Search Headlines – Surf Contest and more

Ask.com Sponsors Surf Contest

Elisabeth Osmeloski reveals that Ask.com will be sponsoring the Mavericks Surf Contest taking place in Half Moon Bay, California (that’s where the Scobles live, right?) in early 2007.

Greg Ott, Ask.com’s vice president of marketing, says that when users conduct a search for the surf contest they will be given instant access to Web casts, viewing locations, videos, bios on the surfers, and the history of the event. They’ll also be able to get Mavericks images, news, maps, walking and driving directions, blogs and other information via Ask.com and Ask Mobile. Sounds fun. Perhaps an odd pairing, but fun all the same. Cowabunga, dudes!

I strongly apologize for that last remark. I don’t know what came over me.

eBay Closes Down in China

The New York Times is reporting that eBay shut down its main Web site in China and instead took a 49 percent stake in a joint unnamed venture with Tom Online Inc. An official announcement is scheduled for tomorrow.

Yahoo Gives Back During the Holidays

Back at Search Engine Watch, Frank Watson notes that instead of giving gifts to their high-end customers (What is this then?), Yahoo used DonorsChoose.org and DonorsChooseGift.org to send gift card donations to customers’ charity of choice.

I like that a lot. I wish more of the engines would get on board with this. I mean, search engine schwag is nice and we all enjoy getting it, but how many Google T-shirts does one person really need? Get rid of the shirts and use that money for good. [Not so fast, I’d like that Yahoo sweatshirt. Making me less cold is totally charity. –Susan]

Disclaimer: All views, opinions and self-centeredness expressed by Susan Esparza are not representative of the goodwill and generosity displayed by the rest of the Bruce Clay, Inc. staff. She is what we like to call "a bad egg". Heh.

Everyclick: The charity donating search engine

Speaking of good-intentioned search engines, I came across Bigmouthmedia’s article on Everyclick and found it be pretty interesting.

For those unaware, Everyclick is a UK-based search engine that uses Ask.com technology. For every click you make, the engine will donate a small amount of money to a charity of your choice, at no cost to you. So you search and click until your little heart’s content and the proceeds will go to benefit people who need it. Just one more reason to do your holiday shopping online.

Fun Finds

Michael Graywolf makes me want Taco Bell. Thanks a lot, Michael.

From SEO by the Sea: Smaller Screens Make Smarter Search Engines.

Attributor Corp has launched a new copyright tool that will scan the Web looking for stolen instances of your content. Sweet.

Ask.com’s Gary Price shows us how to use SkylineGlobe to track Santa in 3D. Suddenly, I’m 5 years old again.

Lisa Barone is a writer, content marketer & VP of strategy at Overit Media. She's also a very active Twitterer, much to the dismay of the rest of the world.

See Lisa's author page for links to connect on social media.