Big news this week. Barry loved my weekly roundups so much that he now has a video podcast. And we're giving away prizes for people who watch the videos. As part of promoting the project, if you spot a piece of schwag in the video, you have to comment on the post and if Barry selects you, you'll be getting some schwag in the mail. As a heads up, if you want to give away schwag for the event, contact us, and don't forget about me since this idea would not exist if not for the fact that I love schwag. (Well, maybe not.)
Flickr Videos Are Now Here
Want to watch some video on Flickr? Now you can, since Flickr now supports videos of up to 90 seconds in length. That size is perfect for me. You know, if Barry would just recap the Search Buzz Roundup in 90 seconds, I may actually watch them.
Yahoo Acquires IndexTools
Congratulations to both Yahoo and Indextools for their recent acquisition. Here's to hoping that the service becomes free. Yippee!
Yahoo Confuses Us
But besides that good news, there's some confusing news. Barry reports that Yahoo is wowing us with all this interesting news about a possible merger with AOL, a partnership with Google for AdSense ads, a breakup with Microsoft on paid search partnerships, and that News Corp may also try to bid for Yahoo. Whatever it is, please stop. That's way too much drama for us little people to handle.
MicroHoo Confusion
Microsoft wants to finalize their deal with Yahoo. Yahoo wants more money. This isn't a story that looks like it can end well. It must be very stressful.
Google Analytics Adds Beta Graph View
Want to see weekly and monthly graphs on your Google Analytics accounts? You can with beta graph view for Google Analytics. Perhaps this is, as commenter Carlos points out, a way to narrow your scope of the new benchmarking tools.
Google isn't Enforcing the AdWords URL Policy
We've been expecting a new Google AdWords URL policy for quite some time. Now that it's April, the policy is supposed to be in effect. But is it? My sources say no. However, commenters may have observed different behavior. I guess Google will be going through every AdWords account one-by-one to verify the destination URL.
Slimy SEO
Some guy in California (or is he really in CA?) is trying to trademark the acronym SEO. Does he realize how many people he's angering? If you're upset by this news, tell the United States Patent and Trademark office about the ramifications of such an action. You wouldn't want to be charged for using the phrase, would you?
Slimeballs Continued
Speaking of sliminess, if you wanted to penalize your competition in Google, you apparently can. Get some bad inbound links, generated hundreds of links from one IP address, build duplicate content, and apply 301/302 redirects. Google, are you safeguarding against these deceptive practices?
Does a DMOZ Listing Help You Rank?
We polled our readers about the inherent value of a link in DMOZ. The answer was relatively unclear. About half of you thought that the link is powerful, while the other half of you thought it wasn't.
Block Shady Advertisers in the Google AdSense Ad Review Center
If you're not liking the advertisers you get in the Ad Review Center, you can block their ad. This only works for placement-targeted ads, though, and not contextually targeted ads. In any event, it's a cool feature, and here's a screenshot if you want to see how to do it.
Initial Feedback on Google Ad Manager Reports
Barry showed us Google Ad Manager Reports complete with screenshots that look like they've been painted on by a two year old. Nothing personal, Barry. :) In terms of feedback, so far, reaction is mixed. Some love it and others hate it. Will the haters get used to it? They'll have to.
Your Boring House is on the Internet
If your last name is Boring and you live on a "private road" in Pennsylvania, you've been in the news lately because your house has appeared in Google Street View and you've decided to sue Google. I believe it's a little far-fetched to take such an extreme stance. Other readers disagree with me. But the point is that this is America, that's public property, and photography is not illegal in public areas. Here, you can read the photography bill of rights for more information.
Google Code in Google Universal Search
More and more pages are being added to Google Universal Search. Now, it's Google Code snippets. This may be completely not helpful, but for some, it may actually teach you how to code. I'd love to hear from programmers themselves. Do you find that the results are just random snippets that have nothing to do with what you're searching for, or do they help you get past a hump?
Google Suggest Test Expands
More and more people are seeing that Google is offering Google Suggest to their searches. Helpful? What do you say?
Yahoooooooooooooooooo!
Barry has a video of the Yahoo yodeler -- an easter egg that you encounter when you click on the exclamation point in the "Yahoo!" logo. Like it? I think it's fun. :)
Advertise on Google TV
Google is trying to get more advertisers to advertise on TV, according to reports. Are you ready for that?
Google's Local Algorithm Changes
Barry illustrates how Google's Local Algorithm has changed and believes it has something to do, perhaps, with new factors, such as ratings and PageRank. What do you think is contributing to the new shift?
Webmaster's Wish List: Link Unbuilding
Sometimes webmasters don't like their links. They feel that it can affect them in negative ways. The idea now is to perform link unbuilding -- that is, to ask webmasters to take those links down to your site. But wouldn't it be easier if you can remove icky quality links in Google Webmaster Central? I think this will be in heavy demand in the near future.
May 2nd is SphinnCon North Carolina
Rob Kerry wants you to know that he is an evil green monkey SphinnCon North Carolina is on May 2nd. In fact, that means that the bloke will be on this side of the pond to help organize the event. I believe my friend Jay Young will be helping out as well. I know both of those guys and can tell you that you're in good hands.
