Kip Kniskern tells us Microsoft Live Search has been rolling out tests that may or may not be a part of those new features expected with the coming release of "code name 'Kiev.'" He also points to other features that "pop in and out" of the live.com home image page. Readers have spotted glimpse of search histories on the results page, search results in a new font, and two new feature dubbed Best Match and Categorized Listing. Thanks to Twitter, we find all this may be more than just a rumor. A tweet by "Karenyo," Karen Yong of …

Ever thought about changing the name of your company because it's spelled like another? The small Normandy town of Eu did. The mayor recognized that the town's rich heritage wasn't enough to bring in tourists, many of whom relied on the Internet to find point of interest around Europe. Try to find Eu on Google, Microsoft Live Search or Yahoo and the query will likely return a long list of European-Union-related Web sites. The last straw came when the computers of the SNCF railways decided that Eu did not exist. The article steps through possible actions the town's …

Gary Stein hopes "history will repeat itself" with similar innovation that led online advertising out of the downturn experienced in 2001. The first half of the post mumbles through history, but scroll to the second half and you'll find what he believes are three promising catalysts for recovery. These are: leveraging the data from social media to find new ways to market; "computing power" in many previously uncomputerized devices, leading o "new opportunities to reach people in new ways"; and the "dawn of the full-screen mode era," in which computer users can be "totally focused on watching content," …

Display URL basics, trademark and editorial concerns, quality scores, and answers to questions about whether you might need the "www" in the URL string are some of the topics Brad Geddes covers in this post. "The display URL is also a prime candidate for ad testing," he writes. "A good display URL can increase your click through rate, increase your conversion rate, and improve your quality score which in turn, causes your ad to show higher in the search results or lets you pay less for your current clicks." Geddes explains how the URL can become a quality …

Eric Enge discusses what social media means for search experts and marketers. He believes the mix of SEO and social media should change the way marketers view linking. While developing link bait for Web site content that could make the front page of Digg or Reddit is important, SEO experts might want to start thinking about how Twitter and Facebook let brands share information to help build quality links. "Personally, I don't think that social media signals will replace links as a ranking signal, but will instead complement them," he writes. Mentions of brands across social media sites …

Skittles, known for its colorfully coated candies, has replaced its traditional Web site with a suite of social network tools that let you chat with others and search for your favorite taste and color. The homepage displays tweets from consumers -- reportedly every 20 to 30 seconds someone posts a tweet about Skittles (a marketer's dream come true). Once they enter their birthday, site visitors are free to roam the tweets and social media pages. Features give you options to check out products, chatter, friends, media and contacts. The 'Products" section features calorie counts for each product. In …

Bill Slawski explains Google's tool Popular Passages, which lets you create links between books and other publications based on shared passages and quotes. This is one of the most popular navigational features of Google Book Search, which also includes such items as "a list of the 'key terms' that appear in the book with links to where they show up," and a "Google Map to places mentioned in the books," notes Slawski. Popular Passage is also useful for patent filings. And what does its popularity mean for Web search? More tools that do similar jobs of linking key terms …

Don't forget the brand. Garrett Pierson provides tip on how to add the brand when relying on search engine optimization (SEO), pay per click (PPC) or social media to market online. For SEO, he explains, marketers will find it as simple as adding the brand name to the meta tag on the home page. The task could boost brand names in the rankings in Google, Microsoft and Yahoo search engine queries. Pierson recommends that marketers stay on message when relying on several media to communicate ideas. "Once your brand becomes recognizable and you provide great content to the …

Google News confirmed last week it will sell AdWords placement attached to its Google News searches in the United States, like ads for searches on its engine. So when queries are entered in a Google News search box, searchers will see text ads along the right side of results. Not all searches on Google News bring up ads. A search for "Google," for example, returns just the news. And according to Josh Cohen, Google has been experimenting with different types of technologies on Google News, such as overlay ads on embedded videos with the Associated Press.Also last week, …