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Search Engine Roundtable (54 unread)

Daily Search Forum Recap: October 28, 2009

Posted: October 28th, 2009, 10:00pm CET 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.

Google News Finance Optimization

Posted: October 28th, 2009, 3:00pm CET by rustybrick

Five months ago, I wrote a piece named Want Your Google News To Show Up in Google Finance? NASDAQ:GOOG which basically said, put the stock ticker in the title of your article and you're golden for showing up in Google Finance. That is, assuming you are already in Google News.

Well, we now have a new tip from Google themselves on how to optimize your content for Google Finance. Inbal from the Google News team said to markup your HTML or XML with the following tags.

<url>
<loc>[mynewssite.com]</loc>

<news:news>
<news:publication_date>2008-10-31T03:30:00Z</news:publication_date>
<news:title>Companies A, B In Merger Talks</news:title>
<news:keywords>business, mergers, acquisitions</news:keywords>

<news:content_types>Subscription</news:content_types>
<news:stock_tickers>NASDAQ:A, NASDAQ:B</news:stock_tickers>
</news:news>
</url>

Adding these elements, along with the title change, should dramatically help you show up in Google Finance for that specific company.

Forum discussion at Google News Help.

Google Base/Merchant Feeds Temporary Processing Error

Posted: October 28th, 2009, 2:57pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google Optimization

Those trying to submit their product feeds to Google Base or Merchant Center may be running into errors. Ronald from the Google Merchant Center team has confirmed a bug that Google's engineers are working on fixing.

A thread at Google Merchant Help has confirmation, where a Googler said:

We're currently experiencing an issue with data feed processing. If the data feed status shows as "Internal error, feed not fully processed" without any error message, please resubmit your data feed. Our engineers are working to resolve this issue.
We appreciate your patience!

There is currently not estimated time of a fix but it is good to know that Google is aware of the issue.

Forum discussion at Google Merchant Help.

Almost Everything You Wanted to Know About DMOZ (ODP)

Posted: October 28th, 2009, 2:52pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Open Directory Project

Debra Mastaler wrote has an excellent interview with the man in charge at DMOZ (Open Directory Project) at Search Engine Land named DMOZ: A Solid Directory Or The Great Pumpkin Of Search?

It really goes into a great number of questions and answers about the iconic web directory. I'll pull out a few Q&As that I particularly enjoyed:

Debra: Why is the directory sometimes referred to as the ODP and other times DMOZ? Is there a difference?
Bob: The directory’s “official” name is DMOZ: The Open Directory Project. DMOZ means “Directory Mozilla” – the idea was to align the directory with the Mozilla brand, even though it was not actually part of that group. DMOZ and ODP are now used interchangeably to refer to the directory.

Debra: Has there been any discussion about the ODP offering a paid review program?
Bob: This issue has been raised and discussed many times. Paid review really goes against the whole idea behind the ODP. In fact, our Social Contract with the web community takes an especially firm position on this issue.

Debra: Do you think people would be so passionate about being included in the directory if it wasn’t used by Google?
Bob: It depends if you are talking about Webmasters or editors. Clearly, webmasters would not care much about DMOZ if it weren’t for its influence on search engines. Editors, on the other hand, have a different perspective. The reasons editors participate in the ODP are as diverse as the global makeup of its participants.

The interview is a really great read, so go check it out.

Forum discussion at Sphinn.

Google Maps to Fix One Web Box Result Bug

Posted: October 28th, 2009, 2:45pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google Optimization

For at least a month now, there have been complaints in a Google Maps Help thread that Google is showing, in some cases, a single map result, when it should be showing seven map results.

For example, a search on orlando dodge shows a single map result:

As you can see, it shows a place named Orlando Dodge, but not all the Dodge dealerships in Orlando, Florida. Adding on FL to the query does indeed show multiple listings, including Orlando Dodge.

A Googler from the maps team said yesterday that a fix will be out soon. He said:

Thanks everyone for continuing to post examples of this issue. Hoping to resolve this shortly. Will keep you all posted.

To submit more examples or discussion, join the Google Maps Help thread.

Google To Update Webmaster Tools API Verification Tag

Posted: October 28th, 2009, 2:38pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google Optimization

Not sure how important this is, but it is one of those minor changes that I particularly enjoy covering. The Google Webmaster Tools API lets you verify and reverify sites directly in the API. The thing is, they have changed the meta tag name for the verification process and the API has yet to be updated.

For example:

Old Meta Name:

<meta name="verify-v1" content="0wrupKGUMvPxWPChV4qaKdewvwXnZQ9AJmg/mAc7An0=" />

New Meta Name:

<meta name="google-site-verification" content="rlnJZRMNYtwGmLlQYpDhSNnxz41TLLd-3xZSaEIbagw" />

Dennis G. from the Google Webmaster team, who is specifically involved with verification (I believe) said:

We will update the API to return the new meta tag name and content sometime (relatively) soon, but sites that are already verified with the current "verify-v1" tags will not be unverified. Only new verification attempts will need to switch to the new tag.

So I suspect, if you are trying to verify a new site using the API, it won't work just yet.

Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.

Google Releases New Google Mobilizer

Posted: October 28th, 2009, 2:22pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Other Google Topics

An ongoing Google Mobile Help thread with complaints on the Google Mobilizer feature has an update on that feature. In short, Google Mobilizer will convert a web page to make it render better on mobile devices. Google has updated it to include a "new mobilizer engine, which is faster, cleaner, closer to the look of the unadapted page," said Zeke from the Google Mobile team.

Zeke explained how to access this one devices:

On most devices:
1. Go to www.google.com
2. Go to Settings, turn "Format pages for your phone" to On, and be sure to Save.
3. Do a search. Clicking on search results will take you to the Google Mobilizer

On some smartphones:
- Go to www.google.com
- Do a search. Click on Options (next to each search result) and select "Mobile formatted". You should get a mobilized page.

Here is a sample of how it works on my iPhone:

Here is how the mobilized page looks like:

You can actually see it yourself on any browser, via this URL.

Forum discussion at Google Mobile Help.

Daily Search Forum Recap: October 27, 2009

Posted: October 27th, 2009, 10:00pm CET 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.

Google Now Treats 410 Status Code As "More Permanent" Than 404 Status Code

Posted: October 27th, 2009, 3:37pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google Optimization

Historically, Google treated the 404 (page not found) and 410 (gone) server header page status codes as the same. Both meant, the page no longer exists.

Well, that has all changed now. Google is now treating the 410 as "more permanent" than the 404. Yes, this is a minor change but it is likely an important change for webmasters to note.

JohnMu of Google said in a Google Webmaster Help thread:

I followed up on the 404 vs 410 thing with the team here. As mentioned by some others here & elsewhere, we have generally been treating them the same in the past.
However, after looking at how webmasters use them in practice we are now treating the 410 HTTP result code as a bit "more permanent" than a 404. So if you're absolutely sure that a page no longer exists and will never exist again, using a 410 would likely be a good thing. I don't think it's worth rewriting a server to change from 404 to 410, but if you're looking at that part of your code anyway, you might as well choose the "permanent" result code if you can be absolutely sure that the URL will not be used again. If you can't be sure of that (for whatever reason), then I would recommend sticking to the 404 HTTP result code.

In the worst case, the 410 will be treated the same as a 404; in the best case it'll be a bit quicker & stickier :-).

So if you never ever will have a page return on a specific URL, then 410 it. But if you never will have a page return on a specific URL, then 404 it.

Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.

Yet Another Bing October 2009 Update?

Posted: October 27th, 2009, 3:32pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Microsoft MSN Search

Seven days ago, we reported on a Bing Search index update that many began noticing. Well, it seems like the WebmasterWorld thread has been updated by a webmaster that watches Bing closely.

This webmaster has noticed a totally new update on Bing and the Bing search results. The webmaster, textex, said:

I am seeing and even different set of results now. We improved nicely in rankings only to drop down to page 2-3. Anyone else seeing this?

Have you noticed a change from last week to this week on Bing? And traffic changes? Any ranking differences?

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google Answers Questions On Cleaning Malware Hacks

Posted: October 27th, 2009, 3:26pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google Optimization

Like I said yesterday, it seems like a greater number of sites are being hacked and injected with malware and/or spam. Heck, I just reported this morning that Green Party was hacked into and removed from the Google index.

Google recently posted a blog post named Best Practices for Verifying and Cleaning up a Compromised Site offering three tips.

Verify Your Site with Google Webmaster Tools
If Your Site Has Been Compromised, Perform a Comprehensive Cleanup
If You Switch Hosting Providers, Disable Access to the Old Version of Your Site

Of course, the blog post goes into more detail on each of these steps. What is interesting is that I never heard of the last point before, but it is an excellent step. You want to keep the old site live as possible on the old server, but you definitely want to secure the site as best as possible.

There is a thread on this topic at Google Webmaster Help, unfortunately he kept it closed to questions, so no one can ask questions about that post in that thread.

Israel on Google Maps, Now in Hebrew

Posted: October 27th, 2009, 3:16pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Other Google Topics

There have been some recent complaints in the Google Maps Help forum from English speaking people who live in Israel. In short, Google seems to have recently changes the Israel data to show street and city names in Hebrew (עברית).

Here is one complaint:

I too am having the same problem, in Israel for a month and it worked perfectly in English till two days ago then poof it changed to Hebrew which makes it very difficult for us English speakers.

Yes, Google Maps in Israel was in English and now is in Hebrew. Here are pictures:

Do keep in mind, embedding maps, maps on mobile devices or via the API for Israel show basically nothing due to licensing rights. The only way to see this level of detail is accessing maps.google.com on your desktop. But that is an other complaint.

Forum discussions at Google Maps Help.

Google Social Search Now Live

Posted: October 27th, 2009, 3:04pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google Search Engine

Yesterday, we showed you a video demo of Google's Social Search. Well, now it is available for all to play with in google.com/experimental.

Personally, I think this can work well for my searchers. But for most of those who do not have Google Profiles set up, it likely won't add much. Google currently promises to only look at information you give to them via your Google Profile or via Gmail. For Google to know who your Twitter connections are, you need to share that information on your Google Profile. Then Google will crawl your social profiles and make a map of all your friends, and associate what they read in Google Reader, share, click on and produce with you, when you search.

Here are two videos explaining it all:

Here is a useful Google help document and Google Blog post, plus Danny's article and more commentary at Techmeme.

Of course, there are some worried that Google will go beyond their boundaries and figure out your social profile without you specifically sharing it. Google said they won't, but many don't trust Google.

Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help, WebmasterWorld and Sphinn.

Google Removes Green Party Web Site From Index Due To Hack

Posted: October 27th, 2009, 2:53pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google Optimization

On Sunday, if you searched in Google for [Green Party] you would not find the official Green Party of United States web site, which is at gp.com. Even if you searched for gp.org, Google would not show you the site.

One person complained about the issue at Google Web Search Help forums and a few days later, a Googler came in and told us why.

In short, the site was hacked and included harmful malware that could infect searchers computers. Google removes sites that include malware from their index, until the site is fixed. In addition, if sites are injected with links to unrelated site, with the sole intent of link spamming Google, Google will also remove the site from their index. That is what Google did in this case, and now the site is back in the index.

Googler, Jaime said:

The gp.org website was removed from Google's results because it has been hacked (if you look at the source code for http://gp.org/, about halfway down you'll see hundreds of spammy hidden links to websites selling several drugs such as Viagra and Fluoxetine).
We sent an email to the gp.org webmaster a week ago, on Monday the 19th, and they were also notified via the webmaster tools console (http://google.com/webmasters). Anyone in contact with the owners of this site, please give them this information and, as danielroofer pointed out, let them know they can visit the Webmaster Help Forum if they have additional questions.

In the meantime, we've already reinstated this site into our index, but it may take up to 24 hours for it to start showing everywhere.

Today, it seems like the spam and hack has been removed from GP.org and the site is now back in the Google index.

Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help.

Daily Search Forum Recap: October 26, 2009

Posted: October 26th, 2009, 10:00pm CET 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.

Daily Search Forum Recap: October 16, 2009

Posted: October 16th, 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.

Video Recap of Weekly Search Buzz :: October 16, 2009

Posted: October 16th, 2009, 8:45pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Search Buzz RoundUp

This week was pretty busy over at the Search Engine Roundtable. We broke the news Google has dropped PageRank data from Webmaster Tools and we hope from more places. Yahoo was wrong about the meta keywords tag, they still use it. Yahoo dropped the controversial paid inclusion program. Microsoft Bing has major bugs preventing people from using their Webmaster Tools for over 3 days. Google launched a labs area for Webmaster Tools, adding Fetch as Googlebot and Malware Details. Did Google Suggest just get smarter and start figuring out abbreviations? Google Maps dropped Tele Atlas for their own data in the U.S. Google now only shows 7 of 10 local results in the "ten pack" on web search. Beware of a Google AdSense "account disabled" phishing email that is going around. AVG has labeled some of the Google search results as a security threat. Google thinks Ireland is New Zealand. Google reported earnings, revenue up 7 percent, clicks up 14 percent and cost per click was down 6 percent. A person lost their unemployment check of $405 per week for earning a dollar a day with Google AdSense. A site is conning convicts into paying $50 to remove their name from their web site, which ranks high for their names in Google. That was this past week at the Search Engine Roundtable.

Make sure to subscribe to our video feed or subscribe directly on iTunes to be notified of these updates and download the video in the background. Here is the YouTube version of the feed:

For the original iTunes version, click here or to see the YouTube version in higher quality, click play & hit "HD."

Some Of The Topics Discussed:

Please do subscribe via iTunes or on your favorite RSS reader. Don't forget to comment below with the right answer and good luck!

Google Search Suggestions Smarter? Abbreviations Working?

Posted: October 16th, 2009, 3:51pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google Optimization

Let me start off by saying I rarely use Google's search suggestions, so I am going by hearsay in the forums (which I mostly do anyway). A WebmasterWorld thread is of the general consensus that Google's search suggestions are getting smarter and figuring out abbreviations.

For example, if you type in glgle, Google thinks you mean Google:

Same with aho and other forums of "fat fingered" typos.

WebmasterWorld admin, Tedster said:

I noticed something like this just today when I missed typing two internal letters in a company name. Yes, very fat fingered typing on my part, but Google's suggestions stuck out at me as something I'd never noticed before.

So maybe this is new, again, I have no idea. If it is, it is something SEOs and SEMs should be on the look out for.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google Clicks Up 14% & CPC Drops 6%, Overall GOOG Up 7%

Posted: October 16th, 2009, 3:42pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google Search Engine

Google released third-quarter earnings last night and it was a very good earnings release. Overall, Google's earnings are up 7% this past quarter compared to last years Q3. They earned $5.94 billion in revenue with operating income at $2.07 billion, or 35% of revenues. Greg Sterling has more of the business news at Search Engine Land.

Pulling out two snippets from the release, we see that search marketings are more spend conscious because the cost per click went down by 6%. But to make up for it, Google saw an increase in the actual number of clicks on their ads by 14%. Here is that part of the earnings release:

Paid Clicks - Aggregate paid clicks, which include clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of our AdSense partners, increased approximately 14% over the third quarter of 2008 and increased approximately 4% over the second quarter of 2009.
Cost-Per-Click - Average cost-per-click, which includes clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of our AdSense partners, decreased approximately 6% over the third quarter of 2008 and increased approximately 5% over the second quarter of 2009.

GOOG, the stock, is currently up over 3% in pre-market (after hours) trading.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and DigitalPoint Forums.

Yahoo Dropping Controversial Paid Inclusion Program, Finally

Posted: October 16th, 2009, 3:36pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Yahoo Search Optimization

It is true, Yahoo is dropping paid inclusion by years end, as I reported at Search Engine Land. Yahoo issued a statement, I'll cut out the part where they say they are committed to search and show you the relevant part:

Yahoo! will exit Search Submit at the end of 2009. Yahoo! is providing those advertisers affected by the decision a sufficient lead time to assist in the transition. In addition, Yahoo! has recently announced a series of important enhancements to its Search advertising business and will work closely with many Search Submit advertisers to provide them with search solutions that will benefit their businesses.

There has always been confusion over the paid inclusion program at Yahoo. In fact, it changed names a few times. There were reports that banned sites were able to be included in Yahoo via this program. Like I said at Search Engine Land, accepting money to be included in a free/unbiased search engine, just seems wrong.

I for one think this is a good move, although I know many SEOs who love this program.

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums and WebmasterWorld.

Beware: Google AdSense "Account Disabled" Phishing Scam

Posted: October 16th, 2009, 3:28pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Yesterday, I, along with hundreds (if not thousands) of others received an email that appeared to be from Google. The email's subject line read "Google Adsense Account Disabled" and the email's from to looked to be from Google Adsense . It was actually caught by my spam filter and as I dug into the source code of the email, I noticed it was a scam. Beware, this is a recent phishing scam.

Here is how the email looked in my mail client:

There were a few glaring issues with this email:

(1) The source showed a few things, but here is one item that jumps out at me:

Received-SPF: softfail (google.com: domain of transitioning adsense-adclicks-noreply@google.com does not designate 64.26.60.146 as permitted sender) client-ip=64.26.60.146;

(2) The email had an attached HTML file, when you open the source of that file (which I don't recommend most people do), it has a redirect to a non Google domain (phishing site):

(3) I checked if my ads were displaying and if I had any message in my AdSense console and I did not.

So I trashed the email and went on. Then I noticed other people receiving this phishing email, which is why I am writing about it.

Do not fall for the scam!

Forum discussion at Google AdSense Help and WebmasterWorld.

Yahoo's Senior Director of Search Got It Wrong, Yahoo Uses Meta Keywords Still

Posted: October 16th, 2009, 3:18pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Yahoo Search Optimization

Last week, I reported that Yahoo dropped the meta keywords tag and stopped using it completely. Remember, I told you that I wasn't convinced when I heard that and I asked the Senior Director of Search at Yahoo if he was sure? Well, he said he was, but in reality, he was mistaken.

Danny and others have confirmed that Yahoo is still using the meta keywords tag when ranking. People have set up test sites that show this to be the case. Danny received an official statement from Yahoo on how they use this meta keywords tag, which they do use:

What changed with Yahoo’s ranking algorithms is that while we still index the meta keyword tag, the ranking importance given to meta keyword tags receives the lowest ranking signal in our system.
Words that appear in any other part of documents, including the body, title, description, anchor text etc., will take priority in ranking the document – the re-occurrence of these words in the meta keyword tag will not help in boosting the signal for these words. Therefore, keyword stuffing in the keyword tag will not help a page’s recall or ranking, it will actually have less effect than introducing those same words in the body of the document, or any other section.

However, when no other ranking signal is present, unique words that only appear in the meta keyword tag section of documents can still be used to recall these documents.

I am not sure why I didn't originally believe it. It was not like I had proof at the time. In any event, we are all human and we make mistakes. Search representatives are often seen as the single authority on SEO related questions, but in reality, they cannot know everything and are human, like you and me.

Forum discussion continued at WebmasterWorld.

AVG Calls Some Google Search Pages A "Threat"

Posted: October 16th, 2009, 3:12pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google Search Engine

A Google Web Search Help thread has several Google users reporting that the AVG Free virus scanner is prompting security alerts on some of the Google search results pages.

Many are claiming the Google result pages with YouTube results are triggering the security threat. The AVG warning reads:

Danger: AVG Search-Shield has detected active threats on this page and has blocked access for your protection.

Several searchers reported this but I doubt there is much Google can do to fix the situation. It seems like this would be on AVG's side.

Again, it seems to come up only when YouTube or other video results would show up in the search results.

Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help.

Daily Search Forum Recap: October 15, 2009

Posted: October 15th, 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.

Google Removes PageRank Data From Webmaster Tools

Posted: October 15th, 2009, 4:27pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google Optimization

tweetmeme_url = 'http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/020960.html'; tweetmeme_service = 'bit.ly';Google has removed the PageRank section in the crawl statistics in Google Webmaster Tools. This has gone mostly unnoticed, with the release of the labs feature, until now. A Google Webmaster Help thread reports the PageRank values shown in Webmaster Tools has now been completely removed. I have verified this and it is true.

Googler, Susan Moskwa explained why in the thread:

We've been telling people for a long time that they shouldn't focus on PageRank so much; many site owners seem to think it's the most important metric for them to track, which is simply not true. We removed it because we felt it was silly to tell people not to think about it, but then to show them the data, implying that they should look at it. :-)

Interesting... So you tell people not to focus on it and you find it silly that you show it in Webmaster Tools, but you still show it in Google's Toolbar? I mean, how many people have the Google Toolbar installed compared to those who use Google Webmaster Tools? I assume a fraction of those use Google Webmaster Tools.

Back in 2007, Google wanted feedback on removing PageRank from the Toolbar. I felt it was a good idea but the idea died out. Google cannot remove PageRank from the Toolbar, it is too much of their branding. No matter how much Matt Cutts and the Google search quality and webmaster trends team want it removed, I cannot see Google's executives allowing it.

Removing it from Webmaster Tools does make a statement to webmasters, but as long as they keep it in the Google Toolbar, it makes a stronger statement to searchers.

Here is how the PR stats looked like in Webmaster Tools:

Shouldn't Google drop it from both places, the Toolbar and Webmaster Tools? Having it public anywhere, defeats the purpose in my opinion.

Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.

Get Out Of Google Jail For $50, Web Site Captures Mug Shots

Posted: October 15th, 2009, 4:07pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google Optimization

A web site named ClarksburgLeak.com makes their money documenting inmates who have their mug shots taken at the local police station there and posting it on their web site. The way they make their money is a bit controversial, to say the least.

If you go to jail in Clarksburg, ClarksburgLeak.com will find out, post your name, along with your picture, height, weight, date of birth and the felony type on their web site. Then Google will come along, index it and rank your mug shot pretty well in the Google search results. ClarksburgLeak.com takes a nominal fee of $49.95 plus tax to remove your listing from their web site.

A woman named Lily was really upset about this 'ransom' fee and complained in a Google Webmaster Help thread. The issue is, Google really can't and won't do anything about removing the listing. Google clearly has guidelines around removing this type of content and I assume this web site owner knows that.

Google's JohnMu said "what that site is doing is not nice at all and I would personally not pay for this kind of "removal service". In my opinion, it's unfortunate and it makes me sad that some sites will resort to this kind of scheme to try to make money." But John added that this person can use other means to push down the results (yes, online reputation management). John said:

Instead of fighting with things like that I would take the time to be proactive and to build your own presence on the web. Do you have a MySpace page? perhaps a blog? a Twitter account? a Flickr account? All of these sites can help you create pages about yourself, pages that are much more relevant than ... those other ones. In the end, the energy that you put into work on pages for yourself will continue working for you, while energy that you put into fighting things like the site that you mention will at best result in "nothing". So instead of just posting here, make something fun & useful that can be shown in the search results for your name!

In the long run, Lily paid the $50 fee to have her name removed from the web site and she no longer comes up in a Google search for her name. I think most people would pay the fee, but is this ethical?

Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.

Quickly Share Private YouTube Videos

Posted: October 15th, 2009, 3:58pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Miscellaneous

I am a big YouTube user for both professional and personal use. When it comes to personal use, I want to make my videos private and share them with friends and family. The issue was that you had to get people to sign up to YouTube and then share their username with you. You then add them as friends on YouTube. It was a big hassle.

Sometime in the past few months, YouTube added a new feature that let's you share your private videos via a special URL. Your friends simply click on that URL and they can see the video. They are required to have a YouTube or Google Account, but you don't need to know what their account name is - you just send them the URL.

To access this, go to my videos on YouTube and click "edit" on the private video you want to share. Then scroll down and you will see the broadcasting options:

As you can see, there is an option to give out a URL to up to 25 people, to view the video.

Liz from YouTube support created a new thread at the YouTube Help forum explaining how this works. She said:

*** You cannot share a private video with more than 25 other users. If you'd like to share the video with more people, you'll need to set the video to "public".
*** Once a videos is shared via the private URL, it cannot be unshared. Therefore, use your 25 invites there wisely!

*** The "Limited Access" box won't stay permanently selected until someone accesses your video for the first time- even if you've marked the video as private and sent the video to your friends already. Someone must first watch the video before the "Limited Access" box will appear selected.

*** In order to watch a private video, your contacts must already have a YouTube account. If they don't already have an account, they'll first need to sign up for an account, and then once they've activated their account they'll then be able to sign in and watch the private video you sent them. If they do not sign into their account before watching the video, the video will not load.

To learn more about sharing private videos with your contacts, I suggest visting this Help Center article:
http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?&answer=157177

I, for one, am glad they added this feature (again, I know it is a few months old).

Forum discussion at YouTube Help.

Google AdSense Fixes a "Hardcore" But "Minor" Bug

Posted: October 15th, 2009, 3:49pm CEST by rustybrick

A Google AdSense Help has confirmed reports from Google AdSense representatives that there was a minor bug on some web sites that did not allow the AdSense ads to be shown.

This publisher has a web site about music. But some of the music, he classifies as "hardcore" music. It is believed that Google felt the site was about hardcore pornography and thus automatically prevented the ads from displaying on his web site.

About a month ago, we discussed how Google AdSense has poison words that sometime prevent ads from being displayed. This seems to have been one of those cases, although, "hardcore" can be used in multiple ways, Google, in this case, felt it was about hardcore porn.

AdSensePro William said it was a bug and they fixed it, in this case. He said:

The issue was due to a minor tech glitch which is now fixed and the ads should begin displaying shortly. Please let us know if the issue persists.

I wonder if this was more of a global change and not a site specific change.

Forum discussion at Google AdSense Help.

Google, Heads Up, Ireland Is Not New Zealand

Posted: October 15th, 2009, 3:33pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google Search Engine

Search for Google Ireland in Google and you will notice that Google does not return Google.ie but rather returns Google.co.nz.

Someone should send Google a memo that Ireland is not the same place as New Zealand.

Here is a picture:

Ireland is only about 12,000 miles away from New Zealand.

Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help & Google Webmaster Help.

Update: This is not just Google Ireland, but also Google Egypt and other properties where Google thinks they are all New Zealand.

3 Days Later, Bing Finally Fixes Webmaster Tools Bug

Posted: October 15th, 2009, 3:20pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Microsoft MSN Search

It kind of makes you wonder how important Bing Webmaster Tools is to Microsoft when it takes them over three days to fix a bug that completely makes the tools unusable.

Monday morning, we reported that Bing Webmaster Tools had an unexpected error which disallowed webmasters from accessing any of their verified domains. Many threads and complaints in the Bing forums, amongst others, were created.

It took two days for the Bing forum representative to acknowledge the bug in the forums. Brett Yount posted a thread at the Bing Community over two days after the first report of the bug. He said:

As you are probably aware, the tools are currently down. We are working to correct this ASAP.

Then finally, yesterday at around 10am, three days after the first report of the bug, Microsoft fixed the issue. Here is what Brett said:

I just verified that the tools are running again. Though I can't get into specifics, it looks like the problem was caused by an update to the search index. Needless to say, we are working to make sure more issues such as this do not happen in the near future.

Got that, an update to the search index caused this bug. So there was a search index update that seemed to go unnoticed for the most part. Well, there are some minor threads discussing some issues with the new index, but for the most part, it went unnoticed. That update, caused Webmaster Tools to fail and it took over three days for Microsoft to fix it.

Forum discussion at Bing Community.

Daily Search Forum Recap: October 14, 2009

Posted: October 14th, 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.

Duplicate Server Ports Showing In Google? Don't Use Remove URL Tool

Posted: October 14th, 2009, 4:06pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google Optimization

A Google Webmaster Help thread has one webmaster who noticed Google indexed his site with the server port in the URL structure. So instead of Google ranking the http://www.domain.com/ it ranks the site, and every page within the site as http://www.domain.com:1234

This webmaster asked if he/she can use the Google URL removal tool to remove these duplicate pages. The only current answer for that is, NO - you cannot. At least, if you do, both http://www.domain.com:1234 and http://www.domain.com will both be removed.

Susan Moskwa from Google replied to the webmaster, explaining:

Are you talking about using the URL removal tool to remove example.com:1234? If so, you shouldn't do that. The URL removal tool removes all versions of a site or URL (www, non-www, http, https, etc.), not just the one you explicitly submit. It should not be used for "canonicalization" -- fixing the problem of having multiple URLs serving the same content.

If you've fixed the problem--especially if you're now redirecting to the correct URL--the issue should resolve itself over time. We also did a recent blog post that you may find helpful.

In general, though, yes it is possible to verify sites with different ports in Webmaster Tools.

So don't use this tool to remove extra ports listed in the URL, to remove a www or non-www version or an https version.

Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.

What Are The Top Ten Questions Asked in the Google AdWords Help Forum?

Posted: October 14th, 2009, 3:59pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdWords

Ever wonder what the top ten questions asked in the Google AdWords Help forum was? Well, finally, Google has put together a FAQ list of those top questions.

Here they are:

Why can't see my ad when I search for it on Google?
Why isn't my ad getting impressions?
How can I see the Quality Score for my keyword?
I need to contact support. What should I do?
Google keeps declining all of my credit cards. What should I do?
What is the difference between the Search Network and the Content Network?
Why did my Quality Score suddenly drop to 1/10?
How long does it take for my ads to be reviewed?
What should I do if I think my ad has been incorrectly disapproved?
What should I do if I see an ad that is violating AdWords policy?

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

Should I Risk Linking To Competitors?

Posted: October 14th, 2009, 3:48pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Link Building

A WebmasterWorld thread has an interesting conversation about linking to competitors. In this case, the webmaster is considering giving his competitor a banner ad direct link (not through a redirect or nofollow) but without an alt text, in exchange for links from the competitor.

The main issue is that his site and the competitor's site are neck and neck in the Google search results for similar keywords. He does not want to do anything that might give his competitor the edge in the search results, nor does he want to give his competitor a second (indented) listing in Google.

Senior member, Wheel, said in response to the question a short but insightful comment:

Swapping links with your competitor, when the entire point seems to be to gain an advantage over each other, is going to leave one party unhappy. Expect this to be short term.

StoutFiles added:

Unless you feel this would help you both move up from #2-#4 to #1-#3, this will be more trouble than its worth. Someone will likely assume they're getting the raw end of the exchange and call it off.

What would you do and do you link to competitors? Tag our anonymous poll:

Do You Link To Direct Competitors?(polling)

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Some Users Having Issues With Google's Keyword Tool

Posted: October 14th, 2009, 3:41pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdWords

I am seeing several reports from two forum threads, including Google AdWords Help and WebmasterWorld that some users are having time out or session issues with using the Google Keyword Tool within the AdWords interface.

One person said that the new beta keyword tool is fine, while the other one said only the new keyword tool is having issues. It seems to me to be a cookie or caching issue with these folks browsers. Maybe Google did make a slight change that is impacting older browsers or maybe something went wrong on these user's browsers. I am not sure, but I know it is working for me.

Google AdWords representative, Bindu said:

I'd strongly recommend you upgrade to the latest version of your browser and/or clear cache and cookies.

The error some of these users are getting is:

Your session has expired. Please return to the AdWords homepage and login again.

Here are instructions on clearing cookies and instructions.

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

Fetch As Googlebot Shows Only 100Kb But Real Googlebot Gets More

Posted: October 14th, 2009, 3:33pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google Optimization

Google added the fetch as Googlebot feature the other day and now people are really beginning to explore it. One topic I have seen come up was why is the Fetch as Googlebot feature only showing up to 100Kb of the page it is fetching? Does that mean Googlebot only crawls up to a 100Kb of a specific page?

The quick answer is no, Googlebot does index more than a 100Kb, but the fetch feature only shows up to a 100Kb.

Historically, Googlebot at one point only indexed up to 100Kb. In fact, some time in 2006, the Google cache showed over 100kb of the page, which put the 100Kb maximum page size limitation to rest.

Google does indeed index pages larger than a 100Kb, especially in the days of higher bandwidth. But in terms of the Fetch as Googlebot feature, for speed purposes, it only grabs 100 Kb for this tool.

JohnMu of Google said in a Google Webmaster Help thread:

As far as I know, this is a limitation of the Fetch as Googlebot feature, so I believe more or less the only difference between a real Googlebot and this feature. The main problem is that arbitrary file sizes would bog down the Webmaster Tools user interface so we had to draw a line somewhere.

Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.

Microsoft's Bing Hiding Search Results For Perez Hilton

Posted: October 14th, 2009, 3:20pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Microsoft MSN Search

Michael Gray noticed that a search for [Perez Hilton] in Microsoft's search engine, Bing, returns a set of pictures and a single search result (perezhilton.com). Here is a screen shot:

The question is why is Bing hiding everything else? They show tons of results for [Paris Hilton] and other 'celebrities,' why not Perez?

Stefan Weitz from the Bing team commented on Michael's blog saying it is by design. He said:

Yes – that is by design. However, if you click on the “see other results containing Perez Hilton” the rest of the algo web results appear. We carefully monitor these “Best Match” results to make sure we aren’t firing this result type too frequently – let us know if you have feedback!

Yes, you can click on the Search for other results containing Perez Hilton to bring up standard web results. But why show only the "best match" when there are plenty of other great matches?

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums.

Daily Search Forum Recap: October 13, 2009

Posted: October 13th, 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.

Mobile Questions for Google: It's Google Mobile Week

Posted: October 13th, 2009, 3:59pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google Search Engine

The Google Mobile team is calling this week, "Google Mobile Week." In celebration for the special week, Google announced in a Google Mobile Help thread that they are accepting a new set of questions for the Google Mobile team to answer on their blog.

To submit your questions or vote on existing ones, go to this page, sign in and vote and submit.

Bin from the Google Mobile team explained:

Google is doing a lot of things in mobile - a lot of products on a lot of phones - and we're sure you have some questions. Here's your chance to ask us anything you'd like to know about mobile strategy or our mobile team! You and others can then vote questions up or down. (Please continue to post your "how do I?" questions and bugs here, since we won't be answering these types of questions on the Q&A form).

You have until 11:59 PM PST on Oct 13th (that is tonight) to submit your questions. Google will answer the 5 most popular questions on the Google Mobile Blog in the near future.

Forum discussion at Google Mobile Help.

Google Labs For Webmaster Tools Launches: Fetch as Googlebot & Malware Details

Posted: October 13th, 2009, 3:45pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google Optimization

The Google Webmaster Central Blog announced the launch of a new "Labs" section in Google Webmaster Tools. Labs is for Google to launch features that might not be fully tested and have bugs, but at the same time give webmasters these features sooner to test and play with. The first two labs releases were "Fetch as Googlebot" and "Malware Details." I'll show you both below:

Fetch as Googlebot allows you to see what Googlebot, Google's spider, sees for a specific page on your domain. Here is a picture of the tool:

You type in the page name or leave it blank for the home page and hit "Fetch." After a few seconds, you can refresh the page and see the word "success" (hopefully). Click on "Success" to see the output of what Googlebot sees. Here is a snippet of what Googlebot sees for this site's home page:

A Google Webmaster Help thread reports a bug with this tool. To reproduce it, 1. Run a test then 2. View result then 3. Use the Site Picker to change site then 4. Fetch As Googlebot tries to display the path fetched in (1) on domain picked in (3) and gives "The details of this request are not available."

Another Google Webmaster Help thread has some feedback for Google on the Fetch tool. Here are some of those suggestions:

- Highlight ignored page elements
- Highlight issue elements found on page. e.g.
- Poor mark-up
- invalid doctype
- Invalid links
- not followed links
- Un-indexed page areas
- Page Improvement recommendations
- Heat map of content indexing so that a webmaster can see areas of the content which are going to have higher index priority than others.

On the "Malware Details" feature, the Google Online Security blog has more details and pictures. Thankfully, I do not have a malware issue on my site, so I don't have anything to take screen shots of, but here are screen shots from the blog:

These are all useful features and I am sure the majority of webmasters are happy to get labs features with bugs, in exchange for getting earlier releases of Webmaster Tools features.

Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help, DigitalPoint Forums and WebmasterWorld.

Google Maps Drops Tele Atlas For Google Data in US

Posted: October 13th, 2009, 3:23pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Other Google Topics

Since we are on a Google Maps coverage roll today, how about we keep it going. Google Maps recently announced changes to their map data, which Mike somewhat called out. In short, for many locations in the US, Google is now their own provider of data for their maps.

About a year ago, Google switched their map data to Tele Atlas. Now, Google seems to be moving off them. For example, look at the copyright on the old Google Map versus the current one:

Old shows Tele Atlas:

New shows Google:

There are a few threads in the Google Maps Help forum where Googlers are replying to this question, as follows:

Please use the 'Report a Problem' link (see reference below) to tell Google about the problems in your area (or anywhere else in the US). We hope to be able to fix the reported problems within about a month.

Here is a video explaining the new process to report map issues:

Forum discussion at Google Maps Help.

When Google Maps Satellite & Map Detail Don't Line Up

Posted: October 13th, 2009, 3:19pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Other Google Topics

What happens when you have Google Satellite view and map street data not lining up? Well, I can show you. If you look at Cairo, Egypt you will see that the Satellite detail is shifted about 90 meters west of the street detail.

Here is a picture showing the box in the map detail not overlaying on the box of the streets in the Satellite view:

I believe this is not that unusual, and it happened every now and then. Google has been informed and Howard from Google said:

Thanks for noticing this. The appropriate team in Google has the bug report now and the problem will be fixed.

Are you aware of other places in Google Maps like this?

Forum discussion at Google Maps Help.

Daily Search Forum Recap: October 2, 2009

Posted: October 2nd, 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.

Video Recap of Weekly Search Buzz :: October 2, 2009

Posted: October 2nd, 2009, 9:00pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Search Buzz RoundUp

Google has been banning AdWords advertisers and warning advertisers of bans for low quality landing pages, but I think something is wrong with Google. Google fixed a low share of voice AdWords bug. Google has an image search update in September 2009. Google updated their search options with neat new filters. Google confirmed adding deeper links and named them forum Sitelinks. Bing added a link to their Visual Search on their home page. Google updated their site verification process in Webmaster Tools. Did the Google Sandbox exist? We polled our users on that. Google launched Merchant Center to help with Google Base product uploads. Google might add tons of ads to Google Maps. Google Maps got foggy over New Delhi. The fake Yahoo employee is real, but might not have Yahoo's approval to post. Google celebrated their 11th birthday on September 27th. Google celebrated also Confucius' birthday with a doodle and Gandhi's birthday with a doodle. That was this past week at the Search Engine Roundtable.

Make sure to subscribe to our video feed or subscribe directly on iTunes to be notified of these updates and download the video in the background. Here is the YouTube version of the feed:

For the original iTunes version, click here or to see the YouTube version in higher quality, click play & hit "HD."

Some Of The Topics Discussed:

Please do subscribe via iTunes or on your favorite RSS reader. Don't forget to comment below with the right answer and good luck!

Google's Happy Birthday Gandhi Logo

Posted: October 2nd, 2009, 3:45pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

If you visit Google.com today, you may see a Google logo or 'doodle' with the picture of Gandhi. Today, is Gandhi's 140th birthday, he was born today in 1869.

Here is a copy of the logo:

With virtually any Google Doodle, there are some upset with Google picking one event over another. One Google Webmaster Help thread has a person noting that this is also International Day of Non-Violence. But it is this day, because it is Gandhi's birthday. So far, I have not seen complaints about the logo.

Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help and Google Webmaster Help.

Google Adds More Search Options & Cleans Up Verticals

Posted: October 2nd, 2009, 3:39pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google Search Engine

Google announced they have added some search refinements to the various Google search properties. The additions include past hour, specific date range, more shopping sites, fewer shopping sites, visited pages, not yet visited, books, blogs and news. To see them yourself, do a search on Google and then click "Show options" at the top.

Danny Sullivan goes through these changes in detail over here, so I won't bother with that.

Some Google users are a bit taken back and confused by the changes. One frequent Google News searcher was confused in a Google News Help thread as to where certain features were, when in reality, they were just moved. But overall, I think the additional filters and refinements are useful.

Jaime at Google posted a thread at the Google Web Search Help thread asking for comments and feedback on these new changes.

Forum discussion at Google News Help and Google Web Search Help.

Google Updates Webmaster Tools Verification Process: Google Sites Verification Breaks

Posted: October 2nd, 2009, 3:25pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google Optimization

Google announced that they have updated the verification process for Google Webmaster Tools. The main changes include:

(1) META Tag verification is no longer tied to the email address on file, i.e. you can change your email and it won't de-verify your site.

(2) The HTML file verification process required that you set up your 404 pages properly by returning a proper 404 server status code. The issue was, many webmasters don't do this and come into the forums complaining they cannot verify. So Google gave up and decided to just allow the verification without requiring a proper 404 status code being returned on non-existing pages. Personally, I feel they should have kept it - it helps webmasters configure their site properly in the long run. But this will reduce a headache for Google in the support forums.

(3) The screens and look of the HTML verification process was updated also. Here is the new look:

The issue is, it broke many of the systems that had automatic verification in place. Google confirmed that Google Sites verification process is currently not working. But others are also reporting issues with verifying other sites. Overall, these issues will be addressed and people will be happy again.

Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.

Google Responds To Mass Google AdWords Advertiser Banning & Warnings

Posted: October 2nd, 2009, 3:15pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdWords

On Sunday we reported that Google was banning AdWords advertisers in the masses for "poor quality landing pages." In some cases, Google was sending out stern warnings to advertisers that they will be banned and in other cases, they just banned these advertisers outright.

After a few days, Google finally responded. The response, to most advertisers, is not satisfactory. Here is the official response in its entirety:

The suspensions and final warnings that are referenced in this thread are due to account level actions taken against advertisers who've submitted multiple sites that violate our landing page quality guidelines. This is an existing policy to discourage repeat offenders by taking account level action. These final warnings and suspensions were only applied to sites with multiple violations which were manually reviewed to ensure that our policies were being applied correctly.
Certain kinds of websites (ref1) are not allowed per our policies because the user experience is of low quality or we consistently receive negative feedback from our users about these kinds of pages. These sites include:

* Data collection sites that offer the false promise of free items, etc., in order to collect private information.
* Arbitrage sites that are designed for the purpose of showing ads
* Affiliates who provide limited value by being a bridge page with the intent of solely driving traffic to another site or who are framing an affiliate site
* Malware sites that knowingly or unknowingly install software on a visitor's computer

You can find more information on this topic in the AdWords help center, under Landing Page Quality (ref2)

Landing page checks happen continuously, even after an ad has been approved, through both manual and automated methods. You can evaluate whether or not your site is in line with our landing page quality guidelines (ref3) If not, you can make the appropriate changes to your site or delete all ads that point to the low quality sites. Paused ads will still accrue violations against them.

We apply the same standards to all the sites that we check so violations are evaluated regardless of spend, keywords bids or history of the account.

Also note, some accounts have both allowed sites and not allowed sites. For these accounts, if you received a warning please remove the low quality sites from your account by deleting the ads pointing to these sites.

We constantly try to improve the quality of the ad experience which we believe helps both the consumer and advertiser when users can trust the quality of the site they reach when they click on an ad.

----------------------------

Referenced pages as noted above:

1) Are there any types of websites that merit low landing page quality scores?
http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/answer.py?answer=66238 (NOTE: this was also posted earlier in the the thread)

2) Landing Page Quality
http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/topic.py?topic=16348

3) Landing Page and Site Quality Guidelines
http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/answer.py?answer=46675

Got all of that? Happy with it? I personally was not banned or warned, but I am still not happy with that response. Neither are many advertisers. Just scanning through the really long WebmasterWorld thread, you will find many angry and upset responses to AdWordsAdvisor's reply.

Personally, I think some automated penalty score algorithm was tweaked and got a bit stronger. I think something is just wrong or needs to be looked into.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Daily Search Forum Recap: October 1, 2009

Posted: October 1st, 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.

Google Names My "Deep Sitelinks" as "Forum Sitelinks"

Posted: October 1st, 2009, 3:44pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google Optimization

Last night, the official Google Blog announced that they are now showing Forum Sitelinks. This is a special form of Sitelinks, which I previously named deep(er) Sitelinks. Here is a picture:

It is incredibly useful with blogs, forums and any site that covers a very nice topic, over and over again. This allows Google to show what they think is the best result for the query at the top and then show an additional four results from that site that also makes sense. Plus Google is able to show the date and number of posts in that thread.

Why didn't I call them Forum Sitelinks? Well, it doesn't only apply to forums, it also applies to blogs and similar sites link that.

In any event, it is a nice search feature.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Foggy Google Maps Satellite Pictures?

Posted: October 1st, 2009, 3:38pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Other Google Topics

If you check out New Delhi on Google Maps, you will see a big fog hovering over the location. Why is that?

Here is a current picture:

A Google Maps Help thread reported this issue this morning. A few hours later, Howard from the Google Maps team replied, "Thanks for the report. We will look into this."

Have you see major clouds or fog in Google Maps before?

Forum discussion at Google Maps Help.

A Week Later, Google AdWords Fixes "Low Share of Voice" Bug

Posted: October 1st, 2009, 3:28pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdWords

About a week ago, we reported that Google AdWords accounts were hit with "Low Share of Voice" notices from Google. These notices appeared in their reports and it shocked and upset many advertisers who have been optimally running their campaigns for years.

After about a week or so of investigation by Google AdWords reps and engineers, Google has confirmed it was a reporting bug.

AdWordsPro Stephen told us yesterday:

I've asked for more information that I can share on this issue, but I wanted to update you immediately that the problem has been resolved. I want to reiterate that the labels had no effect on your performance, but you may have seen them if your campaign was experiencing a different issue that caused problems.
'Share of Voice' is still a part of AdWords, and these labels may appear in your account, but they should not be as common as they were during this period.

If you are still having issues, I would ask Stephen or the other Google reps in the Google AdWords Help thread.

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

Google Sync Goes Down: Gmail Push for iPhone Fails For Many

Posted: October 1st, 2009, 3:21pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Other Google Topics

A couple weeks ago, Google brought push Gmail to the iPhone via an expanded version of Google Sync. People were incredibly happy about this and they signed up right away.

Yesterday, people started reporting in a Google Mobile Help thread that Google Sync was down for them. The first reports came Tuesday late night or Wednesday early morning. Later on yesterday, Googler Bing, replied to the thread with a short heads up, "Thanks guys, we're looking into it!"

Soon after it began working again, for some. Others had issues getting things back in sync. Calendars, contacts and emails seemed to be missing or misinterpreted.

The thread is ongoing with complaints and issues, but I think, overall, Google has fixed the Google Sync issue by now.

Forum discussion at Google Mobile Help.

Bing Adds Visual Search & More Links On Home Page

Posted: October 1st, 2009, 3:18pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Microsoft MSN Search

15 days ago, Bing launched visual search, if you haven't heard about it, click the link and watch the video demo.

Today, people are noticing that Bing has added a link to visual search directly from the Bing home page. So I compared a Bing home page image I had from a month ago, to what I see there today, and I see Bing has added two new links. They added the visual search link and also a link to "more."

Here is a picture from September 1st, ignore the arrow, just focus on the links on the left:

Here is a picture from today:

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

SEO News » Search Engine Roundtable » October 2009

Feeds

Search Engine Roundtable (54 unread)

Posted: October 28th, 2009, 10:00pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Search Forum Recap

Posted: October 28th, 2009, 3:00pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google Optimization

Posted: October 28th, 2009, 2:57pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google Optimization

Posted: October 28th, 2009, 2:52pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Open Directory Project

Posted: October 28th, 2009, 2:45pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google Optimization

Posted: October 28th, 2009, 2:38pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google Optimization

Posted: October 28th, 2009, 2:22pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Other Google Topics

Posted: October 27th, 2009, 10:00pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Search Forum Recap

Posted: October 27th, 2009, 3:37pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google Optimization

Posted: October 27th, 2009, 3:32pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Microsoft MSN Search

Posted: October 27th, 2009, 3:26pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google Optimization

Posted: October 27th, 2009, 3:16pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Other Google Topics

Posted: October 27th, 2009, 3:04pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google Search Engine

Posted: October 27th, 2009, 2:53pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google Optimization

Posted: October 26th, 2009, 10:00pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Search Forum Recap

Posted: October 16th, 2009, 11:00pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Search Forum Recap

Posted: October 16th, 2009, 8:45pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Search Buzz RoundUp

Posted: October 16th, 2009, 3:51pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google Optimization

Posted: October 16th, 2009, 3:42pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google Search Engine

Posted: October 16th, 2009, 3:36pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Yahoo Search Optimization

Posted: October 16th, 2009, 3:28pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdSense

Posted: October 16th, 2009, 3:18pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Yahoo Search Optimization

Posted: October 16th, 2009, 3:12pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google Search Engine

Posted: October 15th, 2009, 11:00pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Search Forum Recap

Posted: October 15th, 2009, 4:27pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google Optimization

Posted: October 15th, 2009, 4:07pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google Optimization

Posted: October 15th, 2009, 3:58pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Miscellaneous

Posted: October 15th, 2009, 3:49pm CEST by rustybrick

Posted: October 15th, 2009, 3:33pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google Search Engine

Posted: October 15th, 2009, 3:20pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Microsoft MSN Search

Posted: October 14th, 2009, 11:00pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Search Forum Recap

Posted: October 14th, 2009, 4:06pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google Optimization

Posted: October 14th, 2009, 3:59pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdWords

Posted: October 14th, 2009, 3:48pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Link Building

Posted: October 14th, 2009, 3:41pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google AdWords

Posted: October 14th, 2009, 3:33pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google Optimization

Posted: October 14th, 2009, 3:20pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Microsoft MSN Search

Posted: October 13th, 2009, 11:00pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Search Forum Recap

Posted: October 13th, 2009, 3:59pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google Search Engine