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 (325 unread)
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Search Engine Roundtable
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Daily Search Forum Recap: December 1, 2009
Posted: December 1st, 2009, 10:00pm CET by rustybrick
Tags: Search Forum Recap
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SES Chicago '09 Live Blogging Schedule
Posted: December 1st, 2009, 9:50pm CET by rustybrick
Tags: Search Engine Strategies 2009 Chicago
Did you know that the first conference we ever covered here was SES Chicago and that back six years ago in 2003? Since then we covered this conference every year but last. And we will be covering SES Chicago 2009 this year. For our past years coverage see SES Chicago 2003, SES Chicago 2004, SES Chicago 2005, SES Chicago 2006 and SES Chicago 2007. Next week, Monday, December 7th starts SES Chicago 2009.
We have several volunteers that will be helping with the live blog coverage on the CoverItLive tool. They include Brian Ussery aka Beussery, Marty Weintraub from aimClear, Chris Boggs of Rosetta and myself.
Here is our coverage schedule, which is subject to change at the last minute:
Monday, December 7 - Day 1
9:00am-10:15am
Jeff Jarvis, Author of What Would Google Do? covered by Barry Schwartz
10:30am-11:30am
Mixed Media SERPs covered by Barry Schwartz
Search Analytics covered by Brian Ussery
Search Industry Today covered by Chris Boggs
11:45am-12:45pm
How to Turn Your Web Analytics Into a Money-Making Machine covered by Brian Ussery
Search: Where to Next? covered by Chris Boggs
1:45pm-2:45pm
Meaningful SEO Metrics: Going Beyond the Numbers covered by Barry Schwartz
3:15pm-4:15pm
SEO Through Blogs & Feeds covered by Barry Schwartz
Search and the Integrated Marketing Mix covered by Chris Boggs
4:30pm-5:30pm
Customer Insights via Search Engine Tools covered by Chris Boggs & Marty Weintraub
Ghost Blogging, Tweeting, Content Production - Ethical? Does It Matter? covered by Barry SchwartzTuesday, December 8 - Day 2
10:30am-11:45am
Developments in Information Retrieval on the Web covered by Brian Ussery & Marty Weintraub
Social Media Checklist covered by Barry Schwartz
1:00pm-2:15pm
Real Time SEO: No More Yesterday's News covered by Barry Schwartz & Marty Weintraub
Landing Page Optimization: The 7 Deadly Sins covered by Brian Ussery
2:30pm-3:45pm
Igniting Viral Campaigns covered by Barry Schwartz
4:15pm-5:30pm
How to Speak Geek: Working Collaboratively With Your IT Department to Achieve Business Goals covered by Chris Boggs
Turning Simple Change into Big Profit covered by Brian Ussery
Cool Mobile Apps, Augmented Reality - It's a Brave New World! covered by Barry SchwartzWednesday, December 9 - Day 3
9:00am-10:00am
Keynote: Dan Siroker, Former Deputy New Media Director, Obama Transition Team and Founder, CarrotSticks covered by Barry Schwartz
10:30am-11:45am
PPC or SEO? The Ultimate Search Marketing Battle covered by Chris Boggs & Barry Schwartz
12:45pm-2:00pm
Facebook Rockstars RoundTable: Marketing For the Other Internet covered by Barry Schwartz & Brian Ussery
2:30pm-3:45pm
Search Becomes the Display OS covered by Barry SchwartzFor those that will be there, I look forward to seeing you. For those that cannot make it, I hope we are covering the sessions you most want to hear about.
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Google, Yahoo & Ask Honor World AIDS Day
Posted: December 1st, 2009, 2:44pm CET by rustybrick
Tags: Search Engine Industry News
If you visit Google, Yahoo or Ask.com today, you will see they are all honoring World AIDS Day with a red bow on their logo or on their home page. Bing, AOL, DogPile and others seem to be missing the mention today (we may put something up later).
Google has a ribbon under the search box which links to google.org/world-aids-day-2009.html (yes, Google.org):
Yahoo has an animated logo which links to yahoo.com/worldaidsday/:
Flash Version:
Static Version:
Ask.com is the only one linking to a search result (go figure):
Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help.
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How to Match Google Merchant Products in Google AdWords Product Ads
Posted: December 1st, 2009, 2:29pm CET by rustybrick
Tags: Google AdWords
Recently, Google opened product AdWords ads all U.S. based advertisers and merchants. So now, if you use Google Merchant Center (aka Google Base), you can tie your AdWords account to it and show those fancy product images, pricing and so on, in your AdWords ads.
A WebmasterWorld thread has some advertisers a bit upset with the matching of the query, ad and the products actually displayed. Some are saying that the products being displayed for the query used is not showing the most relevant products.
Senior member, netmeg said, "Some of the products aren't matched properly (and I looked at some of my competitors, and theirs are even worse - lucky for me!)" A moderator, Buckworks, said "My AdWords rep said the system chooses which product to display based on parameters in the product's description but didn't say what those were and couldn't tell me how they could be tweaked."
Google did mention in their FAQs that you should use the new product extensions attributes to help Google better match the products in your feed to the query and your ads. Google said on that page:
To help us better match your Google Merchant products to search queries, you may attach one or more optional attributes to your Google Merchant Center offers.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
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Google AdSense Bans Publisher For Copyright Infringement Over Their Own Copyrights
Posted: December 1st, 2009, 2:20pm CET by rustybrick
Tags: Google AdSense
A Google AdSense Help thread reports that an AdSense publisher was banned or disapproved from Google AdSense because the content on their web site is copyrighted. This happens all the time, but in this case, the content that is copyrighted is copyrighted by them and they have the right to use this content - since it is theirs.
The publisher wrote:
I am the one and only owner of the copyright of all my books (they are in print for more than 10 years) presented on my site. However my site hasn't been approved for Google Adsense because "it contains copyrighted material". Yes, the material is copyrighted. But it is copyrighted by me.
The email that said that rigmarole to me is "noreply". How can I point out the silly mistake to the Google worker who made it?
You just have to laugh, don't you?
Googler, Jennifer, replied to the thread saying, "I'll look into this and get back to you."
Can't wait to see the outcome. Either this person is lying or something weird is going on.
Forum discussion at Google AdSense Help.
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Disputed Territory? Google Maps Localizes Borders Based on Local Laws
Posted: December 1st, 2009, 2:08pm CET by rustybrick
Tags: Other Google Topics
Did you know that there are countries out there that have a dispute on where their border begins and ends? Yea, you know that. But did you know that Google will show different borders depending on how and where you access Google Maps?
A Google Maps Help thread has a post from Brian from the Google Maps team who explains how this works. He said:
It is Google's standard practice to show all disputed regions around the world on its global properties, such as on maps.google.com. It has been Google’s consistent and global policy to depict disputed regions as per the claims made by the disputing/claiming nations on its global properties. This does not in any way endorse or affirm the position taken by any side but merely provides complete information on the prevailing geo-political situation to our users of global properties in a dispassionate and accurate manner. Products that have been localized to the local domain of a region such as maps.google.co.in may depict that country’s position as per the mandate of their local laws.
For example, compare Google India Maps to Google Maps and you will see the border lines look a bit different. Here are screen captures:
Google Maps India, The Border:
Google Maps US, The Border:
Notice the dotted lines in the US map, how it doesn't seem sure.
Forum discussion at Google Maps Help.
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Google Suggest: "I Am Extremely Terrified Of Chinese People"
Posted: December 1st, 2009, 1:59pm CET by rustybrick
Tags: Google Search Engine
If you go to Google.com and just type in [I am] Google will then offer as the third suggestion, "I Am Extremely Terrified Of Chinese People" as a search suggestion. This is not new, it was reported back in February. But back then, you had to type in [I am extremely] to get this search suggestion, now all you need is [I am] to return the search suggestion.
Here is a screen capture:
Yes, Google's search suggestions are completely algorithmic. But Google has been known to remove search suggestions - unlike their policy for not removing search results.
Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help.