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  Daily Search Forum Recap: October 29, 2010

  Posted: October 29th, 2010, 11:00pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Forum Recap  

  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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  Video Recap of Weekly Search Buzz :: October 29, 2010

  Posted: October 29th, 2010, 9:50pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Buzz RoundUp  

  This may be the worse video recap I have ever done, so I apologize in advance - just really distracted while doing it. I first talked about the major indexing issue with Blogger and Blogspot new posts that Google fixed this week. Google has algorithms that define which algorithms should be used at different times on different sites. Google is updating or really buggy, I am not sure. Google added a real time counter to the search results, to show shared by. Google Places was added to Google web search. Google created a Chrome extension to make spam reporting easier. Google launched "boost" for businesses on Google Places but dropped the URL option for Tags. Yahoo's transition is complete, Microsoft gobbled them up well before Thanksgiving - good job! Google had an AdWords quality score reporting bug. Google had to change their AdWords policies in France. Microsoft adCenter may have an impressions reporting glitch. Facebook's Bing integration is now showing up on Bing.com for some. Google Maps is missing reviews again. What is this Google webmaster happiness metric I am hearing about. Finally, Google's Turkey logo is using the wrong flag. 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 Fixes Blogspot Indexing Issue: New Content Being Indexed
  • Google: Different Algorithms Can Apply To Different Sites At Different Times
  • Google Update or Bug: More Complaints Over Google's Search Results
  • Google Ranking Update or May Day Impacting More Sites?
  • Google Search Quality Improving Or Not?
  • Google's Realtime Counter & Shared By In Web Search Results
  • Google Pleases Local Optimizers & Upsets AdWords Optimizers With Place Search
  • Google Creates Chrome Extension To Report Search Spam
  • Google Pushing Business Owners in Places To Use AdWords Via "Boost"
  • Google Places Removes Website URL Tag Option
  • Gobble Gobble: Microsoft Bing/adCenter Swallows Yahoo Completely In US & Canada
  • Google Confirms Major AdWords Quality Score Reporting Bug
  • Google To Change AdWords Policies In France Only
  • Microsoft adCenter Reports Impressions Drop Bug?
  • Facebook Drop Down On Bing Search? Yep, It's Rolling Out
  • Google Maps Reviews Gone Missing Again!
  • What Is Google's "Webmaster Happiness Metric"
  • Google Shows Wrong Flag For Turkey Republic Day

  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 Update or Bug: More Complaints Over Google's Search Results

  Posted: October 29th, 2010, 4:03pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Google PageRankSERP Updates  

  I am not sure what to call it but it seems there are more and more complaints on the Google search results this week. Earlier this week, we reported on a May Day round two update and explained how May Day can be patient in it's attack of your site.

  That being said, there are two WebmasterWorld threads and a bunch of threads with complaints at Google Webmaster Help with complaints on:

  • Ranking changes
  • Content missing
  • URLs not showing properly
  • Snippets and titles not showing correctly
  • And more...

  I am not sure exactly what is going on, but these reports do seem credible. If you want, post examples for JohnMu of Google to review at the Google Webmaster Help thread.

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and Google Webmaster Help.

  
  

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  Microsoft adCenter Reports Impressions Drop Bug?

  Posted: October 29th, 2010, 3:55pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  MSN Microsoft adCenter  

  There are two threads on the topic of a possible bug with Microsoft adCenter. It seems like some advertisers are reporting seeing a major drop in the impression reports displayed for their search ads. A Microsoft Advertising Forum thread and a WebmasterWorld thread have reports from two advertisers.

  Here is one report:

  In the last few days several of our adcenter accounts have suddenly stopped generating spend. These are accounts with hundreds of adgroups and thousands of keywords. It's a sudden issue, but I suspect its somehow related to the migration. My reps have said they have other clients facing similar issues, but I can't find anything on the forums about it.

  My server logs show short bursts of traffic for maybe an hour in the early morning and then not a single impression the rest of the day. Bids are not the issue, as I've tested raising some bids to 400% of their current levels and the ads still aren't showing.

  In the Microsoft Advertising Forum thread, a Microsoft representative did reply telling the person to call in. The person did and was given information stating this is a bug, but the forum rep said it likely isn't a bug. Let me quote them.

  Just got off the phone with a support engineer - this is a known system-side bug impacting a subset of advertisers. Starting this week, and occurring "randomly and intermittently", some accounts had their Ad Distribution setting set to "Not set", basically pausing all ad groups and campaigns in the account. This can be seen in the Medium column on the Ads tab. Unfortunately manually setting ad distribution to Search Network or other does not fix the problem. No known estimate to fix this...sigh...

  Microsoft's forum representative replies:

  There may be another reason as to why you are not receiving impressions or clicks in your account. When the Ad Distribution dispalys "Not Set" it means the distribution has not been determined as search or content yet because you have not received impressons in the adgroup. The Ad distribution in no way causes your adsto not show, there will be an underlying reason as to why this is occuring.

  I understand our support team may have provided misguided information previously but I will have to recommend that you contact them again to have them look more in depth as to why your account is not performing.

  So who is right? Microsoft or Microsoft? Oh wait?!

  Of course this is a bigger issue now, cause Microsoft gobbled up Yahoo and now powers about 30% of the search ads in the US.

  Forum discussion at Microsoft Advertising Forum thread and a WebmasterWorld .

  
  

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  Google Maps Reviews Gone Missing Again!

  Posted: October 29th, 2010, 3:49pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Other Google Topics  

  There are dozens of reports from business owners complaining their reviews listing on their Google Place pages are missing, or many are. There are many threads with complaints, but I'll link you to one at Google Places Help.

  In that thread, Googler Stephan S. said:

  Thanks for bringing this issue to our attention and sorry for the slow response.

  We suffered a temporary indexing outage beginning of October that prevented us from correctly serving reviews for some listings. The reviews should now be restored. Very sorry for the trouble this has caused for some of you!

  Please let me know if you are experiencing further problems. If you are, please provide me with the following information to help us get to the bottom of the issue:
  * URL of the affected listing (you can find it by clicking on "Link" in the top right bar of your listing's Place Page)
  * are reviews missing from the "Reviews by Google users" or "Reviews from around the web" section
  * date reviews went missing
  * number of reviews missing

  The thing is, many are still missing reviews. Typically, if a review goes missing they'll come back, eventually. But maybe when Google divided the reviews it caused some additional issues?

  Forum discussion at Google Places Help.

  
  

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  Google To Change AdWords Policies In France Only

  Posted: October 29th, 2010, 3:42pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Google AdWords  

  Yesterday, the NY Times reported Google settled a case in France where Google would have to change some of their AdWords policies in France.

  In short, NavX sued Google for suspending their AdWords ads. It turned out that Google thought the product they sold was illegal, but it wasn't. So Google updated their policies for advertising for that product in France, plus agreed to give 3-month notice to some advertisers on some ads, in France-only, before canceling or suspending an ad or advertiser.

  When I covered the story yesterday, the article was a bit misleading. It made it sound like Google will be changing their policies globally, but I was unsure. The NavX lawyer said "this is a monumental event, because the French competition authority got Google to modify its contractual rules on a worldwide basis." But no, Google told me they are absolutely not changing their policies anywhere else but in France.

  Google told me:

  The FCA has said that software showing the location of speed cameras and radar detectors is legal in France, clarifying what was previously a gray area. We have revised our ads policy for these products, which has helped resolve the NavX complaint. At the same time, the FCA has recognized Google’s right to set clear content policies that guarantee ads are appropriate. In its decision to close this case, the FCA made no finding of dominance or monopoly abuse.

  This agreement and the commitments we have made are very narrow. They deal only with ads for traffic devices in France. Nothing else. That said, we are always looking for ways to improve our AdWords services for the benefit of users and advertisers.

  Sorry guys!

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

  
  

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  Google Shows Wrong Flag For Turkey Republic Day

  Posted: October 29th, 2010, 3:30pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Other Google Topics  

  If you visit Google Turkey today at google.com.tr you will see a special doodle / logo for their Republic Day. The only issue is it appears to be the wrong flag!

  Here is a picture of the special Turkey Republic Day logo from Google:

  Now here is the Turkey Flag:

  Notice the red background with white inside, versus what Google has as a white background with red inside.

  It appears that the reverse is the flag for Northern Cyprus. Here is their flag:

  There was one complaint, that I've seen, at the Google Web Search Help forum where the poster said:

  Doodle for Turkey today (29.10.2010) is at wrong colors. The flag you put on doodle is Northern Cyprus's flag.

  This isn't the first time Google mixed up flags for special country specific doodles. They mixed up the Hungary Doodle this past year. They also had typos in India and posted logos a month early.

  Don't you love it when Google messes up? I am just kidding - they are allowed.

  Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help and Google Blogoscoped Forums.

  
  

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  Facebook Drop Down On Bing Search? Yep, It's Rolling Out

  Posted: October 29th, 2010, 3:10pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Microsoft MSN Search  

  A couple weeks ago, Bing partnered with Facebook to add a more social experience to the Bing search results. I covered the details of what is coming over here. Now, it seems to be rolling out slowly to Bing users.

  If you are logged into Facebook and go to Bing.com and search for something, you may see a drop down on the right top corner stating:

  Hi NAME, Bing just got better with your Facebook friends.

  Here is a picture:

  Yes, Facebook knows you are searching on Bing and Bing allows them to know. Again, you need to be logged into Facebook for this to work. And you can always disable it. Just click on disable or use this link to block the Bing App.

  There are some people now seeing this live on Bing.com. I personally do not, but Jerry at the Search Engine Watch Forums said he now sees it. But he was a beat freaked out, I guess he didn't hear the announcement.

  Jerry said, "How in the world did Bing get the right to snap up my profile and use it on their website?"

  Anyway, it is here, do you see it?

  For more on what it does to have Facebook with Bing, see DiscoverBing.com.

  Forum discussion Search Engine Watch Forums.