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: March 1, 2010
Posted: March 1st, 2010, 10:00pm CET by rustybrick
Tags: Search Forum Recap
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Google Adds "Nearby" Search Option
Posted: March 1st, 2010, 11:01am CET by rustybrick
Tags: Google Search Engine
Google announced they added a new search refinement to "show options" section. The refinement allows you to filter results by results relevant to being nearby your location. Google explained:
Location has become an important part of the way we search. If you're a foodie looking for restaurant details, food blogs or the closest farmer's market, location can be vital to helping you find the right information. Starting today, we've added the ability to refine your searches with the "Nearby" tool in the Search Options panel. One of the really helpful things about this tool is that it works geographically — not just with keywords — so you don't have to worry about adding "Minneapolis" to your query and missing webpages that only say "St. Paul" or "Twin Cities." Check it out by doing a search, clicking on "show options" and selecting "Nearby."
I personally do not see it, maybe because I am in Israel right now. But here is a picture from the Google blog:
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
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Google API Bug: Traffic Estimate For proximityTargets
Posted: March 1st, 2010, 10:52am CET by rustybrick
Tags: Google AdWords
For those heavy Google AdWords API users and developers, did you know that the proximityTargets do not work properly for traffic estimation?
A Google AdWords API Help thread has Eric Koleda from the Google AdWords API Team who confirmed the issue. He said:
There is a known issue where proximityTargets aren't processed correctly for traffic estimation. I don't believe this problem will be fixed in the near term, so I would recommend you look into other geo targeting options.
So Google is aware of the issue, but clearly it is not a priority to fix.
Forum discussion at Google AdWords API Help.
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Google Showing Commercially Related Keywords In AdWords Positions?
Posted: March 1st, 2010, 10:46am CET by rustybrick
Tags: Google AdWords
A somewhat hard to read thread at WebmasterWorld describes Google as testing showing a related keywords type of box in the position where Google would show their AdWords search ads.
From what I understand is that the initial query was not commercial enough to drive search ads. Google offered up related keywords that seemed to be more commercially oriented. If someone refines their search by clicking on those related keywords, Google would then show an search ad for that commercial intended query.
Tedster, the WebmasterWorld administrator, tries to make heads and tails of this as well. He said:
So in the usual Adwords position, instead of ads you saw links to related Google searches -- searches that happen to have commercial results. In other words, those "related" links themselves aren't ads at all except for the fact that Adwords might be present on the SERP you get if you do click.
Google tests a lot of things - sounds like a rather complex one.
I cannot find it now, but I believe a long time ago, I do remember seeing screen captures of related keywords shown above and to the right of the search results, above the search ads.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
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How Does One Remove Info From Google's Chile Earthquake Person Finder
Posted: March 1st, 2010, 10:37am CET by rustybrick
Tags: Other Google Topics
A few days ago, there was a tremendous tragedy in Chile, a massive earthquake. Google put together a tool to help family and friends locate missing people due to this earthquake. The tool is located at [chilepersonfinder.appspot.com].
At this tool, you can either submit a case of a missing person or search for a case of a missing person. There are currently about 35,700 records, or missing people in the database, some accounted for and some not.
Two people asked how they can remove a person they added to the list, after that person has been found? The thread of these questions are at a Google Webmaster Help thread. The people ask:
I would also like to know how to delete my personal information now that my person has been found, even if the profile remains up.
John from Google said you can update the status in the application under "Status of this person" and set it to perhaps "I have received information that this person is alive" and provide the information that you have. But that is not exactly what these people want to do, they want to delete their personal information, as the person who submitted the information.
John said:
I'll check with the team to see what can be done in a situation like that.
So far, there is not update on how to do that.
Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.
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"0 Indexed URLs" In Google News Sitemaps Bug
Posted: March 1st, 2010, 10:32am CET by rustybrick
Tags: Google Optimization
A Google News Help thread has some reports of publishers reporting that their Google News Sitemaps are reporting "0 Indexed URLs" in Google Webmaster Tools.
I too saw this issue and I thought that perhaps there was a bug in my sitemap file. But Google did not report any issues with my sitemap file, plus, I saw my articles were being indexed within Google News. So I figured, it was a reporting glitch in Google Webmaster Tools. It appears I was right.
Inbal from the Google News team said in a Google News Help thread:
Just a heads-up that the issue with Google News Sitemaps is showing "0 Indexed URLs" is a known issue. This number does not reflect the accurate number of the URLs indexed from your site. The correct number is the number of all the articles you've submitted within your sitemap minus the articles that show News-specific crawl errors under Diagnostics.
I assume this error is being fixed, but there is currently no estimate time for the fix.
Forum discussion at Google News Help.