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:
- Link Buys & Link Exchanges: Should You Compete in a Google World?
Matt Cutts wrote a blog post yesterday about how Google is noticing reciprocal link exchange requests and how the sender of the particular email tried to circumvent Google's "filters" by including a request for a link exchange within in image (so that Google couldn't "read" it). Since people are quick to report such infractions to Google, they know about it. On that note, how do you compete with those who buy links in bulk? WebmasterWorld - The Next Five Years of Search
Mike Grehan wrote an article on the future of SEO and shared his thoughts on Search Engine Watch Forums. Perhaps most importantly, Mike talks about the personalization of search among different verticals and how social search will have a predominant impact on the future of search in the next five years. He notes in the forum discussion that there's an advantage (perhaps an unfair one at that) because of some people having access to the - Google Health Launches Amid Privacy Concerns
Yesterday's big news was about the launch of Google Health which right now is likened to a "notebook" of your medical records (gender, age, medications, doctors, etc.) Here's a screenshot of the portal once you're logged in: Of course, the issue of privacy has come up in several forum discussions. It's enough that Google has other information about so many millions of users, but health is a step too far. beu at Search Engine Watch - Possible Ask.com Search Update?
We rarely ever hear of Ask.com updating their search index or algorithm. We rarely ever hear of Webmasters complaining or praising Ask.com about a recent change in the search results. But we have a solo post at WebmasterWorld from a member who has been there since 2002. The post says he has noticed a major change with Ask.com's search results. WebmasterWorld paladin said: Seeing some significant changes in the SERPs here. Most are positive for - Big News for Publishers: Google AdSense Now Supports Third-Party Ad Serving Technology
Google announced that AdSense (the AdWords content network) now supports the use of third-party ad serving techniques and technologies. I am not sure if most publishers understand the significants of this. Many large companies would not even think about placing an ad on a publisher's site without being able to track the results of those ads (impressions and clicks) through a third-party ad serving intermediary. Got that? What this now brings to AdSense are major - Google Restores Google Analytics Data
A week ago, we reported that Google Analytics had a data processing issue, which caused the reports to have missing data. A very limited amount of data was lost forever. GAnalyticsAdvisor, Google's official Google Analytics representative updated us in the WebmasterWorld thread that the reports should now have the correct data. GAnalyticsAdvisor said: Our re-load took a bit longer than previously expected. Please check now, as data has been restored. However, when I visit the
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- Additional AdWords API Guru: Peer Jakobsen, Google Groups
- Digg Users Revolt, The Digg Controversy, and The Responses, Sphinn
- Google Checkout Pros & Cons, WebmasterWorld
- SERP Clickthrough Experiment Update, Sphinn
- Site Going Down for Maintenance? Avoid One Large Brand's SEO Blunder, Sphinn
- What's the ROI on SEO? (Hint: SEO Experts Are Underpaid, Opportunity Abounds !), Sphinn
