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.
Feeds
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Google
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Official Google Webmaster Central Blog (305 unread)
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Emily Chang (334 unread)
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Search Engine Roundtable
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Search Engine Roundtable (6 unread)
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Daily Search Forum Recap: July 22, 2010
Posted: July 22nd, 2010, 11:00pm CEST by rustybrick
Tags: Search Forum Recap
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Google Misclassifying Some Sites As Parked Domains & Booting Them From Search Results?
Posted: July 22nd, 2010, 4:02pm CEST by rustybrick
Tags: Google Optimization
I spotted two isolated issues where a Googler confirmed a weird bug in Google's web search & quality classification system. TheJack from Google posted responses in two different Google Webmaster Help threads.
On one he said a site was having issues showing up in Google's search results due to Google having "misclassified the site as a parked domain." He added:
Looks we misclassified the site as a parked domain. Apologies that you were hit by this bug. We're working on getting this fixed. Should be cleared up in the next couple days.
This specific problem was only effecting this particular site. Outside of Google there's no way to tell unfortunately when this type of issue crops up. These are very rare occurrences so best thing for folks to do is to post here if they are seeing very fishy things happening with their ranking.I then spotted an additional thread within the same time frame where TheJack, a Google employee, said a similar thing:
The drop in ranking is in no way related to anything you've done. This was simply a bug in one of our classifiers. Being fixed now so you should see things go back to normal over the next couple weeks.
This was a very specific issue. It was just this particular site, no cause for alarm.He recommends, in some cases, if you are having issues with your rankings, it's best to post them at Google's forums.
Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.
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YouTube Redesigns "My Videos" Management Page
Posted: July 22nd, 2010, 3:51pm CEST by rustybrick
Tags: Other Google Topics
Google has been doing a lot of redesigning these days. Next up, is YouTube's My Videos page. The My Video's page is the primary page used by most of those who upload videos to YouTube on a regular basis. It is where you manage your videos.
Liz from YouTube said in a YouTube Help thread that they are rolling up a redesign for the page.
Personally, I currently see the old design and no one posted pictures of the new design. So as soon as I see the new design, I will update this post. Here are the changes:
*** New access to Insight (and Promoted Videos) info: To access Insight or Promoted Videos info, just click the Arrow on the right hand side of the "Edit" button, and you'll be able to access Insight or Promoted Video stats/campaigns.
*** We've centralized the way you can find the videos you've viewed over in the navigational column on the left-hand side of the page. Including...
* Uploads
* Viewed videos
* Purchased videos
* Liked videos
* Playlists
* Favorites
* Quicklist (Queue)Additionally, please note that those of you who use the CVP Claims and Content ID matches options on the my_videos page may notice they're currently missing in the new layout. They are only temporarily missing from my_videos and will be added again in the coming weeks.
As you can imagine, some people aren't happy with the change.
Here is a picture of the current (old) My Videos page for reference:
Forum discussion at YouTube Help.
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Twitter Usernames Ranking Very Well in Google
Posted: July 22nd, 2010, 3:36pm CEST by rustybrick
Tags: Google Optimization
Conduct a search for literally any letter in the alphabet. Try a search for [s] in Google and the number two result, at least for me, is a Twitter username/profile.
Most single letters come up on the first page. Try [a], [b] or c], all on the first page. Not every letter is on page one of Google, but many.
This was pointed out in a WebmasterWorldthread. Tedster, the administrator of WebmasterWorld said:
Funny you should mention it - yes, Twitter profile names do seem to be ranking better.
Twitter, the next Wikipedia?
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
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More Pink Google AdWords Ads
Posted: July 22nd, 2010, 3:27pm CEST by rustybrick
Tags: Google AdWords
From time to time I see reports of people saying the Google AdWords ad background color has changed from the yellow to a different color.
Today, I spotted a thread at Google Web Search Help of a person noticing pink backgrounds for the AdWords location. Here is a picture he posted in the thread:
This is compared to what most people see, the yellow background:
We spotted pink background back in May and we have seen Google move from the old blue background to the yellow one in 2007. We have also seen Google test green backgrounds and then even test going back to a flavor of blue and yellow backgrounds together.
Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help.
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How Do You Verify Someone Is Linking To You
Posted: July 22nd, 2010, 3:16pm CEST by rustybrick
Tags: Link Building
A WebmasterWorld thread has one link builder asking other link builders how they go about verifying sites are actually linking to their sites.
Link builders get others to link to their site. They do this by writing excellent content, providing linkable stuff, begging, asking and even paying for links. Once you get the link, you want to make sure it sticks - especially if you are paying.
I am pretty sure the more advanced link building companies build software to check sites on a routine schedule. They build spiders that sniff out pages where the link should reside. They aren't 100% foolproof but they help.
Other companies use other tools to aid in ensuring links are where they should be. Some use Yahoo Site Explorer, some use Google Webmaster Tools, some use advanced search queries.
While others simply do hand checks from a list of sites they check manually.
What do you do?
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.