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: Large Number of 404s Doesn't Hurt You
A Google Webmaster Help thread has Googler, JohnMu, replying to some concerns about using 404s, page not found commands. JohnMu said: Having a large number of 404's on a site is generally not a problem for us, especially if the 404 page helps the user to find related entries within your site. Of course, Google likes when webmasters return proper http header codes, especially in the page not found case. JohnMu explains: Using a 404 - Long AdWords Display URLs Messing Google Results
Ever wonder why Google has a display URL character limit? Besides for it looking ugly, it can seriously make the search results page look weird. A HighRankings Forum thread reports one user seeing such a long display URL and taking a screen shot. Below is a copy of that screen shot and look how the ads get pushed into the organic results: How pretty! I tried to replicate the issue myself and I was not - Google Maps Loses Rogers, MN & Wickliffe, OH On The Map
A Google Maps thread has confirmed reports that Rogers, MN and Wickliffe, OH had/have major issues finding local businesses and safety information. The first report came last Tuesday, March 23rd, which said and confirmed that you cannot even find the local police station or hospital. There are no longer any business listings for Rogers Minnesota. You cannot find the local fire department, emergency room, hotels or businesses or Cabela's Retail Store in Rogers Minnesota. It - VerifiedSEO.com Fools The SEM Industry?
Late last week, a site named VerifiedSEO.com came under scrutiny of the SEO community. In short, they wanted to know who and how can one person claim to be equipped to verify all the SEOs out there in the world. People were insulted and taken back by such a claim. Just scan through some of the early comments about this at a Sphinn thread: Charles Preston. An SEO out of Austin, Texas have decided that
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- Annotations bug again: please provide info for the YouTube engineers, YouTube Help
- Does embedding a Google Map on webpage help SEO?, DigitalPoint Forums
- How to Get an Influencer's Attention, Sphinn
- Interview With Miriam Ellis, Cre8asite Forums
- Wikipedia To Get New Look, WebmasterWorld
- Parasitic Hosting Lite?, WebmasterWorld
