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:
- (Text) Recap of Weekly Search Buzz :: February 26, 2010
This week, I am currently in Jerusalem, Israel, so I won't be producing a video. Here is a text recap instead of the video recap. The European Union has opened an investigation to make sure Google isn't stepping over their boundaries by penalizing potential competitors in the web results. Google said they will launch the Caffeine index in the upcoming months. Google had a Webmaster Tools bug in the index URL report. Google may verify - Google May Verify Your Sites in Webmaster Tools Without You Clicking Verify
A Google Webmaster Help thread has a report that someone noticed their site was verified in Google Webmaster Tools without them actually clicking the "verify" button. How did this happen? Well, first of all, the www version of the site was verified. The non-www version they did not manually click verify for. So, Googler, Dennis G. explained in the thread: Sometimes we can tell that you have a site verified even if it does not - Twitter Users Don't Click on Google AdSense Ads?
A WebmasterWorld thread has Google AdSense publishers talking about how well traffic from Twitter converts in terms of clicks on AdSense ads. The overall consensus from the thread is that Twitter users are too cool to click on AdSense ads. One person even kept tabs on that, saying: Created about 500 targeted follows, got 120 followers, this converted in about 40 visits to my sites and 1 click. I can tell you that for both - Google 302 Redirects Secure iGoogle To Unsecure iGoogle
If you visit https://www.google.com/ig, it will redirect you to http://www.google.com/ig, without the https for secure. Yes, Google is making sure no one can access the secure version of iGoogle. Here is a server header check from SEO Consultants: #1 Server Response: https://www.google.com/igHTTP Status Code: HTTP/1.1 302 FoundLocation: http://www.google.com/igCache-Control: privateContent-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8X-Content-Type-Options: nosniffDate: Fri, 26 Feb 2010 08:29:08 GMTServer: igfeContent-Length: 221X-XSS-Protection: 0Redirect Target: http://www.google.com/ig There are several complaints about not being able to access the secure - Yelp Sued Over Accepting Money For Removing Negative Reviews
A WebmasterWorld thread has discussion around the allegations that Yelp has been burying negative reviews in exchange for advertising dollars. MediaPost writes: A California veterinary center has sued review site Yelp for allegedly promising to bury bad reviews in exchange for purchasing $3,600 worth of advertising on the site. "Yelp frequently exercises its control over the Yelp.com listing application to modify business listing pages to the advantage of businesses that purchase Yelp advertising subscriptions, and - Report: Google To Launch Caffeine Index In Upcoming "Months"
Search Engine Land's Matt McGee reports Google will be launching the Caffeine index update, the one many believe is already live, in the upcoming months. He received a statement from Google saying: We expect to roll it out to all data centers over the coming months. Why didn't it launch after the holidays? What is the hold up with Caffeine launching? Google sent a statement about that: We run lots of tests with this big - Google AdWords Now Allows Only VIPPS & CIPA Pharmacy Ads
Google announced they are now allowing certain pharmacy and drug ads on their search results. Google AdWords will only accept advertisements from VIPPS and CIPA certified pharmacies, and that these pharmacies can only target ads within the countries where they are accredited. Of course, for those running ads on the topic of pharmacy and drugs and health, that may have been running ads in the realm of those topics - may also be hit by
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- 3 Reasons NOT to Use Twitter for Your Business, Sphinn
- Forces Out To Destroy Interactive Advertising, WebmasterWorld
- Google's revenue source, WebmasterWorld
- Rich Snippets Caused Traffic Drop, WebmasterWorld
- 35% of US Internet Still on Dialup, WebmasterWorld
- Finding Links by Studying your Competitors, Sphinn
- Google under investigation for its search algorithm, DigitalPoint Forums
- Nofollow On External Links To Preserve Pagerank?, HighRankings Forums
- SES London takeaways and top tips, Sphinn
