Like their parents and teachers, most kids use Google to find their way online. But there are plenty of great search engines made especially for children out there. Here is a list of the top 5 search engines for kids

What to look for

These child friendly search engines all search safe content, often indexes of content of particular interest to children, so you know the kids don’t stumble upon unsavory content.

A great search engine for kids also has a user interface that is easy to navigate and that appeals to children. This is my favorite part of researching search engines for children: You get to see innovative and user friendly search interfaces and neat presentation of search results. And the winners are:
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Here are some of the most important search engine news headlines of the week:

• Google eyes China as Baidu fumbles

  Baidu’s switch to a new advertising system, Phoenix Nest, may be the catalyst that boosts Google’s market share. (Economic Times Nov 15 2009)



• Google makes concessions on digital book deal

  Internet search leader Google will ease its control over millions of copyright-protected books earmarked for its digital library (SFgate Nov 15 2009)

• Google aims to double Web speed

  Google is hoping to make Web pages download up to twice as quickly using SPDY, a new application-layer protocol in Chrome (MacWorld Nov 13 2009)

• Switzerland Drops Legal Hammer on Google Street View

  Hanspeter Thuer, the Swiss Data Protection Authority commissioner wants Google to ensure that all faces and car plates are blurred and that Google erase images of walled gardens and private streets (Google Watch Nov 14 2009)

• WolframAlpha Makes It to Popular Science

  Popular Science, the world’s largest science and technology magazine, has released its 22nd annual list of the best 100 innovations, and named Wolfram|Alpha as the “Best of What’s New” Grand Award winner (Beyond Search Nov 14 2009)

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Would you have more value for SEO based search results or human conversation driven results? If you knew that there were 6 conversations that provided a fantastic account of a design firm you were considering would that be more valuable to you than the top 3 links on your current search engine results?

Ben Behrouzi, Founder and CEO of LeapFish asks these questions in a recent blogpost.

LeapFish used to be a regular meta search engine. Last week, the new LeapFish was unveiled: A multi-media and real-time search, communication, and sharing platform.

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We read the most important search engine industry blogs and sites for you. Here are this week’s headlines from the world of search engines.

• Google Music Search: 3 Major Implications for the Music Business

  Googlers already search for songs, artists, and lyrics en masse, but the immediate click-to-listen and buy options that Google now provides could very well make them less likely to take the extra step back over to iTunes. (Mashable Nov 7 2009)

• Marissa Mayer Chosen As A Glamour Magazine Woman Of The Year

  Google’s Vice President of Search Product and User Experience Marissa Mayer was recently profiled in a Vogue Magazine article (TechCrunch Nov 6 2009)

• Microsoft Sites Captures Largest Share of Time Spent Online Worldwide

  Facebook and YouTube Combined Account for Nearly 10 Percent of Time Spent Online Globally (ComScore Nov 6 2009)

• Going Down The Long Tail of Local Search

  Because so many searches are now localized a long tail of local phrases are emerging within major metropolitan areas. (SE Guide Nov 5 2009)

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Google has added a new service for its Google Account holders that gives them an overview over all the Google services they have signed up for.

The idea behind this feature is, according to Google, to provide you with greater transparency and control over your own data.

The Dashboard gives Google users an overview over 20 products and services, including Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Web History, Orkut, YouTube, Picasa, Talk, Reader, Alerts, and Latitude.

We are not so sure that Google users will find this overview over what Google knows about them comforting, as this is quite a lot if you are an avid Google user.

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Google Books, the search engine giant’s book search tool, contains more than books. Google is also in the process of scanning new and old magazines to be included in the database.

Google (NSDQ:GOOG) has now added a separate entry gateway for magazine search. At the top you will find a search box that lets you limit your search to the content of magazines.

Below is a grid featuring the covers of various magazines. Click on one of them and you get access to a scanned copy of that particular issue.

And no, you will still have to buy the latest issue in the shop. The magazines presented here are at least one year old. Furthermore, the number of magazines included is limited and they are all American. This means that this service is more like a case study showing the future potential of Google’s magazine search than a real magazine repository.

Amazon is already selling digital copies of newspapers through its Kindle e-reader. Our guess is that Google is preparing Google Books for an era where they will sell copies of magazines directly over the Web.

Jeffrey Peng, the software engineer that designed the page, tells more about this over at The Inside Google Books blog.

Social search is web search aided in some way by social networks. Google (NSDQ:GOOG) launched its own social search last week. Who else is on this scene and how can social search help you find what you are looking for?

What kind of sites came into consideration for this short list of great social search engines? I have not been looking at sites that simply index social networks. I’m not looking for simply for information from social networks. I want search tools for general web search powered by information from social networks.

The sites on this list all search information that has been recommended by someone, and to some degree this recommendation influences the way the search results are listed. This brand of search engine give you search results that appeal to real people, not just search engine spiders. And the winners are:

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If you have the chance, go to Las Vegas on November 10 to 13 to take part in an intense search engine marketing learning arena.

It started in 2001, in London. Search engine marketing enthusiasts met at the Cittie of Yorke pub to discuss the search scene and have fun. There were no speeches or stands, just a lot of networking.

Image: Keynote speaker Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.

From Pub Conference to PubCon Las Vegas

Since 2001, Webmaster World has developed a large scale conference version of the pub gathering: PubCon. This year PubCon returns to Las Vegas, giving participants a new chance to learn about the search engine scene, listen to experts and network with fellow search engine marketers.

It all starts on November 9 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, with a networking “kick-off blast”. The next three days there are a large number of parallel sessions covering a lot of topics of relevance to internet and search engine marketing.

Session tracks

There are several tracks, including:

• Search engine optimization for organic search
• Search engine marketing (SEM)
• Social media marketing (including Twitter)
• Affiliate marketing
• The Webmaster World (coding, ecommerce, video etc.)
• Interactive Site Reviews
• Emerging Media (mobile, viral, video)
• Analytics and measurement
• Advertising, branding and PR
• Social, brand and reputation management
• Linking
• Forums & communities: building, management, and optimization

Among the speakers you’ll find people like Tony Adam and Jeff Arena of Yahoo!, Loren Baker of Search Engine Journal, Andy Beal of Marketing Pilgrim, Jim Boykin, Aaron Wall, Bruce Clay, Matt Cutts and Frederick Vallaeys of Google, Rand Fishkin of SEOMOz, Vanessa Fox, Nathan Buggia from Bing, Todd Friesen, Heather Lloyd-Martin, Elisabeth Osmeloski of Search Engine Land and many, more. Brett Tabke, the leader of it all, is obviously also there.

Click here for more information about PubCon.