
• Discussion with Gary Price about Vertical Search Engines
  A key part of what Gary does at Ask.com is help to get specialty databases integrated into Ask’s search result, integrating vertical search components into a horizontal search engine.

Small Business/Big Brand SEM

• Idearc to Add-on SEM Services
  Idearc Media, parent of Superpages.com, will begin offering search marketing services to its Internet Yellow Pages advertising customers.

In-House & Outsourcing

• Interpublic Group Acquires Reprise Media
  Search marketing agency Reprise Media was acquired by the Interpublic Group, and rolled into its large stable of advertising and marketing services agencies.
• Efficient Frontier Offers Agency Program
  Search engine marketing firm Efficient Frontier has revamped its offerings to create a set of tools and services designed for non-search agency partners.

SEM Industry Issues

• Utah’s Misguided Trademark Protection Act
  Over at ClickZ, Kate Kaye has done some digging, and provides a fantastic run-down of the events leading up to the law’s passage, the motives of Sen. Dan Eastman, who proposed it, and the current state of the similarly misguided child protection registry Utah created in 2005 and Spyware Control Act of 2004.

More from the SEW Blog

• Ruminations at the Close of SES
  A Successful SES New York has come to a close. After catching our breath, there will be lots more to write about.
• Moaning at the Bar
  As the conferences have grown larger and the parties have become smaller, moaning has been heard at the bar as to where everyone is.
• AdGooroo Names Power Users
  Competitive search intelligence provider, AdGooroo revealed some of their “power users” today.

Search Headlines

We report the top search marketing news daily at the Search Engine Watch Blog. You’ll find more news from around the Web below.

• Berkowitz Speech a Missed Opportunity, Screenwerk
• Google: No Sponsored Links for Don Imus?, ClickZ
• Google To Sell Ads Across Clear Channel’s 675 Stations, paidContent
• Search Chicks, ClickZ Experts
• In Perfect 10 decision, court may have given support to Google, Silicon Valley Watcher
• Hidden Formula of SEO?, Britopian Marketing Blog
• McClatchy Drops the Other Shoe, Screenwerk
• McClatchy Pact Opens Doors to Yahoo! ‘a la Carte’, Kelsey Group
• McClatchy to Bolt from GMT Network to Yahoo, ClickZ
• SERP Domination, Bluehat SEO
• All the link-building rules you will ever need, SEO Theory
• Looking Back at SES NYC 2007: Part One, Cre8pc
• Checking (Gary) Price, Ask.com Blog
• How to Kill Google, MIT Advertising Lab