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  Linking To Your Home Page With Anchor Text You Want to Rank For

  Posted: February 4th, 2010, 3:08pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  Link Building  

  A WebmasterWorld thread has a new conversation on an old topic. The topic is to link to your home page, off your home page, using keyword rich anchor text that you want to rank for. The example given by one member is:

  So I put up a paragraph on the homepage talking about say 'red widgets in oklahoma'. Then I link those words (red widgets in oklahoma) right back to the homepage. In other words, my homepage links to itself, with some nice juicy text.

  And guess what? Despite no other backlinks with text to do with oklahoma, my site ranks #1 or 2 for red widgets in oklahoma.

  I actually see this fairly often on the web. Clearly done for SEO purposes. I am surprised it works so well. Of course, the topic of the first anchor text counting or not. But Matt Cutts of Google published a video just the other day on this topic, watch it below:

  Anyway, the SEO discussion is interesting.

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

  
  

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  Google Sending Emails Notifications to Publishers Regarding Payments

  Posted: February 4th, 2010, 3:03pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  Google AdSense  

  A WebmasterWorld thread reports that many publishers have received an email recently from Google notifying them that they have been paid. Some, initially, felt the email was spam or a phishing attempt, but after closer review, the emails do appear to be coming from Google.

  I personally did not receive such an email. Some reported the email being sent to their junk filter. Some reported not receiving it at all, like me. Some felt it was spam, like I said above. I do not have a copy of this email to share with you.

  Google did not yet chime in about this email, but from what I am seeing, it does seem to be a new feature. It is nice that Google lets publishers know, via email, when they were paid - but they can give publishers a way to opt out of such notifications.

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

  
  

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  Google Maps Accidentally Removes Send to Garmin GPS Feature

  Posted: February 4th, 2010, 2:55pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  Other Google Topics  

  A Google Maps Help thread reports that Google accidentally removed the send feature to Garmin GPS. Here is an old video that shows how that worked:

  The bug was first reported on January 31st and a Googler replied a day or so ago, saying:

  I wanted to let you all know that the Maps team is aware of this issue and is working to fix the feature soon. I know this is an important feature for several users and I can assure you that it's not our intention to remove it from Google Maps.

  I'll post an udpate here when I hear more news!

  It is still not fixed, as far as I can tell. In any event, Google will likely be adding it back soon.

  Forum discussion at Google Maps Help.

  
  

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  YouTube Video Uploading Delay

  Posted: February 4th, 2010, 2:48pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  Other Google Topics  

  Yesterday, there were several reports on YouTube Help forums that uploading videos to YouTube would have a delay.

  Liz from YouTube support posted a notification about the issue. She said:

  We're seeing many of you reporting that you're having trouble with uploads- your uploads are not processing completely and are getting stuck before going to live.

  Our team is aware of the issue and has a fix in the works. Uploads should return to normal soon.

  In the meantime, please be aware that trying to re-upload your video will not resolve the situation. Your original upload will go through and complete processing, its just somewhat delayed and will take longer than usual to go live (as you've noticed).

  We appreciate your understanding, and as always, thank you all for your reports alerting us of this situation.

  So, upload the video as you would, but don't worry, the videos will be published eventually. There is no need to reupload your videos.

  Forum discussion at YouTube Help.

  
  

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  Google AdSense Blogger Reporting Bug

  Posted: February 4th, 2010, 2:43pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  Google AdSense  

  A Google AdSense Help thread has confirmed reports of Google AdSense reports not showing earning values.

  It was reported several times in the forum, but a top contributor confirmed the issue on January 26th.

  Many publishers using Blogger have been reporting that their earnings are not displayed under the Monetise tab. If you have this problem, please post here, so that the scale of the problem can be gauged, and avoid duplicate questions and answers.

  Yesterday, a Googler said they are aware of the issue:

  Our engineers are aware of this issue and are working on a solution. In the meantime, you can access your earnings data by logging into AdSense directly.

  I apologize for the inconvenience.

  There is not estimated time as to when Google will fix the issue, but they are aware.

  Forum discussion at Google AdSense Help.