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:
- Search Engine Roundtable Votes Best SEO Blog & Conference Coverage Blog of 2007
Search Engine Journal has finally finished posting all the awards for the best search blogs of 2007. We are very proud and appreciative that we won two of the five categories we were up for nomination for. We won for one of the most prestigious awards offered, the Best SEO Blog Award and for our hard work in conference coverage with the Best Search Conference Coverage Award. I am also personally extremely delighted Search Engine - Is One Website Better than Several Niche Websites?
Every content developer and web designer often wonders if he/she can focus on one topic. Sometimes you'll want to create a site about blue widgets, but then you'll be compelled to write about marketing (and the success you had with your blue widgets). This can cause a stream of information that you're not sure where to focus your efforts. Should you talk about everything on your bluewidgets.com site, or should you break up into several - Are Your Link-Building Tactics Failing? Don't Blame Google
Eric Ward wrote a wonderful piece at Search Engine Land about the fallacies of link building beliefs. The summary, as written by Chris Sherman, is as follows: Many of you have had your entire portfolio of clients blown up because you relied on several core link building tactics that were doomed to fail. Your job now should not be to blame Google for your situation, but to recognize what matters now, what may matter then, - Google Checkout Transaction Fees Start February 1, 2008
A Google Groups member found a typo on a Google help page about the beginning of Google Checkout transaction fees. One page says that the fees begin on January 1st, whereas another page says that it begins February 1st. You need not worry about the discrepancy. According to Deborah at the Google Checkout team, the transaction fees will begin on February 1st. Forum discussion continues at Google Groups. - Google TVs Coming to a Home Near You
TechCrunch reports that Google-enabled televisions are on their way to the household. Japanese manufacturer Matsushita (Panasonic) has signed a deal with Google that will see the company launch flat panel television sets that allow users to access YouTube and other Google services such as Picasa Web Albums. Forum members find that this is a great move, except for one who doesn't like Google's infiltration into everyday life. (Oh well.) But of course, there's a catch: - How Long Does it Take to Get into DMOZ?
A Search Engine Watch Forums member asks how long a typical DMOZ submission takes to get approved. The answer is: it's incredibly unpredictable. Since DMOZ is a volunteer project and the editors are taking time to review sites, it can take anywhere from "minutes to a few years," according to forum member Birdie. AussieWebmaster adds: Is their an editor for the category you submitted to? if no then it could take a real long time. - Long Tail Queries Ruling Google? Supplemental Index Ranking As Main Index Results in Google
A WebmasterWorld thread has some interesting conversation about an increase in long tail traffic people have been noticing from Google. Long tail traffic, if you don't know, are the longer more specific keyword searches, such as big blue pineapple chair searches, where the number of searches are very low but when they land on your page, the conversions should be high. The reports seem to convey that when Google changed the way they handle supplemental - Google Testing Local Results At Top Right Position, Above Ads
A WebmasterWorld thread reports seeing Google Local results above the sponsored listings on the right hand side of the Google search results page. Back in December, I reported at Search Engine Land that Google was testing vertical results in that top right position, such as video search results. You can see a picture of that in action at Google Blogoscoped. The WebmasterWorld thread reports it to be very similar, but instead of the video vertical, - Google.com in India DNS Hijacked Last Night?
Dozens of reports are coming from DigitalPoint Forums that when they tried to go to any Google property on the Google.com domain, they are unsuccessful. It seems like it was an issue limited to many users in India. Some reports say this was related to a 2005 issue Google had when Google had a DNS glitch, which redirected some users to SoGoSearch. The same issue apparently sprung up last night for many Indian Google users. - Google Downgrades More Site's Visible Toolbar PageRank Scores?
We are getting reports from across the SEO forums that Google has done another toolbar PageRank update. The update seems to be, once again, hitting sites that sell or buy links. Many are seeing PageRank drops to a flat out zero score, but some are seeing the typical reduction of 3 or 4 points in that toolbar PageRank score. Here are the threads discussing this now: Another PR downgrade today!, Search Engine Roundtable Forums Why
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- How many of you have received Google Adsense Warnings?, DigitalPoint Forums
- The SEO's Guide to Effective Link Building, Sphinn
- Want Schwag? Win a Google Fridge!, Sphinn
- Will Wikia Search be the SEO Killer?, Search Engine Watch Forums
- A Guide to Breaking Into the Technorati Top 100, Sphinn
- Elvis Day Theme, Search Engine Roundtable Forums
- Google Passes Weight To Nofollow, SitePoint Forums
- GWT Says Duplicate Description - But they are 2nd, 3rd Results pages, WebmasterWorld
- Prominent site links to mine via a 302 redirect and takes over, WebmasterWorld
- Sphinn Needs A Ho-Hum Button, Sphinn
