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:
- A Broken & Non-Functional Web Site Remains At The Top of Google
A WebmasterWorld forum member is a bit disturbed by a #1 Google ranking on one of his own websites -- that is BROKEN. It's an old site with many pages indexed and strong inbound links, but every single time he's checked the site for the last 4 months, he gets a "cannot connect to database" error. Still, the site has stayed in the #1 position. Why is it that Google prefers this irrelevant site over - Google Addresses Cache and Related Concerns
In a Google Groups thread, a forum member wonders about the details and logistics about Google's cache. JohnMu, a Google representative, offers his $0.02 and gives some interesting tidbits. First and foremost, if you experience any cache issues or errors, or if you run into a "stuffed" cache, you need not worry, says JohnMu. What if you don't want your site to be cached? Use the "noarchive" meta tag, he says. He explains that the - Microsoft Re-Announces ContentAds Pilot Program
Microsoft has re-announced its ContentAds program last Friday. The program is currently in private beta, as we have reported at the end of 2006, but we have covered it since the beginning of 2006 Microsoft's post seems like more of a clarification, based on the recent TechCrunch post, which called the launch new. About 11 months ago, ContentAds was rolled out to US publishers but Microsoft acknowledges that it's in a "private pilot phase." Many - Video: Matt Cutts Talks About Spam
In a recent video where Matt Cutts aims to address the German webmaster community, he shares some information about Google -- about how he discovered his first spam site, how being creative, quick, focused on a specific niche may put you ahead of the game, how Google Webmaster Tools rocks, how white-hat SEO is the best way of "getting away with" anything on Google, how Google is handling more difficult queries (since user expectations are - Google To Start Indexing Audio Files as Text?
WebmasterWorld administrator, Tedster, started a thread at WebmasterWorld suggesting that Google may begin indexing audio files in the near future. Tedster linked to the recent news on Google announcing that they are "automatically" transcribing YouTube videos "from speech to text" and then indexing that content in a searchable format. Personally, I think if they got that technology down, it would simply rock. But it would make much of the audio files, MP3s, videos and multimedia - Yahoo's "Quick Links" Looking More Like Google's Sitelinks
A supporters-only WebmasterWorld thread (and now a standard WebmasterWorld thread) have discussion around the new look of Yahoo's Quick Links. Yahoo's Quick Links, which we first reported on back in 2005, and then again a year ago - is basically a way to give Yahoo's searchers a quick way to dive deeper into a search result, typically tied to navigational-like queries. In the past, they looked like this: Then Yahoo changed them in 2007, to - Google Continues to Test Green Top Bar
Two months ago, we noticed Google testing a green look, but since then - it seems Google stopped that test. I spotted a new DigitalPoint Forums thread with new reports of Google testing out the green look. Here is a picture of what this member sees, compared to the standard blue bar, which is what I see: Green top Google bar (larger): Blue top Google bar (larger): Maybe Google is getting serious about implementing green - Google Gives Long Time Advertisers The "Google Cookbook"
If you have been advertising with Google AdWords for over six-years, you may have received a little present in the mail, from Google. The present is the Google Cookbook. In the box, you should be able to find: Google CookbookGoogle ApronAdvanced Tips from Adwords Experts BookGoogle Thank You Letter Here is a picture of it, I found on Flickr in AuthenticEccentric's photostream: We have discussion on the Google Cookbook at WebmasterWorld and ABestWeb Forums. One - Video Recap of Weekly Search Buzz :: July 20, 2008
Google reveals the technology behind their rankings. Google AdWords links up keyword campaigns to placement targeting. Google gets slapped with a class action lawsuit over $136. Google search results continue to yo-yo. Google drops in traffic are due to links? Did you notice more Yahoo Search updates? Yahoo's site command is no longer needed. Has Ask stopped crawling the web? Google and Microsoft announced earnings that do not impress. Yahoo rejects Microsoft's bid, yes again.
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- how to value selling price of our seo company?, Search Engine Watch Forums
- Yahoo Performance Drop, Search Engine Watch Forums
- American Airlines Settles Google Trademark Lawsuit, WebmasterWorld
- Do Visitors Read Link Urls?, HighRankings Forums
- Goodbye Page Strength, Hello Trifecta - SEOmoz's Latest Comparison , Sphinn
- Google Ad Manager Release Notes July 17th, 2008, Google Groups
- Google Continues To Test A Search Interface That Looks More Like Digg Every Day, Sphinn
- Google Earnings Hit By UK Ad Dip, WebmasterWorld
- Where in the World is the SEO Talent?, Sphinn
- Yahoo serving blank ads?, DigitalPoint Forums
- Try Google's New Experiment!, Sphinn
