By the time you read this, the Powerset site should have changed into a tool that allows you search against material within Wikipedia. Why bother using Powerset rather than using Wikipedia's own search tool or even Google set to look only within Wikipedia pages? The Powerset pitch is that you'll get better results because Powerset's technology has read and understood what every word within Wikipedia actually means.

Aaron Wall wrote an interesting article the other day about the value of a Google ranking. As we already know being number 1 on Google can drastically affect your business, but the question is, what is it worth?

You can now cast your vote for the Doodle 4 Google competition at google.com/doodle4google/vote.html. Again, the winning doodle will be showcased on the Google home page on May 22, 2008 and the winner also gets a $10,000 college scholarship and a $25,000 technology grant for his/her school.

A search for Astalavista at Yahoo returned, what appeared to be a Google.com result in the 10th position. But in reality, Yahoo somehow mixed up the astalavista.ms URL with a Google.com URL, and since astalavista.ms had signs of Malware on it, it appeared that Google.com had malware on it.

The Search Engine Roundtable reports that it seems to be no longer possible to sign up for the Ambassador Program. Although there is no specific confirmation from Yahoo on that on the Ambassador program page, when one tries to sign up via an affiliate site, we get a notice that reads:

Whether you're optimizing a page for the first time or tweaking a page to improve your rankings, it can be tempting to give a page an extreme makeover. From title tags to keyword selection and density to link building, sometimes an SEO may feel the pull to change it all in the hopes of getting a quick return.

The economic downturn is a reality, but the specific ways that it affects businesses run the gamut based on the size and type of business. During these times, small, local businesses often feel the pinch more quickly and sharply, causing some to take evasive maneuvers to keep afloat. Based on the

Contrary to some earlier reports, Google's new FriendConnect, launching today, is not focused on data portability or a direct answer to MySpace "Data Availability" or the new Facebook Connect. While there's a data portability dimension, it's focused on the flip side of the equation: site owners who want to make their sites more "social."

Nielsen has released data showing the popularity of social networks being used via mobile phones in the UK. Here are three key takeaway points:

Time is money, and these two tips will free up many moneymaking hours for you. In today's Content Advertising column, "Google AdWords Editor a Great Tool for Content -- and for Yahoo/Microsoft!," David Szetela explains how Google has created a tool that will increase ad revenue for itself, but for Yahoo and Microsoft as well.

If you've wanted to ride the social media marketing wave by adding social features to your website, but the economy has you worried about spending lots of money on apps, then get excited. Google is again coming to the rescue by offering a free service for you to get your social media game on.

Has there been a change in the SERPs? You might find out about it first - from Twitter.

If you're interested in pay-per-click marketing, you've no doubt checked out our Content Advertising column by SEW Expert David Szetela, founder and CEO of Clix Marketing. If you're looking for more advice from David, you can find it via his brand-spanking-new podcast airing on Webmasterradio.fm beginning today, "PPC Rockstars."

Hey, I like Twitter, but this entire thing Robert Scoble started about how Twitter had news of the Chinese earthquake before the US Geological Survey seemed absurd. Did it really? As it turns out, probably so -- by about a minute. Reading some of the accounts, you'd get the impression Twitter seemed to alert the USGS to the news.

On Monday, June 16, 2008, before the start of the Search Engine Strategies conference in Toronto, Canada, there will be four search engine marketing training classes. While each of the half-day SEM training workshops costs CAD 795, if you register for a full day, the cost is CAD 1,395.