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: The "Last Thing We Want" Is The "Best SEO To Win"
Jeremy Sussman, a Google Local Product Manager has been pretty frank and clear with people in the Google Places forum. In one Google Places Help thread, he said, and I quote: I can assure you that the last thing we want is for the business who hires the best SEO to win a better slot. But, the SEOs are, unfortunately, pretty good at what they do, and so sometimes they out smart us. You read - Google Site Speed: Two Factors, GoogleBot & Users
Tedster started an outstanding thread at WebmasterWorld, something I personally never thought about but is all so valid. All this stuff around having fast sites, cause Google is now looking at site performance and speed is important. It is not as important as most SEOs make it out to be, but the bottom line is, make sure your site is not too slow. Tedster points out there is often confusion on how to determine if - Google News Sitemaps: One Language Per Sitemap File
This week we covered the Google one language per page rule and today I spotted a thread specific to how this works with Google News. A Google News Help thread has Googler Inbal saying you should submit a News Sitemap file for each language. Inbal from Google said: If all your languages editions are published on one site, the Google News preference is for one news sitesmaps for multiple languages. It is also important to - Google Ordered To Remove Search Results On Sex Charges But Document Still Shows
Google will remove search results when a court orders them to do so or when the search result can infect a computer with viruses and malware. We know that. I spotted an interesting and unique thread at Google Webmaster Help thread where one individual (won't use the name but you can easily find out in the thread) had a court order Google to remove search results. The search results were about a sexual harassment case - Google: The Robots Meta Tag Is Cumulative (First Come First Serve)
Here is a little SEO bit that some of the even more experienced SEOs may not have heard of. The order of the meta robots tag is incredibly important. Did you know that the effects are cumulative when it comes to Google understanding the restrictions set in the tag? Google's JohnMu said in a Google Webmaster Help thread: For the robots meta tag, the effects are cumulative with regards to the restrictions, eg: <META NAME="ROBOTS" - Microsoft's Street Slide, A Preview
The online mapping products get cooler almost every day. The latest buzz is around Microsoft Street Slide, which is not live yet, but is currently being developed. Here is a video that explains it better than I can in words: There are more articles on this at Neowin, Google Maps Mania and Search Engine Land. A Google Blogoscoped Forums thread points out some people are trying to do the same type of things on Google
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- Upload limit increases to 15 minutes for all users, Google Blogoscoped Forum
- YouTube Increases Upload Limit To 15 Minutes, WebmasterWorld
- Can you post directions and time estimates by boat?, Google Maps Help
- Google Bidder Testing, WebmasterWorld
- New! The Playlist Bar (@ the bottom of the video watch page), YouTube Help
- Video & upload issues: doubled in length, audio/sync issues etc., YouTube Help
- YouTube Doodles, Google Blogoscoped Forum
