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: September 3, 2010
Posted: September 3rd, 2010, 11:00pm CEST by rustybrick
Tags: Search Forum Recap
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Video Recap of Weekly Search Buzz :: September 3, 2010
Posted: September 3rd, 2010, 10:35pm CEST by rustybrick
Tags: Search Buzz RoundUp
This week's video is a bit longer than most, but that is okay, next week there won't be a video recap. Bing seemed to update their search ranking algorithm this week. Google may have tweaked their MayDay algorithm? Google added better rich snippet error reporting and is now allowing markup for the breadcrumb URLs. Is MSNBot cloaking again? Google says using Google Translate to auto-translate your content is spam. Google added a new way to find subject specific blogs, it works well. Google continues to rank legally seized web sites. Yahoo began the paid search migration to Microsoft adCenter this week. Sending $65,000 on a web site should mean Google will like the site. How does Google rank which point of interest labels make it on Google Maps? Sphinn dropped voting, is that the end of the community? Inc magazine said Google cost a web site owner four-million dollars, but in reality, it was a link broker. SEO is more than what you read on blogs and forums, just know that. 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:
- Bing Web Search Update?
- Possible Google MayDay Algorithm Tweak?
- Google Adds Better Error Reporting For Rich Snippets & Breadcrumb Markups
- Microsoft Cloaking MSNBots Again?
- Google Says Using Google Translate Can Be Against Google's Webmaster Guidelines
- Google Adds Blog Filter To Help Find Blogs On Subjects
- Google Slow To Remove Legally Seized Sites?
- The Big Paid Search Merge Begins: Yahoo to Microsoft adCenter
- Just Cause You Spend $65k On A Site Does Mean Google Should Like Your Affiliate Site
- How Does Google Maps Decide To Show Labels (Points of Interest)?
- Sphinn Drops Voting & SEO Community Revolts
- Google Cost A Business $4 Million or Was It a Link Curator?
- SEO Is Deeper Than What You Read
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 Buckyball Logo / Doodle
Posted: September 3rd, 2010, 5:45pm CEST by rustybrick
Tags: Other Google Topics
If you visit Google New Zealand today, you will see a special animated logo. The logo is a buckyball or fullerence. A fullerene is any molecule composed entirely of carbon, in the form of a hollow sphere, ellipsoid, or tube.
It might show up on other Google properties as the clock strikes midnight there. But right now, it seems to be live only New Zealand and Australia, where it is already Saturday.
The logo is unique for a Google logo in that you can twist and turn the ball with your mouse. Here is a video:
Give it a try on Google New Zealand or tomorrow for many places.
Forum discussion at Google Blogoscoped Forums.
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Google Slow To Remove Legally Seized Sites?
Posted: September 3rd, 2010, 3:48pm CEST by rustybrick
Tags: Google Optimization
Have you ever stumbled upon a web site that was legally seized by the U.S. government? Sometimes, not always, they contain an image on the site that looks like this:
Some folks at WebmasterWorld are saying that Google has been ranking these web sites for their original search terms, the search terms they ranked for prior to the take over, months after they have been seized.
The first complaint read:
Great that piracy is being cracked down on, but what I don't understand is why do Google still return the URLs within the SERPs, even though there isn't any content on any page. So no internal links, no copy, no headers, high bounce rate - but yet I have lots of examples of 'seized' websites returning high up in SERPs - which leads to the main issue - external links.
Personally, I think I have seen it come up once in my search history. Robert Charlton from WebmasterWorld said, "I've seen sites with content taken down rank for a fair amount of time afterwards, at least in situations where there's at least a place holder page online and there are residual links pointing to the page."
Maybe the issue with these take down notices is that the server response is often not set to a 404 page not found? But technically, the page is found, just was taken over by the U.S. government.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
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Microsoft Cloaking MSNBots Again?
Posted: September 3rd, 2010, 3:39pm CEST by rustybrick
Tags: Microsoft MSN Search
A WebmasterWorld thread has webmasters complaining that Microsoft is cloaking their MSNBots again, soon to be named BingBot.
It has been going on recently since early August and continues throughout today.
Microsoft has had issues with cloaking their bots in the past and fixed them. Is it possible they are breaking into bad habits once again?
One senior member at WebmasterWorld said:
Currently, straight out of my logs...
65.52.33.73 - - [05/Aug/2010:15:45:09 -0700] "GET /dir/filename.html HTTP/1.1" 403 1468 "-" "-"
No UA, no robots.txt, no REF, no nothing. Not once. Not twice. Not even three times. Try eleven.
After about a month, one member said:
I cannot believe the lack of response to this thread.
Microsoft bot IP is compromised and being used by non-bot UAs, possibly even has been hacked, and NO response. Amazing.
So how about it Microsoft? What is the answer?
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
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Google Adds Better Error Reporting For Rich Snippets & Breadcrumb Markups
Posted: September 3rd, 2010, 3:18pm CEST by rustybrick
Tags: Google Optimization
Google announced two new webmaster features. The first is related to rich snippets testing tool and the second is related to the breadcrumb URLs in Google.
Google said they have made the rich snippets testing tool error reporting more robust. Many webmasters can't figure out why Google isn't showing rich snippets on for their sites. Sometimes their is a coding error which is hard to test since the tool was limited and sometimes Google simply doesn't want to show it. If it is the coding error, then Google wants you to fix it and has "added new error messages to the rich snippets testing tool to help you better identify and fix any problems with the markup." Give it a try.
Some people like the breadcrumb URLs in Google and some don't. If you do and want to encourage Google to show breadcrumbs you can use the new rich snippets breadcrumbs feature. For more information on how to use it, click here.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
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How Do You Cancel Google Place $25 Tags?
Posted: September 3rd, 2010, 3:06pm CEST by rustybrick
Tags: Other Google Topics
Google has been pushing the local maps Google Place tags. They have been giving them away for free for a month, but requiring users to enter their billing information and cancel within 30 days to not be charged.
The thing is, there are many business confused on how to cancel. I spotted several threads at Google Places Help, but I'll link to one, with people complaining they can't figure out how to cancel the ads and stop Google from charging them the $25 per month.
Again, to get the free Google Place tags trial you must enter in your billing information. I have screen shots on that process here and here. But during that process, Google does describe "Your credit card will be charged at the end of every month. The charge for this Tag is $25 per month. You can deactivate your Tag at any time from your dashboard. If you deactivate, you will be charged a prorated amount for the month. You can also reactivate at any time."
How do you deactivate your tag? Google says:
If you decide to stop running your tag for any reason, you can do so by viewing your tag in your Google Places account and clicking “Deactivate Tag”. We'll charge you a prorated amount for the portion of the month that the tag was running.
Google has not yet replied to any of the concerns in the Google Places Help thread.
Forum discussion at Google Places Help.
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Just Cause You Spend $65k On A Site Does Mean Google Should Like Your Affiliate Site
Posted: September 3rd, 2010, 2:52pm CEST by rustybrick
Tags: Google Optimization
Yesterday I tweeted, "Just cause you spend 65k on a web site, doesn't mean Google will like it" and referenced a Google Webmaster Help thread.
Well, I was wrong! Well, not 100% wrong. People agreed with me, in fact, it garnered a lot of retweets and responses on Twitter. 99.99% were all into what I wrote. But I am not.
If you spend $65,000 on a web site, the web site should rank well. I am so tired of web developers building expensive sites and not making them structurally sound for search engines. It isn't that hard, it is easy, it is often really good for the user experience also. So take an SEO course, read a book and code the site so that they are accessible for search engines.
But let me explain another reason why I was wrong. As you can see from the Google Webmaster Help, it has three responses from JohnMu, a Googler who can make a difference. The majority of the threads in that forum don't get a reply from a Googler. This one has three. Now to be fair, John replies to dozens and dozens of threads each day, but it is not physically possible for him to reply to everything, but this one caught his eye. Kind of like when the advertiser threatened to commit suicide if an AdWords representative didn't get back to him - FYI, it worked.
Not only is the 65k site getting detailed responses from Google, it is also getting it's penalty reversed. John said, "'ve heard that based on your recent reconsideration requests, some of the reviewers have taken a look at this thread in order to get a better picture of your site. Considering the information you've provided, the feedback you've gotten from others here and the direction your site appears to be taking, I imagine that they now have a better feeling for your site." It appears to me, whatever penalty was associated with the site will be reversed.
One more thing... John said, "I would recommend restoring your affiliate links." Yea, Google doesn't hate affiliate sites, as many would think. John explained:
No, Google does not have a problem with affiliate links. It's fine to monetize your website like that. The links are not what our algorithms worry about -- it's above all, the content. Many affiliate based sites only reuse the content from the vendors, and that's a problem for us. If you website has the content & structure to keep users coming back and to entice them to refer their friends to your website (and not to the vendor directly), then that's exactly what we want to show users in our search results. I can't judge your old website, I don't know how it was, but I can see how our algorithms might be worried about your site as it is now.
I could have written three or four different posts on this thread, I like these types of threads. ;-)
Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.