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:
- Microsoft Reorganization Forthcoming, Kevin Johnson Moves On
Big technology blogger Kara Swisher shares an internal memo of a Microsoft reorganization. Its Platforms and Service division will be split into 2 groups: Windows/Windows Live and Online Services, of which members will report directly to Steve Ballmer. Microsoft's press release elaborates more on the company reorganization and explains that a number of former Microsoft executives will be moving to other opportunities outside the company while others are seeing promotions within the company. One of - MSN Live Sending Odd Referrals -- QBHP -- to Websites
Six months ago, we reported that Microsoft Live Search was sending spammy types of referrals. Rogerd reports on WebmasterWorld that he's not seeing the same types of referrals we reported back in January, but he's finding some even stranger ones. For example, he saw a search for "computers" and this is a term he doesn't even rank for. Other forum members report similar suspicious activity. As robzilla says, all hits have a referring URL that - Google Launches Knol: Project Wikipedia
After we first announced Google's intention to launch Knol, their knowledgebase, we learned yesterday that the project is finally live. Here's a small little screenshot of Google Knol: Will it be the Wikipedia killer, a many people have been wondering since Knol was announced last year? Well, so far, Knol is extremely medicine-focused and apparently has very bad navigation, according to forum members. Will it be useful for SEO in the long term? If those - Yahoo To Discontinue Ambassador Program As Of September 30, 2008
In May, we reported that Yahoo stopped enabling signs ups and enrollments for the Yahoo Ambassador Program. The Ambassador program is basically a higher level of support for the Yahoo Search Marketing product and service. Today, I noticed a WebmasterWorld thread that reports Yahoo is fully dropping the Ambassador program, even for those already enrolled. The program is reportedly closing down on September 30th. WebmasterWorld senior member, Philosopher received the email notification from Yahoo. He - Is Microsoft Not Serious About Webmasters?
A WebmasterWorld thread asks if Microsoft is not serious about webmasters. Why? Well, if you use Live Webmaster Tools and you click on "Add Site," you will see funny messages. For example, when they ask for your email address Microsoft says: We don't send chain letters, lame jokes, or other unrelated stuff. And then the sign me up for emails message reads, "Sign me up for the way cool and at most monthly newsletter for - Can You Be Penalized in Search Engines For Broken Web Links?
A Google Groups thread has discussion around a site that was hacked and because of it, now has many broken (dead) hyper links. The question then came up, would Google penalize a site that had broken links? The simple answer is no, you generally will not be hurt by broken links. Googler, JohnMu said, "In general those broken links will not negatively affect your site's crawling, indexing and ranking." But it really depends on many - Google Sitemaps URLs Have "High Response Time" Message
Google seems to have been adding new alerts or messages sent via the Google Message Center in Webmaster Tools. We saw an alert for high bandwidth access rates and now I am seeing reports of messages warning of "high response times" within your Sitemaps. The message reads: Subject: "Some URLs in the Sitemap have a high response time." Description: "Some URLs listed in this Sitemap have a high response time. This may indicate a problem
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- 6 Sure-Fire Tactics to Re-Ignite your Linkbait, Sphinn
- Cool Tools & Firefox Extensions for SEO Enthusiasts, Sphinn
- Dreaded email from Google Adsense after 5 successful years, WebmasterWorld
- Moving The Map Marker, Google Groups
- Newly Acquired Domain Penalized - will not rank even after clean-up, WebmasterWorld
- Python Client Library Updated (v2.0.0), Google Groups
- Trademark infringement exemptions?, Google Groups
