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: February 26, 2010
Posted: February 26th, 2010, 10:00pm CET by rustybrick
Tags: Search Forum Recap
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(Text) Recap of Weekly Search Buzz :: February 26, 2010
Posted: February 26th, 2010, 10:04am CET by rustybrick
Tags: Search Buzz RoundUp
This week, I am currently in Jerusalem, Israel, so I won't be producing a video. Here is a text recap instead of the video recap.
The European Union has opened an investigation to make sure Google isn't stepping over their boundaries by penalizing potential competitors in the web results. Google said they will launch the Caffeine index in the upcoming months. Google had a Webmaster Tools bug in the index URL report. Google may verify your web site in Webmaster Tools without you specifically requesting it. Google has updated the Jazz interface slightly and more people are seeing it. MySpace (and also Facebook) is now in Google's real-time search results. Bing is having trouble with their spiders again. Twitter users don't click on AdSense. Google AdWords has a new "target" CPA feature. AdWords is closing their old API in less than 60 days. Yelp was sued for allegedly removing negative reviews. SMX West is next week, I won't be there, but we got the coverage for you. That was this past week at the Search Engine Roundtable.
Select Topics For This Past Week:
- EU Probes Google Search Penalties
- Report: Google To Launch Caffeine Index In Upcoming "Months"
- Google Webmaster Tools Bug In Indexed URLs Report
- Google May Verify Your Sites in Webmaster Tools Without You Clicking Verify
- Google Jazz Slightly Updates It's Look
- MySpace Results Now in Google Real Time Search
- Bing Masking MSNBot As Internet Explorer or a Rogue Bot?
- Twitter Users Don't Click on Google AdSense Ads?
- Google AdWords Let's You Target a CPA
- 60 Days Left on Old Google AdWords API
- Yelp Sued Over Accepting Money For Removing Negative Reviews
- SMX West 2010 Live Blog Coverage Schedule
Please do subscribe via iTunes or on your favorite RSS reader. Don't forget to comment below with the right answer and good luck!
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Google May Verify Your Sites in Webmaster Tools Without You Clicking Verify
Posted: February 26th, 2010, 9:47am CET by rustybrick
Tags: Google Optimization
A Google Webmaster Help thread has a report that someone noticed their site was verified in Google Webmaster Tools without them actually clicking the "verify" button. How did this happen?
Well, first of all, the www version of the site was verified. The non-www version they did not manually click verify for. So, Googler, Dennis G. explained in the thread:
Sometimes we can tell that you have a site verified even if it does not show up in your site list in Webmaster Tools. Usually this is because you verified the site a while ago and removed it from the list, or because the verification bot detected that its the same site (common for www/non-www URLs) and had the same verification tokens in place. That latter check doesn't happen in most cases any more, so you're more likely to have to explicitly add and verify the non-www site. You can then delete the site from Webmaster Tools if you like; we'll know you're still verified. On the other hand, sometimes there is useful feedback about your "other" site, so it's not a horrible idea to leave it there and check on it every now and then.
Pretty neat, at least I think so.
Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.
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Twitter Users Don't Click on Google AdSense Ads?
Posted: February 26th, 2010, 9:37am CET by rustybrick
Tags: Google AdSense
A WebmasterWorld thread has Google AdSense publishers talking about how well traffic from Twitter converts in terms of clicks on AdSense ads.
The overall consensus from the thread is that Twitter users are too cool to click on AdSense ads. One person even kept tabs on that, saying:
Created about 500 targeted follows, got 120 followers, this converted in about 40 visits to my sites and 1 click.
I can tell you that for both this blog and my personal blog, which receives traffic from Twitter in the top ten of their referrals, that traffic does not convert into the top ten referrals for AdSense revenue. Let me explain again. For this site, Twitter is within the top 5 sources of traffic to this site. However, if I sort that traffic by top referrer by revenue earned with AdSense, Twitter is not in the top ten list.
Do you agree?
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
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Google 302 Redirects Secure iGoogle To Unsecure iGoogle
Posted: February 26th, 2010, 9:29am CET by rustybrick
Tags: Other Google Topics
If you visit https://www.google.com/ig, it will redirect you to [www.google.com], without the https for secure. Yes, Google is making sure no one can access the secure version of iGoogle.
Here is a server header check from SEO Consultants:
#1 Server Response: https://www.google.com/ig
HTTP Status Code: HTTP/1.1 302 Found
Location: http://www.google.com/ig
Cache-Control: private
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8
X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff
Date: Fri, 26 Feb 2010 08:29:08 GMT
Server: igfe
Content-Length: 221
X-XSS-Protection: 0
Redirect Target: http://www.google.com/igThere are several complaints about not being able to access the secure version of iGoogle at the Google Web Search Help forums. Paul from Google explained why this is the case. In short, the gadgets on the secure iGoogle were not always secure, which led to confusion. Here is the detailed explanation:
As you noticed, we've recently started redirecting any users who attempt to visit an iGoogle page using "https" to an "http" page. The "https" on the iGoogle page that some users visited may have caused these users to believe that any activity performed on their page was protected by https, when in fact only gadgets that are built to support https provide the corresponding encryption protection to users. We made this change to clarify that only activity using gadgets that support https is transmitted over a secured https connection on iGoogle.
For example if you're using Google's official iGoogle gadget for our free email service, Gmail, you can continue to use it with https protection unless you have turned off the default setting on your Gmail settings page.
Valid excuse, but what would be nice (I know it is more work) would be to give gadget developers a way to create https enabled apps. If they are enabled, they work on the secure iGoogle, if not, Google explains why they are not working on the secure iGoogle.
Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help.
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Yelp Sued Over Accepting Money For Removing Negative Reviews
Posted: February 26th, 2010, 9:21am CET by rustybrick
Tags: Local Search
A WebmasterWorld thread has discussion around the allegations that Yelp has been burying negative reviews in exchange for advertising dollars.
MediaPost writes:
A California veterinary center has sued review site Yelp for allegedly promising to bury bad reviews in exchange for purchasing $3,600 worth of advertising on the site.
"Yelp frequently exercises its control over the Yelp.com listing application to modify business listing pages to the advantage of businesses that purchase Yelp advertising subscriptions, and the disadvantage of those that decline," Cats and Dogs Animal Hospital owner Gregory Perrault alleges in a complaint filed in federal district court in the central district of California.
Greg at Search Engine Land writes:
Two class action law firms have filed suit in Los Angeles federal court claiming that Yelp has attempted to “extort” money from small businesses by offering to remove negative reviews in exchange for payment.
The truth will out of course but I would be stunned if these claims were based in truth rather than the frustrations and misunderstandings of the plaintiff in this case.
I hope Greg is right - we covered reports of this via the forums back in November 2008. Back then, I was told it:
Reviews are purely algorithmic and that only one positive review can be emphasized. Reviews can come down if the person writing the review closed his/her account or the account was terminated due to violations. A third reason why reviews would be hidden is due to suspect behavior; the review is removed from the actual business but not from the reviewer's profile page.
I guess time will tell us if this is true - unless this is settled out of court and no one really finds out the truth.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
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Report: Google To Launch Caffeine Index In Upcoming "Months"
Posted: February 26th, 2010, 9:10am CET by rustybrick
Tags: Google Optimization
Search Engine Land's Matt McGee reports Google will be launching the Caffeine index update, the one many believe is already live, in the upcoming months.
He received a statement from Google saying:
We expect to roll it out to all data centers over the coming months.
Why didn't it launch after the holidays? What is the hold up with Caffeine launching? Google sent a statement about that:
We run lots of tests with this big a change to our infrastructure. We want the new system to meet or exceed the abilities of our current system, and it can take time to ensure that everything looks good.
Again, many people will swear it is live. It is live, but only in one of the many Google data centers. So just be patient and hopefully it will go live before Bing powers Yahoo fully.
Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums.
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Google AdWords Now Allows Only VIPPS & CIPA Pharmacy Ads
Posted: February 26th, 2010, 8:58am CET by rustybrick
Tags: Google AdWords
Google announced they are now allowing certain pharmacy and drug ads on their search results. Google AdWords will only accept advertisements from VIPPS and CIPA certified pharmacies, and that these pharmacies can only target ads within the countries where they are accredited.
Of course, for those running ads on the topic of pharmacy and drugs and health, that may have been running ads in the realm of those topics - may also be hit by some algorithm that blocks these ads.
A WebmasterWorld thread has at least one complaint from an advertiser:
Once again, Google used an automated process to "clean house" it appears.
I had no idea that I ran an "Online Pharmacy"
To be honest, I always thought that Google disallowed all pharma ads - I guess I was wrong?
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.