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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Google
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Official Google Webmaster Central Blog (305 unread)
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Emily Chang (334 unread)
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Search Engine Roundtable
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Search Engine Roundtable (7 unread)
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Daily Search Forum Recap: October 14, 2009
Posted: October 14th, 2009, 11:00pm CEST by rustybrick
Tags: Search Forum Recap
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.