A summary of search related news items that occurred this week including MySpace announces that they will be launching their own self-serving display ad network, Google simplifies management of AdSense ads allowing publishers to change ads within AdSense console, AOL to buy Internet advertising technology company Quigo for a reported $340 million, and finally, SEOmoz launches a search marketing services and jobs Marketplace.

Monday

• MySpace To Launch Self Serving Ad Network - "SelfServe by MySpace" is a new self-serving display ad system that MySpace will launch to a limited number of advertisers in the next two months. This will not affect the nearly $1 billion dollar deal with Google as that affects search and text ads only. SelfServe by MySpace will allow advertisers to directly purchase, create and analyze the performance of ads throughout the MySpace network, in a similar fashion to Google Adwords. Further details can be found at TechCrunch.
  

• AdSense Ad Management Simplified - Google has made the days of copying and pasting ad code into web sites a thing of the past. Now you can create ad units, incorporate them into your site(s) and then make changes within the AdSense management console. In the past, one had to generate new ad code and copy and paste it into pages (I use include files). Now if you want to change the background color, add rounded corners, change the color of text or anything else to specific ad sizes, you can do so within the AdSense console. Additional details at the Official AdSense Blog.

• AOL To Buy Quigo for $340 Million - It has been rumored over the past few days and now Reuters confirms that AOL will buy Quigo for a repotted $340 million. According to AOL Chief Executive Randy Falco, the deal marks the last big acquisition AOL plans as part of a restructuring to transform itself into a one-stop online advertising shop. Quigo, who has more than 500 publisher relationships, is an Internet ad-targeting company that lets advertisers buy sponsored listings, much like Google's AdSense, based on keywords or subjects. Advertisers have little say on where Google places their ads, but Quigo's AdSonar product lets advertisers place their ads on specific Web pages, including pages featuring topics or keywords such as "mutual funds" or "health and science." In other words, Quigo allows publishers to have control in their relationship with advertisers, rather than surrender control to a middleman like Google.
  
  

• Looksmart Sells FindArticles to CNET - From ResourceShelf, Looksmart unloads one of its assets, FindArticles, to CNET for approximately $20.5 million dollars in cash. Find Articles provides full text, archived, articles (more than 10 million articles total) from over 3000 sources. Some articles are available at no charge while others are provided for a fee (aka Premium articles) using the HighBeam database service. As Looksmart continues to struggle along, one wonders how long they will remain with us and if Furl is the next asset to be put out on the auction block.
  

• SEOmoz Launches 'Marketplace' -  SEOmoz has launched the Marketplace which aims to be the go-to place for people in the search industry to find contacts, work, contractors, businesses to help with SEO, and potential employees. This new feature not only replaces the old "recommended list of providers" list but adds the ability for companies to post jobs and contract positions as well as the ability for individuals to add their personal resumes. The company directory categorizes listings by industry type, services offered and of course, companies specifically recommended by SEOmoz.