Google is helping its users understand what's behind customized, or personalized , results )as opposed to Google Custom Search (. They're rolling out a new feature that explains why results may be tailored to a particular user. The feature will be rolled out over the next few days. When it does, you'll notice a new link for "More Details" in the top right corner. Clicking on the link will take you to an explanation of customized results.

Today TechCrunch reported on the birth of a new search engine: Yuil. Now Yuil is dead. Yuil )pronounced yule( was a short-lived Yahoo-powered mashup designed to look like Cuil . Apparently the Yahoo Boss mashup - something of a search engine Frankenstein monster - was destroyed by its inventor . Yuil was designed by Yahoo VP of Platforms, Sam Pullara. Yuil was a brilliant marketing move designed to show off the new Yahoo BOSS API.

Microsoft has launched a new concept for Live Search. Now, when you visit the search engine, you'll see a background image with "hotspots." Hotspots are small boxes that highlight a portion of the image. You can rollover them with your mouse to find out what is being highlighted, and click on the hotspot for more information. Look quickly though, the hotspots appear quickly upon loading and then disappear. While you can still rollover the hotspots,

Google is facing another YouTube law suit, this time from Italian broadcaster Mediaset, which is controlled by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. The suit was filed in Rome and seeks 500 million Euros in damages )approx $779 million USD(. The suit is similar to others, including the one brought by Viacom , citing illegal use of copyrighted materials. Mediaset says a June 10 analysis showed 4,643 videos equaling more than 325 hours were found on the popular online video site.

Marchex is integrating online and offline lead generation methods in its launch of Marchex Connect 2.0. The local advertising platform offers three products: online advertising, call-based advertising, and Business Profile Pages With today's launch, Marchex subsidiaries VoiceStar and Traffic Leader have been unified under the Marchex Digital Platform Group to leverage the Marchex Connect platform and provide integrated,

Local directories made 9% of their gross revenues online in 2007, while other local media such as newspapers and TV only made 5% online. Douglas Quenqua, over at ClickZ, has the full write up from the data released by Borrell Associates . While search has threatened the industry, selling ads on the cheap has kept yellow pages companies competitive. And they aren't resisting the digital change. Gordon Borrell, CEO of Borrell Associates, said,

Some skeptics have publicly predicted the death of Ask.com . With IAC planning to spin off its properties into four units, that's a bold prediction indeed. For the divisions that will become the new IAC, including Internet services such as Ask.com and Match.com, revenue rose 11% as earnings improved 3%. The Ask-Google partnership is already paying dividends. More people are using Ask more often.

IAC, the parent company of top-5 search engine Ask.com, has posted a 7% year-over-year growth in revenue for the second quarter of 2008. IAC is preparing for a transition, spinning off various assets into different companies. "We are now right around the corner from the separation of IAC into five separate companies and the dissolution of the complexity surrounding the combined structure," said IAC's Chairman and CEO, Barry Diller.

Google created a firestorm in the industry with its Paid Links directive. So where does Yahoo stand in the Paid Links debate? In today's Web analytics and ROI column, " Google vs. Yahoo on Paid Links ," Eric Enge looks at Yahoo's stance on buying links for SEO value.

Cuil may be a good search engine...someday. But launching it as a "Google-killer" was a mistake. In today's Searching for Meaning column, " What's Wrong With Being Cuil? ," Kevin Ryan outlines two lessons to learn from this: First, make sure it works before you launch it. Second, make sure you can live up to your claims or you'll suffer the consequences.

Yahoo, Intel and Hewlett Packard announced an alliance to advance "cloud computing," backing a global trend that threatens Microsoft's iron-fisted grip on packaged software installed on computers. Earlier this year Google and IBM teamed up to advance research into providing SAAS )software as a service( on the Internet hosted by data centers. Cloud computing isn't as futuristic as it sounds. Web-based email )Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Hotmail( offered by Google, Yahoo,

When it comes to beating Google, many entrepreneurs attempt to have what they consider better results than Google. Whether its indexing a trillion pages , advancing semantic search , or harnessing social search , everyone's looking for their Unique Selling Proposition. I have conducted a great deal of thinking on the matter and have concluded that technology or financial backing has nothing to do with it. The real reason no one can beat Google is all in the name.

I was literally in the middle of writing a post entitled "All Quiet on the Yahoo Front" when news broke about T. Boone Pickens selling off his entire stake in Yahoo . I was pondering whether or not the calm was more like a relaxing day at the spa or an eerie moment in a M. Night Shyamalan movie when the famed Texas oilman took the latter route. Pickens, known most recently for his alternative energy plan ,

Online video consumption has been on the rise for a while, and now Integrated Media Measurement Inc. )IMMI( is releasing demographic and behavioral data to show the details of the trend. 20% of primetime television programming is now viewed online. The audience is comprised of 55% female and 45% male. Households earning $80,000 a year or more are 56% more likely to watch a network show online. Those earning $40,

Issuing press releases without regard for SEO is a wasted opportunity. In today's organic search engine optimization column, " Press Releases and Search Engine Optimization ," Mark Jackson shows that combining press releases with SEO efforts can help gain presence in the editorial results of the search engines, even if it's not a direct presence for your actual domain.

In SEO for major sites, one of the most overlooked factors is uptime. In today's enterprise search marketing column, " When's an Outage More than Just an Outage? ," Aaron Shear looks at how a server outage can impact your SEO efforts.

With the rise of social networking , employers are left wondering if or how the trend affects their bottom line . Many have decided that Facebook and MySpace in the workplace are not appropriate )for content or productivity reasons( and have banned the sites from being accessed at their offices. To which I say: Good luck with that! With the onslaught of iPhones, resisting social media )and I don't mean for marketing purposes( will prove to be futile anyway. Go ahead.

Yahoo has released updates to the ad performance reports for sponsored search accounts. First up, three columns have been added to the report. They are: Ad ID column â€" This column displays your Ad's ID number. Ad: â€" This column provides a visual representation of your ad, including its title, short description and display URL. Destination URL The columns are available in report downloads as well. Additionally, Yahoo has consolidated ad statuses into a single column.

Chinese internet portal Sohu.com has announced $40.2 million in second quarter profit, up 600% over the same quarter in 2007. The news comes in the wake of results posted by Chinese search engine Baidu, which saw profits rise 87% in Q2 2008. The big boost in profits for both companies come as the 2008 Beijing Olympics approach. Check out this display ad from Lenovo on the Sohu.com . "The growing momentum reflects the overall expansion of the China Internet market,

Microsoft's recently acquired Navic Networks has announced a new partnership with Mediabrands, a new group of four companies: Initiative, Universal McCann, MAGNA and IPG's Emerging Media Lab. The media companies will have access to Navic's Admira, a national media planning tool that includes audience behavior data and real-time viewership reporting. "We are seeking new technologies to deliver unparalleled accountability to clients,