Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web

From Search Engine Land:

• Microsoft Live Search Adds More Images, Multimap, Find My Location, & Celebrity Rank
  Live Search has informed us that they have made a few enhancements to the search engine. The enhancements include an expanded image search index, a new integrated mapping experience with Multimap, a location based mobile search feature to "find me," and more content for the celebrities and books sections. Here...
• Court Documents: Microsoft Allocates $1.5 Billion For Yahoo Employee Retention
  Court documents cited by the Wall Street Journal (also CNET) show that Microsoft has set aside $1.5 billion to retain Yahoo employees in the event of a successful takeover. This is apparently not tied to the generous "poison pill" severance packages that Yahoo put in place in the event of...
• Outsourcing To Increase SEO Throughput
  Even with budgets getting tightened, your SEO program may be kicking, but the head count you requested to keep the program moving upward may not get approved. When this happens, it's time to look at a Plan B for increasing throughput without adding staff. Many people I talk to...
• Will Yahoo Create An Open Ad Profile?
  Yahoo's mantra these days is openness. To that end, Yahoo may create the ability for users to view their ad profiles -- the data that's being used to target them with advertising on Yahoo and its extended network. Yahoo EVP Jeff Weiner, who spoke at the Economics of Social Media...
• Google Ocean To Complement Google Earth, Maps & Sky Soon
  Google diving into 3D mapping of oceans from News.com reports Google is working on a new mapping system to map the Earth's oceans. The tool might be named Google Ocean and will complement Google Earth and Google Sky. News.com says Google Ocean will contain 3D oceanographic maps with underwater topography,...
• Google Toolbar PageRank Update Creates Major Webmaster Buzz
  Over the past few days, many webmasters and SEOs have been noticing an update to the PageRank score found in the Google Toolbar. Usually PageRank updates aren't that noteworthy, but it seems something is different about this PageRank update...

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Google.co.uk push igoogle with artist Jeff Koons theme, SEO Home
• Google Apps Hacks Is Out, Google Blogoscoped
• Where art thou?, Official Google Blog

Business Issues

• Ex-Yahoo CEO Semel exercised $37.8 mln in options, Reuters
• Google announces plans to open office in downtown Madison, CNN Money
• Yang takes $1 salary in 2007; Former Yahoo execs made the most, ZDNet
• How Google Fuels Its Idea Factory, BusinessWeek
• RIAA Sues Music Search Engine, MediaPost
• Google CEO Predicts Marketing To Become More Analytical, MediaPost
• Eric Schmidt: Google Has Secret Plan To Mint Money With YouTube, Silicon Alley Insider
• IAC Net Falls As Diller Plans Split, Wall Street Journal
• Wikimedia Foundation restructures its board, News.com

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Gettin' down (under) with a new Mapplet, Google LatLong
• Google Maps Fixes missing record bug, Mike Blumenthal
• Static Maps Have Never Looked This Good!, Google Maps API Blog
• AdSense for mobile content now integrated with DoubleClick Mobile, Official Google Mobile Blog
• DOUBLECLICK MOBILE INTEGRATES WITH MOBILE AD NETWORKS, Google

Link Building

• Comment Link Building for SEO: The Search for the Golden Egg or Goose Chase?, Search Marketing Sage
• Dude, Your Site Is Boring No Links For You, The Link Spiel

Microhoo

• Yahoo is betting it can win proxy battle with Microsoft, MarketWatch

Paid Search & Contextual

• adCenter spring upgrade: reporting updates, adCenter Advertiser
• Meet The Team: US Ad Services, adCenter Advertiser
• Kenshoo Launches Kenshoo UK To Provide Technology Solutions For The European Paid Search Industry, webitpr
• Rumor: Google to Offer "Recommended" Sponsored Links, Marketing Pilgrim
• Tesco vows not to place Google keyword bids on rivals' trademarks, Brand Republic
• Which Advertiser Types Do You Put in Your Google AdSense Filter?, Search Engine Roundtable

Searching

• Better Bookmarks for Firefox 3, Yahoo Search Blog

SEM Industry

• Search Conference Controversy Sparks Up Again, Search Engine Roundtable
• SEORipOff.com : Stain of the Search Marketing Industry, Search Engine Journal

SEO & SEM

• How To Optimize for Google: Q & A, Stepforth
• Blackhat Techniques Which Shouldn't Work in Google But Still Do, SEOptimise
• Reputation Management Campaign Strategy , Shimon Sandler
• The Web Developer's SEO Cheat Sheet, SEOmoz
• What Are You Converting?, Search Engine Watch
• Facebook Does Keyword Research, SEOmoz
• Looking for 'Bad Guys' - Discovering Networks of Sites, Search Engine Journal
• Managing Duplicate Content In a World Where Google Can Crawl JavaScript, Search Engine Roundtable
• Real and Imagined Errors in Google Sitemap Feeds, SEO Speedwagon
• What are Some Questions to Ask an SEO Firm to Check their Legitimacy?, Search Engine Roundtable
• Which button would you click? A lesson on website optimization, Google Analytics Blog

Social Media

• Is Social Media Marketing Right For You?, SEOmoz
• Matt McGee: Twittering for Charity, Small Business SEM

Web Analytics

• Google Relaunching Measure Map, TechCrunch
• Google Analytics for Blogger now in private beta, Google Analytics Blog

Recent Hot Items From Sphinn, Our Social News Sharing Site:

• Fake It Til You Make It
• PPC Position: Crappy Spellers Wanted
• Dude, Your Site Is Boring No Links For You
• Matt McGee: Twittering for Charity
• Google 'VisualRank' - A Prototype for Precision Image Search
• Optimizing for Product Colors: Duplicate Content or Long Tail Gold?
• 100-Plus Tips and Resources to Protect Your Site Network from Google
• SEORipOff.com : Stain of the Search Marketing Industry
• How I Use Twitter for Headline Examples
• Creating a Natural Link Profile for Your Site
• Small Business Marketing Unleashed, We Miss You
• 20 SEO Copywriting hints
• An Understanding of SEO Keyword Research
• Court Orders Negative Keywords Used To Block Trademark Terms
• Semantic SEO Can Increase the Number of Page Views by 500%
• Twitter Secrets Revealed

During a discussion on the next big thing in internet search here in the SEO department at Morevisibility, we speculated on the future of the Open Directory. Back in the day, search directories were the first real way that websites were found on the internet and even after the web crawlers made their debut, directories [...]

As an SEM client strategist of several lead generation clients, I often get caught up in the hustle and bustle of trying to generate as many leads as possible and finding the best method of tracking those leads. Tools such as Google Analytics have made the process a lot easier by embedding a tracking code [...]

Live Search has informed us that they have made a few enhancements to the search engine. The enhancements include an expanded image search index, a new integrated mapping experience with Multimap, a location based mobile search feature to "find me," and more content for the celebrities and books sections.

Here are some more details:

Click to continue reading...

Thanks to the prodding of Danny Sullivan, I am now on Twitter. God help me. It might mean the beginning of another Searchblog like obsession. I remember when folks said "you blog nearly every day? How do you possibly find the time?!"

More when I learn more.

Aside from the title tag, which isn’t really a part of the visual page, the heading tags can provide both visitors and the search engines significant cues to the importance of your on-page content. There are six different heading tags: H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, and H6. Collectively these are referred to as Hx tags.

The value of the Hx tag is much the same as the value of your main points in an outline for a book or paper. Your outline shows your main topics and sub-topics. These are often then used as section headings in your final draft. Your h1, for example, would be the page topic. Your H2s would then be your main points (I. II. and III.) Your H3s would be your first sub-points (A. B. C.) and your H4s would be your second sub-points (1. 2. 3.) etc.

Click here to continue reading at Search Engine Guide…

Court documents cited by the Wall Street Journal (also CNET) show that Microsoft has set aside $1.5 billion to retain Yahoo employees in the event of a successful takeover. This is apparently not tied to the generous "poison pill" severance packages that Yahoo put in place in the event of a Microsoft acquisition.

The statement was made by Microsoft attorneys in the context of a court hearing filed by pension funds invested in Yahoo, which have have filed suit alleging that Yahoo's directors breaded their fiduciary duty in not responding "in good faith" to Microsoft's offer.

Click to continue reading...

Even with budgets getting tightened, your SEO program may be kicking, but the head count you requested to keep the program moving upward may not get approved. When this happens, it's time to look at a Plan B for increasing throughput without adding staff.

Many people I talk to think a superstar in-house SEO team doesn't need an agency, and there is some truth to this. However, when you see that more could be done, but not with your limited team that is already at capacity, it's time to think about how you could spend a few thousand dollars a month to be more productive and move your numbers even further.

Click to continue reading...

Yahoo's mantra these days is openness. To that end Yahoo may create the ability for users to view their ad profiles -- the data that's being used to target them with advertising on Yahoo and its extended network. Yahoo EVP Jeff Weiner, speaking at the Economics of Social Media conference in LA yesterday, suggested that he'd like to see such a system in place at Yahoo. As CNET reports, a similar idea was floated but previously quashed at Yahoo. But now the environment in Sunnyvale is more (dare I say it?) open to the idea.

Click to continue reading...

Google diving into 3D mapping of oceans from News.com reports Google is working on a new mapping system to map the Earth's oceans. The tool might be named Google Ocean and will compliment Google Earth and Google Sky.

News.com says Google Ocean will contain 3D oceanographic maps with underwater topography, search features for spots and attractions, and also have zooming and panning features. Much like Google Earth and Sky, you will be able to overlay layers on top of the oceanographic maps, such as weather patterns, currents, temperatures, shipwrecks, coral reefs, and algae blooms.