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:
- Google and Yahoo Break Up, End Their Agreement
The Google Blog has big news -- Google and Yahoo have decided to kill their advertising agreement. The reasons cited are that the government has been reviewing the agreement but they are not happy with it. Further, some advertisers are having problems with it too. Instead of pursuing a legal battle, Google and Yahoo have decided to part ways, which is unfortunate for those who really wanted this to happen. This is hardly a scratch - Google Adds Street View to Seattle, Baltimore, and Washington DC
In the beginning of October, Google Groups members pressured Google Maps Adam to start thinking about Street View in Washington DC. Adam said it wasn't available, but was he hiding something? After all, just about a month later, Adam informed us about a Google Maps update that now includes Seattle, Baltimore, and Washington DC. It's good that Google added Seattle too, since more forum members wanted it. Check out the views of Washington DC: View - Google Maps Shouldn't Be Wiki-Based, Produces Inaccurate Results
Matt McGee wrote a great post on the issue of Google map spam. His whole post shows that Google isn't consistent with their storytelling; on one hand, they won't allow paid links, but on the other, they allow a fake community to manipulate business entries on Google Maps because Google emphasizes a "wiki" format. Meanwhile, this wiki format is gamed and there really is no "community" -- just a bunch of paid spammers who are - Some Good News For Ask.com: Jeeves Makes Come Back
When Ask.com retired Jeeves, I was quite sad. The guy was a friendly web presence and he had the craziest answers to some of the funniest questions. But Jeeves retired, Ask.com essentially dissolved itself, and it looks like Jeeves is making a debut after playing around in the adult entertainment industry, as Barry reports at Search Engine Land. Barry notes that if you go to askjeeves.com, it redirects to Ask.com but with the Jeeves character. - Google Groups Search Expanded To More Forums
A Google Blogoscoped Forums thread reports that Google has expanded their Google Groups search feature to include not just returning results from Google Groups threads but also from forums all over the internet. For example, a search on adsense in "all groups" returns the first result from WebmasterWorld.com. Clearly, Google has placed Group results at the top, but it is done nicely. As a side note: This might come in handy, being that Google started - Google AdWords Keyword Tool Now Clearly Showing Trademarked Keywords
Google is now clearly showing if a keyword is trademarked or not, directly in the Google AdWords Keyword Tool. For example, a search on "iphone" returns a little â„¢ symbol near the term, i.e. iphoneâ„¢. Here is a picture: This can greatly speed up the process for advertiser who are looking to avoid trying to bid on trademarked terms. I am honestly not sure the exact details of why this was added, so these are - Google Tested Ads In Higher Spots To Adjust CTR For Ad Position
Yesterday, I had a conversation with Nick Fox of Google about the most recent quality score changes. I posted the extremely interesting question and answer session at Search Engine Land last night. I was honestly shocked by one of his answers, shocked! When I asked how Google changed the process of normalizing the CTR scores for ad position, he explained the old way versus the new way. In the past, Google took a lower ranking - Google Blog Search Link Command Now Scanning Blogroll Links
Every week day, I put together, what I call the Daily Link Find on my personal blog. It basically is a summary of links to my blog posts I find for the day. I find most, if not all, the links via Google Blog Search, using the link command. For me, I use link:www.seroundtable.com while in Google Blog Search. I limit it to the past 24 hours and then scan the real articles that wrote
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- AdWords Downtime: November 8, 10am-2pm PST, Google Groups
- Google Likes Youtube Spam, DigitalPoint Forums
- Yahoo, Google revise partnership, WebmasterWorld
- Boss Wants To See Effect Of Seo In One Night, HighRankings Forums
- FCC Clears Plan For White Space Use, WebmasterWorld
- Will AdSense be affected by U.S. Elections, DigitalPoint Forums
