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: July 19, 2010
Posted: July 19th, 2010, 11:00pm CEST by rustybrick
Tags: Search Forum Recap
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Google Restores Hacked & Robbed AdSense Account
Posted: July 19th, 2010, 4:02pm CEST by rustybrick
Tags: Google AdSense
We have been providing ongoing coverage of the AdSense publisher who was hacked into and had $25,000 or so stolen from him by someone in India. It turned out, after three months nothing has happened.
Well, that has changed. Google and the publisher finally got together and were able to restore the account.
In the updated WebmasterWorld thread, the thread the publisher was publishing his notes, he said on July 14th:
It's fixed! Google Adsense called a bit ago; the guy said it was a hairball of a mess.
My accounts go back to 2003; there are Adwords accounts, MCCs, Adsense, etc. They moved things around; I can finally log into my original (and primary) Adsense account again; and I tied the Adsense account to my Google Analytics account.
Many thanks to Google Adsense.
How about his lost money? Honestly, I am not sure. After repeated questions about the lost earnings, he replied one more time saying, "Yes, the account was recovered. All is well now." But that does not answer if he has the money that was lost.
In any event, he seems happy and I guess we should leave it at that.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
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Google Video Drops "Download" Button
Posted: July 19th, 2010, 3:55pm CEST by rustybrick
Tags: Other Google Topics
As Google Video continues to scale back the features and options available, in exchange for YouTube, Google recently dropped the "download" button.
The download button, which can be seen here, was available on some Google Video hosted files. Now, it seems to be gone from all videos hosted on the Google Video platform.
Nelson from Google confirmed the change in a Google Web Search Help thread. He said:
We had discontinued the option of downloading videos, but during some internal house-cleaning, we removed it entirely.
Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help.
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Bring Back The Old Google News Design
Posted: July 19th, 2010, 3:27pm CEST by rustybrick
Tags: Other Google Topics
19 days ago, Google launched a redesign for Google News. Many many many users absolutely hated the design. Last week, Google finally responded with a tweak to the design, giving people a way to show a second column.
But many still miss the basic old layout that they have grown to love.
If you are one of those, and if you use Firefox, you can download a greasemonkey script to get the told design back.
A Google News Help thread discusses the script, which can be viewed here and downloaded here. Note, this is not something Google put together, it is written by a third-party.
Hopefully that helps some of you who really hate the redesign.
Forum discussion at Google News Help.
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DigitalPoint Banned From Google AdSense. But Why?
Posted: July 19th, 2010, 3:18pm CEST by rustybrick
Tags: Google AdSense
On July 15th, DigitalPoint Forums, a forum we cover here often, no longer was showing Google AdSense ads on their pages. Rumors began spreading so Shawn Hogan, the owner, posted a blog post saying A 3rd Party CAN Get You Banned From AdSense.
He claims that his account was banned due to third-party web sites. He said:
While I still think the majority of people who claimed to have their AdSense account unfairly terminated are probably just whiners that got caught doing something they shouldn't be, I can say for 100% certainty now that it can (and clearly does) happen sometimes.
He showed how many sites were using his code on their own site in the wrong way. Why? He doesn't know for sure but maybe to get him banned from AdSense. He said he began using the Whitelist feature after Google suggested it to him, but a few days/weeks later, he was banned.
I guess anything is possible and I doubt Google will go on record as to what has happened. I have no insider information, all I know is what was posted in the public.
So either he will remain banned or the ban will be lifted. People make mistakes, Google is human, lots of things can happen.
Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums.
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Should Google's Algorithm Be Regulated?
Posted: July 19th, 2010, 3:12pm CEST by rustybrick
Tags: Google Search Engine
Last week, the New York Times wrote a piece suggesting Google's search algorithm should be regulated.
Google handles nearly two-thirds of Internet search queries worldwide. Analysts reckon that most Web sites rely on the search engine for half of their traffic. When Google engineers tweak its supersecret algorithm — as they do hundreds of times a year — they can break the business of a Web site that is pushed down the rankings.
Of course, Google responded themselves explaining the issues with revealing the algorithm to the public.
Danny Sullivan did one up with his post named The New York Times Algorithm & Why It Needs Government Regulation. It was basically playing on the NY Times article, mocking it with the same logic they used.
If you don't like how Google operates, don't use it. It is a private company with huge influence because of how they operate. That is my take. I think most SEOs disagree.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
