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:
- Is Google Mixing Paid Results With Free Results?
A few weeks back, Google started testing enhanced Google Maps results. Now, Silicon Valley Watcher noticed it and said that Google was doing something new, by not separating out paid results from free results. Truth be told, and as Danny explains very well at Search Engine Land, Google has been mixing those results, but labeling them. Here is the search result in question: * skateboards in houston The thing is, this is not guaranteeing the - Google Offers Free Online AdWords Training
A week or so ago, Google announced the availability of free online courses to learn more about AdWords. There are both live courses and 'on-demand' courses. The first live online course is being given tomorrow, the 17th at 11am-12pm (PST) on Understanding Quality Score. You can sign up over here. For a complete listing of both online and offline courses in North America click here and for UK & Ireland click here. A Google AdWords - Rumor: Google Search Updates Rolls Out First to Mobile Devices
There is a very non-factual rumor, with very little current backing, that when Google does search updates, it first updates the mobile phone index, the one that iPhone, Android and Palm OS uses, and then the main desktop index. I don't think they have different indexes for mobile phones to access versus desktops to access - but it is possible they show a fresher Google data center to mobile users or test things out first - Bing Leads Customers To Competitors With Their Best Match Information
A complaint from a Carpet store owner in the Bing Community shows how Bing is sending his customers to his competitors. If you search for [carpetswarehouse.com] on Bing, and mouse over the "Best Match Information" arrow on the right of the result, Bing will show the wrong information. In fact, Bing is showing the phone number to his competitor. Here is a picture: The Carpet guy said: Bing is showing. "Customer service 800-686-2442." That is - Facebook Sent More Traffic to Yahoo & MSN Than Google: Is It Bad SEO?
Compete released statistics, which I do not see published on their site yet, saying that Facebook is now sending more traffic to major portals such as Yahoo and MSN, than Google sends to those portals. You can read about this at SFGate.com but here is a quote: According to Web measurement firm Compete Inc., Facebook has passed search-engine giant Google to become the top source for traffic to major portals like Yahoo and MSN, and - Google Image Search Filter Now Faster?
Zeus, a member at WebmasterWorld, is known by the members there as the guy who watches over Google Image Search. Whenever there is a Google Image Search change, he is aware of it and lets the rest of us know. Most recently, he is reporting that Google Image Search's SafeSearch filter is getting a bit faster. In the past, it took three to six months for Google to update the images caught by their filter.
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- Microsoft Launches Windows phone 7 Series for Mobile, WebmasterWorld
- How Profiles Help Us Moderate Sphinn, Sphinn
- Timeframe For Optimization Results, HighRankings Forums
