Google quietly announced the changes to AdWords on Thursday through their blog. Last day of Search Engine Strategies conference may have been a strategy in itself. I had not heard of this during the conference - though it was a hectic one to say the least. But from what I have read, Google is about to turn back on all inactive keywords - that is a lot of accounts that will suddenly see a spike in spend.

Yahoo! is rolling out a new mobile search feature for Nokia devices. The feature is a shortcut that allows users to access oneSearch via one click on the downloadable mobile search client. The feature is available on Series 60 Nokia devices North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and South America. Yahoo says a key integration of the shortcut is Search Assist, which is search suggestion technology for oneSearch.

41% of women are likely to begin their search for a new home online , compared with just 25% of men, according to a survey released by Obeo . 52.6% of women and 45% of men research 21 or more homes online at some point during the process. 95% of women said photos of a home are very helpful in searching for a home and 70% of them said 360-degree panoramas are useful. Obeo is a provider of interactive online marketing tools for the real estate industry.

The team at Google AdWords has announced that they will be rolling out improvements to Quality Score in the coming weeks.

Yahoo has released a new look for Site Explorer . Currently, the new version can be found at https://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/new , but will be made default in the future. The new look also comes with an update that increases the number of rules for Dynamic URL Rewriting from 3 to 10. Here are some screenshots of the new look: What do you think of the new look? Let us know in the comments.

Google increased their market share of searches by 0.4% in July, coming in at 61.9%, according to comScore. That gain came at Yahoo's expense, who dropped 0.4% to 21.5%. Microsoft also dropped 0.3% to 8.9%. Both Ask and AOL picked up that gain.

With local search on the rise, it's important to keep your local campaigns in tune with your national efforts. In today's Vertical Search column, " 6 Tips for Aligning Your National, Local SEM Efforts ," Gregg Stewart discusses how to go after the local long tail, including customization, keyword lists, and tracking.

The idea that surfing the web at work is taboo might largely be a myth. 57% of executives say it's alright that their employees browse non-work related websites during the work day, according to a survey by The Creative Group. 41% say it's not okay and 2% aren't sure. Just how long can you surf before turning that yes into a no? The mean average is 32 minutes. The survey was conducted among advertising and marketing executives, traditionally a field with more creative types.

Lately, Google has had a global focus. Recently, they gave tips on developing a multi-lingual site . Now, they're enabling cross-language search in Google News. Users most likely to notice the change reside in countries where there are few online news resources or where multiple languages are traditionally spoken. Despite the heavy influx of people from Spanish-speaking countries, Google says US users will primarily see English. So will users from the UK. However,

Hyper-local search site CitySquares.com is the fastest growing search site, according to Quantcast. Launched in 2005, focusing on Boston, CitySquares opened up to more locations this past June. Now the site features 1.5 million businesses in New York City, eastern New York State and all of New England. Since the switch, traffic has increased by 1500%. If you're an SEO or SEM in the New England/New York area,

IAC, the parent company of Ask.com, has completed the spinoff of four companies : HSN, Inc. )HSNi(, Interval Leisure Group, Inc. )ILG(, Ticketmaster and Tree.com. For every one share of IAC common stock held on August 11, 2008, the record date for the spin-off, or bought in the due bill period, holders received one-fifth of a share of common stock of each of HSNi, ILG and Ticketmaster, and one-thirtieth of a share of common stock of Tree.com.

As U.S. workers continue to check out the Olympics online during the work week, Yahoo is beating the competition in drawing eyes to its Olympic content. But if your in management, don't freak out. Peak time for your employees' daily Olympic fix is lunch time. Check out this data from Nielsen Online. Now, if you'll excuse me, the gold medal match for women's soccer is about to begin - US versus Brazil. Should be a good one!

So much was taking place on Day 3 of SES San Jose 2008, even attendees needed to use news and blog search engines to keep up with more than 75 articles and posts coming out of the SEM conference & expo . Here are the top stories that represent just the tip of the iceberg: Report: Bill Gates Remains Tied To Search Doug Caverly of WebProNews reports, "The latest Nielsen stats put Microsoft's share of the search market at an unimpressive 11.9 percent.

There were more than 70 news articles and blog posts on Day 2 of SES San Jose 2008 . And that doesn't include the video interviews from Day 1 which are being posted as we speak. Here are the some of top stories for those of those of you trying to glimpse the highlights - when you really need to be here to get the full impact of the conference. Is Microsoft's Vision of Search Enough to Catch Google? Rob Hof of BusinessWeek writes,

American Airlines today began offering in-flight internet access on select flights. For $12.95, passengers flying Boeing 767-200 aircraft on non-stop flights between New York and San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles, and New York and Miami can browse to their heart's desire. The mobile broadband service is called Gogo and is provided by Aircell. Passengers can access the internet once the plane has reached 10,000 feet.

When it comes to local advertising , the best conversions come from local media sites, such as newspaper and tv station sites, according to a new report from the Online Publishers Association )OPA(. Local media sites see a higher percentage of visitors taking actions on local ads compared to a user review site or a portal. Local Newspaper Site: 46% Local Television Site: 44% Local Magazine Site: 42% User Review Site: 39% Portal: 37% 2,

SearchIgnite has announced the release of the next generation of its media optimization tool. The updates featured in Version 3.0 are: Full multi-channel media tracking and reporting: Track and report on paid search, display, paid inclusion, organic search, e-mail and more to better understand the consumer sales funnel and properly attribute online media channels that lead to a sale.

Google has released a major update to Website Optimizer, which contains new features that will have users breathing a sigh of relief. First up, you can now disable combinations that just aren't working out for you. Dubbed "Experiment Pruning," the feature allows users to eliminate combinations that are poorly performing or just don't make sense for your campaign.

Richard Stokes, the founder of search marketing firm AdGooroo, has announced the publication of his new book, Mastering Search Advertising â€" How the Top 3% of Search Advertisers Dominate Google AdWords . In the book, Stokes walks through the basics of setting up a PPC campaign and uses graphs and case studies to demonstrate successful marketing strategies.

Want to search Google for results that don't include sites under the Google umbrella? Try Google Minus Google . The site shows YouTube -less, Knol -less, and Blogger-less results. The site was started by Finnish blogger Timo Paloheimo, who was inspired by an article in the New York Times asking the question, Is Google a Media Company? Paloheimo claims he received 3,000 visits the very first day. via NYT Related Reading: Is Google Becoming a Portal?