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 26, 2010
Posted: March 26th, 2010, 10:00pm CET by rustybrick
Tags: Search Forum Recap
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Video Recap of Weekly Search Buzz :: March 26, 2010
Posted: March 26th, 2010, 9:30pm CET by rustybrick
Tags: Search Buzz RoundUp
This week the big news was that Bing updated their user interface a bit and also added Foursquare checkins to Bing Maps. Google is testing a domain instead of IP address for cache access. Google's English or /NCR interface is not working for Chinese users, it is a bug. Another Google Bug was thought to be a Chinese hack. AdWords launched "Search Funnels" that helps tracks keywords that assisted in conversions. Google may stop partners from changing user settings. Google won big in the EU courts over trademark search ad law. Google Maps allows business owners to specify service areas. Google Maps tests special ads with hotel pricing. Some SEOs use search operators for link building and some don't. We covered about 40 sessions at SES NY this week. Google had a Doodle for Akira Kurosawa and Israeli Educational TV. Finally, should I test setting these videos as rentals? Just kidding. That was this week at the Search Engine Roundtable.
Make sure to subscribe to our video feed or subscribe directly on iTunes to be notified of these updates and download the video in the background. Here is the YouTube version of the feed:
For the original iTunes version, click here or to see the YouTube version in higher quality, click play & hit "HD."Search Topics of Discussion:
Bing:
Google Search:
- Google Cache URLs To Be webcache.googleusercontent.com?
- Google To Fix Google China Bug With /NCR URL
- Google Language Detection Bug Confused As Chinese Hack
Google AdWords:
- Check Keywords That Assist Conversions With Google AdWords Search Funnels
- Speculation: Google To Disallow Search Partners From Changing User's Default Settings
- Google Win In EU Court Over Louis Vuitton Trademark Case
Google Maps:
- Google Maps Expands Businesses Reach With Services Areas & Locations
- Google Maps Testing Ads With Hotel Prices
Link Building & SEO:
SEM Industry:
Logos:
YouTube:
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 Webmaster Tools Verification Goes Down
Posted: March 26th, 2010, 2:29pm CET by rustybrick
Tags: Google Optimization
There are dozens of reports in the Google Webmaster Verification Help section from disgruntled webmasters where they cannot verify their web sites with Google Webmaster Tools.
Jonathan Simon and other Googlers are replying to webmasters that this is a bug and will be fixed soon. In one Google Webmaster Help thread, Jonathan said:
Our verification service has been experiencing intermittent issues today. Please retry verifying your site and post back here if you're still seeing the same error message.
And Dennis G. from Google said in another Google Webmaster Help thread:
Sorry, we had some server trouble this morning. Service should be returning to normal now.
I hope this is resolved soon, if not already.
Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Verification Help.
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Google To Fix Google China Bug With /NCR URL
Posted: March 26th, 2010, 2:24pm CET by rustybrick
Tags: Google Search Engine
We all know what is going on with Google and China. But a few days ago we reported a weird occurrence where Chinese Google users cannot access Google.com not even through the google.com/ncr URL which should give international users access to Google.com.
Rubie from the Google web search team posted a thread at Google Web Search Help explaining that this issue is indeed a bug. He said:
There is currently a bug on the google.com.hk homepage. When users based in China click the “Google.com in English” link at the bottom of the page they are redirected back to the google.com.hk domain. This bug is accidental, and it should be fixed within a few days.
The issue is, when users either click on "Google.com in English" or go to google.com/ncr they are being redirected to Google Hong Kong, which is not the expected behavior. So this should be resolved soon.
Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help.
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Google Backs 3rd Part AdWords Webinar by Top Forum Contributor
Posted: March 26th, 2010, 2:17pm CET by rustybrick
Tags: Google AdWords
As you know, Google hosts webinars every now and then, especially for AdWords related training and sales. Sarah from the Google AdWords team posted about a new webinar in the Google AdWords Help discussion forums. The difference here is that this webinar is not run by Google, instead it is run by a respected top contributor in the Google AdWords forum.
Sarah said:
I am excited to announce that one of our Top Contributors, MrsC, will be hosting a free webinar on building and organizing effective keyword lists. For any of you who are just starting an account or struggling with Quality Score- this is a great opportunity to take advantage of.
The webinar is on Tuesday April 6th from 11am-12pm CDT. Space is limited so please reserve a seat in advance by registering here:
For those of you who attend the webinar (and those of you who wanted to, but couldn't make it work with your schedule), we will host a follow up discussion on the forum so stay tuned...
But the way Sarah titled it, it says "Our First Top Contributor Hosted Webinar!" This implies to me that this is backed by Google, but when you go to the gotomeeting.com address, it really doesn't seem to be powered by Google.
In any event, besides for if this is backed by Google or not, I am sure the webinar will be education and useful. So do check it out if you have no meetings scheduled at that time.
Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.
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Speculation: Google To Disallow Search Partners From Changing User's Default Settings
Posted: March 26th, 2010, 2:10pm CET by rustybrick
Tags: Other Google Topics
Before I even start, I want to say this is high on the speculation meter. A single post at WebmasterWorld said he heard via an investor, Bill Burnham, that Google is changing their policies for traffic partners. The specific policy they are changing, as said in the thread, is that Google is considering changing their policies to prevent search traffic partners from changing users' home page & default search settings.
That means, if you are a partner with Google, such as Dell, and you want to change the users' home page or default search settings when they install something (I guess, it is not clear) then Google will consider this a violation of their new policy?
Let me quote the whole post:
I read an interesting report by Google watcher Bill Burnham this morning, discussing a publicly-traded firm called Incredimail who derives virtually all their ~$27M in annual revenues from Google. Incredimail offers free email add-ons (emoticons, backgrounds, animations, 3D effects, etc) to the consumer, and makes its money by resetting users' home page and default search to Google.
What's news is that Incredimail said today that they're aware Google is considering changing their policies to prevent search traffic partners from changing users' home page & default search settings. Despite strong revenues, Incredimail's stock dropped 15% today on this disclosure.
Do you think this is true? Clearly this had an impact on one of their partner's stock. But what is really going on here?
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
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Bing Updates UI, Improves Search Results & Adds Foursquare to Maps
Posted: March 26th, 2010, 2:02pm CET by rustybrick
Tags: Microsoft MSN Search
Bing announced feature upgrades to Bing at SES New York yesterday, if you missed it, you can read our live blog coverage of the announcement. The announcement included the following updates to Bing:
- Updated user interface designed to get the answer faster
- More celebrity and sport answers
- Way to filter auto results
- Mobile improvements with Windows 7
- Foursquare added to Bing Maps
- and more
Here are some screen captures:
Overall, the new features are welcomed to Bing.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.