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  Daily Search Forum Recap: June 3, 2009

  Posted: June 3rd, 2009, 11:00pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Forum Recap  

  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.

  
  

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  Technical Note: Disabled Comments Temporarily

  Posted: June 3rd, 2009, 5:34pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Blog Administration  

  This is a quick technical note that I had to disable comments. I am not sure what is going on, but starting this morning, when comments are added, the post's contents would disappear.

  So I have disabled comments for now.

  I'll try turning them back on later to see if it was a temporary issue. If that doesn't work, then I might have to switch to WordPress or something custom.

  
  

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  NoFollow To Cause Revolt: Wasted PageRank via Sculpting & JavaScript Links Require NoFollow

  Posted: June 3rd, 2009, 3:55pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Google Optimization  

  Last night at SMX Advanced Matt Cutts of Google reportedly dropped a bombshell on the SEO community when he said that using the nofollow to PageRank sculpt might not work like you (SEOs) thought. Danny Sullivan explained it well:

  If you have $10 in authority to spend on those ten links, and you block 5 of them, the other 5 aren’t going to get $2 each. They’re still getting $1. It’s just that the other $5 you thought you were saving is now going to waste.

  In Danny's simplistic example, if you have a PageRank of 10 (I know it doesn't work this way) and you link out to ten pages, each page would get PR1. Now, if you nofollow 5 of those links, then the 5 normal links should get PR2s each. This is not the case, instead they get PR1s and the other PR5 is wasted.

  But what really annoys me is that Matt left this out of a video he published days before the conference. Matt in his videos, answered a question about PageRank sculpting. He completely left out these details in that video. Why? I am not sure, but watch the video:

  Why leave it out there Matt? Was it reserved for SMX? If so, why not wait on that topic and publish the video with the full explanation later?

  In any event, Danny goes on to explain that Google now crawls and indexes links within JavaScript’s “onClick” events. Using JavaScript for links you don't want Google to find, for example, text ads, was a great solution. Now, it Google indexes those links, and that means, you need to slap on the nofollow attribute on those links or possibly be penalized in the future.

  As you can imagine, both the nofollow sculpting topic of wasted PageRank and the fact that JavaScript links may now need nofollows added to them, are pretty major. Stuff like this can cause a revolt in the SEO world.

  Forum discussion at Sphinn.

  Here is the live blog coverage of the news:

  • Duplicate Content Solutions & The Canonical Tag - SMX Advanced Coverage 2009, SEO Gadget
  • Duplicate Content Solutions & The Canonical Tag, outspokenmedia.com
  • Beyond the Usual Link Building, outspokenmedia.com
  • Beyond the usual linkbuilding - SMX Advanced 2009, SEO Gadget
  • Live from SMX Advanced: Beyond the Usual Link Building, Search Marketing Sage
  • Nofollow Makes News at SMX Advanced, BruceClay.com
  • You&A With Matt Cutts, outspokenmedia.com

  
  

• 

  June 2009 Google Webmaster Report

  Posted: June 3rd, 2009, 3:31pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Google PageRankSERP Updates  

  It is that time of the month again and we got your Google Webmaster report based on a new WebmasterWorld thread.

  The main thing I see repeated throughout the thread is that Google seems to be bouncing some results around by plus or minus fifteen positions. One SEO put it like this:

  My site is recovered for 60% of terms and back to old positions. For 25% of terms is back but lower for +/- 10 or 15 positions. For 15% terms is still not back. And within 15% is one of most import keywords.

  That really is what most of the thread is about today. The last webmaster report is the May 2009 webmaster report. Here are some other key items that happened with Google over the past month.

  • Small Google May 2009 Update?
  • Google May 2009 Toolbar PageRank Update
  • Google Webmaster Tools Tests New Design
  • Google Updates Backlink Data in New Webmaster Tools
  • Most Webmasters Will Use Google's New Rich Snippet Markups
  • Google Web Search's New Click Tracking
  • Google Launches New Search Suggestions & Drops Counts
  • Google Wonder Wheel & Search Options Go Live
  • Why Does My Google Profile Not Show For A Google Search?

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

  
  

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  Should Webmasters Be Responsible For Google's Snippets?

  Posted: June 3rd, 2009, 3:20pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Google Search Engine  

  Yesterday, I wrote at Search Engine Land about a report from The Register about how a Dutch company was sued over the snippet Google choose for a certain web page of theirs. Let me quickly explain what happened.

  A web page on Miljoenhuizen.nl showed up in Google for the search phrase [Zwartepoorte] and [bankrupt]. When you read the snippet under the Miljoenhuizen.nl listing in Google, it basically read that Zwartepoorte was bankrupt. The issue is, Zwartepoorte was not bankrupt. So Zwartepoorte sued Miljoenhuizen.nl to make Google remove the snippet. The thing is, Miljoenhuizen.nl did not say Zwartepoorte was bankrupt, Google took several words on a page and mixed them together to completely make that up.

  A Dutch court ordered Miljoenhuizen.nl to change the page, so Google's snippet would change. Miljoenhuizen.nl removed the page and the issue is now resolved.

  Personally, I think it is crazy for a court to make such a request. But what do I know? I really want to see how you guys feel about this.

  Should webmasters be responsible for what Google shows in their snippets about our web pages? Take our anonymous poll:

  
  Should webmasters be responsible for what Google shows in their snippets about our web pages?(poll)
  

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

  
  

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  Google AdSense To Host Webinar On Channels/Advanced Reporting

  Posted: June 3rd, 2009, 3:13pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Google AdSense  

  Google has been holding these webinars to help AdSense publishers pick up new tricks and tips. The latest webinar is on the topic of Channels/Advanced Reporting. That topic includes:

  • Learn how to set up channel tracking in your AdSense account
  • Find out how you can optimize AdSense using channel data.
  • Track AdSense performance for a specific ad placement
  • Measure the performance of individual sites

  The webinar is tomorrow, June 4, 2009 at 6:30 pm PDT. You should be able to sign up via this page, but for some reason, the signup link doesn't seem to be working for me at this moment. I posted the issue to Google, so hopefully it will work shortly.

  Forum discussion at Google AdSense Help.

  
  

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  Interviewing Patrick Gavin on DIYSEO.com

  Posted: June 3rd, 2009, 2:21pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine tools  

  It has been about five years since I last interviewed Patrick Gavin, and back then I interviewed Patrick on his new company, Text Link Ads (TLA). Who knew TLA would have such a huge impact on the lives of so many SEOs and shape this industry, for better or worse. I should add that TLA has been a long time advertiser here and RustyBrick, my company, does work for TLA on the development side.

  Patrick has stepped down from TLA's parent company, MediaWhiz a few months ago. Patrick has been informing various bloggers about his new SEO venture with Andy Hagans named DIYSEO.com, Do It Yourself SEO. Since Patrick is one of the most successful, honest and caring people in the industry, I thought I would cover a Sphinn thread on this new project. I asked Patrick several questions over instant messenger on DIYSEO.com. Here is that interview:

  Barry Schwartz: Hi Patrick, thanks for agreeing to answer some questions about your new SEO venture, named DIYSEO.com. Can you first tell us a little bit about the new business?
  Patrick Gavin: Thanks Barry. Sure, DIYSEO is a venture I am launching with Andy Hagans. The product is a SEO software platform aimed at small business website owners.

  Barry Schwartz: Can you tell me about some of the software's features? What features will make this the killer SEO app?
  Patrick Gavin: To start with our software is not a suite of tools, instead it is a task based system designed to give website owners a step by step playbook on how to improve their natural search engine rankings. It is unique in that it gives advice tailored to specific verticals. When a site owner begins the process, they complete a questionnaire. We then take that data to give them an SEO campaign and task list that is truly geared towards their vertical.

  Barry Schwartz: I saw that ShoeMoney wrote about your new tools. But doesn't ShoeMoney also have his own SEO tools he is selling? How does yours compare to his?
  Patrick Gavin: ShoeMoney has a great suite of tools. The difference to us is we are not designed for professional internet marketers who are looking for advanced tools. We instead are designed for business owners who want a step by step plan for SEO success. We think there is a need in the market for both expert tools and what we are doing: an SEO system that takes your hand and walks you through a winning SEO plan without having to be an expert.

  
  Barry Schwartz: Would you consider any tools currently out there similar to yours? If so, which ones?
  Patrick Gavin: I wouldn't consider any current SEO tools as similar to ours. We are taking a new approach to SEO and I think you would have to look outside of the SEO industry to find similar approaches. Among those would be Mint.com and Basecamphq.com.

  
  Barry Schwartz: You have been in the SEO industry for a really long time. You are most famous for Text Link Ads, the company you founded and sold to MediaWhiz. How does this product differ from the Text Link Ads product, in terms of market-a-bilty? Do you think it will be as successful?
  Patrick Gavin: The product is really quite different from TLA. Where TLA focuses on advanced "off page" SEO techniques via link buying, with DIYSEO we are offering a full service SEO platform that will instruct users with actionable on page and off page SEO actions. In terms of marketability, the market opportunity is tremendous. Adwords has some 1.5M+ advertisers buying keywords on a PPC basis. Most of these are small business owners. Some 75% of clicks go to natural search results, not PPC. All of these PPC advertisers would love the additional exposure in natural search so that is why we are so excited about this opportunity. We think we can drive value to our clients and if we can do that we will be successful.

  
  Barry Schwartz: So our readers know, can you explain if you are still working for Text Link Ads?
  Patrick Gavin: I am no longer an employee of MediaWhiz (Text Link Ads' parent company) but do some part time consulting to MediaWhiz. MediaWhiz and TLA have a number of exciting initiatives underway and I remain close to the business as a number of my best friends (and some real talented people) are there.

  
  Barry Schwartz: To be frank, why are you asking bloggers, such as myself and ShoeMoney to write about DIYSEO when it is not even live yet?
  Patrick Gavin: Well I have never been shy about promotion :-) We wanted to build some buzz to build up an initial contact list that we can then invite to our beta launch and other fun things we are doing. The SEO community is great about participating and giving feedback that we can then act on. Having been in the industry since around 2000 has given me the opportunity to build relationships with some great people and I am very thankful to be in the position to be able to get the word out on this project.

  
  Barry Schwartz: Since I am being pretty direct, let me point you to the Sphinn thread on the topic. Some folks in our industry find the announcement on Sphinn's home page to be considered spam and should be removed from the home page. What do you think about that?
  Patrick Gavin: I think it's great. Again the SEO community is a lot of fun. We will never agree on everything and I am sure we will have a few DIYSEO dissenters once the product is live but I have found that is what makes the SEO community so much fun. Fiery discussions and if you listen/read close enough there is some great feedback in those discussions.

  Barry Schwartz: Finally, I asked those that follow me on Twitter @rustybrick that I am interviewing @patrickgavin right now and asked some to send questions. @shoemoney sent a question, he asked. Can you ask him about his twitter contest and if he is happy with the results [www.diyseo.com].
  Patrick Gavin: Twitter has been an interesting ride for me. Shoe did a post recently about Twitter being his #3 traffic sourse http://www.shoemoney.com/2009/05/05/for-those-who-still-dont-get-twitter/ and that really got me tuned back in to the marketing power Twitter has. Twitthis.com powered the Twitter contest and the results have been very impressive. Since the contest started my @diyseo follower count has gone from about 100 to 1,400 and still growing, so yes very happy!

  Barry Schwartz: Thanks Patrick, I am looking forward to the DIYSEO product. Any words you want to end with? Like maybe the launch date or something else?
  Patrick Gavin: Thanks Barry it has been my pleasure. We are not ready to announce the launch date just yet but if you sign up at www.DIYSEO.com you will be the first to know! :-)