If your business is global, then you likely have many documents in foreign languages. In order to help employees find documents in languages other than their first, Google has enabled cross-language searching for enterprise customers using the Google Search Appliance.

Queries will be passed through a translation engine which will enable search in several languages. Users can choose the document to be returned to them in any of the available languages.

Google Mini and Google Search Appliance owners can head to this link at Enterprise Labs to check out the new feature.

Just two and half months after releasing Version 6.5, Google has launched the new version of AdWords Editor. Version 7.0 is now available for Windows and Mac. Be sure to back up your work before you upgrade. You can import your work into 7.0 once it’s been deleted.

Here’s what to expect with the new version:

• First page bid estimates: AdWords Editor now uses first page bid estimates for your keywords. Minimum cost-per-click (CPC) bids are no longer used.
• Keyword Quality Score: The Keywords tab now displays the Quality Score for your keywords.
• Keyword Opportunities locale: Tailor your keyword suggestions to a particular language and location by changing your Keyword Opportunities locale.
• Campaign targeting in the data view: You can view your targeting settings in the new ‘Language’ and ‘Location’ columns on the Campaigns tab. These columns are hidden by default, but you can select them with the column chooser.
• Send feedback to Google: Help us improve AdWords Editor by enabling usage tracking in your AdWords Editor settings (Tools menu > Settings).
• Other updates:
  • The ‘Volume’ column on the Keyword expansion tab of the Keyword Opportunities tool now shows absolute numbers (traffic for the last month) instead of scaled values.
  • The Keyword Opportunities tool isn’t available for draft accounts.

Check out the release notes for more info.

Related Reading:
Google AdWords Releases New Editor Guide
AdWords Editor Update Launches Performance Statistics Download
Conversion Optimizer Now Supported by Adwords Editor and API

Wifi-enabled mobile devices such as the iPhone, iPod Touch, G1, and Blackberry Bold are driving the increase in accessing the mobile web via Wifi, according to new data released by Admob.

Last month, mobile web requests via Wifi represented 8% of all mobile web requests. 19% of all mobile web requests were made by Wifi-enabled devices, up from just 9% in August.

Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch dominates the field of total Wifi requests at 78%. In fact, 42% of all web requests from the iPhone are generated on Wifi. But keep in mind that the G1 was just released in the middle of October and one month later was in the top 10 of devices accessing via Wifi. It already represents 7% of total T-Mobile traffic. The Blackberry Bold hasn’t cracked the top 10 (yet) but is also a relatively new phone.

Another interesting note is that Sony’s portable gaming device, the PlayStation Portable (PSP), generates 13% of all Wifi requests for the mobile web. It’s not the only portable gaming device that is Wifi-enabled. The Nintendo DS can access Wifi, but it’s not showing up at the top of these lists.

You can download the entire PDF report here.

YouTube has enabled HD viewing following the recent format change to a wider layout for videos. In case you’re HD unaware, high def videos require a widescreen format for optimal viewing. That’s why all the fancy pants LCD HD tvs are widescreen. YouTube was prepping for HD videos online with the format change.

Just click “watch in HD” under an HD-enabled video and it will automatically play in HD. You can also visit the new HD videos section to browse HD videos. If you need to prepare your videos for the new widescreen format, click here for the FAQ.

Another addition is new niche landing pages for YouTube. The new pages are for News (http://www.youtube.com/news), Music (http://www.youtube.com/music), and Movies (http://www.youtube.com/movies).

Related Reading:
YouTube Attracts 100 Million U.S. Online Video Viewers in October 2008
Live from San Francisco, It’s YouTube!
YouTube Rolls Out Sponsored Videos
YouTube Adds Search to Embeddable Videos

Well here’s an interesting nuanced piece of information. Searches for pizza on yellow pages tend to peak in January, according to the Yellow Pages Association. It starts with the very first day of the month, when football games fuel the need for a greasy pie. Football continues the calls to local pizzerias with the NFL playoff series (Go Panthers!).

This year, politics could play a roll in puffing up pizza pertinent searches with the inauguration of Barack Obama occurring on January 20th. Of course, if you didn’t vote for the man, you can always buy a pie on that day in celebration of yours truly, who will turn 31 on that very day (and whose birthdays are always overshadowed every four years by the unfortunately timed presidential event.)

Other interesting tidbits about pizza searchers:

• 52% are looking for a local restaurant
• The most likely pizza searcher is a single male, aged 18-24, with a college degree and renting in the Northeast.
• Maine is the most pizzeria-saturated state with four pizzerias for every 10,000 people.

Related Reading:
Pizza Search Engine Slow To Deliver
Papa John’s Makes a Friday Ad Blitz
New Analytics Tool Aids Shift from Print Yellow Pages to Online Advertising
Top 10 Yellow Pages Searches According to Yellow Pages Association
Yellow Pages and Search

Rumor has it Google VP Marissa Mayer will be leaving the company in 2009, Gawker reported.

Mayer, vice president of search products and user experience, joined Google from Stanford’s graduate computer science department in 1999 as the company’s first female engineer. She also is a part-time introductory computer programming teacher at Stanford and has been given the Centennial Teaching Award and the Forsythe Award.

In a recent interview Mayer seems to contradict these rumors when she talked about the future of search and Google. “We think that when you look at the winning search engine in 2020 and what traits it’s likely to have, we think the one thing that will be true is that it will understand more about you the user.”

Mayer was the keynote speaker at SES San Jose 2007 and is one of the more public faces of the company. She has worked with many of the company’s newer products and has been known as a long time advocate of the minimalist homepage.

We began our discussion of site structure last week by looking at meta tags. In today’s SEM 101 column, “SEO Site Structure 101, Part 2,” Ron Jones continues exploring the SEO impact of site structure, including title tags, URL structure, and other on-page elements.

» Full story

If your kids are like mine, it’s been a bit difficult for them to sit still, focus on anything and have good behavior because of their extreme excitement about opening presents tomorrow. Need help keeping them occupied? Let them track Santa via the interwebs.

Google is the official partner of NORAD Santa, which reveals Mr. Claus’s real time location on the all important Christmas Eve. If you have to go out for last minute shopping, you can even track Santa via Google Maps for Mobile.

Of course, because of time differences, Jolly Ol’ St. Nick is already on his way. In fact, as of this post, he was getting stuck in chimneys in Southeast Asia! (Don’t worry, he’ll wrangle himself loose and make it to all the homes just in time.

Who knew Santa could be so geographically educational? Enjoy your holidays and don’t forget to leave out the cookies and milk! (And carrots for the reindeer).

Related Reading:
Who Stole Santa’s Pants?
Link Building Case Study: Santa Claus
With New Dell Campaign, Santa’s List Meets Web 2.0
Santa’s Naughty or Nice Deliverability Lists