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's Pac Man Playable Logo
In Japan on May 22, 1980, Pac-Man was released - which is now, although it is May 21st here in USA. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Pac Man, Google has their first ever playable and interactive logo. Here is a picture of Google.com today: Notice how Google swapped out, "I'm Feeling Lucky" for "Insert Coin." Very neat! And the game really works! You can play up to 256 levels in the logo, for real! - Google Maps Ranking Jewish Businesses For Nazi Related Keywords?
A Google Places Help thread has one business owner complaining that he is receiving tons of traffic from Google Maps for Nazi related keywords. He explained he is a Jewish business owner and his top queries reported in Google Places is Nazi keyword related. He said "as a Jewish owned business, this really worries me!" The top queries he received include swastika building, nazi building, swastika, balloon utopia, event decor, nazi headquarters, atomic bomb and - Google Removed Only Way To Get To Old Google Design
About ten days ago, we reported on a way to get to the old Google design after Google launched their redesign. Back then, you could have accessed the clean Google at google.com/webhp?hl=all but now, that also redirects you to the new design. There are ways to get the old design still, using browser extensions and add-ons but there is no longer a Google URL to take you to the old design. People have been downplaying - Google's Disappearing Search Query Bug
Many searchers were complaining in a Google Web Search Help thread yesterday that their search queries were disappearing. Google later confirmed the bug. What was/is happening for some searchers is that they enter their search query into the Google search box, hit enter and on the next screen the search query is no longer shown in the search box. There are a few threads out there on this, but only one with confirmation from Google. - Yahoo Site Explorer Link Count Drops Significantly
Several webmasters and SEOs are reporting that the link reports in Yahoo Site Explorer is reporting drastically less links than ever before. I assume this is not being discussed as much as it would have been a year or two ago, simply cause Yahoo is out of search but some webmasters and SEOs are concerned over the major link drop. I personally checked my January 2009 screen shot and compared it to today and I - Google TV: A Clicker Killer?
Google announced their TV search appliance the other day. Most everyone knows about this news by now, but if you haven't, see the video below and read all the stories (everyone) on Techmeme. Of course, this seems to be a version of Clicker, a TV search engine run by Jim Lanzone. Clicker is very cool, but can it stand up to Google, even if Google TV has less features and a poorer user interface? I - 43% Of SEOs Say Traffic Down Since Google Redesign
Earlier this month, Google launched their new design to all and even though many hate it Google is sticking with it and pleading for searchers to stick with it also. But from an SEO's or Webmaster's perspective, is the new design bad? Some are reporting that the new design is sending fewer referrals and less traffic to their web site. Now, that can be a huge deal for a site that gets a lot of - Survey Says: SEOs Don't Care About Teoma or Ask.com
I am constantly giving Ask.com a hard time, I guess because I really loved them and I felt they could make a difference at one point. Recently we noticed that Teoma was back and Teoma was much of the reason I loved the old Ask.com. So I ran a poll asking if Teoma's results were good. Most of the polls I run here get about 200 responses. This poll received 39 responses! So I learned - 75% of SEOs Say Googlers Hypocritical on Facebook
A few weeks ago, many Googlers deactivated their Facebook accounts to make a statement about the lack of privacy and "openness" of the social networking site. I figured it would be fun to see how SEOs feel about that decision. I ran a poll asking if you feel that in light of Google Buzz, do you think the Googlers who deactivated their accounts are being hypocritical? Personally, I don't really think so, but here is - Most SEOs Believe Links That Open In New Windows Are No Different
A few weeks ago, we asked the question Do Links That Open In New Windows Pass Equal Google PageRank? Honestly, I felt the question was a bit out there and that there is no difference between links that open in new windows and just stay in the same window, but I figured I'd poll our readers anyway. Most of those that answered the poll said that a link that opens in a new window passes - SEOs Are Set In Their Ways About CMSs
Content management systems are pretty much the norm for most web based content sites these days. It is rare to find a content site on the web that is updated weekly or more to not have a content management system (CMS). Which is why I asked the question Do SEOs Prefer Page Creation Via CMS Or By Hand? With almost 200 responses I wanted to share the results with you. Question: Do SEOs Prefer Page - How Often Do You Change Google AdWords Creatives?
We ran three polls about a month ago on the topic of Google AdWords maintenance and I wanted to share the results of each. This poll we asked How often do you change the creatives for keywords? The results were even more lax that the previous polls. Almost 50% said they only change creatives monthly, 17% said bi-weekly, 15% said weekly, 12% said quarterly, 2% said daily, another 2% said every other day and the - How Often Do You Optimize Your Google AdWords Account?
We ran three polls about a month ago on the topic of Google AdWords maintenance and I wanted to share the results of each. In this poll we asked "How often do you optimize?" The results were similar to the other polls. 37% said they optimize their accounts weekly, 20% said daily, 11% said monthly and quarterly, 10% said every other day, 8% said bi-weekly and the remainder was an other answer. Here is the - How Often Do Google AdWords Advertiser Change Bids?
We ran three polls about a month ago on the topic of Google AdWords maintenance and I wanted to share the results of each. The first poll asked how often do you change bids for each keyword? The response breakdown was 40% Weekly, 18% Daily, 10% Monthly, 8% Bi-weekly, 8% Quarterly, 5% said every other day and the rest were "other answers." The other answers were mostly "as needed." If I learned anything from this - Promoted Tweets, The Next Google AdWords?
Twitter announced promoted tweets about a month ago and back then, we asked our readers if they think they will be a success or not. Personally, I am unsure. On one hand, I can see how they can make a nice amount of money, but I really don't think they can ever bring in the revenue an AdWords machine brings in today. Twitter is just not essential as web search and I can't see it - SEOs Can't Agree on Risk of Link Buying
About a month ago, we ran a poll asking you how risky are paid links? We all know how much Google hates sites that buy or sell links. But many SEOs are convinced the risk is worth the potential reward. So we ran a poll so that I can gauge how concerned our readers are about paid links and after about 250 responses, I thought I share the numbers with you. Overall, we have a
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- 111 takeaways from SMX Advanced London, Sphinn
- AGooglsynchronous tracking tag, Google Blogoscoped Forum
- Consumer Watchdog: "White House Reprimands Ex-Googler After Consumer Watchdog FOIA Request", Google Blogoscoped Forum
- Design Entry Pages Not Home Pages, Sphinn
- Getting Rid Of Client's Spammy Text, HighRankings Forums
- Google To Acquire Global IP Solutions For $68.2 Million, WebmasterWorld
- SEO Cost - The Relative Perspective on Total SEO Cost, Sphinn
- SEO for Google News – Ranking Factors and Recommendations, Sphinn
- Should Opinion Be a Ranking Factor?, Sphinn
- Stupid to pay for keywords you already 'own' oranically?, Search Engine Watch Forums
- Yahoo To Buy Associated Content, WebmasterWorld
- Bug update: Video processing delays fixed, YouTube Help
- How I link my Facebook page to my Google local business listing?, Google Places Help
- I see a foreign language on the map of USA, is that fine?, Google Maps Help
- Known Issue: Performance report currently unavailable, Google Merchant Center Help
- the "top search queries" gadget for igoogle, doesnt work!, Google Webmaster Help
- Weather for Hong Kong is not updated, Google Web Search Help
- Yahoo Cache Is Screwed Up - No Dates, No Cache, WebmasterWorld
