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:
- All 2 Million Google AdSense Publishers Now Get The Beta Interface
I reported this morning at Search Engine Land that the 'new' AdSense beta interface is now officially available to all of Google's 2 million-plus publishers. As you know, Google stepped up the invites to this beta interface last week. Google told me that last week about 20-30% had access to this beta interface, but as of today, Google is rolling it out to all of their publishers. You won't have to use it, if you - Ask.com Officially Not A Search Engine, Maybe The Return Of Jeeves?
Ask.com announced very sad news yesterday, they are letting go 130 hard workers due to a change in their strategy. That change is they will no longer index the web and will focus on being a question and answer engine. They are closing down the Edison, N.J. and Hangzhou, China offices, where their web search teams are based. Yes, over a hundred people are losing their jobs and it is also sad to see another - Page Previews Officially Added To Google Search Results
A month ago Google began testing page previews in the web search results. Yesterday, Google officially added them for all users. If you do not see them yet, then use this link to try them out yourself. Here is a picture of it in action: Here is a video demo by Google: Some history, in June 2004, Ask Jeeves went with binoculars on the SERPs, which is pretty much a similar concept. Google reportedly tested - Google Images Removes "Report Offensive Images" Again!
I am very confused. As of October 19th, Google brought back a much needed image search feature report offensive images. When you spot an image that is offensive, either pornographic, violently graphic or other - you can use this feature to communicate the offensive image to Google. Now, it is gone again! Google added this feature in June 2008 after image search became a target for porn and spam. Then when the new image search - adCenter Impression Bug Mistaken As Quality Ban By Some Advertisers
In late October, we reported on a potential adCenter impression or ad serving bug. Microsoft confirmed the issue but many didn't stop complaining. One advertiser updated us in the WebmasterWorld thread last night saying the reason why his impressions dropped to zero was not due to the impressions bug but rather he was banned from using adCenter. He was upset that he was not informed of the quality issue on his ads and had to
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- Disturbing study suggests where Web spam is heading, Sphinn
- Scaling SEO by Eliminating Pain Points, Sphinn
- Structuring a News Section, WebmasterWorld
- Japan Seizes Google User Records, WebmasterWorld
- Removing Pages From Google: A Comprehensive Guide For Content Owners, Sphinn
