TGIF guys! It's been a nice hot and dry week with summer temperatures... hey, didn't spring just start?!
Shouts to Matt for his nice little post about us, but it's really Barry who is finding all that signal. I'm just the sidekick, after all. :)
Search Engine Optimization
A lot of good discussion about search engine optimization and link building efforts were discussed this week. There was the discussion about submitting to directories, whether SEOs should ask for links to credit their work, and how to ask for links in an "ethical" fashion. There's also a nice tool that you can use to measure your backlinks and determine domain popularity.
Rotten, Sour, and Downright Bad
Since we cover forums, it's natural that we cover forum politics. What would you do if your moderator puts himself/herself before the greater good of your forum community? There's some solid advice presented in the When Forum Moderators Go Bad thread.
What about when your in-house SEO goes bad? Yeah, like when you find some pretty well-hidden links so that an SEO can promote his link-building efforts without the client knowing. If you find them, you should tell the client. Taking advantage of clients is totally wrong.
Google Analytics Gets Prettier
I still haven't seen the new Google Analytics interface, but everyone tells me that it's super cool. To quote my friend Dennis, "wow new google analytics is AMAZING." I guess I'll just have to wait and anticipate. I'm getting antsy.
Google AdWords and AdSense News, Tools, and Tricks
Learning AdWords for the first time? Check out these recommended AdWords tutorials and books.
Learning about negative keywords? Don't know what I'm talking about? The negative keyword tool will be more visible soon, we hope. Perhaps that's just a test. I still don't know.
Want to know which Google ads work the best? So do I. Targeted keyword ads seem to be the most important.
Banned from Google AdWords? You can't be reinstated, but you can try to set up a new account.
Of course, over last week's announcement about Google AdSense ad placement, there was a lot of confusion, but hopefully that was clarified: Google has explained acceptable ad locations, but we wonder if AskBaby.com's colorful implementation is a problem.
Speaking of ads, did you notice that some ads don't have titles? It's useless to us because they're not even clickable!
Google Webmaster Relations
On WebmasterWorld, one of the "best threads ever," as one member put it, has been started this week. With Google's power, a member wonders if Google is defining "ethical SEO." A lot of other Google/webmaster questions were asked, and Adam Lasnik responded. The next day, he responded again. It's a good read, and I admire Adam for stepping in. This is why I love you guys.
MSNHOO
Okay, so this merger that everyone was talking about last Friday didn't happen, but there's still news on the Microsoft and Yahoo! front.
Perhaps related to Bill Gate's announcement that he'll focus on online services, Microsoft is going to be using Intellitxt to promote Live.com search.
Since the Overture keyword suggestion tool no longer seems to be supported, there's speculation that another Yahoo! keyword tool is in the works.
Yahoo also integrated a lyrics shortcut into the search results, which is fun for someone like me who likes to know the real words to the songs I'm listening to.
Oh, and of course, MSN Live Hotmail has finally debuted with a redesign, and it's pretty hot.
Remember
You have only a few hours before the Bruce Clay contest that I highlighted in last week's recap stops accepting entries, so you better get yours in fast!
