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.
- Why Don't Some People Join Social Media Sites?
Over at Cre8asite Forums, member Risa asks about the appeal of social media sites. She's tried StumbleUpon, Facebook, and Twitter, but hasn't used them more than once. She's not alone. Autocrat adds that he also struggles to understand social media when used in conjunction with search engine marketing. So what does one do? Well, speaking as a social media aficionado myself, it didn't happen overnight that I started understanding the nuances of social media. At - del.icio.us Blocks Search Engine Spiders
Colin Cochrane noticed that del.icio.us has blocked search engine spiders. He believes that it's not a simple robots.txt exclusion; instead, del.icio.us is serving 404 errors based on the User-Agent. Barry Welford confirmed this by changing the User-Agent himself. How did he come across this? He was using a Firefox del.icio.us addon that and couldn't locate a page he had referenced before. It was only when he did the search directly on del.icio.us that he found - Google Establishes Hydro-Power Data Center
Harper's Magazine discusses the plans for Google to establish a hydro powered data center in The Dalles, Oregon. A more detailed view of the plans can be seen here. In the long term, this is a very smart move by Google. And in the end, there's nothing wrong with really going green because it's financially beneficial on their part. A forum member says: Water will be cheaper in turns of electricity when the fossils start - Andy Beard Blocks Googlebot with Robots.txt
This past weekend, Andy Beard did what many people thought unthinkable. In his blog post, he says that he's blocked Google from crawling paid reviews on his site. His reasoning is clear: I have spent a long time deciding on a course of action, and have decided that blocking my content using Robots.txt is ultimately better for me, and better for people hiring my services. But there's brilliance in this strategy. He claims that nofollow - Ask.com & Dogpile Suit Up for Presidents Day: Google, Yahoo Don't
Google & Yahoo typically do not show off any special logo for President's Day, which is today. But Ask.com and Dogpile are both showing off special logos and themes for the day. Here is Ask.com: Yes, that is Mount Rushmore - more details at ask.com/web?q=Rushmore. And DogPile goes cute again: Got to love DogPile! Update: Here is our theme: Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums. - Microsoft Live Search Says Admits They Were Too Tough on Sites: Making Algorithm Less "Strict"
Ever since the last quarter of 2007, SEOs and Webmasters have been complaining about not being indexed in Live Search. In short, many sites that were once indexed and ranking in Live Search were no longer. Plus, many new sites that one would have thought would be indexed and rank well in Live Search, were not. An updated WebmasterWorld thread reportedly has a note from a Microsoft representative (note, this may be removed soon, so - Many Gmail Users Can't Login to Check Email: 502 Errors
Over the weekend, we have received reports via Google Groups that many Gmail users are having issues logging in to Gmail to check their emails. Many of these users are receiving 502 Errors on their login attempts. Gmail Guide has confirmed the issue: I'm sorry to hear that some of you are unable to access your accounts due to 502 errors. Our team is currently aware of the problem and we are working to get - Google Introduces Non Googler's As "AdWords API Gurus"
AdWords API Advisor at the Google AdWords API Group has introduced three non-Googlers with the title of "AdWords API Gurus." AdWords API Advisor posted the details at a Google Groups thread with the announcement. This is a new Google program to recognize "AdWords API developers who have historically made helpful contributions to the development community." The first ever AdWords API Gurus are: Rohan AlmeidaPete LavetskyRyan Leavengood These members will soon sport a special label next - Position Two - Five Google Search Update?
Over the weekend, in a WebmasterWorld thread that is tracking the Google February 2008 SERP changes, the recent discussion is around a new Google update. This Google update is reportedly impacting the search results in the position two, three, four and five slots for "some "big" search terms," said Tedster, WebmasterWorld administrator. Member Attomic first reported this by saying how unusual it is to see the results move for the search terms he watches: I've
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- Who's Tedster? If You're an SEO, You Should Know, Sphinn
- does average time on site also effect SEPR?, Search Engine Watch Forums
- Microsoft adCenter Updates Its Terms and Conditions, WebmasterWorld
- To Comma, or not to comma - it can affect the SERPs, WebmasterWorld
- It's Google Patent Time, It's Google Patent Time..., Cre8asite Forums
