Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, yesterday, and Tuesday, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
- UCLA Study: Brain Function Improves with Search
A UCLA study has found that web search activity may stimulate and improve brain function among web-savvy adults. In the article, we are told that "researchers found that during Web searching, volunteers with prior experience registered a twofold increase in brain activation when compared with those with little Internet experience." Details of the study will be published on the American Journal of Geriatric Psychology. Is this why you're online? :) Forum discussion continues at High - Google AdWords Readies iPhone Exclusive Channel
Last week, an AdWeek article was published that noted that the iPhone, with its powerful capabilities, is changing the landscape of advertising. Google has reviewed options to make iPhone-only specific channels to target ads to searchers who use an iPhone on which to perform that search. The article explains: Unlike phones that browse the mobile Web, the iPhone pulls up sites directly from the Internet. This means the ads users see, unless a publisher creates - Google Keeps Losing in Germany: This Time Over Google Images
Google lost their Gmail dispute in Germany and they had to remove redtube.com (and the like) from Google.de, plus other cases I am missing right now. This week, Bloomberg reports that Google "lost two copyright lawsuits in Germany over displaying photos and artworks as thumbnails in a preview of search results." In short, let me blockquote: Google's preview of a picture by German photographer Michael Bernhard violates his copyrights, the Regional Court of Hamburg ruled, - How Google Handles Flash: The Tried & Tested Version
Beu has done an outstanding job testing how Google truly handles Flash indexing and crawling. To take you back, Google began indexing Flash in July 2008 and then we had a follow up post on it in late August. Let me summarize Beu's four findings: (1) Google has an issue associating text content within a Flash document with the correct parent URL or as a single entity. (2) Flash documents does receive PageRank "independent of - Google AdWords UK Now Allowing Gambling Ads
As I reported minutes ago at Search Engine Land, Google UK will now be allowing the advertisement of gambling related products in AdWords. We were one of the first to report the initial ban of gambling ads in the UK back June 2007. But the NHA has confirmed reports from Google that they have reversed this ruling. In fact, if you take a look at the AdWords Gambling Policies you will notice, they amended the - Official Yahoo October 2008 Search Update Now Being Noticed
The Yahoo Search Blog announced a "weather report," signifying a search update was taking place. No one really noticed anything, not until last night - at least. Last night, I saw a post at WebmasterWorld reporting that the "Serp's are on the move." Member, Vimes, said: any one else seeing the serp's move, from my location I'm seeing the weather start to change looks like I'm expecting bright spells with a little rain later ;) - SEO's Discuss Google Webmaster Tools Now Showing Crawl Error Sources
If your like me and other obsessive SEO’s addicted to the details of fixing everything on your own or a client’s website then Google’s recent addition of showing you where your 404 crawl errors come from is a much applauded feature. Before you might ended up in the Web Crawl section of Webmaster Tools only to scratch your head quite a few times and ponder how Googlebot has discovered many of these broken links in - Things You Should Expect from an SEO
Stoney DeGeyter has written an insightful piece on Search Engine Guide on what you should expect from your SEO consultant. Obviously, depending on your goals, this may differ, but the ideas are the same. He explains that traffic is something to look at, but that's not what the client should only seek. Conversions are obviously important, and so are rankings, but that's not how to prove the effectiveness of the campaign. At the end of - Japanese Version of Sphinn Launches
In case you felt that the English version of Sphinn is not souped up enough for your needs, there's another version of Sphinn in Japanese for other internet marketing news. Danny Sullivan has announced that now there be no spam complaints when legitimate Japanese internet marketing posts get submitted -- and this is the suitable home for these posts. As a note, if you're already a member at Sphinn.com, the user base is NOT shared - YouTube Videos Not Always Playing - Why?
I have a personal pet peeve with YouTube. Way too often, when I try watching a YouTube video, it simply won't play. The message I get is "We're sorry, this video is no longer available." The thing is, the video is available. All you need to do is refresh the page and play it again and often, it will work. Here is a picture of what I normally see: Why does this bother me? I - Most Publishers Don't Believe in AdSense Class Ceiling
In September, we ran a poll asking Does Google Limit The Amount AdSense Publishers Can Earn? The majority of respondents don't believe so. 57% do not believe in a ceiling, while 28% do and 15% said that the ceiling applies to only select publishers. Personally, I doubt there is any ceiling for 99% of the publishers. I would not be surprised if there were special agreements with some publishers that may limit the amount some - How To Optimize for Something New and Unknown
When faced with marketing a brand new product or idea, how do you optimize for keywords that nobody is searching for yet? Can you find other ways to present the product, such as focus on value proposition? Would social media help here? SEO For the Unknown explores this interesting topic at Cre8asiteforums. - Is Your Web Site Optimized for Revenue?
Facebook was in the news recently because they hadn't met revenue projections. Why? Their target users are coming to network and "be social" rather than to buy something. Their ad-based revenue plan is missing its mark. Another example are spam blogs ("splogs") that steal content from authentic blogs, buy a junk domain, and slap on Google Ads in the hopes of generating revenue. Perhaps some of these nonsense beggar sites do earn a piddly wage, - Where Did the Phrase "Search Engine Optimization" Come From?
In August of 2006, Rohit Bhargava coined the term SMO for social media optimization. Now search engine optimization has been around a little longer than that, but where did it come from? According to Bob Heyman, in a guest post on Search Engine Land, he did. Bob explains that it was 1995 when the name came to mind. Once upon a time, a rock band created a website with a URL that couldn't be recalled - Google Reinclusion Request Approval Times
The other day, I held a poll asking SEOs how long it typically took for their sites to be reincluded into the Google index after submitting a reconsideration request. We have complied 72 responses and I thought I share the results. As I thought, the responses are really all over the place. Let me break them down for you. Google Reinclusion Took Me... :: More Than Three Months said 18 respondents or 25% :: 1 - Poll Results: Google AdSense Publishers Discuss 2008 Earnings
In late September, we ran a poll asking AdSense publishers if they are earning more or less than the previous year. The results are now in and honestly, don't tell us much. Most said they earn more but just about the same number of respondents said they are earning less. Here is the break down: :: Earning More said 49 respondents or 42% :: Earning Less said 43 respondents or 37% :: About the Same - Has The Economic Downturn Resulted in an Google AdSense Downturn?
Are you a Google AdSense publisher who has taken a hit from the recession? A few forum threads, one at WebmasterWorld and the other at DigitalPoint Forums, discuss the impact of the economic crisis on money earned through the Google AdSense program. What have publishers noted? Some publishers haven't observed a thing. The behavior is expected with no indications of decline. On the other hand, though, there are a few publishers who have spotted some
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- MySpace MyAds Self-Service Advertising, WebmasterWorld
- AdWords Conversion Optimizer Expands Eligibility, WebmasterWorld
- AdWords Downtime: October 18, 10am-2pm PDT, Google Groups
- Google Blocks Services in Some Countries, DigitalPoint Forums
- Google Local Extra Coupons Bug, Google Groups
- Google Maps Now Incompat with Opera and Safari?, WebmasterWorld
- Lisa Barone Joins We Build Pages, Sphinn
