Dear all, it is raining and icky outside, so today's a good day for a buzz roundup. Enjoy. ;)
Landing Page Load Time: Check
Your Google AdWords Quality Score now factors in your landing page load time. If you have a fast landing page, you'll get a great score. In other words, get good hosting!
Google Adwords Enforces Display URL
It only took a few months since Google wanted to enforce the URL display policy so that the landing page URL would match the display URL in Google AdWords campaigns, and now the policy seems to be in full force with pretty much accurate reporting.
Strange Google Rankings Still Plaguing the Internets
Barry likes to coin phrases, and in this case, floating four seems pretty accurate. He mentions that some results in position 4 seem to be floating around -- they show up on the first page, 4th ranking, but then later disappear. There are at least two people who noticed this strange behavior and we're not sure what to make of it.
The minus 60 penalty is not an illusion, according to Google. Google has admitted that it's a real penalty, and that this penalty usually involves cleaning up spam.
In our May 2008 Google SERP update, we're seeing some big traffic declines, which may be related (or not) to the aforementioned symptoms.
Google AdWords and AdSense Reports Displaying Incorrect Data
Earlier this week, AdSense and AdWords data was not being properly recorded and Google's engineering team took a looka at it. The next day, Google acknowledged that they fixed the problem but some people are still reporting inaccurate data.
Microhoo is Not in the Future
After all that anticipation, Microsoft has decided not to buy Yahoo. So long, Microhoo.
Setting Your Geographic Location in Google Webmaster Tools May Not Work
It seems that setting your geographic location in Webmaster Tools may not necessarily give you the rankings you're hoping for. For example, if you have a .com and you're in the UK, and you set your site to the UK geographic region, you're probably not as lucky as the person who has the .co.uk domain, it seems. UK people, give the US folks your .coms (I'm talking to you, Tamar!) :)
Please Tell Me that This is a Joke
If Google AdWords are really going Comic Sans, I'm going to puke. Worst. Font. Ever.
Yahoo's Universal Search is Here
It's time for Yahoo Universal Search, at least in India where Glue Pages are in beta. My verdict: very nice.
Monday is the Best Day for Google AdSense Payouts
Want Google AdSense money? Yoru best bet is to focus on monetizing your Mondays. We polled you, our valuable readers, and found that most of you are making the most of your dough on the first day of the week. I guess that's when people get click-happy from work boredom.
SEO Debate is Back
We love SEO. Seriously. Every day, there's another debate about SEO, and a bunch of people always come up to defend it. I am waiting for Danny Sullivan's post on how SEO is here to stay. I know he's working on it.
Win a Date with Barry
We're having a reader survey, and the winner gets some schwag and a free dinner with Barry. Now this guy is a fun date, so I suggest that you all participate right now!
