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: August 20, 2010
Posted: August 20th, 2010, 11:00pm CEST by rustybrick
Tags: Search Forum Recap
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Video Recap of Weekly Search Buzz :: August 20, 2010
Posted: August 20th, 2010, 8:50pm CEST by rustybrick
Tags: Search Buzz RoundUp
This week I covered two interesting Google anomalies. The first is where brand type queries are showing mostly results from that brand's domain. The second is Google is showing only Google pages for some search results. The big news this week is that Bing is now powering Yahoo fully in the U.S. and Canada. With that, Site Explorer, BOSS and Search Monkey are changing. Google added a new way to verify you site in Google Webmaster Tools. comScore released their search market share report. Bing News can drive nice traffic, that is if you can get included. Facebook does place check-ins, like Foursquare. We had lots of logos to share with you this week. Finally, SES San Francisco was this week, which is why I act so tired in the video. That was this past 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. You can also watch this live and ask questions during the show, typically Friday mornings around 9:30 (EST) at seroundtable.com/live, follow @rustybrick to be notified when we air. Here is the YouTube version of the feed:
For the original iTunes version, click here.Search Topics of Discussion:
- Google Search Real Estate Dominated By Single Domain For Brand Searches
- Bug Or Future: Google Search Results Showing Only Google Listings?
- Bing To Power Yahoo Within The Week
- Yahoo Site Explorer Migrating Into Bing Webmaster Tools & More
- Is Yahoo Embarrassed Over Bing Powering Their Results?
- Google Lets You Verify Your Site in Webmaster Tools With Google Analytics Code
- comScore July 2010 Search Ranking Share Report
- Bing News Sends Nice Traffic & Can Be Delayed
- Facebook, Now With Location Check Ins
- Happy & Sad Logos: Chinese Valentines, Korea Independence, Kyoto Festival, & Sad Colorless Logos
- Embarrassing Google India Independence Day Logo Typo
- Google Russia's Soviet Space Dog Doodle
- SES San Francisco 2010 Coverage Recap
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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SEOs & Webmasters Complaining About Google's Canonical Tag?
Posted: August 20th, 2010, 3:24pm CEST by rustybrick
Tags: Google Optimization
About a year and a half ago, Google released the canonical tag. In summary, it is basically a special snippet of code you place on your page that does a 301 redirect without physically redirecting people, instead it redirects search bots.
In December, they expanded the use of this tag to support cross-domain canonical tag usage, as opposed to just using the tag internally. Personally, I have just used the canonical tag internally, never applied it cross-domain - yet.
A WebmasterWorld thread has Tedster saying that many, too many, webmasters are complaining about issues with the tag. He said, "in the past week or so I've read several accounts around the web of so-called "canonical disasters." He adds:
I've used the canonical link tag with no apparent problems, and in some cases it put an easy band-aid on a nasty infrastructure knot. But now I'm reading some SEO blogs that warn against serving the canonical link on the "original" URL. How could that be a problem?
I agree on that I don't see why SEOs or Webmasters would have issues with it. But I don't agree in seeing more complaints about it than normal.
In fact, in March I ran a poll asking does the canonical tag work well on Google? The response break down was mostly positive:
Not all positive. I kind of thing webmasters may not be using it right? Or maybe I am wrong?
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
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Does Google AdSense Automatically Show Your Best Color Ad?
Posted: August 20th, 2010, 3:13pm CEST by rustybrick
Tags: Google AdSense
A WebmasterWorld thread has Google AdSense publishers wondering if Google automatically shows the best performing ad color.
As you know, you can allow Google to rotate the AdSense color templates for you. But is that purely random or is Google showing your best color?
Most publishers suspect Google automatically shows the best performing colors. Netmeg said:
I always just assumed they rotated them. It's a good question.
The help document on this say sit is completely random. I'll quote it:
You can select up to 4 palettes that will rotate randomly.
Would be nice if Google did the best performing color more often?
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
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Google Lets You Verify Your Site in Webmaster Tools With Google Analytics Code
Posted: August 20th, 2010, 3:03pm CEST by rustybrick
Tags: Other Google Topics
Google announced adding an additional method of verifying your site with Google Webmaster Tools. In addition to the HTML file, META tag inclusion, and DNS method of verification, you can now use Google Analytics code.
This specifically works with the new asynchronous Analytics JavaScript code but everyone should use that code anyway.
The process is simple. Set up the special code on the site, then go to Webmaster Tools and verify the site. You must be the administrator on the Google Analytics account associated with the JavaScript snippet for you to continue to see that site in your Google Webmaster Tools section.
Here is a screen capture of the current available methods of verification:
Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.
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Bing News Sends Nice Traffic & Can Be Delayed
Posted: August 20th, 2010, 2:55pm CEST by rustybrick
Tags: Microsoft MSN Search
When it comes to news search engines, it seems like all we talk about is Google News and rarely Yahoo or Bing News.
I spotted a WebmasterWorld thread with a rare post by someone included in the Bing News index. The publisher said, "My site has just been indexed in Bing News. And I like it."
He said he didn't request to get listed in Bing News, which, by the way, doesn't work. He was just included randomly and he loves what he sees.
He noticed an "uptick in retweets" and looked into it. It turned out to be Bing sending traffic to his site via Bing News.
Yes, Bing is way more selective than Google News. He also said that some of his content gets pulled into Bing News on a two-day delay. I am not sure if that is specific to his site being newly indexed or just the way Bing handles "news," which kind of doesn't make sense.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
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SES San Francisco 2010 Coverage Recap
Posted: August 20th, 2010, 2:45pm CEST by rustybrick
Tags: Search Engine Strategies 2010 San
Search Engine Strategies San Francisco is now over and I wanted to recap the sessions we covered over the past three days.
But first, I wanted to thank our live blog volunteers. Keri Morgret of MyNextCustomer, Ben Pfeiffer & Shanon Woodruff of RankSmart did an outstanding job covering the sessions. I hope you enjoyed the coverage and I wanted to give a big thank you to them.
We covered about 35 sessions and here they are:
Day One:
- Opening Keynote - Jeffrey Hayzlett, Celebrity CMO Former Kodak CMO
- How Large Advertisers are Accelerating their SEO with Social Media
- Search: Where to Next?
- Digital Asset Optimization
- Meaningful SEO Metrics: Going Beyond the Numbers
- Introduction to Information Retrieval on the Web
- Link Building Basics
- Content Marketing Optimization
- Deep Dive Into Analytics
- Developing Great Content
- Introduction to Remarketing
Day Two:
- Keynote - BJ Fogg Author, Persuasive Technology
- News Search Optimization
- Bringing SEO In-House: The Pros and Cons
- Crossing the Digital Divide: The Leap From Search to Display
- It's All About the User: Search Insights for Your Site
- Search, PR & the Social Butterfly
- Real-Time Storytelling
- Link Building in August of 2010 with Jim Boykin
- Competitive Research
- B2B Search Marketing Tips
- Twitternation & Automation
- Twitternation & Automation
- How to Become a Link Magnet
- Beyond the Click: What Shoppers Need Now
Day Three:
- Keynote - Tim Ash, Author, CEO, SiteTuners.com
- PPC or SEO? The Ultimate Search Marketing Battle
- Social Media 101
- Duplicate Content & Multiple Site Issues
- Search Marketing Toolbox
- Social & the Marketing Mix
- Ads in a Quality Score World
- Killer Facebook Marketing: Do's and Don'ts
- Advanced Paid Search Tactics
Thanks all!
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SES SFO: Advanced Paid Search Tactics
Posted: August 20th, 2010, 2:30am CEST by rustybrick
Tags: Search Engine Strategies 2010 San
Below is live coverage of the Advanced Paid Search Tactics from the SES SFO conference.
This coverage is provided by Keri Morgret of MyNextCustomer.
We are using a live blogging tool to provide the real time coverage, please excuse any typos. You can also interact with us and while we are live blogging, so feel free to ask us questions as we blog. We will publish the archive below after the session is completed.
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SES SFO: Killer Facebook Marketing: Do's and Don'ts
Posted: August 20th, 2010, 1:00am CEST by rustybrick
Tags: Search Engine Strategies 2010 San
Below is live coverage of the Killer Facebook Marketing: Do's and Don'ts from the SES SFO conference.
This coverage is provided by Ben Pfeiffer of RankSmart & Keri Morgret of MyNextCustomer.
We are using a live blogging tool to provide the real time coverage, please excuse any typos. You can also interact with us and while we are live blogging, so feel free to ask us questions as we blog. We will publish the archive below after the session is completed.
Killer Facebook Marketing: Do's and Don'ts