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:
- Live Search's Spam Fake Referrals Were Cloaking Tests, Says Microsoft
I have been corresponding with Microsoft about the weird spam-like referrals Live Search was sending to hundreds, if not thousands, of web site log files throughout the web. On September 6th, a Microsoft representative confirmed that these were actual tests being conducted by the Live Search team - but did not expand upon that. Since these tests continued to linger on until even today, Microsoft has shared more details with us what exactly this test - Matt Cutts of Google on Mission to Remove PageRank from Toolbar
Many SEOs have been calling for Google to remove the PageRank score from the Google Toolbar for years now. Heck, we wrote dozens of articles on it, including these: Why Do Some SEOs Want Toolbar PageRank To Go Away? Google Wants Feedback on Removing PageRank Score Should Google Hide the Toolbar PageRank Score? So Google knows about this and those who work closely with webmasters and SEOs also understand the importance of removing the PageRank - Google Translate Asks You to "Suggest a Better Translation"
Go to this translated page by Google. Now, mouse over some of the words in the middle of the page. Up comes a dialog box that offers the original, untranslated, version of the text, with an option to "suggest a better translation." Here is a screen capture: Clicking on the plus sign opens up a dialog box for you to change Google's translation to your own translation: Click on the "contribute" button to send and - Google is Indexing & Ranking Google AdSense Ads
A WebmasterWorld thread reports that Google is indexing and ranking ads from Google AdSense. To see evidence for yourself, just search on this popular Google AdSense ad found throughout the web for a Google product. Here, search on "Get The Data You Need Faster". Up comes many results, many of those results are triggered from Google AdSense ads, most from Google Parked Domain ads. Here is one example of a parked domain ad with the
December 2007 Conference Coverage::
- Link Buying
Link Buying Location: Salon B To buy or not to buy; that is the question in link building today. Speakers: Moderator: Detlev Johnson who fills in for Elisbath Osmeloski Rand Fishkin, CEO, SEOMoz Jim Boykin, CEO, Webuildpages John Lessnau, Founder, LinkAdage Aaron Wall, Author, SEO Book I'm sitting in the front row and I came in early but Lisa decided to sit next to me and she's taller so my head is in the way - Content Creation - Cranking it Out
Content Creation - Cranking it Out Location: Salon C Constant content creation is the fuel for your website. Whether you live 'n die off search engine referrals or natural type-in traffic you understand the need for minty fresh content. This panel of content gurus will look at how to keep the creativity flowing and managing the content process. Speakers: Robin Liss, Founder and President, Camcorderinfo.com Ted Ulle, Partner, The MEWS Group Rae Hoffman, Principal, Sugarrae - Optimizing Your Site for Contextual Ads
Jaan Janes - SVP, Business Development, Pulse 360 Talks about Pulse 360 and what they do. Relvancy - Shows some good examples that his company does and some bad ones by Google. Relevancy: Do your ads even matter? Alot of sites have unreasonable amount of ads and this hurts other sites. Sites have too many banners, buttons, widgets and so on - its just clutter Sponsored Link Tips 1. Show the ads - usatoday, wallstreet - Link Baiting - 96 Different Strategies
Todd Malicoat - stuntdubl.com - Hook Combinations for Successful Linkbaiting Shows a photo of B-Real of Cypress Hill (I am able to call it out before anyone - all those years of listening to Cypress Hill payoff) 95 Thesis - Cluetrain.com Read it Markets are conversations it is social media b4 there was social media some Linkbait will bomb (Todd is rolling and zipping through slides) 2 Step Process 1. Target distribution channel - get - Link Building Campaigns and Strategies
Chris - Moderator Founder of DMOZ Jim Boykin - We Build Pages The presentation isnt flashy and until the other day there wasnt even a presentation *some chuckles* The Questions: What link building methods have changed? - Link Trades - c'mon this is Pubcon - Submitting to 100's of directories - 3 way linking - Buying PR8 and 9 - they are all block - Link Brokers - Ill leave that to you - Linking - Social Marketing 101
Social Media is hot in 2007 and should continue in 08. Rand is up first. Social Media Marketing Essentials - he has 2 presentations. socail Media 101 (pure basics) - 60 websites worth watching (more advanced) Rand takes a vote - small group pics 101, 98% pick advanced. 60 websites worth watching (other one will be available on the site) in order of importance. flickr.com - live link on photos deviantart.com - comments, live links - Online Maps: Plotting the Direction of Local Search
Speakers: Jeremy Kreitler, Director of Product Management, Yahoo! Maps Ian White, CEO, Urban Mapping Jim Schoonmaker, CEO, Everyscape Ziya Genceren, LiveSearch Maps Product Manager, Microsoft Gary Price, Director of Online Information Resources, Ask.com  Gary Price – (This presentation was taken directly from a url provided at the conference)  Defining local is key Local is more than maps and business listings Local is not always where you live, drive, "hang out" In fact, local is - Reputation Monitoring and Management
Instead of covering Keyword Optimization, I decided to cover Reputation Monitoring and Mangaement, which follows. Reputation Monitoring and Management Location: Salon A If you are not talking with your customer base your customer base will be talking about you. This session will look at ways to monitor, manage, and influence your reputation within the blogosphere and press. Moderator: Todd Friesen Speakers: Geoff Livingston, CEO, Author of "Now is Gone", Livingston Communications Cameron Olthuis, CEO, Factive - Monetizing Social Media Traffic
I have very sporadic Internet. I am sorry this is late. I'll do the best I can. :) Monetizing Social Media Traffic Location: Salon A Social media traffic is decidedly different from search traffic, newsletter traffic, or general link traffic. Knowing how to capitalize on this potentially huge traffic influx is critical for social media players. This session will look at ways that social media outlets can be monetized. Moderator: Rand Fishkin Speakers: Vanessa Fox, - PPC 101 – Beginner to Intermediate Level
Moderator: Christine Churchill. Will talk about copywriting secrets. Better qualified traffic if better ads. Things to remember is competitors have same problem, 25 words or less. Harder to be concise when you have less room. Takes creativity and thought to make good ads. Find a way to differentiate b/w your ad and all the others. Optimizing you PPC campaign: - Writing a good ad: think about the purpose, what is the ad supposed to be - Actionable Social Media
Moderated by Anne Kennedy from Beyond Ink, who introduces the topic and panelists. She asks how many are actually using social media tools, and a fair amount of the nicely filled room raises their hands. First speaker is Todd Parsons from BuzzLogic. BuzzLogic is an on-demand platform for social media marketing. They help identify influencers leading conversations on certain topics, and can also engage them. Blogging is hardly dead…65 Million Americans read blogs. Of them - Maximum Conversion in Retail: Raising the Bar
Speakers: * Jennifer Doss, E-Commerce Marketing Manager, Lids.com * Jamie Smith, CEO, Engine Ready * James Beriker, President, Efficient Frontier * Chris Leggatt, Senior Account Executive, Moniker Jennifer Doss Lids.com is real-time they sell hats from colleges and other sports teams. Goals * Triple monthly revenue at max CPA of $7 * Boost sites sear visibility on keyword hats * Double revenue #’s from natural search Challenges * Over 10,00 pages and 20,000 sku’s * - SEO 101 - The Timeless and Classic Hits
This is a Q & A Intro to SEO 101 session with Jill Whalen, Bruce Clay, Jake Baille, and Ash Nallawalla. Q: How important are on page factors now relative to off page factors? A: Bruce: If you do the wrong thing it will cause problems, on-page – best practices, spiderable, if do all pages correctly gets good jumps in ranking. Jill: Linking extremely important, both work together, on-page comes in handy, first get on-page - Are Paid Links Evil?
Google is on a rampage to devalue sites who engage in link buying and selling. Do paid links ruin the integrity of search engine results? Are they evil? From the conference description: “Search engines, especially Google, say don't do 'em. But some search marketers say paid links work. Are paid links subverting search quality? Or are they simply a fact of life, here to stay?†Moderator: Chris Boggs, Manager, Search Engine Optimization, eMergent Marketing/BRULANT, Inc. - Keynote Conversation with Craig Newmark
Keynote Conversation with Craig Newmark Good morning, my friends! We have a huge Pubcon today! In fact, Brett says that this is the biggest Pubcon ever. Craig comes up and tells us that "we're providing a community service, but there's really nothing altruistic about it. We're not a nonprofit. We're a for-profit community service." Craig says that people are allowed to liveblog. Thank you for your permission, Craig. :) (He says he liveblogged yesterday. Good. - Retailer Track: Shopping Search Tactics
This session offered research and methodology for ecommerce and merchant sites “can and should†be included in shopping search engines. The Moderator was Kevin Heisler, Executive Editor, Search Engine Watch. Speakers: Heather Dougherty, Analyst, Hitwise The holiday season started well ahead of the traditional trends this year. The patterns have changed in that growth this year has been far more significant than the last few years with traffic steadily increasing since May-which is really early. - The Transformation of Local in a Search Driven World
The Transformation of Local in a Search Driven World Moderator: * Michael Boland, Analyst, The Kelsey Group Speakers: * Bob Armour, Chief Marketing Officer, ShopLocal * Scott Dunlap, CEO, NearbyNow * Manish Patel, CEO, Where2GetIt * Richard Rosen, CEO, FastCall411 Richard Rosen FastCall411 started off talking about how they connect consumers with local service providers faster, easier and more reliably than any other search platform. Consumer Expectation / Current Market Reality * Of 250,000.000+ calls
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- 3 Ways to Commit SEO Suicide, Sphinn
- 5.5 Giga in gmail?!, DigitalPoint Forums
- Colored labels in GMail, DigitalPoint Forums
- Digitalpoint Banned From Adsense?, Sphinn
- Gmail now in color, Search Engine Watch Forums
- Google Announces Fastest Growing Search Terms of 2007, DigitalPoint Forums
- Is AdWords Too Expensive?, DigitalPoint Forums
- Launching a new site - Do's and Dont's?, WebmasterWorld
- Should I Link My Websites Together Or Not, HighRankings Forums
- The use of Youtube on a site, Google Groups
- What do u get in return for contributing to yahoo answers?, DigitalPoint Forums
