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 Adding Favicons to Webmaster Tools Site List?
A DigitalPoint Forums thread has an image of Google adding Favorite Icons (favicons) in the site list. I personally do not see them, but here is a picture from the thread: I am pretty sure this is new, because the favicons are not showing up in my Webmaster Tools console. What does this do for you? Not much - but it does help you differentiate the sites in the list a bit faster. Forum discussion - Google AdWords Refund Bug for Pre-Pay Advertisers
There are always complaints from Google AdWords advertisers about not being able to be refunded for one reason or another. A new Google AdWords Help thread reports the issue in detail, with the use of a video. Google said there is a bug with refunding advertisers who have used pre-paid account. AdWordsPro Sarah said: The reason you are unable to cancel your account is because there is a bug affecting some prepay advertisers that prevents - Google SafeSearch May Block Graphic Dental & Surgery Images
A Google Webmaster Help thread has the owner of NYCDentist.com (great domain by the way) complaining his images are being blocked by Google's SafeSearch filter. He said: I personally write and publish NYCdentist.com, which offers over 2,500 pages of free content in academic dentistry. The content shows dental procedures including surgery in detail based upon visitor choices. There is NO sexual content in all 2,500 pages I didn't know this, but it does make sense, - Yahoo To Kill Shopping API & Outsource to PriceGrabber, Not Bing
Yahoo quietly announced they are discontinuing their Yahoo Shopping API, because they are going to be outsourcing the Yahoo Shopping component of their site to PriceGrabber.com. Greg Sterling has excellent questions and observations about this decision. The main question is why isn't Bing going to power this search feature? On a webmaster note, just look at the first comment in the Yahoo announcement: This is very disappointing to me. Several of my web apps depend - Baidu's Domain Name Snatched by Hackers For an Hour
Imagine going to Google.com and seeing that it has been hacked and taken over by hackers? That is what happened to Chinese searchers, with their favorite search engine, Baidu. @mranti snapped a picture of the Baidu home page, when it was hacked: The news can be found on Techmeme, but in short, it seems like they took over Baidu's domain name for about an hour. Now, when I go to Baidu.com it redirects me to - Google Webmaster Tools Sends Out Google Ad Planner Ad?
Back in 2007, Google released a message center in Google Webmaster Tools. It was used for penalty notifications, hacks, exploits, bandwidth issues, and many other webmaster oriented technical issues. Today, I log into my Google Webmaster Tools account to find, what appears to me, as Google Ad Planner advertisements. Now, I am a big fan of Ad Planner, it is a really neat, free tool. But it just didn't seem incredibly webmaster related, on the
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- 100 Most Influential Online Marketers of 2009, Sphinn
- Famous article fading away in SERP... Why?, WebmasterWorld
- Getting Links from the Top 50 Domains, Sphinn
- "Google does not vet Android applications", WebmasterWorld
- Changing My Site - Will It Effect Seo?, HighRankings Forums
