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 25, 2010
Posted: August 25th, 2010, 11:00pm CEST by rustybrick
Tags: Search Forum Recap
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So Sad: Yahoo Finally & Officially Gave Up On Search
Posted: August 25th, 2010, 3:50pm CEST by rustybrick
Tags: Yahoo Search Engine
I really don't know why I am so upset, but I am. Probably not as upset as all those Yahoo Search engineers who are out of a job or as upset as Jerry Yang but I am really upset.
Yahoo has been testing letting Bing power their search results then ramped it up last week. Then yesterday, officially flipped the switch in the U.S. and Canada. Yahoo no longer powers the underlying organic search results on Yahoo Search, it is now Bing who powers it.
Shashi Seth of Yahoo said, " I am proud to announce that the transition of organic search between Yahoo! and Microsoft is complete." Bing's Satya Nadella said, "Today I am happy to share that Bing is powering Yahoo!’s search results in the US and Canada." Yea, I am sure he is happy.The paid results are next and that will likely be done in the next month or so, in my opinion. We are still waiting to hear on Site Explorer, BOSS, Search Monkey dates for transition or future plans.
I am sad. Yahoo was powering their own results. They dropped Google, bought several search companies (AllTheWeb, AltaVista Inktomi +) and launched their own Yahoo Search. That is done, no more, gone!
To make things worse, they are embarrassed that Bing is powering them. Why? point font at the bottom of the page? Heck, with Google, they had a fancy Google logo on the bottom or top of the results.
I am just sad!
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld, DigitalPoint Forums.
Update: So Yahoo responded to this blog post, without linking to it, saying they will always be a search engine. I tweeted it and got this response back from an SEO that I found to be dead on:
.bbpBox22093206978 {background:url(http://a1.twimg.com/profile_background_images/4877276/back5.jpg) #339933;padding:20px;} p.bbpTweet{background:#fff;padding:10px 12px 10px 12px;margin:0;min-height:48px;color:#000;font-size:18px !important;line-height:22px;-moz-border-radius:5px;-webkit-border-radius:5px} p.bbpTweet span.metadata{display:block;width:100%;clear:both;margin-top:8px;padding-top:12px;height:40px;border-top:1px solid #fff;border-top:1px solid #e6e6e6} p.bbpTweet span.metadata span.author{line-height:19px} p.bbpTweet span.metadata span.author img{float:left;margin:0 7px 0 0px;width:38px;height:38px} p.bbpTweet a:hover{text-decoration:underline}p.bbpTweet span.timestamp{font-size:12px;display:block}
@rustybrick Funny - when Yahoo uses someone else's data, they're evolving. When I do it, I'm a thin affiliate.less than a minute ago via TweetDeckDr. Peter J. Meyers
dr_peteTwo more quotes, these from Danny Sullivan, who I am glad agrees with me:
.bbpBox22097768415 {background:url(http://a1.twimg.com/profile_background_images/1636162/flag-flickr.jpg) #9ae4e8;padding:20px;} p.bbpTweet{background:#fff;padding:10px 12px 10px 12px;margin:0;min-height:48px;color:#000;font-size:18px !important;line-height:22px;-moz-border-radius:5px;-webkit-border-radius:5px} p.bbpTweet span.metadata{display:block;width:100%;clear:both;margin-top:8px;padding-top:12px;height:40px;border-top:1px solid #fff;border-top:1px solid #e6e6e6} p.bbpTweet span.metadata span.author{line-height:19px} p.bbpTweet span.metadata span.author img{float:left;margin:0 7px 0 0px;width:38px;height:38px} p.bbpTweet a:hover{text-decoration:underline}p.bbpTweet span.timestamp{font-size:12px;display:block}
i'm among the "irresponsible" with "innuendo" that yahoo's not search engine. it's not. it offer search made by others [bit.ly]less than a minute ago via Seesmic twhirlDanny Sullivan
dannysullivan.bbpBox22097866969 {background:url(http://a1.twimg.com/profile_background_images/1636162/flag-flickr.jpg) #9ae4e8;padding:20px;} p.bbpTweet{background:#fff;padding:10px 12px 10px 12px;margin:0;min-height:48px;color:#000;font-size:18px !important;line-height:22px;-moz-border-radius:5px;-webkit-border-radius:5px} p.bbpTweet span.metadata{display:block;width:100%;clear:both;margin-top:8px;padding-top:12px;height:40px;border-top:1px solid #fff;border-top:1px solid #e6e6e6} p.bbpTweet span.metadata span.author{line-height:19px} p.bbpTweet span.metadata span.author img{float:left;margin:0 7px 0 0px;width:38px;height:38px} p.bbpTweet a:hover{text-decoration:underline}p.bbpTweet span.timestamp{font-size:12px;display:block}
at least i'm not the one who said yahoo was never a search company. that was yahoo CEO carol bartz [selnd.com]less than a minute ago via Seesmic twhirlDanny Sullivan
dannysullivan -
Setting The Preferred Domain In Google Webmaster Tools Won't Hurt You
Posted: August 25th, 2010, 3:44pm CEST by rustybrick
Tags: Google Optimization
A quick SEO myth buster post for you. You know how you can set the preferred domain in Google Webmaster Tools? Well, if you do that, you won't be deindexed, so don't worry.
A webmaster asked this question in a Google Webmaster Help thread and Google's JohnMu replied.
John said:
No, setting a preferred domain name does not result in a site being deindexed.
It is hard for Google to be more straightforward than that statement.
Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.
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Study: META Descriptions Very Important Search Results Click Through Rates
Posted: August 25th, 2010, 3:29pm CEST by rustybrick
Tags: Google Search Engine
Dynamical.biz translated a new eye tracking study done Spanish (PDF here) of how searchers look at the search results on a search results page.
Here is the break down of the study, but before you look at it, let me define a "fixation" in terms of eye tracking studies. As per Wikipedia, a Fixation online eye tracking refers to the test subject fixing on a particular portion of the page. It is used to determine which areas of a web page receive the most views. This is used to adjust where content resides on a web page to maximize its exposure.
The one thing that really stands out to many SEOs is the META description, or the search engine snippet. In all types of queries, the meta description is fixated over more and more time is spent looking at it. More than the big blue hyper link and more than the URL.
Above is an explanation of the various parts of a typical search result. I would think the primary influencer for a click on a search result would be the title, not the snippet. But I guess people actually read those snippets, which can be pulled from your META description tag or dynamically curated by Google.
Much more on the study at Dynamical.biz.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
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New Google Merchant Feed Error: "Duplicate Offers"
Posted: August 25th, 2010, 3:20pm CEST by rustybrick
Tags: Google Optimization
There is a new error message that has been officially introduced for Google Merchant Center merchants. The new error is known as "Duplicate offers" and shows up when Google thinks "there are duplicate items in your data feed that should be removed."
Google's Ronald from the Merchant Center team said in a Google Merchant Center Help thread:
As some of you may have already noticed, we've introduced a new error message called "Duplicate offers" in the data feed details page. This error message suggests that there are duplicate items in your data feed that should be removed. Please know that the Google Merchant Center program policies do not allow posting of duplicate items.
Some have indeed already noticed. You can just Google duplicate offers and restrict it to Google matches and you will see tons of complaints.
I assume Google has let the policy slide, but according to the policy:
Duplicate offers within the same account, or between separate accounts that you control, are not allowed.
Forum discussion at Google Merchant Center Help.
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Google Cache Screwy?
Posted: August 25th, 2010, 3:14pm CEST by rustybrick
Tags: Google Optimization
A HighRanking Forums thread has many senior (old timer) SEOs complaining about the Google Cache. Let me quote one of my favorite online SEO personalities, "OldWelshGuy":
Something is really wrong with the Google cache reporting or caching system. OK of late (last 6 months or more) there are times when you check a cache and there is no cache (or reason not to be cached), but that has been rare. Now it is all over the place, with many sites reporting cache reporting having stopped mysteriously at August 12th or just before.
Oddly though the reality and the reporting is different. e.g.
One site on a site search is reporting 3 pages (there are 4) one of the pages was renamed and no redirect put in place, but it is not showing on a site: search. here is the thing though. go to the page, check the cache using the toolbar, and there it is showing as cached. I thought this was unique, but it isn't.
His complaints don't go unheard. Jill Whalen the owner of HighRankings replied saying, "Yep. It's pretty crazy. You can't believe much of anything you see at Google anymore."
Moderator, Qwerty said:
I've noticed lately that the "cached" link on the SERP for a site: search isn't working. When the link ought to point to webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:domain.com/page.htm, it's inserting a string of gobbledegook to create a URL like webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:hV2MVz1GswkJ:domain.com/page.htm, which goes to a page saying the search didn't match any documents. Pull the "hV2MVz1GswkJ:" out of the URL, and there's the cached copy of the page.
Some suspect it is caffeine related, while others are not sure.
Have you noticed these issues?
Forum discussion at HighRanking Forums.
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Google Alerts Adds "Updates" Type Option
Posted: August 25th, 2010, 3:03pm CEST by rustybrick
Tags: Google Search Engine
Google Alerts has added an additional alert type to the bundle. The new type is named "updates" and likely gives you alerts when there are matches to Google's real time search index.
Here is a picture:
Google has been tweaking their Google Alerts system to make it more selective and more relevant recently. I wonder how adding "updates" to the mix might cause those relevancy tweaks to fall a bit, if at all?
I assume if you are subscribed to the "Everything" option, you will automatically start getting the new "updates" alerts.
Forum discussion at Google Blogoscoped Forums.