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In July, Google launched Knol, a knowledge sharing platform. You can find all sorts of information from baking to AutoCAD.

Google says users have been asking for a more “robust” search platform for Knol. And who is Google to turn down such a request.

However, Google wanted to maintain the look and feel of Knol. So they used Custom Search to keep it feeling very Knol-y and not so regular Google-y.

What do you think of the Custom Search in Knol? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

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In July, Microsoft and Facebook announced an expansion of their existing partnership to include Live Search on the social network. Today, that plan has been implemented. AdCenter ads are being served up along with the results.

Here’s what they’re saying about it:

On the Live Search blog, Angus Norton, Senior Director, Live Search Product Management, wrote “This is a great first step in our partnership. As we evaluate user feedback and results we’ll explore additional ways to integrate Live Search more deeply into the Facebook experience.”

Over at Facebook’s blog, Leah Pearlman wrote, “By integrating web search into Facebook, you can increase the information available to share with your friends, family and coworkers on the site. For example, your friend may invite you to an event at a new restaurant. Without leaving Facebook, you can check out the details of the restaurant on the web. Or, say you see photos in your News Feed about a friend’s recent trip to Dubai. Inspired, you can search the web for more information about travel without having to leave Facebook. Along with your search results, you may also begin to see ads for products, services or other things that are relevant to your query.”

Have you tried out Live Search on Facebook? Let us know your first impressions in the comments.

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Back on July 20, 2008, I asked: “Is YouTube about to pass Yahoo in expanded searches?” Well, I’ve just had a chance to digest the latest data from comScore for August 2008 and its appears that YouTube has passed Yahoo — if you look at “expanded” search queries instead of “core” search queries.

First, what’s the difference between an expanded and a core search query? According to comScore, a “core” search query is one that occurs on “the five major search engines including partner searches and cross-channel searches. Searches for mapping, local directory, and user-generated video sites that are not on the core domain of the five search engines are not included in the core search numbers.”

If you expand the definition of a search query to include searches on YouTube, MapQuest, MySpace eBay, Craigslist.org, Facebook.com, or Amazon, then you get a different picture.

Google had 7.4 billion core search queries and 7.6 billion expanded search queries in August to lead no matter how you define a “search query.” Yahoo! had 2.3 billion core search queries and 2.4 billion expanded search queries that month. But “YouTube/All other” Google sites had 2.6 billion expanded search queries that month. Microsoft sites had 977 million core search queries and MSN-Windows Live had 988 million expanded search queries.

So, depending on your definition, the top three search engines are either (1) Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft, or (2) Google, YouTube, and Yahoo! That is a distinction with a big difference.

By the way, comScore Video Metrix reports that YouTube accounts for more than 98 percent of all videos viewed at Google sites. (This means Google Video accounts for less than 2 percent of all vides viewed at Google sites.)

So, if you’ve optimized the pages on your website that contain videos, you’ve optimized them for Google Video and other video search engines. They won’t help them get discovered, watched or shared on YouTube.

YouTube doesn’t crawl the web trying to index videos posted on millions of websites. Instead, users are now uploading 13 hours of new video to YouTube every minute. So, getting your video found in about 2.6 billion expanded searches a month means uploading and optimizing video for YouTube, not Google Video.

comScore has released their search market data for August 2008. Google saw 63% of the 11.7 billion core searches conducted in the U.S. during the late summer month. The number of core searches barely changed from July to August, so Google’s 1.1% rise over July 2008 certainly stole a little share from someone else.

Or rather, two someone elses. Both Microsoft and Yahoo took the hit, while Ask and AOL also added a bit of market share.

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In July, Google launched an iGoogle gadget that enables video speech search for select election videos. The technology searches transcribed speech snippets from the videos.

Now, Google has released this technology into Google Labs. So far, you can still only search the few transcribed snippets from election-related videos.

Now, you can “search within a video” and share videos with pals.

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Over 5 billion video views occurred on YouTube in July 2008, according to new data supplied by comScore. That gave Google Sites a whopping 44% of the video market in the U.S. In a distant second is Fox Interactive’s MySpace with 3.9% of the market and 446 million videos watched.

142 million, or 75%, of internet users watched online videos in July. The average number of videos watched per viewer is 80.

92 million of those viewers hung out at YouTube, consuming an average of 54.7 videos. 54 million absorbed video content at MySpace, at an average of 8.1 videos.

Here are the charts for the complete picture of the top 10 sites:

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Earlier this week, comScore released the results of a study examining recent changes in consumer attitudes and perceptions about the state of the U.S. economy. The study found that consumers in all income segments are cutting back on spending due to concerns about the economy, and that they were doing so to an even greater extent in July 2008 than in April 2008.

So, what does this mean for search engine marketers?

Many consumers have become increasingly cost conscious and are turning to the Internet for pricing information. The survey findings revealed that nearly three out of four consumers believe the Internet has made it “a lot easier” or “somewhat easier” to find better, more useful pricing information.

In addition, 75 percent of respondents said that they believe the Internet will become an even more important channel for pricing information, with 41 percent of respondents saying it will be “a lot more important” and 34 percent of respondents saying it will be “somewhat more important” in the future.

Do you need some examples to drive this point home?

In New York, Andrew Jeffery of Minyanville.com reports, “It appears the city that never sleeps has finally succumbed to the economic slowdown, and it’s not just the neon “Recession Special” sign outside Gray’s Papaya.”

In San Francisco, Liza Zimmerman of the S.F. Wine & Cocktail Examiner reviews a “Recession special: the Viansa 2007 Dolcetto is another well-executed example of using classic Mediterranean grapes on California soil.”

When Hyundai asked the Complex Blog to review their first Genesis offering touching down in the states, the company best known for econo-boxes “threw Complex the keys and we took this recession special for a ride.”

But wait! There’s more!

Go to the Rates and Registration Details page for SES Chicago 2008. Just like last year, there is an Early Bird Rate that enables you to save $200 if you register before November 21. But, unlike last year, there is also a “Recession Special,” which lets you save $600 if you register before September 26.

And if you want to appear as “sartorially challenged” as one SEM industry observer said “the brains of Search Engine Marketing and Search Engine Optimization are,” then turn up at SES Chicago wearing the “Recession Special Shirt” being offered by Ten Deep at Turntablelab.com. According to the review, “Nothing like a nice, timely shirt that reflects things going on in today’s headlines.”

Of course, wearing such a shirt violates the dress code in the SES Speaker Guidelines, which states: “Business casual attire is recommended. Formal business attire is perfectly fine. If in doubt, overdress. You won’t feel out of place, as many speakers will also be in formal attire. How you look has an impact on how well the audience receives your presentation.”

It’s a classic dilemna for marketers: Follow the guidelines or take advantage of today’s headlines. What would I recommend? I’d advise you to jump on the “recession special” to save $600, but skip over the shirt. But, I should disclose that SES is a client. If you want to take more of a fashion risk, that’s a decision that you’ll have to make for yourself.