Yahoo! Search BOSS is now allowing developers to use a feature called Key Terms. The feature is derived from technology that is used in Search Assist.

Yahoo! says developers can use Key Terms to create refinement terms for their own search applications as well as creating semantic analysis or new relevancy models.

In releasing Key Terms, Yahoo! is introducing a new universal parameter: “view.” The Yahoo! Search blog gave the following example for a search for the new President-elect:

Yahoo! has announced that Jerry Yang will step down as CEO once his replacement has been found. Yang will remain on board as Chief Yahoo!

Yang became CEO in June 2007 at the request of the Board of Directors. Board Chairman Roy Bostock will lead the search for a new CEO. Here’s his official corporate-speak on the matter:

“Over the past year and a half, despite extraordinary challenges and distractions, Jerry Yang has led the repositioning of Yahoo! on an open platform model as well as the improved alignment of costs and revenues. Jerry and the Board have had an ongoing dialogue about succession timing, and we all agree that now is the right time to make the transition to a new CEO who can take the company to the next level. We are deeply grateful to Jerry for his many contributions as CEO over the past 18 months, and we are pleased that he plans to stay actively involved at Yahoo! as a key executive and member of the Board.”

Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) is planning to introduce a net neutrality bill in January, according to Reuters. President-elect Barack Obama has said he supports net neutrality, though it is not yet clear whether he backs Dorgan’s bill.

The bill would prevent Internet Service Providers (ISPs) from blocking web content. Net neutrality supporters say some ISPs have blocked content because of concerns over the amount of bandwidth used by customers. Others have slowed downloading activities for the same reason.

Internet service provider AT&T told Reuters it would be crazy to block content because the customers would just jump ship to an ISP that doesn’t. Blocking content would be akin to shooting themselves in the foot.

Indeed, the bill would pit ISPs such as AT&T, Verizon Wireless and cable companies against content providers such as Google and Microsoft.

Yes, in Washington, enemies make the strangest bedfellows.

Related Reading:
Uncle Sam Says: Thumbs Down on Net Neutrality
Without Neutrality, What Happens to Search?

Google is updating its iPhone search application with a new voice search feature, according to the New York Times. The update is expected to be available in the iTunes app store sometime today.

Users will be able to speak their questions into the phone. The speech is recorded and sent to Google servers which will try to understand the recording and find the answer via Google’s search engine.

One of the cool parts of the app is that it will use the iPhone accelerometer to know when a user has raised the phone to their ear. For the iPhone-less, the accelerometer senses motion. There’s a bunch of games that use this feature for their apps. So if you ever see an iPhone user making weird motions, that’s why.

The update wasn’t yet available in my iTunes, but I’m looking forward to checking it out when it is.

Oh, I should mention that Google isn’t the first to bring voice search to mobile. Microsoft and Yahoo already have brought voice search to some devices. But a search in the iTunes store didn’t reveal anything else that was a solid voice search app (not that Apple’s iTunes search is the best).

Related Reading:
Google Updates Search Results for iPhone
Google’s My Location Now with WiFi
Google Prepares iPhone Ad Options

Paid search has come to YouTube. Users can pay to have their videos appear in a right hand sidebar called “Sponsored Videos” in the results of desired search terms.

It works pretty much exactly like AdWords. You bid on terms, set daily limits, etc. You only pay when someone clicks to watch.

Check out YouTube’s YouTube video for more details:

Related Reading:
YouTube Adds Search to Embeddable Videos
Yellowbook and YouTube Enter Content Distribution Partnership
Link to a Point of Time Within a YouTube Video

There were lowered expectations for the 2008 Holiday shopping season before the bottom dropped out of the economy, but now it’s even worse. But you and your clients still have to make the best of things, so we’re here to help.

Search Engine Watch is offering a one-hour webcast, “How to Survive the Economic Meltdown & Succeed this Holiday Season,” taking place on Wednesday, November 19 at 1 p.m. EDT.

You’ll get some Holiday PPC campaign tips from Keith Hong, senior director of Clickable’s Assist and Customer Experience group (and former head of Ask.com customer management group). He’ll explain what you should already have done to prepare for success, and what you must do throughout the holiday season to adapt to volatile market and demand spikes. He’ll also offer some advice on how to stay calm and ensure success amidst this economic meltdown.

When times are tough, it’s even more important that you spend your marketing dollars efficiently. This SEW Webcast can help you learn how to do that.

Please sign up today.

It’s easy to pick on Microsoft. It’s practically a national pastime at this point. So when they announced their Cashback program to help grow Live Search, the snears came fast and furious.

“You have to pay people to search?” they said.

Turn your laughter into claps, people. It turns out that Cashback is working. Microsoft is seeing positive results on three goals it said it would report. They are:

• Number of offers in the system
• Advertiser return on investment (ROI)
• Percentage of commercial search queries as measured by comScore

There’s been a 30% increase in the number of products offered via Cashback. 4.5 million unique users per month are generating 68 million commercial queries. eBay has seen an increase of 50% on their ROI.

“We believe this early traction speaks to the differentiated and unique value proposition of Microsoft Live Search cashback for both consumers and advertisers, especially in these tough economic times,” said Brad Goldberg, general manager of Microsoft Live Search.

Is it really any surprise that incentives work? No. Have you ever been listening to the radio and they’re having a $1,000 giveaway? You have to be listening at the right times to call in.

Incentives are nothing new. Microsoft was smart to implement them into Live Search. People don’t necessarily use Google because it’s any better but because it’s familiar. Live Search needs a way to get people searching, and Cashback is working to help accomplish those goals.

That may be why Microsoft is expanding Cashback by partnering with shopping cart providers Miva Merchant, Early Impact Inc. (ProductCart) and 3DCart. Through the agreement, merchants who use the shopping carts are eligible for Cashback.

LinkedIn has announced yet another launch. This time it’s a robust Events feature that includes social and search to boot.

Members will receive recommendations for events that match their profile. These can be found on the Events homepage.

Events can be searched for by industry, date, and location.

You can see who on LinkedIn has indicated that they’ll be attending a particular event as well as update your own attendance status.

Also, keep track of updates or look up the history of events.

Check out this video for more info:

Incisive Media announced today that Matt McGowan is being promoted to vice president and publisher for its digital marketing businesses, including the ClickZ network, Search Engine Watch and the Search Engine Strategies conference series. Matt, who was formerly the global VP of marketing for the group, will oversee all non-editorial functions including sales, marketing and operations. He will report to Kevin Vermeulen, senior vice president.

Matt joined Incisive Media in 2006. Before that, he had served as vice president – sales, marketing and operations for PropertyRoom.com. He began his media career as a marketing manager for Pearson PLC.

McGowan holds a bachelor’s degree from Lafayette College and received his MBA from the University of Oxford. He will continue to be based in New York City.

In a press release, Vermeulen said, “We’re pleased that Matt will be leading the expansion of these fast-growing brands that are widely recognized as key resources for interactive marketers.”

Matt is well-known in the search industry. In addition to seeing him at Search Engine Strategies conferences and expos on several continents, he has also started moderating SES Webcasts, including the one last Friday with Bill Tancer of Hitwise.

John Connor Mulligan of SEO-PR interviewed Matt during SES New York 2008 — in Times Square. If you look closely, you’ll see a big shamrock in Matt’s lapel. Hmmmmm. Do you think, maybe, McGowan is a wee bit Irish?

Matt McGowan in Times Square, Day 1 SES NY 2008

In Google AdWords, an ad’s Quality Score calculation is based on how well the account’s campaigns have performed over time, especially in terms of CTR. So what happens with new accounts? Since there’s no CTR data on which to base QS, how does Google determine minimum bids? In today’s Profitable PPC column, “The Account Quality Score: Money Pit for the Uninformed,” David Szetela outlines what happens with new AdWords accounts, and what you can do about it.

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