Microsoft is today launching a new incentive program for Live Search. The program is called SearchPerks , and it works very much like a credit card reward program. Every time you search, you earn tickets. You can earn up to 25 tickets a day. Tickets can later be redeemed for all sorts of rewards including music downloads )5 for 525 points( and airline miles )1000 miles for 1800 tickets(. Here's how it works. Sign up for the program, and download a simple piece of code.

The New York Times has a great article about using the internet for information on medical conditions, including how search is involved in the process. As you know, results can change just by adding a keyword to the phrase you're already searching for. Search for a condition and add the word community, for example, and you suddenly have access to patients dealing with the same issues, according to Susannah Fox of the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

Google has added 11 languages to its Translate product. They are: Catalan Filipino Hebrew Indonesian Latvian Lithuanian Serbian Slovak Slovenian Ukrainian Vietnamese The total number of languages is now 34 and the total number of language pair combinations nearly doubled from 506 to 1122. Recently, Google added human translators as well.

WebTrends is rolling out a new feature to help web markters and developers track specific analytics. The tool is called TagBuilder. It's online, it's free and it generates WebTrends data collection tags, which have been rewritten as standardized, object-oriented JavaScript code. Here's what you can do with TagBuilder: Access automated click-event tracking for download links, offsite links, form submissions,

Run, don't walk, to your favorite bookstore and pick up a copy of Search Engine Marketing, Inc.: Driving Search Traffic to Your Company's Web Site )2nd Edition(. Okay, okay, so most search engine marketers will simply order the paperback on Amazon.com. But, somehow 1-click ordering takes all the drama out of buying the latest book by Mike Moran and Bill Hunt. And if you don't believe me, check out what Lee Odden,

Last week, Google launched a site that explained what they feel are the facts behind their search advertising agreement with Yahoo . Now, Yahoo is doing the same . The site does not offer much new in the way of arguments supporting the partnership. Yahoo reiterates the point that advertisers set the price of search ads through the bidding process, and that there will be no price setting between Google and Yahoo. But that argument hasn't seemed to calm many fears.

Google's intentions are good, but we must also remember that they aren't in the business of helping your Web site rank highly in Google. So when Google advises against URL rewriting in their Webmaster Central blog, is there an ulterior motive? In today's organic SEO column, " Tin Foil Hat? I Have Mine On ," Mark Jackson weighs the pros and cons of URL rewriting, and explores some possible reasons why Google would rather webmasters didn't do it.

Google has launched AdWords API Local Database Sync. This allows you to run reports, store them in a local database, and then query that database. The AdWords API team says that this should make querying a local database faster and more cost effective. Jeffrey Posnick informed on the code behind the project: The scripts are written in Python, and make use of the SOAPpy libraries for accessing the AdWords API SOAP service.

When you're competing with hundreds of other Web sites for the attention of just one user, how can you ensure your site stands out? If you look at what you offer, what you make the most money on, and what people are asking for, you can build your Web site to serve the most profitable aspect of that need. In today's small business search engine marketing column, " The Geometry of SEM - What's your Angle? ,

Google has opened a new office in Reston, Virginia and staffed it with sales people tasked with getting their products used in the government. Their neighbors include widely known government contractors including Northrup Grumman and Raytheon. Their challenge is to convince government agencies to shift to a cloud computing method. Of course, when you're dealing with so much confidential information, the gravity of the challenge seems intense indeed.

Knowing how and when to make decisions about your PPC campaign's keyword and ad performance can make or break your campaign. In today's Profitable PPC column, " Judging PPC Performance: Focus on Conversions ," David Szetela reminds you that almost every action you take to improve your PPC ad campaign should be based on conversion data.

A new study is showing that 93% of Americans expect companies to have a presence in social media. 85% say companies should interact with consumers via social media, according to the data released by Cone, Inc. Specifically,

Yahoo President Sue Decker took to the Yahoo Anecdotal blog to defend the search advertising deal her company struck with Google a few months ago. Google has been doing the heavy lifting when it comes to defending the deal to the critics. So, it was about time we heard from Yahoo again on the deal. But Decker started off with a sarcastic tone. Her first paragraph ended with: Since the critics clearly don't understand the deal and what it means for Yahoo!, Google,

I guess Yahoo possibly talking with AOL again and launching a brand new advertising platform were not enough to ease opinions on the current state of Yahoo. Collins Stewart analyst Sandeep Agrawal does not have a lot of faith in Yahoo right now. He maintains his hold status on the stock, and places the value at $21. That's quite a bit less than the $31 Microsoft was offering to acquire Yahoo earlier this year. Agrawal writes,

Misconfigured 404 error pages can affect your search engine rankings. The last thing you need in the Google index is an error page, but even worse are multiple URLs that were mistyped being returned as "OK." In today's Search Marketing Crossfire column, " Common Problems with 404 Error Pages ," Chris Boggs and Frank Watson outline some best practices for creating custom 404 pages.

"Research online, buy offline," )ROBO( is the concept that a growing volume of product research is happening online while the majority of buying remains offline in physical stores. A growing number of local search engines are basing their business model on the concept. In today's vertical search column, " When will ROBO's Time Come? ," local search expert Michael Boland explores some of the reasons why ROBO features haven't picked up on a mass market level.

Facebook's market share is up 50% year-over-year, according to data released by Hitwise. myYearbook.com saw a 256% growth, propelling it into the third spot for most visited social network sites in the United States in August 2008. Still, they only had 1.65% of the total share. MySpace lost market share, 10% to be exact. But it still holds the number one spot at 67.54% of the market. Here are the charts: Related Reading: 5 Million Users Hate the New Facebook?

Just in time for the debates )whenever they happen(, Google has released a political search engine called "In Quotes." The search engine helps people find what John McCain or Barack Obama have said about a variety of issues. )For elections in Canada, India, or the UK, see the drop-down menu in the top right hand corner.( Sad but true, elections are often won and lost on one-liners, whether they be gaffes or zingers. Now,

In Google's quest to make sure its search advertising deal with Yahoo goes through, it has added yet another defense to its arsenal: a new facts site . If it sounds political, that's because it is. The Department of Justice opened an official investigation into the deal months ago . It turns out that when the largest search engine teams up with the second largest search engine to combine advertising, it raises antitrust issues! On the homepage,

Adobe released Creative Suite 4 this week and included with the update is a Google Site Search-powered help feature. Google Site Search is used with the new Adobe Community Help, which harnesses the power of social media and online communities to provide another source of support. Adobe Senior Product Manager John Nack, writing on the Official Google blog , said,