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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Daily Search Forum Recap: June 10, 2009
Posted: June 10th, 2009, 11:00pm CEST by rustybrick
Tags: Search Forum Recap
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Google Now Notifying Webmasters After Reconsideration Request Review via Email
Posted: June 10th, 2009, 3:49pm CEST by rustybrick
Tags: Google Optimization
I have excellent news for the SEO world today. It seems like Google has finally pushed through a change with the reconsideration request process that SEOs and webmasters have been asking for since the reconsideration request began.
Now, if you submit a reconsideration request, Google may email you a few days later with a notification that they have actually reviewed your site. The review email reads:
Subject: We've processed your reconsideration request for [mywebsite.com]
We received a request from a site owner to reconsider how we index the following site: [mywebsite.com].
We've now reviewed your site. When we review a site, we check to see if it's in violation of our Webmaster Guidelines. If we don't find any problems, we'll reconsider our indexing of your site. If your site still doesn't appear in our search results, check our Help Center for steps you can take.
Googler, Sagar, confirmed this to be the case. Sagar said that this is a recent addition to the Google Webmaster reconsideration request process. He added:
If your site starts showing up in the index after you get the confirmation message, your request was approved. However, if you are still having issues there is a good chance you are still in violation of our guidelines.
So now, if you submit a reconsideration request, you can know a bit later if your site is still in violation of Google's webmaster guidelines or not. This is a most welcomed addition.
Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.
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Google Sent AdSense Publisher Wrong Check
Posted: June 10th, 2009, 3:45pm CEST by rustybrick
Tags: Google AdSense
A Google AdSense Help thread reports that one publisher not only received his check in the mail this month, but also received the check for another publisher in the same envelope.
The publisher said in the thread:
My payment cheque arrived with someone else's cheque too. I don't in the least mind posting it on, but I feel I ought to let Google and the cheque's owner know what's happening. Who do I email?
Google emailed this publisher directly, to not drive more attention to the issue in a public setting.
I assume the automated check machine and mailer accidently had some paper glitch and one check got stuck to another and both were placed in the same envelope. This is the first time I heard of such an issue with Google AdSense before.
It is funny in that Michael Arrington received a $1.3 million check by accident the other day.
Forum discussion at Google AdSense Help.
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Don't Search For Nude Pictures if You Don't Want to See Nude Pictures
Posted: June 10th, 2009, 3:38pm CEST by rustybrick
Tags: Google Search Engine
Some times I have to point out the most ridiculous threads in the forums. This morning I spotted a thread at Google Web Search Help where a person was complaining that searching in Google Images for the search phrase [nude women] returned some images of (now hold on to your chair now....) nude women!
The individual wrote:
Please take nude & half dressed women off your images if you type in a name for a women alot of half dressed women come up & young kids do not need to see this kind of stuff. if you are looking for a type of bra alot of bad stuff comes up. i did not think google would have this kind of stuff on there website.
What type of search engine would Google be if it did not return images that were related to your search query? If you don't want your children searching Google for nude women, then you should get a good internet filter. Also, Google does a pretty good job filtering out nude women, even for a search of nude women, when the safe filter is set to its highest level.
Sorry for the rant, I am low on sleep.
Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help.
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Google AdSense Reporting Delay on June 9th
Posted: June 10th, 2009, 3:35pm CEST by rustybrick
Tags: Google AdSense
Google's AdSenseAdvisor posted a thread at WebmasterWorld notifying AdSense publishers that there will be a reporting delay and we should not panic.
Normally, when the reports lag, you see hundreds of posts in the various forums with publishers panicking. It is no surprise some people worry, because some people are fully dependent on the income they make from Google through AdSense.
AdSenseAdvisor said yesterday at about 2pm (EST):
Just writing to confirm that you may be seeing a temporary delay in the reporting of clicks that started this morning (June 9). We're still recording clicks and your stats will catch up. Ad targeting and ad serving are not affected. While this is well within the "no need to panic" window of reporting time, I wanted to give you a heads up in case you see impressions registering normally but a lower-than-usual number of clicks showing up in your reports.
I'm sorry if this has caused you any stress.
Hopefully the reports are now up to speed.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
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Does Google See SEOs as Criminals?
Posted: June 10th, 2009, 3:22pm CEST by rustybrick
Tags: Search Engine Industry News
The Nofollow PageRank sculpting topic was not the only heated debate at last week's SMX Advanced conference. We have some SEOs claiming Google sees all SEOs as criminals before being innocent.
Michael Gray's How Google Profiles SEO’s and Lisa Barone's Google Openly Profiles SEOs As Criminals are both well written pieces arguing that Google doesn't treat SEOs equally to all personalities on the internet. Let me quote one section to sum it up, but honestly, you should read both pieces in their entirety.
How does this show that Google is profiling SEO’s and not the rest of the blogging world? How else can you explain high profile A-List bloggers like Robert Scoble and Sarah Lacy accepting free all expense paid trips to Isreal and not getting penalized? How can Guy Kawasaki get “loaned” one, two, three cars in three years and still be within Google’s guidelines . How can “lending” Guy Kawasaki an Audi Q7 for three months in exchange for him blogging about it be OK but I can’t connect bloggers with people who want to give away a pair of sunglasses? Matt Cutt’s says “The closer you get to money for links, the higher risk we consider it”. Go to any rental car agency ask how much it is to rent an Audi Q7 for three months, you’ll have your answer how close it is to the money.
On the other hand, Susan Esparza takes the opposite view in her piece named I Don't Like Conflict (But Google Doesn't Think SEOs are Criminals). Susan explains that SEO are rightly held to a higher standard, because SEOs are search professionals.
I totally see both sides of the argument. I thought I conduct an anonymous poll asking our readers if they think Google see SEOs as criminals or not. Here is the poll, please have your friends take the poll:
Does Google See SEOs as Criminals?(polls)
Forum discussion at Sphinn (Lisa), Sphinn (Michael) and Sphinn (Susan).
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Google Notifies AdWords Customers of $20 Million Settlement
Posted: June 10th, 2009, 3:13pm CEST by rustybrick
Tags: Google AdWords
In April at Search Engine Land I reported Google agreed to settle on an AdWords case for $20 million. The case was over the daily budget feature and how many advertisers may have exceeded that budget by 120% on occasions.
Google said then, "Google believes the claims are without merit, but we are pleased to have the litigation behind us and to move forward with our business objectives."
Now, I am seeing reports via DigitalPoint Forums that dozens, if not thousands, of advertisers have received a notification, via email, about this settlement.
I have a copy of the settlement as a PDF document for those interested in the extreme legal details.
Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums.