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:
- Video Recap of Weekly Search Buzz :: March 12, 2010
It has been two weeks since my last video recap, but I have been doing text recaps - so check those out. Why did I miss the video recaps, I was in Israel for both pleasure and business. I ran SphinnCon Israel this past sunday, it was a blast. Yahoo Search updated their index this week. Google's AJAX crawling proposal is now live. Google is upgrading the Site Performance report in Webmaster Tools. Yahoo - Google News Archives Adds "Browse This Newspaper"
If you go to the Google News Archives and find a digitized back issue from the Google archives, you should be able to now browse that newspaper directly on Google. For example, let's take a look at the The News and Eastern Townships Advocate. I can then browse the newspaper by panning through the pages. Here are some screen captures: I spotted this addition via the Google News Help forum where Googler, Inbal replied to - Google Shopping Adds Inventory Levels
Ever want to pick up a product from a store now and want to know if it is in stock in nearby stores? Yea, you have, I have. I end up calling stores to find a store that has it. But you may no longer have to do that. Just open your smart phone, go to Google, click on shopping and type in your product. Then look for a blue indicator to see which stores - SEO's Nemesis, Ripoff Report, Caught Selling Links
Frank Watson wrote that RipOff Report Now Selling Links, Verifying Safe Cash4Gold. In short, he shows how they are selling links for certain "qualified" and "verified" businesses. What is the big deal if a site sell links? Well, it is not - it is up to the site if they want to take the risk of selling links and being penalized by Google for doing so. So what is the big deal here? Well, Ripoff - Google Adds XML Validation to AdWords API Sandbox
I cannot tell you how many issues I see come up in the AdWords API forum about why does a certain request work in the Google AdWords API Sandbox and not in the normal AdWords API. A Sandbox API is a test ground for developers to test out new code changes without impacting live data. Eric Koleda from the AdWords API Team announced in a AdWords API Help thread the introduction of enhanced XML validation - How Important is Google PageRank in 2010?
Every year or so, the Google PageRank debate lives on. Some people say Google PageRank is the number one important attribute to have a page rank well in Google. Some say PageRank is worthless and should be completely ignored. Others take a middle ground. SEO's opinion on the topic changes from year to year - even mine. A WebmasterWorld thread has renewed discussion on the topic. So I thought it would be a good time
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- Hitwise: Microsoft Bing Gains A Little In U.S. February Search Share, WebmasterWorld
- Why Bartz Won’t Sell Yahoo! (Just Yet), Sphinn
- 71 Technical Factors For Backlink Analysis (From 30 Link Building Experts) – Part 2, Sphinn
- Can't narrow search using quotes -- quote marks disappear when customized news section is saved, Google News Help
- Google Reader Play not working, Google Reader Help
