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 Phonebook Not Working?
There are many searchers complaining that the Google Phonebook is not working. A Google Web Search Help thread has some of those complaints. It does appear to have changed the way it works. Just recently, Vanessa Fox wrote an article named Removing Your Personal Information From Google. In that article, she had a link to a Google Phonebook result for her own name, which showed several Vanessa Fox results, with addresses and phone numbers. Now, - Google Hotspot: Friend Powered Local Recommendations
Last night, Google announced Google Hotspots. Google Hotspots is a local recommendations engine powered by you and your friends. Here is a picture: The concept is simple, you and your friends rate stuff and when you search for local items on Google Places (Hotspot) you will be recommended places based on you and your friends likes and dislikes. Vanessa Fox has one of the best write ups on this at Search Engine Land. I'll quote - Are Google'sOne Box Results Unethical?
Benjamin Edelman latest study named Hard-Coding Bias in Google "Algorithmic" Search Results tries to prove how Google hard codes their own links into the first results. I will be honest, I have a serious problem with this "evidence." Edelman is known to be a solo watchdog on Google, but at the same time, he is extremely thorough and smart. First let me give you his summary but take 5 minutes to read his evidence yourself: - Google Product Search Update & Google Shopper Android App
The holiday season is here, I have already began buying Chanukah gifts. Google introduced new features for the upcoming holiday shopping season. They include: (1) Local Inventory: If you search for a specific product, Google may show you if it is in stock at local stores on Google.com or Google Product Search. Merchants need to submit local inventory in their feeds for it to work, and if they do, it should show up. I tested - Facebook Launches "Seamless Messaging," Says Not Email
Everyone was expecting Facebook to announce a new email service to compete with Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Hotmail and others. Facebook made a point to say they are not producing a Gmail killer, but if their new service kills email, well - that is okay. But they are 100% not launching a Gmail killer. ;-) If you missed the news, you can read the announcement here. In short, Facebook wants to place all your methods of
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- Social Media vs. SEO: My Approach, Sphinn
- Yahoo Launches Contributor Network, WebmasterWorld
- Scheduled downtime - November 15 @ 4p PDT/ 7p EDT, Google Places Help
- Youtube is not saving my 3D viewing settings?, YouTube Help
