Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
- Does MSN Follow 301 Redirects?
Scott Hendison (who I met at a variety of search conferences and will see at Pubcon -- hi!) blogged about MSN ignoring 301 redirects: a site he had that ranked #1 in MSN was completely gone. After investigation, he found that the 301 was being ignored: So domainname.com had a 301 redirect on it to domainname.com/directory/, but instad of following the 301, the MS Live bot just completely ignored the server directive, and cached the - Matt Cutts Clarifies Recent PageRank Drops & Link Buying
Matt Cutts recently spoke with Rand Fishkin of SEOmoz and made a few interesting statements that elicited some interesting forum response. First, WebmasterWorld members were particularly interested in this statement: we did do a full PageRank update several weeks ago - there's less PageRank flowing around in some areas (e.g. search and SEO). Vanessa Fox's site dropped by one as well, and for her as well, it's just a case where less PageRank is flowing - Google Declares War on Paid Links: But Why Now?
This weekend has been a landmark time in the SEO industry. To huge blog posts, with dozens of policy changes over the past couple of weeks, have been instrumental in what makes this weekend so significant. The official Google Webmaster Central blog has a post by Matt Cutts and Maile Ohye named Information about buying and selling links that pass PageRank and Matt Cutts himself wrote his own post with extreme examples of paid links - Google Index Count Dropping? Is Your Google Index Count Less?
A WebmasterWorld thread has dozens of reports from SEOs and Webmasters that Google has dropped the number of pages they indexed of their sites. Here is one such report: On all the searchees I look at a regular basis I am now seeing millions less results posted. Some searches 10 million less some searches 2 million less and so on. It kinda looks like a certian percentange have been dumped from the database. I am - Google Images Removes "Remove This Frame" Option?
I just reported about a Google Image update but it seems with that update, Google has removed a very important feature. Typically, if you click on an image in Google images, it will open that image in a framed window. Part of that framed window will contain a Google Search box at the top and the page the image came from in the bottom half. What is now missing is the "Remove This Frame" link - Google Image Search Update: Filter a Bit Too Sensitive?
Both DigitalPoint Forums and WebmasterWorld are reporting Google has updated the Google Image Search index and algorithm over the weekend. Many people are noticing new images being found in the image search engine. Also some are noticing that Google is more particular about which images they are showing. The SafeSearch filtering tool, which allows you to define how safe you want your results, seems to have been fine tuned a bit also. The three options - Yahoo Search December 2007 Update
It has been just about a month since Yahoo Search last did an index and algorithm update. It appears there is some early chatter at WebmasterWorld about a possible update that started rolling out on December 1st. Some reported seeing an update and then said Yahoo seemed to have rolled it back. But now more are reporting seeing significant changes in the Yahoo Search results. Of course those who are negatively impacted are the loudest: - Search Engine Roundtable 4th Birthday Celebration!
Today, the Search Engine Roundtable is four years old. That is right, we have been writing about search engines, search engine optimization, ppc, spam, contextual and more for four whole years now! What makes us unique has remained true to this site time and time again. We are consistently covering stories, news, trends, SEO & PPC techniques that are popular with the search marketing industry. Without the search industry and the forums the industry participates
December 2007 Conference Coverage::
- Orion Panel - Universal, Blended, and Vertical Search
Co-moderated by Kevin Ryan and Kevin Heisler from SEW. Panelists include Mike Grehan from Searchvisible Ltd. (congrats Mike on the new company), Andrew Goodman from Page Zero Media, Brad Goldberg from Microsoft Search Business Group, James Lamberti from Comscore, and Jim Muller the tech lead for Google Universal Search. Mike Grehan briefly introduces some searches at Google to demonstrate the new Google Universal Search layout. He uses the term “Dove beauty workshop,†and describes how - There’s Still Money on the Table!
Apologies to readers as I came in late due to a scintillating conversation I had with Gary Price over lunch that ran-over. Speaking is Jeff Pruitt from iCrossing who is also the current president of SEMPO and a great guy. He is talking about Cyber Monday. Record 733M, up 21 % versus last year. Number of online buyers was up 38%, and 60+% were using work computers. So is money really being left online? There - Igniting Viral Campaigns
Moderator: Rebecca Lieb, Vice President & Editor-In-Chief, The ClickZ Network Speakers: Bill Hanekamp, CEO, The Wall Ed Kim, Chief Executive Office, Red Bricks Media Fionn Downhill, CEO & President, Elixir Systems Rebecca starts off talking about can you build the next chicken? She’s referring to the subservient chicken that Burger King did last year. This is what will be discussed in this session. Bill Hanekamp After you’ve optimized and done everything Google asks think about - Orion Panel – Search, Privacy, and the Community in the Digital Age
Moderated by two of the SEW Kevins – Ryan and Heisler. Ryan does the introduction and welcomes everybody to balmy Chicago. Speakers will be Allan Chapell of Chapell and Associates; Jack Myers of jackmyers.com; Pauline Ores from IBM. Kevin Ryan said he thought he would change it up a little, this being his first SES fully in-charge. They created a pop culture video mash about search…very funny South Park cut about MySpace pages, and some - The Human Equation: Giving Back Internet Style
Moderator: Greg Jarboe, President and Co-Founder, SEO-PR Speakers: Darian Rodriquez Heyman, Executive Director, Craigslist Foundation Ben Rattray, Founder & CEO, Change.org Nan Dawkins, Founder, RedBoots Digital, Serengeti Communications Darian Rodriquez Heyman They take the name and spirit of Craiglist into the community sector via online and in person. They have a non-profit bootcamp. Work with over 150 partner organizations. Calling their new project “entry point†which is a redesign to their website that launches in - Meet the Web Analytics Players
SES Chicago 2007 Day 1 Session 2: Meet the Web Analytics Players Vendors from major web analytics services each covered different metrics challenges plus answered questions about measuring success and their tools in general. Moderator: Frank Watson, Head Search Marketing, FXCM: The industry has grown extremely fast over the last few years and if you’re not using it [modern analytics] you’re far behind the curve. Whether online or off, analytics are used to determine where - Redefining the Customer
Moderated by Rebecca Lieb of ClickZ, who warmly welcomes the attendees and introduces the session’s only speaker. Brian Eisenberg of Future Now Inc. Will present his views on redefining the customer. He talks about the Marketing (r)Evolution by showing a picture of three guys sitting on a couch receiving information through media., Now instead of being passive participants, you have people that are way more involved. He will talk about how the customers’ behaviors have - Mobile Search Battle Royal
Welcome to the Search Engine Roundtable coverage of Search Engine Strategies Chicago 2007. The crowd seems to be fairly large, with people trickling in and smooth lines in the registration booth. I am excited to get things cooking! This first session will be moderated by Dana Todd of SiteLab International, who is also on the SEMPO Board of Directors. She welcomes everyone to SES Chicago, and announces some of the new formatting, including the Orion - Search Around the World - Part One: Asia/Pacific & Australia
Moderator: - Kevin Ryan – Vice President, Global Content Director, Search Engine Strategies and Search Engine Watch. Speakers: - Motoko Hunt – Founder, Japanese Search Marketing Strategist, AJPR LLC - T.R. Harrington – Director of Strategic Direction & Product Development, Darwin Marketing - Erica Schmidt – Global Director of Search, iProspect Motoko Hunt Japanese Internet Market 87.5 million on Internet 68% penetration 50% Broadband mix More access via mobile than pc. Word of mouth marketing
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- 12 Reasons to Join Mixx and Abandon Digg, Sphinn
- Sphinn's search, Sphinn
- Adsense Notifier not working?, WebmasterWorld
- Are you a better SEO than Jason Calcanis?, Search Engine Watch Forums
- Banned from yahoo answers, DigitalPoint Forums
- Google to Bid For Wireless Spectrum - Update, WebmasterWorld
- Search Engine Land Celebrates Its First Birthday!, Sphinn
- The blank google ads, DigitalPoint Forums
- The Un-Official November 2007 Poll, WebmasterWorld
- Are you obsessed with your WebmasterWorld post count?, WebmasterWorld
- How To Promote Unique News, HighRankings Forums
- New Maps features!, Google Groups
