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 18, 2010
Posted: March 18th, 2010, 10:00pm CET by rustybrick
Tags: Search Forum Recap
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Google Says Ads Should Not Open in New Windows, Unless You're In China
Posted: March 18th, 2010, 2:43pm CET by rustybrick
Tags: Google AdSense
Via a FAQ on Google, which asks "Can I open the ads in a new window?" It says that you are not allowed to force the ads into a new window. But Google may open these ads in a new window for specific users, if those users are in China.
Here is what the answer Google provides for this question:
Generally, it is our policy to not allow Google ads to open in a new window. However, in a few markets, including China, we've found that opening ads in a new window better aligns with expected internet behavior and provides a more consistent, intuitive user experience.
Keeping in mind the importance of the user experience, we've enabled Google ads to open in new windows in locations where this is expected browsing behavior. This functionality is determined by the IP of the user, and is not an option you can select your AdSense account.
We also ask that you don't modify the AdSense ad code or alter the result of clicking on an ad on your website, as such behavior violates our program policies.
I guess Google would know what most U.S. based users expect, they have crawled most of the web and know how many ads open in a new window and how many do not. So I trust Google on this.
However, netmeg said in a WebmasterWorld thread that you can use Google Ad Manager to display AdSense and you can set those AdSense ads to open in a new window via Ad Manager. However, please read all of what netmeg said, he said:
If you use Ad Manager, you can set them to open in a new window. I did find this seemed to drastically inflate impressions, leading to lower CTR though. And I don't know if CTR has a direct influence on smart pricing, but I wouldn't be surprised if it did. It's pretty important on the advertising side.
I doubt all my readers would agree that (1) it's best to keep users in the same window and (2) it impacts CTR.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
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Google's Porn Issue With Children Related Keywords
Posted: March 18th, 2010, 2:29pm CET by rustybrick
Tags: Google Search Engine
I have covered way too many issues with porn on Google. But let me show you two recent examples that impacts children.
(1) A Google Web Search Help thread has a report from a searcher who is disgusted that Google will not remove a pornographic image of two girls for a search on [babysitter]. What upsets me most is that this person said he/she reported the image three or four times. Of course, I have no way of verifying that, so I am going by this person's word but nevertheless, the image should not be there.
If a kid goes to Google to find a picture of their babysitter, the last thing you want coming up is a picture of two naked women on a bed together. Here is a censored image to prove this comes up with normal moderate SafeSearch on:
(2) A second thread at the Google Web Search Help forums reports that when you type in "little girl" into Google Images search, Google auto-suggests "little girl no cloths." Here is a picture:
Yes, these suggestions are pulled from what people search for but Google does censor certain types of suggestions. We had issues like this before, such as with little kids having sex and other porn examples. Google does censor adult oriented suggestions and most people agree that is what Google should do.
For Google, this is a constant battle between those trying to inject porn in their search results and Google trying to keep their search results clean. It is not a fun battle.
Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help.
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What's a Link? Is It an Email?
Posted: March 18th, 2010, 2:24pm CET by rustybrick
Tags: Link Building
For all you out there that deal with clients every day, I figured I share with you a fun thread at WebmasterWorld. Let me just quote the post:
I was doing some link building for my local sites where people need to copy a paste a link which is on our site in a textarea.
I'm really shocked how many people don't know how to do this. Most of them don't even know the difference between an email address and a web address.
Can anyone reading this post tell me they didn't run into a client that didn't know the difference between an email address and web address? You all have, be honest.
I just hope those reading this all know the difference between an email and web address.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
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YouTube Sets Thousand of Videos as Private
Posted: March 18th, 2010, 2:17pm CET by rustybrick
Tags: Other Google Topics
Hundreds of YouTubers are complaining that their videos that they are uploading are being set from the public status to private status. Obviously, if you set a video to private, most people won't be able to see the videos and thus the video views that YouTubers really seek out, will be way down.
Liz from YouTube support confirmed the bug in a YouTube Help thread. She said:
We've seen your posts about recently uploaded videos being converted to private (and not appearing as public as intended).
This situation has been reported to our engineering team and they're currently working on a fix for the bug. Rest assured that the team is aware of the issue and that the bug should be resolved soon.
Thank you for your understanding, and for reporting this situation to us!
There are literally dozens of threads on the issue, some of those threads, like this one has about a hundred posts or complaints in them.
As a side note, another YouTube bug is also impacting video views. There is confirmed issues with the AutoShare feature with Facebook. Liz explained:
Just a quick update from YouTube that there is currently a bug with AutoShare and Facebook. Our engineering team here is aware of the issue, and is working on getting AutoShare between YouTube & Facebook back up and running as usual again soon. In the meantime, thank you for your patience, we really appreciate it.
Forum discussion at YouTube Help.
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Bing Maps Adds WorldWide Telescope & Google Maps Updates Android App
Posted: March 18th, 2010, 2:04pm CET by rustybrick
Tags: Local Search
We have two different mapping announcements, one from Bing and one from Google. Bing's is the most interesting, in that they launched WorldWide Telescope data in their mapping software. Google updated their Google Maps for Android app to enable search 'n swipe, a latitude widget, and other changes.
Bing's telescope feature works by going to Bing Maps, and simply panning the maps up to the sky. Here is a screen capture:
Bing has partnered to get a ton of data about the sky maps, to learn more about it click here.
Google released version 4.1 of their maps app for Android. This version updated search results page, added a swipe feature, added a Latitude widget, plus a Maps live wallpaper, and lets you switch easily between Google Accounts. For more information about this update click here.
Forum discussion on Bing at WebmasterWorld and Google at Google Mobile Help.