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Dress Up Your Profile Pic For Halloween Using Google Creative Kit

Fetched: October 29th, 2011, 6:08am CEST by Barry Schwartz

Tags:  SEO SEM Forum News  

Halloween is coming up this Monday and a Google Webmaster Help thread has Googlers and frequent forum users dressing up their profile pics for the holiday.

John Mueller from Google started off the thread by updating his profile picture, as displayed above, and posting this message:

Halloween is just around the corner, time to dress you your user photo :-)

Check out the fun & easy tweaks possible with the Google+ photos creative kit.

Who can dress up best? What's your favorite effect?

Enjoy

Here is a video on how the Google + photos creative kit works:

I am looking forward to the special Halloween logos this year. You can see the 2010 halloween logos and the previous years over here.

Happy Halloween.

Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.

Yahoo Up For Sale Again? Google Potential Buyer?

Fetched: October 25th, 2011, 3:08pm CEST by Barry Schwartz

Tags:  Yahoo News  

According to the Wall Street Journal, Google is potentially interested in helping private equity firms buy a stake or all of Yahoo. The article says:

Google and prospective partners have held early-stage discussions but haven't put together a formal proposal and Google may end up not pursuing a bid, this person said. It is unclear which private-equity firms Google has talked to.

But at the same time, there are rumors of Microsoft also looking to buy Yahoo. Yes, these are the same types of rumors we had years ago, prior to Carol Bartz giving Yahoo away to Microsoft. But now, things may be different.

Yahoo's co-founder is also saying that Yahoo is not for sale - a lot of these rumors may be true or may be just out there to generate interest in larger bids for Yahoo.

Greg Sterling's take is that Yahoo is a pawn in all of this:

Any deal involving Google will be subject to close federal review. However thatâs less likely with Microsoft in the scenario described above. Regardless of who winds of owning Yahoo, it will take vision and inspired leadership (not merely competent management) to reverse the long, slow decline that has taken hold at the company.

No one really can see Google being allowed to buy Yahoo but let's see what happens.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

comScore: Google With 65% + Search Market Share

Fetched: October 19th, 2011, 1:14pm CEST by Barry Schwartz

Tags:  Google News Finances  

Last week, comScore announced the September marketshare report for search engines.

The results were pretty good for Google, increasing 0.5% share month over month to 65.3%. Yahoo dropped 0.8% month over month to 15.5%. Microsoft remained flat with 14.7% and then Ask.com with 3.0% and AOL with 1.5% share.

That with very good Google earnings makes for a very good few months for Google.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

9.2% Of You Lost Your Jobs Due To Google's Panda Update

Fetched: October 15th, 2011, 9:37pm CEST by Barry Schwartz

Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

The unemployment rate as released on October 7th is at 9.1%, pretty high for U.S. standards. How does that relate to the SEO industry? Well, it doesn't but it is unusually close to the 9.2% of you who claimed you lost your job because of the Google Panda Update.

We ran a poll a couple weeks ago asking Did You Lose Your Job Because Of Google Panda? and we had 250 responses since then.

Most of you said, no you are doing fine. But 9.2% of you said you lost your job directly related to the Panda update. That is 23 people who said they lost their jobs.

Not only that, 6.8% said they had to lay off people because of the Panda update. So while 23 people responded they lost their jobs, at least another 17 people lost their jobs or more. Layoffs typically mean multiple people.

A shocking 25% of you are "afraid" you may lose your job or may have to layoff people because of the Panda update. That means, business is not good, traffic is down or your SEO client is blaming you for their downgrade in rankings.

Here is the distribution of answers to my poll:

Some of the comments we received within the poll include:

• Facing serious challenges with clients!!!
• Major Lost Revenue
• have had to go and find extra work to make up for lost income
• Lost clients
• Got a job doing SEO because they got hit

For more on this topic, see our Google Panda topic.

Forum discussion continued at Google Webmaster Help.

Image from Lasse Kristensen/Shutterstock.

Note: This story was written earlier this week and scheduled to be published today.

Most SEOs Report Hacked Sites To Google

Fetched: October 13th, 2011, 11:54pm CEST by Barry Schwartz

Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

A few months ago we polled our readers asking Do You Report Malware In Search Results To Google?

The results are in with 70% of those who replied saying they would report hacked or malicious results to Google.

However, a large 15% said they would not. I am a bit surprised anyone wouldn't want to report malicious or hacked stuff to Google, if it could protect others from being infected with a virus. But those are the numbers.

Another 10% or so said they are not sure.

Forum discussion continued at Sphinn.

Note: This story was written earlier this week and scheduled to be published today.

Only 7% Of SEOs Don't Provide Ranking Reports

Fetched: October 1st, 2011, 3:59am CEST by Barry Schwartz

Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

We polled our readers, mostly SEOs, asking Do You Provide SEO Ranking Reports?

The answer is overwhelming yes. We had just under 250 responses and here is the break down:

• 66% always provide ranking reports to clients
• 25% provide only upon request
• 7% never provide ranking reports

Do these results surprise you at all?

Forum discussion at Sphinn.

Note: This story was written earlier this week and scheduled to be published today.

Hitwise: Bing Share Increases 3%, Google Down A Percent

Fetched: September 12th, 2011, 3:26pm CEST by Barry Schwartz

Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

Hitwise reports Google's share declined from month to month while Bing's share increased.

Bing powered search results increased by 3%, specifically Bing.com search results saw a growth of 1% and Yahoo saw an increase of 5% (which is powered by Bing). Google.com search saw a decline of about 1% from month to month.

Google still leads with about 65%, while Bing has 29% share.

Also, people are searching longer and deeper. They are using more words in the search results to find the search results. Here is a chart:

A WebmasterWorld thread has supporters of Bing cheering them on. At the same time, some do not believe the numbers at all, at least by looking at their network of traffic and who sends them the most visits.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google News Archive Link Goes Missing In IE7

Fetched: August 31st, 2011, 3:44pm CEST by Barry Schwartz

Tags:  Google News Finances  

Google recently dropped the News Archive home page leaving people searching for old news with the only option of using a link on the left side of Google News named "archive."

Now, that news archive link is not even available for some users.

A Google News Help thread has confirmed reports from Google saying there is a bug with Internet Explorer 7 users who are not able to see the link.

Harvey from Google News said:

Thanks again for providing more information. Our engineers have confirmed that the latest changes to News Archive is incompatible with IE7. We're working to correct this issue, but in the you may want to switch to a different browser while this gets resolved.

Solution: Switch browsers? :)

The bug was reported back on August 20th.

Forum discussion at Google News Help.

Google Settles With DOJ: Paying $500 Million For Illegal Drug Ads

Fetched: August 28th, 2011, 5:59am CEST by Barry Schwartz

Tags:  Google News Finances  

This comes with no surprise but yesterday the Department of Justice released a statement declaring Google is forfeiting "$500 million for allowing online Canadian pharmacies to place advertisements through its AdWords program targeting consumers in the United States, resulting in the unlawful importation of controlled and non-controlled prescription drugs into the United States."

Google told Search Engine Land that they removed the ads a while ago but in hindsight should have never allowed such ads to run. Google said:

We banned the advertising of prescription drugs in the U.S. by Canadian pharmacies some time ago. However, it's obvious with hindsight that we shouldn't have allowed these ads on Google in the first place. Given the extensive coverage this settlement has already received, we wonât be commenting further.

You can read the full announcement for the DOJ over here.

A WebmasterWorld thread has some members thinking the settlement isn't exactly fair. One said:

The forfeiture includes the price of the ads, but also the revenue earned by the pharmacies themselves. Instead of slapping the pharmacies themselves, Google was punished severely for being the "enabler".

That makes Google responsible for the activity of its advertisers. Feels like there's some justice missing there.

Anyway, this was the agreed settlement and it seems to be done now.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and Cre8asite Forums.

Motorola To Be Acquired By Google (Android)

Fetched: August 17th, 2011, 10:15am CEST by Barry Schwartz

Tags:  Google News Finances  

Google announced they are putting in a bid to acquire Motorola Mobility.

The shocker is how much they paid, "for $40.00 per share in cash, or a total of about $12.5 billion, a premium of 63% to the closing price of Motorola Mobility shares on Friday, August 12, 2011." A 63% premium!

Google clearly bought Motorola for their patents, because Apple and Windows are really going after them. Google wrote, "Our acquisition of Motorola will increase competition by strengthening Googleâs patent portfolio, which will enable us to better protect Android from anti-competitive threats from Microsoft, Apple and other companies."

Anyway, there is a lot of questions and speculation of what this means for the Android business. Google's dominance in mobile and of course, Motorola's future.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld, DigitalPoint Forums and Google Blogoscoped Forums.

Reports: Google Drops In Marketshare In July 2011

Fetched: August 12th, 2011, 6:37pm CEST by Barry Schwartz

Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

Both comScore and Hitwise have reported that Google has seen a drop in marketshare in July 2011 compared to the previous month.

Here are their charts:

The drop is not significant that much, but the site that gained the most in marketshare was Yahoo Search.

Why? I am not sure. Any ideas?

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google Is A Money Machine: "Record Breaking" Revenues

Fetched: July 17th, 2011, 12:08pm CEST by Barry Schwartz

Tags:  Google News Finances  

So Google announced earnings last night and they were way better than expected. âWe had a great quarter, with revenue up 32% year on year for a record breaking over $9 billion of revenue,â said Larry Page, CEO of Google. âI'm super excited about the amazing response to Google+ which lets you share just like in real life.â

Just read some of the headlines at Techmeme on the earnings:

• Larry Page On Google+: Over 10 Million Users, 1 Billion Items Being Shared Per Day
• Google Back On Track In Q2, Beats The Street With Over $9 Billion In Revenue
• Larry Page Sounded Like A True CEO Today
• Google CEO Page On Toothbrushes, Google+, Competitors, Surprises
• Google Kills The Quarter: $9 Billion In Revenue

SVW has an interesting observation about publisher earnings spikes. Not sure what to make of it yet.

Anyway, it is crazy how well Google does, just crazy.

Forum discussion at Google Blogoscoped Forums.

Scoble Tells SEO Industry He Was Wrong

Fetched: July 14th, 2011, 6:30am CEST by Barry Schwartz

Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

Before I even start this article, let me be clear that I know this is as much as a link bait from Scoble as for the reason he is sorry - but it is important to document on a site that covers the SEO industry and news around it.

Robert Scoble, one of the more famous bloggers and social personalities on the Internet, has made a public apology to the SEO industry. He apologized for bashing the SEO industry on how they manipulate Google and also Google. You can read about his claims back in 2007 over at SEOmoz. Today, Scoble says he was wrong.

Scoble explained:

I showed an example where SEO techniques had put stuff into Google searches that just wasn't very good and compared that to where Mahalo had done a better job.

Anyway, it's 2011 now and itâs clear that the Google way of doing things is still better for most people. Itâs instructive to go back and see where I went wrong.

The funny part to me is one of the reasons he bashed the SEO industry was for the "link bait". He even admitted it, "I went for cheap SEO tricks. Truth is, if you bash the SEO world they will all link to you, argue with you, etc. (Bloggers even have a name for this: âlink baitâ)."

But if you think about it, apologizing to the SEO industry is also a cheap SEO trick and gets you lots of links - maybe not as many as apologizing, but still plenty of links.

As a side note, Robert Scoble is a good person. He probably doesn't remember it, but I emailed him out of the blue asking for advice on a Israeli Consulate backed Blogger trip that he went on the year before. He spent a nice amount of time talking to me over the phone about the pros and cons of the trip and what I should look out for. Rare to see someone with such a busy schedule take time out of their day to help a single person, they typically like helping the masses with their time - which totally makes sense.

Forum discussion at Sphinn.

Dilbert Features The Darker Side Of SEO

Fetched: June 25th, 2011, 7:02pm CEST by Barry Schwartz

Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

With all the mainstream news press of JC Penney, Overstock and Forbes using paid links and some darker methods of boosting their rankings in Google - Dilbert has decided to feature some best practice lessons in their past two cartoons.

Dilbert featured two cartoons on SEO & Google.

Yesterday there was a Dilbert on Black Hat SEO which read:

âI want you to use âblack hatâ methods to raise our websiteâs ranking on search engines.â

âWhat do you like best about that ideas â" the fact that itâs unethical or the near certainty of getting caught?â

âThatâs sort of a loserish thing to say.â

âTalking doesnât work for people like me.â

And today there was a Dilbert on paid links which read:

Employee: âGoogle found out that we use fake links to boost our search rank.â

Employee: âNow our website only shows up when someone enters the search string âdung for brains.â"

Boss: âThey wonât get away with this!â

Computer [aka Google]: âShut your pie hole.â

Good times for the SEO industry!

I believe the first person to notice these cartoons was Googler @pedrodias.

Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.

Google To Be Probed By FTC

Fetched: June 25th, 2011, 7:02pm CEST by Barry Schwartz

Tags:  Google News Finances  

So much for Google giving Obama special treatment or backing his campaigns - the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is expected to move forward in a detailed anti-trust investigation on Google's business practices.

The Wall Street Journal reports:

Federal regulators are poised to hit Google Inc. with subpoenas, launching a broad, formal investigation into whether the Internet giant has abused its dominance in Web-search advertising, people familiar with the matter said.

The people familiar with the matter said issues in the FTC probe are expected to include whether Google searches unfairly steer users to the company's own growing network of services at the expense of rival providers. Some companies complain about the way that Google ranks its own services in its "natural" search results, or the amount it charges them for placing ads, claiming its market power gives it the ability to determine whether businesses succeed or fail.

Google is not new to smaller antri-trust probes and talking to the US government but this seems to be something that Google has never met before - at least at this scale. It makes Google look Microsoft-like, which is very upsetting to many Googlers, in my opinion.

That being said, there is a lot of opinion on this topic from smarter people than I. Check it out at Techmeme.

Personally, I think it is a waste of tax dollars - but heck, what do I know?

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld & Google Blogoscoped Forums.

Search Market Share Reports Jive With Your Analytics? Probably Not

Fetched: June 19th, 2011, 9:24am CEST by Barry Schwartz

Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

comScore, Hitwise and other reporting agencies share market share of various online properties including Google's market share versus Bing or Yahoo and other search engines.

The interesting thing is that often, as a webmaster, you look at your site's analytics and the market share reports do not match up with reality.

For example, comScore reported that Google has 65% market share, then Yahoo has 16% and Bing has 14% or so.

But I dare you to go to your Analytics software, look at your traffic sources by organic or paid search referrals and see if Google doesn't have 80% plus in terms of your traffic - assuming you are not penalized by Google.

For me, Google is 90% of this site's traffic, Bing and Yahoo together add up to only under 5% of the traffic. On some of my other sites, Google is over 95% of the source traffic! In almost all cases Google is over 80%, in the 50 or so web sites I track - there are some outliers.

How about you - share your stats in the comments below.

Forum discussion at Cre8asite Forums.

Google Acquires AdMeld For $400 Million

Fetched: June 14th, 2011, 12:11pm CEST by Barry Schwartz

Tags:  Google News Finances  

Last week news broke that Google has acquired an advertising optimization platform for publishers named AdMeld for $400 million.

They basically created sophisticated software to help publishers identify and sign the best advertisers for their web sites.

Here is a cute video from AdMeld on how it works:

An Introduction to Admeld from Admeld on Vimeo.

Webmasters are trying to figure out why Google would spend so much on a company like this. A WebmasterWorld thread considers the talent of the company or maybe the technology something more valuable than what most of us see.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Update: Google officially announced the deal on their blog a couple hours after posting this. Google said:

By combining Admeldâs services, expertise and technology with Googleâs offerings, weâre investing in what we hope will be an improved era of flexible ad management tools for major publishers. Together with Admeld, we hope to make display advertising simpler, more efficient and more valuable, provide improved support and services, and enable publishers to make more informed decisions across all their ad space. These are all things our publisher partners have been asking us to further invest in. Of course, Admeld will continue to support other ad networks, demand side platforms, exchanges and ad servers, to yield the best possible results for publishers.

Emily Chang

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  Ideacodes and ccLoop

  Posted: May 27th, 2011, 4:49am CEST by Emily Chang

  Tags:  News  

  Ideacodes has been working with ccLoop, one of five startup finalists in TechCrunch Disrupt, on all aspects of design for their beta product and public site. ccLoop is a versatile and new take on smart mailing lists. It’s easy to create, search and share loops using email as well as having all content instantly archived and organized on the loop’s website. We’re delighted to be working with serial entrepreneur Michael Wolfe and his talented team. Signup for a beta invite to see what it’s all about.

Search Engine Roundtable

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  Facebook Outed As Bankroller For Google's Smear Campaign

  Fetched: May 16th, 2011, 3:34am CEST by Barry Schwartz

  Tags:  Google News Finances  

  The Daily Beast uncovered that it was Facebook, not Microsoft, as the company behind much of the recent smear campaigns against Google's brand and image.

  Supposedly, Facebook hired a PR company to investigate how Google was utilizing their data in Google's Social Search and other social initiatives. The Daily Beast said they also initiated a campaign to make Google look bad in the way they are doing so.

  Danny Sullivan wrote up an outstanding post on Examining Facebook's "Smear Campaign" Concerns About Google Social Circles. In short, he found that Google was doing nothing wrong and later found how Facebook enabled Google to index this content.

  Danny concluded:

  In the end, it's really kind of a stunning counterplay by Facebook. Facebook has encouraged its users to share information with "everyone" and actively published that information out onto the open internet. But because Google doesn't want to play by Facebook's rules to harvest this publicly published information, Facebook seems to want to cry foul.

  If Facebook were really concerned about this, at the very least, it would close down all the public search pages that it published into Google. But that's not going to happen, because that's too much in Facebook's interest.

  Steven Levy, well known author, added that not only does Facebook look really bad here, but this whole thing exposed Facebook's own privacy issues.

  This all just looks bad - and here, in my opinion, this leaves a huge black eye on Facebook. Google came out a huge winner here.

  Forum discussion at Sphinn and WebmasterWorld.

  
  

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  Google News More Personalized For You

  Fetched: April 24th, 2011, 10:27am CEST by Barry Schwartz

  Tags:  Google News Finances  

  Google News announced that the home page is now more personalized for those who are logged in to Google while using it.

  Google added two new sections, one named "News for You" and the other a side widget named "Recommended Sections."

  The "News For You" include stories based on your news-related web history. Basically, Google knows what you search for and click on, and it will tailor the content within that section for news that you tend to click on more. The "Recommended Sections" on the right hand column is similar in functionality but placed on the side bar.

  Here are pictures:

  Note, this is only available to English-language U.S. edition of Google News only.

  Forum discussion at Google News Help.

  
  

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  Yahoo's Poor Earnings Blamed On Microsoft Ad Deal

  Fetched: April 24th, 2011, 10:27am CEST by Barry Schwartz

  Tags:  Yahoo News  

  Yahoo announced their earnings Tuesday night and it was not pretty, especially on the search side. Search revenue was $357 million, a 19 percent decrease compared to $440 million for the first quarter of 2010.

  Carol Bartz threw Microsoft, their search ad partner (the ones Yahoo sold out to and gave up on search for), under the bus.

  Yahoo's CEO, Bartz said:

  "adCenter isn't yet producing the RPS we hoped for and are confident as possible. Advertisers are seeing strong ROI (return on investment), but technical limitations in the current adCenter platform mean the click volumes just isn't there yet. We had expected RPS to be neutral by midyear, it's now evident that it will take Microsoft longer to achieve that goal. We expect that to happen by year-end. In the meantime, the RPS guaranty helps protect our revenue and our view of the long-term potential of the marketplace remains unchanged.

  "We are working very close with Microsoft on this. They understand the issues and they're hard at work on systems architecture, science models and better features and functions in adCenter. They have an aggressive roadmap to bring those to the marketplace."

  Danny covered this well under his story named The Yahoo Search Revenue Disaster. A picture tells the story well:

  Anyway, it is just Yahoo's sad story that continues on and on.

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

  
  

• 

  How Much SEOs Spend On Education & Learning

  Fetched: April 19th, 2011, 10:43pm CEST by Barry Schwartz

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  how much they spend on SEO education. With over 200 responses, I wanted to share those results with you now.

  The results are literally all over the place. Many spend well over $2,500 annually while many also won't spend a dime on education.

  Here is the break down:

  • 25% Spend $2,500 or More
  • 24% Spend $250 - $999
  • 23% Spend $1 - $249
  • 14% Spend $1,000 - $2,499
  • 13% Spend Nothing

  I am not surprised by these results, in all honesty, I had no idea what to expect.

  Forum discussion continued at Search Engine Watch Forums.

  This post was written earlier and scheduled to be posted today.

  
  

• 

  Survey: Bing, Facebook & Google All Google Threats

  Fetched: April 19th, 2011, 10:43pm CEST by Barry Schwartz

  Tags:  Google News Finances  

  Several months ago we ran a poll asking you who you felt were Google's biggest threats. Since I am offline today, I wanted to schedule a post with the results of this poll.

  The results are obviously skewed to the readers here who are mostly technical in nature, but it makes the results interesting.

  We had about 250 responses and the majority said that Bing, Facebook and Google themselves are Google's biggest threats.

  Here is the break down of the results. Google's biggest threats are:

  • Bing - 32%
  • Facebook - 32%
  • Google (Themselves) - 23.48%
  • Other answer... - 6%
  • Apple - 5%
  • Yahoo - 1.21%

  The other answers included government, Baidu, Blekko, ex-Googlers, and some comical ones.

  Forum discussion continued at WebmasterWorld.

  This post was written earlier and scheduled to be posted today.

  
  

• 

  Google: Revenue, Clicks, CPC, AdSense All Up; GOOG Stock Down

  Fetched: April 16th, 2011, 3:51am CEST by Barry Schwartz

  Tags:  Google News Finances  

  Last night Google announced their QA earnings and this was the first time they do so with Larry Page as CEO. The results were not that bad at all, any company would be thrilled to reporting these types of earnings, but in terms of Google - they did not shine and glow after the earnings report.

  Revenue was up overall, AdSense income up, clicks on paid ads were up, cost per click was up, but expenses were up significantly too.

  Here are som key highlights:

  • Revenues - Google reported revenues of $8.44 billion in the fourth quarter of 2010, representing a 26% increase over fourth quarter 2009 revenues of $6.67 billion. Google reports its revenues, consistent with GAAP, on a gross basis without deducting TAC.
  • Google Sites Revenues - Google-owned sites generated revenues of $5.67 billion, or 67% of total revenues, in the fourth quarter of 2010. This represents a 28% increase over fourth quarter 2009 revenues of $4.42 billion.
  • Google Network Revenues - Google's partner sites generated revenues, through AdSense programs, of $2.50 billion, or 30% of total revenues, in the fourth quarter of 2010. This represents a 22% increase from fourth quarter 2009 network revenues of $2.04 billion.
  • Paid Clicks - Aggregate paid clicks, which include clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of our AdSense partners, increased approximately 18% over the fourth quarter of 2009 and increased approximately 11% over the third quarter of 2010.
  • Cost-Per-Click - Average cost-per-click, which includes clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of our AdSense partners, increased approximately 5% over the fourth quarter of 2009 and increased approximately 4% over the third quarter of 2010.
  • Operating Expenses - Operating expenses, other than cost of revenues, were $2.51 billion in the fourth quarter of 2010, or 30% of revenues, compared to $1.78 billion in the fourth quarter of 2009, or 27% of revenues.
  • Net Income - GAAP net income in the fourth quarter of 2010 was $2.54 billion, compared to $1.97 billion in the fourth quarter of 2009. Non-GAAP net income was $2.85 billion in the fourth quarter of 2010, compared to $2.19 billion in the fourth quarter of 2009. GAAP EPS in the fourth quarter of 2010 was $7.81 on 326 million diluted shares outstanding, compared to $6.13 in the fourth quarter of 2009 on 322 million diluted shares outstanding. Non-GAAP EPS in the fourth quarter of 2010 was $8.75, compared to $6.79 in the fourth quarter of 2009.
  • Cash - As of December 31, 2010, cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities were $35.0 billion.
  • Headcount - On a worldwide basis, Google employed 24,400 full-time employees as of December 31, 2010, up from 23,331 full-time employees as of September 30, 2010.

  Google's stock is about the only thing down now....

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

  
  

• 

  Poll: SEO Certification & Standards Needed?

  Fetched: April 11th, 2011, 9:03pm CEST by Barry Schwartz

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  Sphinn has an excellent discussion taking place on if the SEO industry needs certifications and standards.

  To be honest, there are various certification programs out there. None of them are backed by a centralized non-profit agency such as SEMPO. There is SEO training with certifications led by SEO companies and SEO conferences but not a accredited SEO certification from an organization that represents the SEO industry.

  At the same time, there are no real standards for the industry as well. There are best practices, mostly laid out by Google but no standards to say what is allowed or not allowed.

  The question is do we need them for our industry? Some may say we do and some may simply not want it for good reasons.

  Here are two polls asking if we should have SEO certification and SEO standards. They are two different questions and thus require two different polls:

  Do We Need SEO Certification?survey software

  Do We Need SEO Standards?customer surveys

  Forum discussion at Sphinn.

  
  

• 

  Poll: SEO Certification & Standards Needed?

  Fetched: April 11th, 2011, 9:03pm CEST by Barry Schwartz

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  Sphinn has an excellent discussion taking place on if the SEO industry needs certifications and standards.

  To be honest, there are various certification programs out there. None of them are backed by a centralized non-profit agency such as SEMPO. There is SEO training with certifications led by SEO companies and SEO conferences but not a accredited SEO certification from an organization that represents the SEO industry.

  At the same time, there are no real standards for the industry as well. There are best practices, mostly laid out by Google but no standards to say what is allowed or not allowed.

  The question is do we need them for our industry? Some may say we do and some may simply not want it for good reasons.

  Here are two polls asking if we should have SEO certification and SEO standards. They are two different questions and thus require two different polls:

  Do We Need SEO Certification?survey software

  Do We Need SEO Standards?customer surveys

  Forum discussion at Sphinn.

  
  

• 

  Google's Page Reorganizes Top Level Management

  Fetched: April 11th, 2011, 9:03pm CEST by Barry Schwartz

  Tags:  Google News Finances  

  The LA Times broke the news that Google's new CEO, well he was Google's original CEO but now is back at CEO, has moved some management positions around.

  We covered the details at Search Engine Land and Greg Sterling asked if it would matter.

  The new executives include:

  • SVP of Search - Alan Eustace
  • SVP of Advertising- Susan Wojcicki
  • SVP of Mobile/Android - Andy Rubin
  • SVP of YouTube - Salar Kamangar
  • SVP of Social - Vic Gundotra
  • SVP of Chrome - Sundar Pinchai
  • SVP of Local & Commerce - Jeff Huber

  Page knows what challenges he has ahead of him and these moves, including tying bonuses to social achievements, are bold but that is what Page has to do. He is no dummy but will these moves pay off?

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

  
  

• 

  Google's Page Reorganizes Top Level Management

  Fetched: April 11th, 2011, 9:03pm CEST by Barry Schwartz

  Tags:  Google News Finances  

  The LA Times broke the news that Google's new CEO, well he was Google's original CEO but now is back at CEO, has moved some management positions around.

  We covered the details at Search Engine Land and Greg Sterling asked if it would matter.

  The new executives include:

  • SVP of Search - Alan Eustace
  • SVP of Advertising- Susan Wojcicki
  • SVP of Mobile/Android - Andy Rubin
  • SVP of YouTube - Salar Kamangar
  • SVP of Social - Vic Gundotra
  • SVP of Chrome - Sundar Pinchai
  • SVP of Local & Commerce - Jeff Huber

  Page knows what challenges he has ahead of him and these moves, including tying bonuses to social achievements, are bold but that is what Page has to do. He is no dummy but will these moves pay off?

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

  
  

• 

  How Some Well-Known SEOs Got Into SEO

  Fetched: April 6th, 2011, 4:17am CEST by Barry Schwartz

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  Chris Winfield compiled a fun industry related post to read named How Did You Get Started in SEO?

  He basically asked some of the more well-known SEOs in the space, how they got their start in SEO. Some stories are pretty standard, while others are not. The standard story is, I had a client, they wanted to know how to come up in a search engine and here I am now. Then there were some not so standard stories.

  Here are quick links to the stories:

  • Aaron Chronister
  • Aaron Wall
  • Adam Audette
  • Danny Sullivan
  • Dave Naylor
  • Debra Mastaler
  • Jill Whalen
  • John Andrews
  • Joost de Valk
  • Loren Baker
  • Marcus Tandler
  • Marshall Simmonds
  • Melanie Mitchell
  • Dr. Michael Dorausch
  • Patrick Altoft
  • Rae Hoffman
  • Rand Fishkin

  By the way, we ran a poll a while back on Why SEOs Got Into SEO?

  Forum discussion at Sphinn.

  
  

• 

  April Fools Day Search Pranks

  Fetched: April 4th, 2011, 2:36am CEST by Barry Schwartz

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  Today is a fun day for many but horrid for reporters. You won't believe the number of emails and reports we get that look incredibly legit but because it is April Fools has us spending a nice chunk of time figuring out if it is real or not.

  That being said, there is a lot of fun and good times on April Fools each year.

  Here is a summary of the April Fools Pranks I've found in relation to Google and the search industry. Matt McGee has declared Google Victorious in the pranks for today.

  (1) Google Hiring Autocompleters:

  Details over here.

  (2) Search Google For Comic Sans or Helvetica:

  Details over here.

  (3) Old School Google Display Ad Builder:

  Details over here.

  (4) Flickr Logo with an E:

  (5) Gmail Motion Beta:

  Details over here.

  (6) YouTube 1911:

  Details over here.

  (7) Chromercise:

  Details over here.

  (8) Cuttscon:

  Details over here.

  (9) Google China Teleport Search:

  Details over here.

  (10) Earkut (Orkut):

  Details over here.

  (11) Google Voice-alyzer:

  (12) Google Places a Content Farm:

  Details over here.

  (13) Pink Elephant & Yellow Whale on Google Maps Street Views:

  Details here and here. Official details over here.

  (14) Google Docs Motion:

  Details over here.

  (15) Google Help Rolling Heads:

  Details over here.

  (16) Google Body Browser: Now A Cow:

  Details over here.

  (17) Google Blimp Ads:

  Details over here.

  (18) Google Bambo (heh Panda) Update:

  Details over here.

  (19) Foursquare No Points For You:

  (20) Search Engine Roundtable Now Search Engine Land:

  Details over here.

  (21) Matt Cutts working as Ask Jeeves:

  Details over here.

  (22) Chrome Lite:

  Details over here.

  (23) Wolfram Alpha As Bieber Alpha:

  Details over here.

  (24) LinkedIn People You May Know:

  (25) Google Pig Latin Voice Search:

  Details over here.

  (26) Google Meow Me Now (find missing kittens):

  Details over here.

  (27) Google Analytics Gift Cards:

  Details over here.

  I'll keep updating this as I find more and feel free to comment.

  Forum discussion at:

  • SERoundtable April News, Search Engine Roundtable Forums
  • [April Fools] Google Teleport Search, Google Blogoscoped Forum
  • Google Got One Right! - Places Classified as Content Farm, WebmasterWorld
  • Google's newest April Fools joke? Gmail Motion, DigitalPoint Forums
  • Job opportunity. Google is hiring Autocompleters!, WebmasterWorld
  • thanks for the April 1st gift!, Google Webmaster Help
  • The Pink Elephant, Google Maps Help
  • Yet Another Google Mail Innovation, WebmasterWorld

  
  

• 

  Google's "Collateral Damage" Infographic

  Fetched: March 24th, 2011, 4:49pm CET by Barry Schwartz

  Tags:  Google News Finances  

  One of Google's biggest critics, Aaron Wall, posted an infographic of sorts named Google's Collateral Damage.

  It is getting a lot of discussion around Twitter and the industry. So I figured I cover it here as well and let the discussion continue throughout the industry.

  Infographic by SEO Book

  Forum discussion at Sphinn.

  
  

Emily Chang

• 

  45 Girl Geeks to Follow on Twitter

  Posted: January 12th, 2011, 7:25am CET by Emily Chang

  Tags:  News  

  Thanks to WebDesignerAid for including me in their list of 45 Girl Geeks to Follow on Twitter.

Search Engine Roundtable

• 

  WebmasterWorld Tries Out Heavier Home Page

  Fetched: January 3rd, 2011, 6:44pm CET by Barry Schwartz

  Tags:  SEO SEM Forum News  

  WebmasterWorld, a popular forum we cover here a lot, is testing out a new home page look.

  The new look incorporates more banner ads, brand new image spots to highlight featured threads and additional content from the featured thread. Here is a picture with notes on what exactly has changed.

  In a WebmasterWorld Brett Tabke, the owner and founder of WebmasterWorld said:

  Just trying out some stuff. Dunno if spaghetti is going to stick unless you throw it.

  Yea, it can use a bit of clean up, but I have a feeling this is the direction WebmasterWorld might be going in the future.

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

  
  

• 

  Veteran's Day 2010 Logos from Google, Bing, Ask But Not Yahoo, Again

  Posted: November 11th, 2010, 2:42pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  Today is Veteran's Day in the United States and some of the search engines have logos up for the special day. We have logos from Google, Bing, Ask all have special logos for the day - but not Yahoo. Yahoo didn't have a logo either the previous years.

  It is also Armistice Day in the UK and Google has a red poppy icon and Ask also has lots of red poppies on their UK site, as does Bing.

  Veteran's Day Logos 2010:

  Google:

  Bing:

  Ask.com:

  Search Engine Roundtable:

  Armistice Day 2010:

  Google:

  Bing:

  Ask.com:

  I should add that there is a ton of complaints about Google now having a Marine Corps Birthday logo yesterday on their 235th birthday. You can see some of the many threads on that over at the Google Web Search Help forums and Google Webmaster Help forums.

  For the past year's Veteran's Day logos, see our 2009, 2008, 2007 and 2004 logos. We missed a couple years, as you can see.

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

  
  

• 

  2010 SEO Industry Survey Results via SEOmoz

  Posted: November 5th, 2010, 2:35pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  SEOmoz did their SEO industry survey this year and received over 10,000 responses. I strongly recommend you skim the report, if you are in the industry. The responses can be found at SEOmoz.

  Here are some data points I personally found interesting, but there is a lot more data here:

  • Those operating outside Google's guidelines are over twice as likely to have filed a spam report about others.
  • 30% of broker-based link buyers have sent a re-consideration request to Google (compared to 12% in the general population)
  • The total PPC spend has increased to over $180m / month.
  • SEO outsourcing and consulting budget of around $18m / month (or ~$225m / year).

  For the full results, click here.

  Forum discussion at Sphinn.

  
  

• 

  Halloween Logos From Google, Yahoo, Bing & More: 2010 Scooby Doo Edition

  Posted: October 31st, 2010, 2:17am CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  Happy Halloween everyone! Here are the logos from Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask, Dogpile and others. For the past year's special Halloween logos, see the 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005 and 2004 Halloween logos.

  This year, Google has a very special Halloween logo featuring the Scooby-Doo cartoon. You can flip between the five different logos by clicking on the right arrow, clicking on the logo or clicking on the palm imprint under the logo. For those who follow the forums, you want to see the special Google forum trick. :)

  Here is a short video showing off the logo:

  Here are static pictures of the logo:

  Yahoo (Flash):

  Yahoo (Static):

  Bing:

  Ask Jeeves UK:

  DogPile:

  YouTube:

  Sogou:

  Search Engine Roundtable:

  Special Treat (or Trick) from the Google Webmaster Help Forums:

  Also, the forum personalities dressed up their avatars this year.

  Forum discussion at Google Blogoscoped Forums and Google Webmaster Help.

  
  

• 

  Sphinn Now Accepting Submissions Via Twitter

  Posted: October 18th, 2010, 2:37pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  SEO Forum News  

  Sphinn is trying something new, Twitter submissions. You can tweet tips to @sphinn and moderators will monitor the account and review all submissions sent via Twitter.

  How does it work? Just send a tweet in the format of [tip @sphinn]. For example to submit a tip to Sphinn for my last video recap, all you need to do is tweet:

  tip @sphinn http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/023103.html

  This is not a new idea. I believe Techmeme was the first to make this submission technique popular.

  Forum discussion at Sphinn.

  
  

• 

  Google Market Share Grows, Yahoo's Dips - Yahoo Questions comScore

  Posted: October 14th, 2010, 3:37pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  Danny Sullivan covered the comScore search market share stats very well. Go read it. In short for the month of September:

  • Google: 66.1% (up 0.7 from 65.4%)
  • Yahoo: 16.7% (down 0.7 from 17.4%
  • Bing: 11.2% (up 0.1 from 11.1%)
  • Ask: 3.7% (up 0.1 from 3.8%)
  • AOL: 2.3% (no change)

  Yahoo claims the boost is due to how Google Instant is counted. Yahoo said, "With products like Google Instant in the market, it’s more important than ever to understand how third-parties measure search queries and be judicious in how we use their numbers."

  I do like Tedster's comments at WebmasterWorld:

  Something becomes clear to me, month after month. While many search marketers say "the sky is falling" when Google makes a change - the general population is still very much in favor of what Mountain View is doing. I'm certainly not exempt from complaining about the way things have been going.

  So I'm giving myself a reality check, right now. I need to get used to rapid change and not think about Google as if it were anything but exactly what it is - right now. And then a big part of my job becomes understanding what Google is - right now - as well as listening and watching for clues as to what it may be in the near future.

  In any event, I find this all funny. Being that Google cried foul when companies measured Yahoo Image Searches slideshow feature.

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

  
  

• 

  Yahoo Looking To Sell Again? This Time, I'm All For It

  Posted: October 14th, 2010, 3:10pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Yahoo News  

  Before Yahoo handed over their search engine and search ads to Microsoft, Microsoft actually made several bids to buy Yahoo. Yahoo, under founder Jerry Yang, rejected those bids time and time again.

  Ultimately, under Carol Bartz, Yahoo made a deal with Microsoft for Yahoo to give up on their own search technology, let Microsoft power and control that, for ad income and reduced cost on running a search engine.

  Now, there are rumors via the Wall Street Journal, Kara Swisher and others that Yahoo is putting themselves out there for bidders.

  AOL Inc. and several private-equity firms are exploring making an offer to buy Yahoo Inc., according to people familiar with the matter, devising a bold plan to marry two big Internet brands facing steep challenges.

  Silver Lake Partners and Blackstone Group LP are among the firms that have expressed interest in teaming up with AOL to buy Yahoo or trying to take it private on their own, these people said. They added that at least two or three other firms could be interested in participating if a formal buyout proposal is drawn up.

  Prior, I was never for it. But now, heck, Yahoo go for it. What do you have to lose now, at least on the search side. :)

  Forum discussion at Google Blogoscoped Forums & WebmasterWorld.

  
  

Emily Chang

• 

  Emily Chang Invited to Judge TWS2010

  Posted: October 3rd, 2010, 1:08am CEST by Emily Chang

  Tags:  News  

  Emily Chang will be one of the nineteen judges for TWS2010, Israel’s official dotcom competition for web and mobile startups. The winning startups will be chosen by a review board made of leading technology and Internet figures from Israel and abroad, including Ron Conway, Christine Herron, Deb Shultz and others.

Search Engine Roundtable

• 

  France Convicts Google Over Search Suggestions

  Posted: September 28th, 2010, 3:35pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Google News Press  

  Google was convicted, as was the CEO, in France for defamation of the search suggestions. In short, a guy named MX sued Google for the search suggestions showing his name when you searched for rapist or satanist amongst other searches. MX was convicted of corruption of a minor, which he is now appealing.

  So he sued Google over the search suggestions showing his name for the conviction type of keyword. Google of course said the search suggestions are automated and only show from a "database of search labels most frequently used by the Internet." So it is what people are searching for and writing on - and thus they should not be blamed.

  The High Court of Paris felt otherwise and convicted Google and the CEO. Google said they are appealing. If you try to do those searches on Google France today, nothing will come up for this guys name.

  Personally, I am shocked Google would be responsible, especially in a case of a convicted individual. All this may lead to for the convict is the suggestion being pulled from Google France but possibly showing up in other countries. Which may be fine for him.

  Not everyone agrees with me. A WebmasterWorld thread has some people saying:

  I 100% agree with this ruling.

  And again it's the French who have the guts to show Google some limits.

  Vive la France!

  I 100% agree with this ruling.

  I've seen some pretty horrific suggestions since all this started, especially when it comes to name and company searches. When they first released that function, I did some tests, you can influence the suggestions greatly with the right content and links.

  Do you agree?

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and Google Blogoscoped Forums.

  
  

• 

  70% Say Sphinn Is Dead Or Simply Don't Care

  Posted: September 24th, 2010, 3:17pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  SEO Forum News  

  Earlier this month, Sphinn (disclosure, I am extremely involved with the company behind Sphinn) dropped user voting on stories and the industry revolted. It was a big deal for a couple days and now you don't hear much about it. So I felt it was a good time to start up the controversy, especially since I am offline right now (scheduled post).

  Back then, I posted a poll asking if removing voting from Sphinn essentially kills the site? I'll tell you that I responded, "not sure," but most people are confident. 70% said either Sphinn is dead without voting or they don't care either way, which may be the same thing - Sphinn is dead.

  Personally, I don't know. Here are the 150 or so responses:

  • 40% said Sphinn Is Dead
  • 30% said Don't Care
  • 15% said Sphinn Is NOT Dead
  • 8% said they are Not Sure
  • Rest said "Other answer..."

  Most the other comments said that Sphinn "was already dead." But my favorite comment, although it makes me sad, was "I bet this gets more voted than the best Sphinn today."

  Forum discussion continued at Sphinn.

  Note: This post was written September 21st and scheduled to go live today.

  Update: On September 22nd, Sphinn announced the Sphinn 3.0 changes, which make non-voting official, amongst other things.

  
  

• 

  Google Doesn't Pay Forum "Top Contributors"

  Posted: September 17th, 2010, 2:39pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  SEO Forum News  

  I spotted an unusual thread at the Google Webmaster Help forums. The thread had an individual ask how he can a job as a "top contributor" in the Google Forums.

  Top contributors are those who spend a nice amount of time helping others in the Google support forums. It can range from the webmaster forum, web search forum, AdSense forum, Chrome forum and so on. Anyone who spends a lot of time helping webmasters and Google deems they worthy are labeled "top contributors."

  I believe top contributors have special privileges, such as being able to flag certain posts for a real Google employee to review. I suspect they also have their own private discussion forum to chat with Google employees. Plus they get the label, "top contributor" added to their names. I also believe they may receive a t-shirt or something, as a thank you.

  Outside of that, they get zero compensation. Google doesn't pay them in any way.

  So the guy looking to get paid to be a top contributor is out of luck. At first this guy didn't believe they didn't get paid. He said:

  Why people spend so much of valuable time on browsing scrap sites and write hundreds of pages. That too for 24x7x365. All this just for a title "Top Contributor"? It's not convincing...

  Yes, it is true. As Sasch, a top contributor said:

  We're here to help webmasters... that's it.

  It is true, most are there to help - like it or not.

  But that doesn't mean Google doesn't pay people to help their users. For example, if you want to help webmasters with their Google problems, you can and you can get paid. You have to apply to be a Google Webmaster Trends Analyst, which is a job based in Zurich, Switzerland. I believe they may make exceptions for certain people to work from other Google offices. I suspect many do already.

  Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.

  
  

• 

  Texas Attorney General Investigating Google Over Anti-Competitive Search Results

  Posted: September 8th, 2010, 3:11pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Google News Press  

  Texas opens inquiry into Google search rankings via the Associated Press reports Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has opened an investigation to see if Google is manipulating the search results.

  Specifically, if Google is controlling the search results to keep competition out.

  The review appears to be focused on whether Google is manipulating its search results to stifle competition.

  Several lawsuits filed in the U.S. also have alleged Google's search formula is biased. Google believes Abbott is the first state attorney general to open an antitrust review into the issue.

  "We look forward to answering (Abbott's) questions because we're confident that Google operates in the best interests of our users," Don Harrison, Google's deputy general counsel, wrote in a Friday blog post.

  These accusations are nothing new and I personally think they will drop the investigation in short order.

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

  
  

• 

  Sphinn Drops Voting & SEO Community Revolts

  Posted: September 2nd, 2010, 3:39pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  SEO Forum News  

  I doubt you missed the big SEO community news from yesterday. Danny Sullivan announced in a Sphinn thread that Sphinn will be going the editorial route and be removing voting. Instead, editors will decide what should be on the front page and not users.

  Users can still submit content, but editors have the final say on what makes it to the front page of Sphinn. The goal is to have hand picked content that the community can discuss, as opposed to have users vote on content submitted by anyone. Read Danny's full explanation for more details.

  The community, at least the ones upset with the decision, were extremely vocal about their dislike of this decision. Some are saying that the moderators will only allow their "friends" content on the front page. Some are saying that taking away voting removes the core of the Sphinn site. Some are saying that this just makes it one more discussion forum. Personally, I have no idea - but I'd like to see how this model works.

  What do you think? Here is an anonymous poll:

  Does Removing Voting From Sphinn Kill It?online survey

  There are many threads and blog posts about it, most linked to in the primary Sphinn thread.

  Forum discussion at several Sphinn threads.

  
  

• 

  comScore July 2010 Search Ranking Share Report

  Posted: August 18th, 2010, 4:13pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  comScore released their July 2010 search market share report, showing Yahoo climbing to 17% share, Google still around 65% and Bing at 11%. Here is the chart, using their new explicit search measuring technique.

  The folks at WebmasterWorld, at least these days, are very pro Bing and anti-Google. So they are happy to see Google take a slight drop and Yahoo increase.

  well I tell everyone to use Bing as SE if they dont want one looking over your shoulder all the time

  In any event, Google still dominates.

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

  
  

• 

  SEO Industry Buzzes On Demand Media's IPO

  Posted: August 9th, 2010, 3:33pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  The SEO industry is buzzing on the recent news that Demand Media has filed an IPO. Demand Media owns and runs online properties such as eHow, Trails.com, LiveStrong.com, GolfLink, AnswerBag, Cracked and more. They are significant in that their whole content business is around ranking well in the search results, primarily Google and primarily organically.

  Danny Sullivan has the best write up on what this all means. Here are his takeaways, but read the whole analysis for why:

  • Google Funds Big Chunk Of Demand Media
  • The Importance (And Risk) Of SEO
  • Search Sends Nearly 40% Of Traffic; Google Alone, 26% Or More
  • Traffic Is Vulnerable To Algorithm Changes
  • Mining Search Data, they mine the data to produce content
  • They do domaining

  A WebmasterWorld thread is discussing the news. Brett Tabke, the founder of WebmasterWorld, thinks these guys are genius SEOs:

  What Rosenblatt and the crew have done is nothing short of genius in the SEO space. To qualify algorithmically and engineer daily content is freaking brilliant. To get it to rank and convert in the long tail is even bigger. No wonder everyone is so jealous of their success. They are the top SEO’s on the web. They are without a peer.

  Another member asked, "I wonder if the recent google patent influenced the decision to IPO, or if they had already planned to?"

  I doubt it.

  In any event, this is one of those events that is somewhat historical for our industry.

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

  
  

• 

  Sphinn Threads Make Their Way on Search Engine Land

  Posted: August 3rd, 2010, 3:26pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  SEO Forum News  

  If you visit Search Engine Land and scroll down and look on the right hand side, you will see a box named "Hot At Sphinn." Yep, Search Engine Land's social sharing site, Sphinn, now has more of a presence on the Search Engine Land site.

  Not only that, but weekly, there will be a Hot on Sphinn post on Search Engine Land promoting the best posts on Sphinn.

  Matt McGee announced this on the Sphinn blog. Matt said:

  Obviously, we're hoping this helps Sphinn gain some more exposure among Search Engine Land readers - and we're also hoping it rewards you for sharing great content on Sphinn. (Not to mention the little extra SEO benefit from the inbound links that will flow to the original authors/articles.)

  Forum discussion at Sphinn.

  
  

• 

  Google: The "Last Thing We Want" Is The "Best SEO To Win"

  Posted: July 30th, 2010, 3:49pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  Jeremy Sussman, a Google Local Product Manager has been pretty frank and clear with people in the Google Places forum. In one Google Places Help thread, he said, and I quote:

  I can assure you that the last thing we want is for the business who hires the best SEO to win a better slot. But, the SEOs are, unfortunately, pretty good at what they do, and so sometimes they out smart us.

  You read that? To not take it too much out of context, the thread is about why certain sites rank above others. Someone was upset his business ranked lower than another in Google Maps. Jeremy from Google said, "a simple answer like "the closest to you" is not always the right answer. But, all things being equal, the closest to you is the right answer. Figuring out the relative weights of the different factors in the rankings is one of the most difficult parts of our algorithm." But then goes on to explain that some SEOs know how to manipulate stuff and he simply isn't a fan.

  Jeremy was also pretty straight in another Google Places Help thread where he said:

  You know what I love about the help forum? Every now and then someone points out a problem that is not merely "my business is not ranked where I want it to be" but rather represents a real hole in our system. csteinle, this post definitely falls into that latter category.

  I could make excuses about how hard it is to recognize the difference between two things that have the same name and very similar locations, but I would be out on a semi-defensible limb. Bottom line here is we need to fix this. And we will. Stay tuned.

  So two bold statements, statements we rarely see worded this way from a Googler. One somewhat dissing SEOs and the other one where he admits Google failure, for now.

  What is your take?

  Forum discussion at Google Places Help.

  
  

• 

  Google To Power Yahoo Japan: Here The FAQs

  Posted: July 27th, 2010, 4:08pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  Techmeme is buzzing about the news that Yahoo Japan has selected Google to power its search engine, as opposed to Bing, which is powering Yahoo here in the U.S.

  I can honestly say, I am not surprised. Yahoo Japan had the option to go with Bing or someone else like Google and they picked Google. Back in the day, before Yahoo had their own search engine, Google powered Yahoo's search results (screen shot).

  The Google Japan blog wrote about it and Yahoo Japan published a press release. Here is the translated text...

  Google:

  From 2004 to 2001, Yahoo Inc., Google was providing search engine. And, today announced that the technology was licensed to search again for Yahoo Inc. Based on this non-exclusive agreement, Yahoo Inc. (a subsidiary of Softbank, Yahoo has invested some) is, Google is the fastest in Japan, and confidence is the most advanced will be able to provide users with search technology. In addition, Yahoo Inc. auction, shopping and Answers and content to be added to the Google provides search results in Japanese. This is both more comprehensive services can increase the effect.

  Yahoo Inc. Yahoo! JAPAN on the site, for users to fit their own, Google is able to provide customized search services Search service. This is the Yahoo! JAPAN which will look like on the site search service, including such things as how you can experience the user search. As a result, users Yahoo! JAPAN on the site, and Google will continue on the site is considered to be a different experience.

  Google is also for Yahoo Inc. to provide search advertising delivery platform. In other words, Google's technology to provide search advertising for Yahoo Inc., will be the target and report back end support. Yahoo Inc. will perform the acquisition and development of advertising campaigns continue. The data for advertisers and advertising companies and are kept completely separate.

  Both companies are independent operators as far as deploying search services and advertising services, without sharing information about customers and prices will continue to be actively competing in the Japanese market will continue. Through this transaction, also spurred innovation in advertising and search each other, but more restrictive conflict involving other companies, ultimately we hope to bring about better services for users and partners.

  And the Yahoo release also has an image and a FAQs:

  Q1: Google Does a partnership with a range where? A1: The deal is subject to the Web, images, video, mobile 4 in the area are limited to receiving the service delivery system search engine and search advertising.

  Q2: Google rival and what happens?
  A2: Google is Yahoo! JAPAN offers a search engine for. However, Yahoo! JAPAN is for users to fit, YST / YSM as Yahoo! JAPAN tweak your own with our customized Google search services. This is the Yahoo! Japan will look like on the site of the search service which includes such things as how you can experience the user search. As a result, users Yahoo! Japan on the site, and Google will continue on the site is considered to be a different experience.
  　Google is also Yahoo! JAPAN to provide sponsored search results distribution system. In other words, Google's technology, Yahoo! JAPAN provide search advertising will be supported by the target and back-end reports. However, Yahoo! JAPAN will perform its own acquisition and development of advertising campaigns continue. The data of both advertisers and advertising, customer and price information will be retained search services available to completely separate.
  　Through the deal, spurring further innovation in advertising and search each other, we will compete, including areas other than the more restrictive the search service but also involving other companies.

  Q3: duration of the contract, the right to update what's going on?
  A3: distribution system to provide search advertising search engine Yahoo! JAPAN term of the contract is received by the first two years after Yahoo! JAPAN will be automatically extended by two years but they refuse. If it is possible to update both sides agree about that later. In addition, Yahoo! JAPAN term contract offer from Google in the first two years the data will be updated in principle, then an additional two years. If both parties agree for a later, can be updated every two years.

  Q4: Yahoo! JAPAN how to provide better data from what?
  A4: Google will collect data by robots now (crawling), but to the future, Yahoo! JAPAN to be provided directly from, and is reflected in faster search results page is updated, the freshness of the search Better search and up will be better used for your convenience.

  Q5: The Future Yahoo! Inc. What is the relationship between changes in there?
  A5: This change is the only delivery system provides a search engine and search advertising, Yahoo! Inc. Is still in search services and other services Yahoo! JAPAN change is not a strategic partner. Capital will continue the current relationship.

  Q6: What impact will a performance?
  A6: In the short term will probably not have much effect. In the long term, Yahoo! JAPAN things better and sponsored search services and search services will maximize sales.

  Q7: What is the timing of when did you move?
  A7: as soon as possible, is now considering a more even distribution system to help move the search engine and search advertising.

  Q8: Yahoo! Inc. Once you've completed the YST and switching YSM, Yahoo! JAPAN immediately stop what they can to support?
  A8: No, the distribution system search engine and search advertising in Japan to switch to Google, Yahoo! JAPAN is supported by the popularity of the search service will continue to operate YST YSM and continued development.

  Q9: What would change in a user-friendly search service of the deal?
  A9: We will continue to provide support to our views that the current user interface, change your experience in particular. Yahoo! JAPAN is for users to fit, YST / YSM as Yahoo! JAPAN tweak your own with our customized Google search services. This is the Yahoo! JAPAN which will look like on the site search service, including such things as how you can experience the user search. As a result, users Yahoo! JAPAN on the site, and Google will continue on the site is considered to be a different experience.

  Q10: What's Fair Trade Commission has been consulted on this matter?
  A10: The consultation and the Japanese Fair Trade Commission in advance, we have confirmed is unquestionable.

  Q11: impact on competition in the Japanese search service?
  A11: Google and Yahoo! JAPAN even with the same search engine, Yahoo! JAPAN is able to provide customized search services, and to provide our own user interface as conventional We will. Thus, Google will compete with the situation and other competitors is not different in any way.

  Q12: Yahoo! JAPAN formerly Yahoo! Inc. I have received offers from other search engines?
  A12: Yahoo! JAPAN transition to supplement the search engine directory search service, from March 2001 until May 1998 from the goo, then from May 2004 until April 2001 Google Orimashita by us.

  Q13: Yahoo! JAPAN Softbank Mobile (SBM) that provides mobile search, the opportunity to change something in this case available?
  A13: No, Yahoo! JAPAN mobile search service, with mobile advertising, as in the past will provide the SBM.

  Q14: Do you have a financial impact?
  A14: There is no profit impact significantly change the structure.

  Q15: impact on advertising revenue?
  A15: The experience has changed the search advertising delivery system in the past, the impact could be minimal. We aim to maximize revenue and better services now taking this opportunity as well.

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and Google Blogoscoped Forums.

  
  

• 

  Google, Yahoo & Microsoft Report Earnings (GOOG, YHOO, MSFT)

  Posted: July 23rd, 2010, 3:52pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  Google (GOOG), Yahoo (YHOO) and Microsoft (MSFT) all reported earnings this week. Overall, I think the only company that truly impress analysts and wall street was Microsoft. Let me quickly share the financial statements with you and forum discussion.

  Google's announcement highlights as I see it:

  • Revenue up 24% to $6.82 billion.
  • Paid clicks decreased approximately 3% from the previous quarter.
  • Cost per click increased approximately 2% from previous quarter.
  • Net income was up a bit, cash is up and head counts are up.

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

  Yahoo's PDF release as I see it:

  • Revenue up slightly
  • Income up a lot
  • It is hard to get PPC and CPC data from this report

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

  Microsoft's announcement as I see it:

  • Revenue at $16.04 billion, up 22%
  • Operating and net income both up about 50%, $5.93 billion and $4.52 billion, respectively.
  • Online advertising revenue increased $79 million or 19% to $494 million
  • Specific PPC and CPC data is hard to find

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

  
  

• 

  Google's Alphonse Mucha & P.S. Krøyer Logos & Hot Dog Day

  Posted: July 23rd, 2010, 3:28pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  If you visit Google Germany today, you should see a logo for P.S. Krøyer. P.S. was born 159 years ago on July 23, 1851 and died in November of 1909. He was a well-known Norwegian-Danish painter and the most liked Skagen Painters. Here is that Doodle:

  Tomorrow, if you visit Google Czech Republic you should see a Doodle for Alphonse Mucha. Alphonse Mucha was born a 150 years ago and was a well-known Czech Art Nouveau painter and decorative artist. He was best known for his art of women. Here is that Doodle, discovered TOMHTML two days early:

  Finally, today is national Hot Dog day, so we have a theme for that here:

  Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums, Google Blogoscoped Forums.

  
  

• 

  Today Is Moon Day, Google's Nam June Paik & Columbia Logos

  Posted: July 20th, 2010, 4:03pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  Today is Moon Day, it was celebrated widely last year by the search engines because last year was the 40th anniversary. This year, it pretty much has gone unnoticed or unrecognized by the search engines.

  We have a logo today:

  Google had a logo yesterday on Google Korea for Nam June Paik. He is considered the "first video artist." Check out this awesome doodle:

  Finally, Columbia has a logo for the Doodle for Google competition there.

  Forum discussion at Google Blogoscoped Forums.

  
  

• 

  European Union May Go After Google, Some Webmasters Rejoice

  Posted: July 8th, 2010, 3:15pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Google News Press  

  A month ago we reported that France May Fine Google Over Suspending AdWords Advertiser and most recently, Google acquired ITA an online travel booking engine.

  As I explained in both posts, Webmasters fear that Google continues to get into their business. With the French case, it was a pricing search engine and the company claims Google demoted their site because it competes with Google Product Search. With ITA, travel search engines are fearing Google will do the same.

  Of course, Google says they do not manually demote sites and would not demote a site if it competed with a service they offered.

  Via the AP:

  The European Union's antitrust chief said Wednesday he is looking "very carefully" at allegations that Google Inc. unfairly demotes rivals' sites in search results.

  Google says its search results are entirely controlled by algorithms that demote sites with little useful content for users.

  It is a bit funny. So many webmasters rely on Google for their online businesses to succeed. At the same time, they are in constant fear of Google getting into their business and taking away the sales they initially gave them. Just a very weird and sensitive area - a line Google has been balancing and arguably crossing over the years.

  So the EU will be taking a "very close look" at Google's recent practices and hopefully protecting the webmasters and business owners, if applicable.

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

  
  

• 

  SEOs & Publishers Mock Yahoo For Discovering Search Trends For News Creation

  Posted: July 6th, 2010, 3:33pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Yahoo News  

  One of the most basic SEO strategies for content development is the process of determining what people are searching for in your niche so you can target those keywords. When it comes to news sites, even sites with a niche as specific of this one, you must look at search trends. SEOs and publishers have been using search trends reports, such as Google Hot Trends, Twitter Trends, Yahoo Buzz and other keyword tools to discover trending searches and benefit from them.

  Like I said, we occasionally do it here and it works. You hit a forming wave on searches, and rank well on that wave, you can generate a ton of traffic quickly - which makes advertisers happy.

  According to the New York Times, Yahoo, one of the biggest online news agencies in the world, just discovered this as a tactic. They are going to create a blog and staff it based on just writing content based on search trends.

  Yahoo software continuously tracks common words, phrases and topics that are popular among users across its vast online network. To help create content for the blog, called The Upshot, a team of people will analyze those patterns and pass along their findings to Yahoo’s news staff of two editors and six bloggers.

  The news staff will then use that search data to create articles that — if the process works as intended — will allow them to focus more precisely on readers.

  Of course, SEOs and Webmasters are mocking this strategy at WebmasterWorld. Here are some comments:

  Ahh, so now Yahoo's staff will start writing or aggregating content based on what people are searching for. Excuse me if I'm not excited by this. Should I expect we'll be seeing lots of celebrity gossip, erotica, discussions about the latest episode of Jersey Shore, and inane articles about Justin Beiber?

  Wow, after all this time Yahoo discovered trend analysis?

  What'll they think of next week, fire?

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

  
  

• 

  4th Of July 2010 Logos From Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask.com & Others

  Posted: July 4th, 2010, 5:00pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  A very happy fourth of July to all our American readers! There are some very creative logos from the search engines today.

  Google has a double logo, doodle, one for July 4th and it dupes as a happy birthday logo for Rube Goldberg. Rube Goldberg, as per Wikipedia, was a "Jewish American cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer, and inventor. Goldberg is best known for a series of popular cartoons he created depicting complex devices that perform simple tasks in indirect, convoluted ways – now known as Rube Goldberg machines." So Google put together a doodle that showed off a July 4th theme, as Rube Goldberg would have.

  Here is a video of the Google Doodle:

  After you click one more time on the logo you will get a search result at Google for [4th of July].

  Here are some static images of the logo, but you can also see the design that made it up using some JavaScript over here:

  Here is the static Google version:

  Very impressive Google! Now for the other search engines.

  Yahoo's animated logo:

  Yahoo's static logo:

  Bing:

  Ask.com:

  DogPile:

  Search Engine Roundtable:

  For past July 4th logos from the search industry, see 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005 and 2004.

  Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help, Google Blogoscoped Forums, DigitalPoint Forums, WebmasterWorld, Google Web Search Help and Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

  
  

• 

  Google To Take Over Airline Booking Industry, Buys ITA

  Posted: July 2nd, 2010, 3:09pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Google News Press  

  Google announced they have purchased ITA for $700 million. ITA is a flight information software company and will enable Google to "work on creating new flight search tools that will make it easier for you to search for flights, compare flight options and prices and get you quickly to a site where you can buy your ticket."

  The truth is, this may be the beginning of the end of other travel web sites. And Google knows it. Which is why they are already creating web sites specifically designed to convince the public that this is a good thing and the FTC shouldn't block it.

  Greg Sterling feels that Google will be under a lot of pressure about this deal and it might ultimately not be approved. I guess time will tell, but flight sites need to prepare.

  Forum discussion at Google Blogoscoped Forums and WebmasterWorld.

  
  

• 

  Happy Canada Day From Google & Bing

  Posted: July 1st, 2010, 3:29pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  Wanted to wish our Canadian readers a very happy Canada Day! Google Canada and Bing (even US) have special logos or themes up for the day. Yahoo Canada does not.

  Here is the outstanding Google Canada Day logo:

  Here is Bing USA for Canada Day:

  Here is Bing Canada Today:

  Forum discussion at Google Blogoscoped Forums.

  
  

• 

  Google's YouTube Beats Viacom In Court

  Posted: June 24th, 2010, 1:46pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Google News Press  

  Google is proud to say that they won against Viacom after taking them to court over $1 billion for copyright infringement.

  Google said:

  Today, the court granted our motion for summary judgment in Viacom’s lawsuit with YouTube. This means that the court has decided that YouTube is protected by the safe harbor of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) against claims of copyright infringement. The decision follows established judicial consensus that online services like YouTube are protected when they work cooperatively with copyright holders to help them manage their rights online.

  This is an important victory not just for us, but also for the billions of people around the world who use the web to communicate and share experiences with each other. We’re excited about this decision and look forward to renewing our focus on supporting the incredible variety of ideas and expression that billions of people post and watch on YouTube every day around the world.

  Viacom said:

  We are disappointed with the judge's ruling, but confident we will win on appeal.

  Copyright protection is essential to the survival of creative industries. It is and should be illegal for companies to build their businesses with creative material they have stolen from others. Without this protection, investment in the development of art and entertainment would be discouraged, and the many artists and producers who devote their lives to creating it would be hurt. Copyright protection is also critical to the web– because consumers love professional content and because legitimate websites shouldn't have to compete with pirates.

  You can read more opinion and news coverage at Techmeme.

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

  
  

• 

  Hitwise: Google Search Share Grew, Back at 72%

  Posted: June 22nd, 2010, 3:11pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  Hitwise released the May 2010 Search Market Share report claiming Google's search share grew 1% from April, bringing them back up to 72% of share on search queries.

  Here are the charts:

  By Industry:

  By Query Length:

  As Matt notes, take it with a grain of salt.

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

  
  

• 

  Summer Solstice Google Logo: First Day of Summer 2010 From Search Engines

  Posted: June 21st, 2010, 3:04pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  Today is the first day of Summer, also known as Summer Solstice which happens today, June 21st. Some of the search engines have logos for the day, but Google has 4 different logos for the day.

  If you go to Google.com and click on the logo, it shows you a new logo, 4 times, until you end up on a search result for [summer solstice]. Here are the four Google Doodles for Summer in order:

  Yahoo has two logos, one animated and one static:

  Sogou:

  DogPile:

  Search Engine Roundtable:

  And on Google Germany Google has a logo for Jean-Paul Sartre's 105th birthday. Jean-Paul Sartre is a famous atheist writer, playwright with many well known books and plays. Here is his Doodle:

  It is also the first day of Winter in other locations, such as listed on Google Argentina and they have 4 logos:

  Thanks Websonic!

  Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help, Search Engine Roundtable Forums and Google Blogoscoped Forums.

  
  

• 

  Happy Father's Day From Google, Yahoo, Bing & Others: 2010 Edition

  Posted: June 20th, 2010, 4:37pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  Happy Father's Day Dads! This is my second Father's Day as a Father - so it is a great day. I wanted to share with you the Father's Day logos from Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask.com, Dogpile and other search engines and search industry web sites for the day. Before I do that, here are links to past Father's Day logos from 2009, 2008, 2007 and 2004.

  Here is the 2010 Edition of the Search Industry's Father's Day Logos:

  Google:

  Yahoo Animated:

  Yahoo Static:

  Baidu:

  Sogou:

  DogPile:

  Bing:

  Ask.com:

  Cre8asite Forums:

  Search Engine Roundtable:

  Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums, Google Blogoscoped Forums and Google Webmaster Help.

  
  

• 

  U.S. Government Wants To Classify Search Marketers

  Posted: June 15th, 2010, 3:54pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  Hillary from Onward Search reports that the U.S. government, Department of Labor (DOL) is trying to classify Search Marketers.

  By classify, the DOL wants to be able to figure out the skills and criteria that make up a search marketer's profile. They are asking search marketers to fill out a "occupational expert questionnaire" at this URL so they can gather enough data to built the proper classification for search marketing professionals.

  The good news is that SEMPO is involved and Hillary interviewed Dana Todd from SEMPO about this.

  A WebmasterWorld thread has some people who are against this process. But honestly, I think it is a good thing for this industry. If accountants have a classification, why shouldn't search marketers.

  We are growing, maturing and becoming established in this business world and we deserve a classification with the U.S. Department of Labor.

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

  
  

• 

  Yahoo Gaming Search Market Share or Being A Typical Publisher?

  Posted: June 14th, 2010, 3:27pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  Time To End The Bullshit Search Engine Share Figures? by Danny Sullivan is a must read for anyone interested in how search market share statistics work.

  In summary, Yahoo, after months and months of search market share decline, is now seeing a few months of search market share growth. Danny basically says that Yahoo, like other search players, game the system. How? Well, Danny digs into how in his article, so check it out.

  This is nothing new, search engines and publishers have done this for years. It is a numbers game. For search market share, it is about the number of queries. If you can get more queries, you get more share - even if they aren't hand entered. Publishers want more page impressions, if that means you paginate articles or drive interest to click on related articles or other methods, that is how publishers monetize their sites.

  Yes, this is nothing new. But the statistics we use to measure a site's value has not changed much. Yes, we have new metrics, like "engagement" and so on, but they aren't used for selling ads.

  This is an issue where I really see no solution to in the immediate future.

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorldand Sphinn.

  
  

• 

  No Flag Day For Google or Yahoo: Bing, Ask & Dogpile Raise The Flag

  Posted: June 14th, 2010, 3:02pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  Today is Flag Day in the United State of America and Bing, Ask.com and Dogpile all have logos and themes or mentions for the day. We even have a theme here, but Google and Yahoo do not. Here are pictures of the Flag Day themes I have found:

  Bing:

  DogPile:

  Ask.com has a mention:

  Search Engine Roundtable:

  Now, Google does do Flag day type of logos/doodles internationally. It was Russia Day and check out this logo:

  How about Philippine Independence Day:

  Or Day of the Enamored in Brazil?

  Google Japan also had a special logo for Hayabusa returning to earth:

  An interesting mistake of some sorts also Doodle related happened over the weekend. Remember the FIFA logos, well, as reported at Websnoic.nl, Google Morocco, Egypt, Jordan and Algeria showed a special Doodle that should have looked like this:

  For about 8 hours, the logo looked like this:

  Something was corrupt about that image. It is now fixed.

  Anyway, for all American's - happy Flag day. Note, all the logos above are within the past few days, so happy days to you all also!

  Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help.

  
  

• 

  Google FIFA World Cup & Jacques Cousteau Logo & Other FIFA World Cup Logos From Bing, Ask & Others

  Posted: June 11th, 2010, 3:44pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  The FIFA World Cup kicks off today and Google, Bing, Yahoo, Ask.com and other search engines have their special logos up today. The interesting thing is that in the US, Google.com does not have a logo for FIFA World Cup but rather has a Doodle for Jacques Cousteau. FIFA does not need an explanation.

  Jacques Cousteau is a 100 today, he died on June 25, 1997 and was a well-known for co-developing the aqua-lung, as pictured in the Google Doodle. Here is a picture of the Jacques Cousteau Google Doodle:

  Now for the FIFA World Cup explosion of logos, doodles, themes and animations from the search industry:

  The Typical Google FIFA Logo:

  Google has a special FIFA logo on Google France & Google South Africa (and some others):

  Google South Africa FIFA:

  Google France FIFA:

  Google Korea:

  Yahoo animated:

  Yahoo static:

  Baidu:

  YouTube:

  Bing:

  Ask.com:

  A search for [world cup] in Google:

  Forum discussion at Google Blogoscoped & WebmasterWorld.

  
  

• 

  2010 Memorial Day Logos From Google, Yahoo, Bing & Others

  Posted: May 31st, 2010, 1:44pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  Today is Memorial Day in the United States of America and to commemorate the day, many search engines have logos, themes and/or badges/ribbons on their home pages. Below I will show you pictures of those logos, themes and ribbons. But to see the past years logos see 2009, 2008, 2007, 2005 and 2004. I should note that last year was the first year Google put up something on their home page for Memorial Day even though they have gone on record as not doing so for events that are not light hearted.

  Here are todays logos, themes and ribbons:

  Google's Ribbon/Badge:

  Yahoo (animated):

  Yahoo (static):

  Bing:

  DogPile:

  Cre8asite Forums:

  Search Engine Roundtable:

  I should note that this is the first year in a long time where Ask.com does not have a theme up. They do have it as the question of the day:

  Update: For Ask.com, I was seeing their beta home page. They do in fact have a theme up on their main home page. Here is a screen shot:

  Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums, Google Blogoscoped Forums, Google Web Search Help and Google Webmaster Help.

  
  

• 

  Bing Forums Top Contributor Quits Over Frustration

  Posted: May 27th, 2010, 3:05pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  SEO Forum News  

  Every forum lives and dies based on their members and how active and helpful they are. That is why it is critical for forums to make sure their top members (the most giving members) are heard and listened to.

  Recently, a Bing Forum thread has one of the top contributing members publicly expressing his dissatisfaction with the forum, ultimately leading in him announcing he is done with helping out in the forums. Let me quote his message:

  this forum is just deliberately trying to annoy me - I just spent over half an hour writing a response to a thread, and when I attempted to post it, guess what? Yes, I get the BLOODY ANNOYING MODERATION MESSAGE!!!!!!!

  Meaning that my post wasn't published and my time was completely wasted.

  And it's not as though it's the first time... this has been going on for AGES!!!

  I've tried to patiently wait for the numerous issues with this forum to be fixed; I'm not waiting any longer - I am wasted hours of my time if I try to help people here and my posts don't get published.

  I will be posting in Google's forums from now on

  Goodbye Bing

  
  Brett Yount the Program Manager of Bing Webmaster Center emailed this member offline, which is likely his best move. But the damage has been done. I know many moderators who leave forums, most over getting too busy with work but some over frustrations similar to this.

  Forum discussion at Bing Forums.

  
  

• 

  Mother's Day Logos 2010: Google, Yahoo, Bing & Others

  Posted: May 9th, 2010, 1:59pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  Happy Mother's Day Moms! Today is Mother's Day in the U.S. and we have logos from Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask.com and others. For the past Mother's Day logos see our 2009, 2008 and 2007 and 2004 collections, yes, I am missing 2005 and 2006.

  Here are this year's logos:

  Google also had this logo in other locations:

  Yahoo (animated):

  Yahoo (static):

  Bing:

  Ask.com:

  Baidu:

  Orkut:

  Sogou:

  Cre8asite:

  Search Engine Roundtable:

  Also, Google today on some international properties has a logo for J.M. Barrie's 150th birthday:

  Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

  
  

• 

  Google Disses Cinco de Mayo, Yahoo, Bing & Others Don't

  Posted: May 5th, 2010, 8:25pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  Today is Cinco de Mayo but you wouldn't know that by visting Google.com. You would however know it if you went to Yahoo, Bing or DogPile today.

  Here are the logos from Yahoo, Bing and Dogpile:

  Here is the Festival patios cordobeses logo from Google Spain, obviously not related to Cinco de Mayo:

  Of course, there are complaints there is no Cinco de Mayo doodle from Google at Google Web Search Help.

  
  

• 

  AdWords Product Managers To Post In Google AdWords Forums

  Posted: May 5th, 2010, 3:21pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  SEO Forum News  

  AdWordsPro Sarah, an official Google AdWords representative announced in the Google AdWords Help forums that Google AdWords Product Managers, also known as PMs, will be posting in the forums soon.

  Sarah said:

  In order to better understand top advertiser issues, AdWords Product Managers (PMs) will be posting on the forum for the next few months. Product Managers work closely with our engineering team to organize and launch new features, tools, upgrades etc. so it will be exciting to have them around!

  All of the PMs will be posting as AdWordsPM(name), so if you see them around, please give them a warm welcome.

  This should be interesting and I will do my best to track them down and follow every single word they write in the forums. It is what we do here and the PMs know it, which is why AdWordsPro said later in that thread that we should give the PMs some space and let them get accustomed to posting. AdWordsPro explained why:

  
  

  Truth is, I recall the first 25 or so posts as being pretty nerve-wracking - and I kept checking and re-checking every nuance of what I'd written, before I would finally post it. Then I'd go to the live post and read it and re-read it about a half dozen times - often finding typos...

  Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

  
  

• 

  WebmasterWorld Builds Their Own Search Engine

  Posted: April 20th, 2010, 3:09pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  SEO Forum News  

  Brett Tabke, owner and founder of the popular WebmasterWorld forums, announced in a thread that they have built their own search engine to help forum users locate content within the forums. Brett explained that this new search engine took them about a "couple months work" and they are "very proud of it."

  You can access the new search feature at webmasterworld.com/newsearch.cgi. Keep in mind, non-subscribers are allowed a maximum of 10 searches per day. According to the search page, the current size of the index is 954,078,091 bytes (909.87MB). It also is neat in that AltaVista standard boolean syntax is indeed supported.

  Again, this is not WebmasterWorld competing with Google or Bing, but rather them building an internal search engine to help their users find content on WebmasterWorld. I have captured two screenshots for archival purposes.

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

  
  

• 

  Search Market Share Reports Show Google Losing & Bing Gaining?

  Posted: April 12th, 2010, 2:47pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  Both Hitwise and comScore released their search marketing share reports this past week. Both showed Bing growing and Google not from the previous month, in fact, Google has lost share for the "fourth straight month" according to Hitwise.

  Here is the Hitwise breakdown:

  Here is the comScore:

  Yea, Google still has a dominate lead, but it does look like Bing is chipping away slowly and slowly.

  Forum discussion at (the very pro Bing forum) WebmasterWorld.

  
  

• 

  No Easter Logo At Google Again

  Posted: April 4th, 2010, 7:27pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  It has been at least five years since Google placed a Google Easter logo around Easter time on their pages. This year is no exception, if you visit Google.com, you won't see a special Google logo or Doodle for Easter. As you can imagine, there are many people upset with Google over this lack of a logo. I have linked to threads and threads of people complaining below.

  Bing, Ask.com and Dogpile have special logos and themes up for the day - Yahoo does not. Here they are:

  Here are the past year logos from Easter 2009 and Easter 2008.

  Happy Easter and here are the complaint threads.

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

  
  

• 

  Google & Other's April Fools 2010 Jokes

  Posted: April 1st, 2010, 3:14pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  I am keeping a running list of Google and other search related sites April Fools jokes at Search Engine Land. So please check out that post for more on the various jokes.

  My favorite are the 3D ones, especially since YouTube is really 3D and they went text only. Of course, Google changed their name.

  Plus a lot more.

  Forum discussion at Google Blogoscoped, Google Maps Help, WebmasterWorld, DigitalPoint Forums, Google Web Search Help and Google Webmaster Help.

  
  

• 

  Why SEOs Got Into SEO? Poll Results

  Posted: March 31st, 2010, 2:44pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  A couple weeks ago, I asked why did you get into SEO and since I am posting poll results this week, I figured I'd share the results the day I am offline. Now, we had over 400 responses, exactly 444 responses at the time I am posting this, so it is a nice number.

  Here is the break down:

  • 20% said Love The Dynamic Nature of the Industry
  • 18% said Wanted My Site Higher in Search Engines
  • 13% said For The Money
  • 12% said they Migrated From the Web Design Field
  • 11% said they Love The Competition
  • 10% said an Other answer.. which I will share below
  • 9% said they had a Client Wanted Their Site Higher in Search Engines
  • 8% said they Love The Community

  Here is another view of the results:

  Here are some of the "other answers":

  Other Text

  Just happened

  Alternative to PPC

  Needed more challenge

  by accident, love it now

  was toled by my boss to learn it- and fell in love

  Love being @ the intersection of marketing, language, IA, UX, social media, etc.

  lifelong learner - and SEO is going to satisfy that for the rest of my life!

  i like to conquer things...and it was something that i wanted to tackle.

  unique mix, marketing and analytics

  Internet Marketing

  I was a copywriter

  Unwillingly

  To help my customers earn more from their sites

  Pure Web Dev is boring

  Stumbled into it

  Got offered a job from a friend and fell into it.

  Was a librarian and am interested in good old fashioned 'information retrie

  Migrated from Marketing field.

  It's a must for small biz owner

  Job opportunity

  Because the work results can be measured

  Migrated from Sales

  Because I did not know any better

  Migrated from the web DEVELOPMENT field

  It was an accident.

  It feeds into most other facets of online marketing

  Accidentally fell into it

  Because I'm a huge geek and enjoy the evolution of technology in search.

  Technology

  I didnt chose the game, the game chose me

  tired of seeing my copywriting clients getting screwed.

  just fell into it

  Used to be a translator, wanted to try something new!

  get out of customer service

  None of your business

  offered a job in it

  was bored

  First job I got offered when I moved, now love it!

  Company I joined needed a SEO so I learnt how :)

  Worked as a developer and got offered the opportunity of a move - now love it!

  Natural final step in web development

  help small businesses / sites reach a larger audience

  Migrated from Web editor (content field)

  Had no other choice

  The Non-Profit I worked for needed a cheap way to market online - hooked forever

  The chicks, man, the chicks

  Forum discussion continued at HighRankings Forums.

  
  

• 

  SEO's Now Critique TopSEOs.com

  Posted: March 31st, 2010, 2:21pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  The other day, SEOs went after VerifiedSEO.com and over took it. Now, Edward Lewis is asking "when did TOPSEOs become an Independent Authority on Search Vendors?"

  Most SEO companies have received an email from TopSEOs in the past. I know I personally received a bunch, basically rewarding my company for being a top SEO company. The thing is, I always deleted them because they seemed spammy. It turns out, this is a real company doing real work. The question is, how good are they are what they do?

  We have some feedback on them at the Sphinn thread and most of those that chimed in, didn't think they were very much of a creditable SEO evaluation company.

  Jill Whalen said:

  My experience with them was that when they were brand new, they listed my company, High Rankings, in their top 10. There was no payment involved as I believe they were brand new, or fairly new.

  Then they send me emails to let me know, which also told me I should promote the fact that I was listed.

  They even sent snail mail that provided ways to promote the fact that my company was listed. I believe the materials may have also provided ways in which I could advertise my company with them.

  I threw it all in the trash.

  So I decided to find my company, which does NOT offer SEO services. I found my company listed not once, but under two different profiles. The first shows my company, again, which does not offer SEO services, as ranking in the top 6 for the past few months.

  Now, these aren't "SEO" rankings but rather "Web development" rankings, which my company does offer.

  • #6 - Best Web Development Company, March 2010.
  • #6 - Best Web Development Company, February 2010.
  • #6 - Best Web Development Company, January 2010.

  Do you think this is legit? Someone did interview the owner just recently at a search event:

  So what do you think?

  Forum discussion at Sphinn.

  This was written on March 29th and scheduled to go live March 31st.

  
  

• 

  St. Patrick's Day Logos from Google, Yahoo, Bing & Others

  Posted: March 17th, 2010, 2:46pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! We typically post a collection of the various logos from the search industry, including Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask and others for the special day. To see the past years logo see our 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005 and 2004 archives.

  Now, for the 2010 logos for St. Patrick's Day:

  Google:

  Yahoo:

  Bing:

  Ask.com:

  Orkut:

  PPC Hero:

  Search Engine Roundtable:

  This year, DogPile and AOL do not seem to have special logos up. DogPile is sporting a March Madness suited up dog.

  Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

  Update: DogPile added a logo for the day a bit later:

  
  

• 

  Why Did You Get into the SEO Field?

  Posted: March 17th, 2010, 2:35pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  A HighRankings Forums thread asks a fun question, why did you get into the SEO field? I decided to tweet the question via @rustybrick and I received some quick responses. The purpose of the tweet was to try to create a generic poll, which I could use to post here and get a larger set of responses.

  Here is the poll, I hope I am not missing any answers.

  
  Why Did You Get Into SEO?poll

  You can select more than one answer. Please have your friends and colleagues take the poll as well. I will publish the results in a week or two.

  Forum discussion at HighRankings Forums.

  
  

• 

  Why The SEO Industry Is Special

  Posted: March 16th, 2010, 3:04pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  I have been part of the SEO industry for a pretty long time now. The thing is, I really don't offer SEO services, but yet, I still write about the industry, cover the news and go to the industry gatherings. The question I am asked about this is why? Why bother if you don't sell SEO?

  I always come back to the industry and how special it is. There is something about the people in the industry. The giving nature of the industry. The excitement of the technical aspects of the industry. I personally get a great deal of satisfaction covering the industry that I don't think I would get in other industries.

  I want to point to one example of why the industry is so special. Yesterday I covered this at Search Engine Land under the title Meet The 25-Year-Old Who Saved “SEO” From Being Trademarked.

  In summary, some guy wanted to trademark the term SEO about two years ago. I blogged about it, made a big fuss but then forgot about it. I assumed, wrongly, that it would never go through. But there are several people in the industry that did more than assume, they fought against it legally.
  SEOmoz, Jonathan Hochman, ArteWorks.biz and Rhea Drysdale all spent time and money fighting the guy. Ultimately, some failed and some dropped out, but Rhea and Jonathan stuck with the case. Jonathan's case failed but Rhea's actually won and the trademark application was refused - this time.

  Rhea and the others did this to protect the industry. They did not ask for money or for compassion, they just did what they felt was right. SEMPO and other organizations that are here to protect the industry didn't do it - it was Rhea and a few others.

  Jonathan spent $10,000 of his own money and Rhea spent over $17,000 of her own money. She didn't even want me to get people to donate to her for her expenses. We (the Search Engine Land team) conned her into it and she gave us her PayPal address, which is rhea_drysdale@yahoo.com (please donate something).

  How the industry responded was amazing. In less than 12 hours, Rhea told me she collected $14,000. She will split much of it with Jonathan. It still doesn't reach the total of $27,000 in legal costs, but I think it will get there. Only 80 people donated at my last count, so there are many of you holding out. Give $5, $100, $1,000 - whatever you can.

  Why is the SEO industry so special?

  (1) We protect ourselves without asking for anything in return.
  (2) We come together when it is the right thing to do.

  I am proud to be part of such an industry, and industry with people like Rhea and Jonathan and those that support them.

  Forum discussion at Sphinn.

  
  

• 

  Google Help Forums To Change Member Ranking System

  Posted: March 8th, 2010, 1:03pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  SEO Forum News  

  The Google Web Search Help, Google News Help & Google Merchant Center Help forums all are announcing new changes coming to how forum members are ranked in these forums.

  Currently, the member titles or levels are from Level 1 to Level 4. Some users get special titles, such as top contributors and/or certified professionals, or even Googler's get a special label, labeling them as Googlers. I do not believe the labels will be changing, but the levels will.

  Instead of the 4 levels, there will be 20 levels. Your level will increase based on"

  • Posting an answer
  • Having your answer selected as the "best answer"
  • Having your post rated as helpful
  • Rating a post (either as helpful or not)
  • Correctly marking a question or answer as spam.

  I believe the levels determine what rights you have in the forums. By rights, I mean, can the profile show an avatar? Can they have clickable links? Stuff like that. Each forum sets the rights per level themselves and how hard it is to reach a level as well. So while the Google News forum might be easier to get to a higher level, it might take longer to post a clickable link.

  The levels are by forum, so if you have a Level 15 in the Google Webmaster forum, it doesn't mean you have the same level in the Google AdWords forum.

  Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help, Google News Help & Google Merchant Center Help.

  
  

• 

  Facts For Webmasters & Advertisers: Yahoo Out Of Search, Bing Takes Over

  Posted: February 19th, 2010, 2:25pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  It is official, Yahoo and Microsoft have approval to move forward with their search deal and they are not wasting any time with that. You can read many of the stories on Techmeme to catch up, but let me quote the official press release, at least a snippet:

  SUNNYVALE, Calif. & REDMOND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT - News) and Yahoo! (Nasdaq:YHOO - News) announced today that they have received clearance for their search agreement, without restrictions, from both the U.S. Department of Justice and the European Commission, and will now turn their attention to beginning the process of implementing the deal.

  Implementation of the deal is expected to begin in the coming days and will involve transitioning Yahoo!’s algorithmic and paid search platforms to Microsoft, with Yahoo! becoming the exclusive relationship sales force for both companies’ premium search advertisers globally. Once the transition is completed, the companies’ unified search marketplace will deliver improved innovation for consumers, better volume and efficiency for advertisers and better monetization opportunities for web publishers through a platform that contains a larger pool of search queries.

  Important Facts for Webmasters & Advertisers:

  • Algorithmic search on Yahoo will be powered by Bing in the United States by the end of 2010.
  • Search advertisers will be migrated from YSM to adCenter prior to the 2010 holiday season, but may wait until 2011.
  • All global customers and partners are expected to be transitioned by early 2012.
  • Yahoo BOSS, Search Monkey & SiteExplorer are all still up in the air but if Yahoo is not crawling the web, Bing would have to build out their own tools going forward.
  • Also, check out the Yahoo Transition Center for additional details

  Of course, most of you know my thoughts about where this puts Yahoo. Yahoo, in my opinion, is out of search now. And most of you agree, the poll we ran a week or so ago, has over a hundred responses (see poll pie chart above) and 60% said Yahoo is not in search, 20% are hoping they are but are unsure. Just sad.

  Forum discussion at many places:

  • Search Deal Approved, WebmasterWorld
  • Microsoft-Yahoo search deal approved, DigitalPoint Forums
  • Yahoo and Adcenter Announcement, Search Engine Watch Forums
  • Microsoft And Yahoo! Team Up To Take On Google, HighRankings Forums
  • The Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance, Search Engine Watch Forums
  • The Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance, DigitalPoint Forums
  • The Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance, WebmasterWorld
  • Yahoo & Bing = ???, Google AdWords Help

  
  

• 

  Facebook Sent More Traffic to Yahoo & MSN Than Google: Is It Bad SEO?

  Posted: February 16th, 2010, 2:17pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  Compete released statistics, which I do not see published on their site yet, saying that Facebook is now sending more traffic to major portals such as Yahoo and MSN, than Google sends to those portals. You can read about this at SFGate.com but here is a quote:

  According to Web measurement firm Compete Inc., Facebook has passed search-engine giant Google to become the top source for traffic to major portals like Yahoo and MSN, and is among the leaders for other types of sites.

  This trend is shifting the way Web site operators approach online marketing, even as Google takes steps to move into the social-media world.

  There is a lot of discussion around this report at WebmasterWorld. Some find this really hard to believe and some do not. Some fault MSN's and Yahoo's SEO efforts (no offense to the SEOs there). Here are some quotes from the thread:

  How many links have you clicked on that a friend has added into their Facebook status? Not that many I guess. Maybe Yahoo and MSN need to focus more strongly on their own SEO?

  Not all traffic is created equal.

  In fact I don't even want the looky-loo type of visitor costing me money by clicking just to have a look. An interested buyer who's taking the time to search for something on the other hand, yes please.

  Compete let's you compare traffic of sites, here is an embedded chart comparing visitors to Google and Facebook. Look at the growth:

  Personally, I still think Google will dominate the traffic to most sites. The major portals have more "real time" content that is privy to Facebook clicks. But most web sites depend more on Google for less real time content - not that Google does not handle real time content - but you get my point.

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

  
  

• 

  Vancouver 2010 Olympic Logos from Google, Yahoo, Bing & Others

  Posted: February 12th, 2010, 3:03pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  The 2010 Winter Olympics kick off tonight in Vancouver and some of the search engines are already sporting their special logos for the event. Google, Yahoo, Bing and others have their logos up. We will post what is live now below and continue to add to them as other search engines create their logos.

  Google:

  It may be the widest Google logo in their history at 760 pixels wide.

  Yahoo:

  Bing:

  I am sure more search engines, like Ask.com and others will begin to post their logos. I hope to post our theme later today as well.

  Search Engine Roundtable:

  Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help & WebmasterWorld.

  
  

• 

  Condolences To Bing's Brett Yount

  Posted: February 12th, 2010, 2:31pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  This site has always been about the community. I try to share educational insights, news details, plus have fun when appropriate. I also have shared sad events that impact significant people in our industry, because - we are one large community that is impacted by the people around us.

  Recently, I asked where did the Bing webmaster representative, Brett Yount, go? He basically went off the forums and we didn't hear from him for a few weeks. It turned out that Brett lost his father in January and he took some bereavement time off.

  In a Bing Community thread, Brett shared this very personal event with the community. He wrote:

  Hi all,

  I was given some bereavement leave after my Father passed at the beginning of January.

  Thank you for your concern.

  Firstly, I would like to wish you and your family condolences on behalf of the search industry.

  There are times that I have personally said some negative things about what you say in the forums. So I would like to apologize, if any of that was taken personally. You were sorely missed during the leave and it shows how important your work is to the community at large.

  Thanks for everything and may you only have happy occasions in the future.

  Forum discussion at Bing Community.

  
  

• 

  Google Buys Aardvark, You Surprised?

  Posted: February 12th, 2010, 2:23pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  Google News Press  

  Yesterday, TechCrunch broke the news that Aardvark, a human powered answer engine, was purchased by Google. Google confirmed the deal, but did not confirm the $50 million price tag associated with the deal.

  Aardvark basically allows you to send the network a question. It will then look at your network of people, figure out who is best to answer the question you asked and send them the question via IM, email or Twitter. If (big if) someone replies with an answer, it will then return you the answer via IM, email or Twitter. I used it a lot in the past, because it is a neat idea - but it didn't really stick with me for one reason or another.

  In any event, Google bought them. Why? Maybe for the talent, the people? Maybe for the technology? I am not sure. To be honest, I was a bit surprised by this acquisition - but clearly I don't see the big picture here.

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld & DigitalPoint Forums.

  
  

Emily Chang

• 

  Emily Chang in Forbes’ 20 Inspiring Women on Twitter

  Posted: February 9th, 2010, 12:03pm CET by Emily Chang

  Tags:  News  

  Halle Tecco’s piece at Forbes, 20 Inspiring Women To Follow On Twitter, highlights ”women with a skill for putting their hearts and complex issues into 140 characters.” Of Ideacodes co-founder, Emily Chang, she says: “@EmilyChang is a designer and entrepreneur in San Francisco. Her twitter stream is full of fascinating and creative links to all things design–giving followers reasons to think outside the box.”

Search Engine Roundtable

• 

  Search Continues to Grow: Showing 46% Growth YoY, comScore

  Posted: January 25th, 2010, 2:19pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  comScore released their search growth report and it showed searches have grown 46% worldwide. The U.S. grew 22% from December 2008 to December 2009, with 22.7 billion searches. China followed with 13.3 billion searches, but only grew 13% year over year.

  Google took account of 66.8% of those searches, with 87.8 billion searches worldwide, and a growth rate overall of 58%. That is not too bad, although little Microsoft saw a spike of 70% in search share from last year to this year. Here are the charts and also make sure to read Search Engine Land for more analysis:

  Forum discussion at two WebmasterWorld threads.

  
  

• 

  SEO ≠ Search Engine Optimization, Rather Strategically Elevating Optimization

  Posted: January 22nd, 2010, 2:24pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  Yesterday, the HuoMah blog uncovered a new person trying to trademark the term SEO. Yes, this was not the first person, see here for the other. I then wrote about it, with Danny Sullivan, at Search Engine Land.

  It turns out that this guy is not looking to trademark the term SEO as Search Engine Optimization. Even though this guy's company is under the DBA of "Search Engine Partner." Instead, he is claiming that he coined the acronym SEO for the term Strategically Elevating Optimization back in September 23, 1996 with first commercial use on September 24, 1999.

  So there you have it, from now on, when you say SEO you cannot think Search Engine Optimization. Instead, he wants you to think SEO means Strategically Elevating Optimization.

  Either case, I doubt this guy will win a trademark on that term, but what do I know.

  Forum discussion at Sphinn.

  
  

• 

  Martin Luther King, Jr Logo from Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask, Dogpile & Othersin 2010

  Posted: January 18th, 2010, 3:15pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  Every year, the search engines post special logos for Martin Luther King, Jr. This year is no different, we have logos from Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask.com, Dogpile and others. MLK, Martin Luther Kind, Jr needs no explanation. It is a legal US holiday today and a day celebrated by many around the world. Here are the logos:

  Google's MLK Logo:

  Yahoo's Flash MLK logo:

  Bing's MLK Theme:

  Ask.com's MLK Theme:

  DogPile:

  Search Engine Roundtable:

  Also see the 2009 MLK logos and 2008 MLK logos for a bit of the history with these logos and doodles.

  Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help.

  
  

• 

  Should Search Engines Be Immune to Copyright Infringement?

  Posted: January 15th, 2010, 2:12pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  A new bill in the UK Parliament named the Digital Economy Bill [HL] 2009-10 is proposing to give search engines, such as Google, a form of immunity against being sued over copyright infringement. It is a bit more complex than that but overall, if you want your content out of the search engines, block them - otherwise, you can't sue them over copyright law.

  A Sphinn thread is pretty heated over the topic. Primarily between Michael Gray and Danny Sullivan. Let me quote some of the conversation:

  Danny Sullivan in response to Michael Gray:

  Yeah, yeah, simmer down there troll boy :)

  So the actual article this is talking about from The Guardian says this proposal also says:

  The presumption (of having an automatic license) may be rebutted by explicit evidence that such a licence was not granted. Such explicit evidence shall be found only in the form of statements in a machine-readable file to be placed on the website and accessible to providers of search engine services.

  In other words, this gives robots.txt legal backing. You block that way, search engines can't index you. Fair enough. I mean, that's how things have worked for ages with the respected search engines. But if some rogue spider copied you, you couldn't easily claim a copyright violation because robots.txt had no force of law. Now, you could sue saying they'd been restricted and still indexed your content.

  Michael Gray in response to Danny Sullivan:

  being a troll boy ;-) and not a lawyer I may be missing something, but this seems pretty clear...

  In other words, Google would be free to copy everything - but a publisherblocking search spiders with a robots.txt file would be taken as withholding that right. An explicit "fair use" provision, which Google often cites against copyright-abuse claims, does not exist in UK law.

  Google can copy whatever it wants, unless you block it with robots, so if you want to retain you copyright then you do so by slitting your own throat for search engine traffic. That just doesn't make any sense for anyone ... except google.

  The debate goes on and on in the thread, so if you are in a troll/rant mood or if you just find the topic interesting, do check it out.

  Forum discussion at Sphinn.

  
  

• 

  Jill Whalen Takes a Look at 10 Past Years of SEO

  Posted: January 7th, 2010, 2:05pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  I love it when you have the old geezers (in the SEO world, that means 10 years old), take a look in the past at how the industry has evolved. Danny Sullivan has done it and so have others. I personally have only been covering search for over six years, but I have been involved in the web development since I was 16, which was in 1996 (yea, I turn 30 this year).

  In any event, Jill Whalen posted her A Decade of 21st Century SEO. She goes through each year, starting in 2000, and pulls out her notes of SEO thoughts and best quotes for that year. I cannot summarize them all, and although it is 10 years long, it is a quick and fun read. So make sure to check it out.

  There is a Sphinn thread on the topic as well. Danny Sullivan let the cat out of the bag that his decade in search post will be out over the weekend. He is currently up to 2007.

  I'll just end this post with a quote from her ending remarks:

  It's important to note that my ideal of SEO even before the year 2000 has always assumed that search engines will someday be perfect. Through the years, Google has given credence to my mantra during the times when they haven't allowed the crap-hat SEO stuff to work. By the same token, they have also made me look silly at the times when it does still work. My hope is that Google (or any other search engine) never gives up trying to find the best, most relevant results for their users – the searchers – because my SEO methods are based on that ideal.

  There are only a few in this industry who have stood up, given themselves to the community for as long as she has. I won't name them all, but Jill deserves huge credit for not just practicing SEO for over 10 years, but for being involved in the industry, actively, every day, for the past 10 years plus. You can't say that about many people in the industry.

  Thank you Jill.

  Forum discussion at Sphinn.

  
  

• 

  2010 New Year Logos from Search Engines: Yahoo, Bing, Ask.com & Google

  Posted: December 31st, 2009, 2:48pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  Typically, I compile the New Years logos from the various search engines and search industry on New Years Day, but most of the search engines, with the exception of Google, have the logos out already. So here are the 2010 New Years logos. If any of them update and when Google adds there logo, I will update this post.

  Google:

  Yahoo (Animated):

  Yahoo (Static):

  Bing:

  AOL:

  Ask.com:

  DogPile:

  Baidu:

  Clicker:

  Sogou:

  Zuula:

  Cre8asite Forums:

  Search Engine Roundtable (that's us):

  For the past year's logos, see: New Years 2009, New Years 2008, New Years 2007, Google's 2006 logo, Search Engine Roundtable's 2006 logo, Ask's 2005 logo, and Cre8asite's 2005.

  Forum discussion currently at Search Engine Roundtable Forums, Bing Forums, HighRankings Forums, Google Webmaster Help, WebmasterWorld and Cre8asite Forums.

  
  Update: Remember the I'm Feeling Lucky Google Countdown feature? Well, at midnight, when you click it, this is what it looks like: Via websonic.nl...

  
  

• 

  Sphinn Closes Submissions Over New Years Weekend

  Posted: December 31st, 2009, 2:00pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  SEO Forum News  

  Sphinn announced they are closing the site to submissions from 5:00 pm PT on December 31st through about 9:00 am PT on Monday, January 4th.

  Matt McGee, the Sphinn Editor, explained the reason for them taking down the submissions capability:

  Over the Christmas weekend, we found that just about the only things being submitted to Sphinn were spam. Since we're expecting the New Year's weekend to be similar, we've decided to just turn the submission form off for a few days.

  Also, it means - just relax - enjoy the down time and rest up for an awesome 2010! Easier said then done, eh?

  Forum discussion at Sphinn.

  
  

• 

  Merry Christmas All & Googlers Working Today

  Posted: December 25th, 2009, 2:22pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  Merry Christmas! Although I have about five items to write about today, I figured I hold off on them until Monday. Trust me, I know how it is to be swamped and buried in feeds and news to catch up on while I am celebrating a Jewish holiday - so I will spare you all. Plus, I finally am making the move to Google Chrome, using Chromium on my Mac - so it is nice to take it slow to get up to speed on it.

  If you are reading today, make sure to check out our Christmas logos for 2009, which I just updated this morning to add several more logos from other search engines. In short, there are logos from Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask.com, and many others - so check it out.

  In addition, I caught Googlers working on Christmas again. For the past few years, I have caught Googlers helping webmasters in the forums. This year is no different. JohnMu from Google posted in at least two threads on Christmas eve. One was the Merry Christmas Google thread and the other was a more technical webmaster question. Googlers did the same in 2008, 2007 and 2006. They also worked on New Years last year and the year before.

  Finally, I will be working on my weekly search video recap today. Expect it to go live later today and you can watch (or just listen to) it at your leisure.

  Merry Christmas and in our tradition, forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums, Cre8asite Forums, Google Toolbar Help, HighRankings Forums, WebmasterWorld, DigitalPoint Forums, Google Maps Help, Google AdWords Help & Google Webmaster Help.

  
  

• 

  Christmas Logos From Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask & Others

  Posted: December 24th, 2009, 1:31pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  Merry Christmas Search Engine Roundtable readers! I believe most of the search engines have their special logos or themes live today. They include a handful of logos from Google, an animated logo from Yahoo, an awesome picture from Bing, a sweet Ask.com theme, DogPile's fun dress up and more from the industry.

  Google began their logo blitz on the first day of Winter. While, we had Winter themes from YouTube, Bing and others, Google started with "the holidays." Calling it "The Holidays" made some Christians upset, mostly those in the U.K. Also, Google did not have a Chanukah logo like Bing or Ask did.

  In any event, here are pictures of the Christmas logos, but this time I will end with Google, since they have so many:

  Yahoo (animated) Christmas logo:
  

  Yahoo (static) Christmas logo:

  Bing's Christmas Theme:

  December 24th:
  

  December 25th:
  

  Ask.com's Christmas Theme:

  DogPile's Christmas Theme:

  Baidu's Christmas Logo:

  Quintura's Christmas Logo:

  Clicker Christmas Logo:

  Sogou Christmas Logo:

  FriendFeed Christmas logo:

  Zuula Christmas Logo:

  BruceClay Christmas Logo:

  Cre8asite Christmas Logo:

  Search Engine Roundtable Christmas Theme:

  Google's Christmas / Holiday Logos (so far four):

  #1:

  #2:

  #3:

  #4:

  #5:

  I'll update this post when I find more logos from the search industry.

  For the past year's holiday and Christmas logos, see our posts from 2008, the 2007 logos, plus Google's five logos, 2006 logos, Cre8asite in 2005, also '05 Search Engine Roundtable and '05 Google, Yahoo and Ask, plus we have 2004 and some of 2003 archived for you.

  Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums, Cre8asite Forums, Google Toolbar Help, HighRankings Forums, WebmasterWorld, DigitalPoint Forums, Google Maps Help, Google AdWords Help & Google Webmaster Help.

  
  

• 

  Google Holiday Logos, Also Yahoo, Bing & YouTube Winter Logos

  Posted: December 21st, 2009, 2:04pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  The next two weeks are typically the slowest two weeks in the search industry (and probably most other industries). It is the holiday week, with Christmas and New Years coming, as well as it being the first day of Winter today.

  Google already started their holiday logo blast, although Google missed Chanukah this year, they are calling the logos "Holiday logos". You will be able to see a new one every day and Google will archive them at google.com/logos/holidays-2009.html. Here is the first one:

  Like I said, Google will have a new logo each day (maybe I will update this post here or make a new one for those).

  Google # 2:

  Yahoo is running a flash based logo also for the past few days:

  But today is actually the first day of Winter here on our side of the world. And for the day, we have a nice theme from Bing, YouTube and from ourselves as well:

  Bing Winter:
  

  YouTube Winter:
  

  Search Engine Roundtable Winter:

  Happy holidays, cold winter and relaxing/healthy next two weeks.

  Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums and Google Web Search Help.

  
  

• 

  Chanukah 2009 Logos from Bing & SERoundtable

  Posted: December 11th, 2009, 3:13pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  Chanukah (Hanukah) starts tonight, technically, in Israel it is already Chanukah. It last for eight days and this year it does not overlap with Christmas. Currently, the only major search engine to have a logo or theme up is Microsoft's Bing. Google (even Google.co.il), Yahoo, and Ask.com do not have a theme up yet. Maybe they will wait for tonight or tomorrow, but for now, here is Bing's theme:

  We also have theme, sporting driedels with SEO spelled on them out of our name, the Search Engine rOundtable.

  Also, Cre8asite Forums plans on uploading this logo shortly for the holiday season:

  We will update this post with more logos if they come out. For the past years, see 2008, 2007 and 2006.

  Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

  Update: Ask.com posted a theme on Saturday, December 12th, see Nick's comment below:

  No logo from Google, Yahoo or others.

  
  

• 

  Tony Ruscoe, Popular SEM Personality, to Join Google

  Posted: December 8th, 2009, 3:13pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  SEO Forum News  

  Tony Ruscoe, the co-editor at Google Blogoscoped has confirmed he will be joining the Google team next month. Tony has been writing at Google Blogoscoped since 2006, he has broken so many stories by digging deep into Google and finding tons of hidden treasures.

  Tony is becoming a Googler in January 2010. He will be working in Google's London office as part of the Google Webmaster Team. He said he is not exactly sure what he will be working on at Google yet, but likely in the same role as JohnMu who also joined Google from the webmaster ranks back in August 2007. John has been a huge asset to the webmaster community before and even more so after joining Google.

  Googlers are obviously delighted to have Tony join the team there. A Google Blogoscoped Forums thread has comments from Googlers. Matt Cutts said, "w00t! I'm so excited that you're joining Google. :) I can see it now: "Day 1: Clean up the home page a bit. Make sure it's smaller but validates. Day 2: ..." :)" JohnMu said:

  Congratulations, Tony! I'm excited to see that you're coming aboard & really looking forward to catching you in London or perhaps on a visit to the Zuerich office :-).

  Tom, if you have worked out how cloning works, I have a list of names ... :-)

  Tony, the webmasters will miss you as being part of the team but I am sure we will all benefit more from you moving over to Google.

  Forum discussion at Google Blogoscoped Forums.

  
  

• 

  Vote for Your Favorite Internet Marketer: Search Marketer

  Posted: December 6th, 2009, 12:47pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  SEMs should do their best to represent search marketers in this top 100 marketers vote. There are lots of Internet marketers listed on this list, some are SEOs and SEMs, so go vote for them.

  Shameless plug: If you like, vote for me, I may have the most hats on that list:

  Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable, Search Engine Land, RustyBrick (@Rustybrick)

  If you do not like me, then vote for another SEM. Keep it in the family!

  Forum discussion at Sphinn.

  
  

• 

  Sphinn's New Editor, Matt McGee & Rob Kerry Steps Down

  Posted: December 2nd, 2009, 2:45pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  SEO Forum News  

  Sphinn has a new News Editor, his name is Matt McGee, I am sure you have heard of him. Matt is a huge U2 fan, loves SEO (especially local SEO), he is the assignment editor at Search Engine Land and is now the new Sphinn News Editor. He replaces Rob Kerry who has been Sphinn's news editor for over two years now.

  Both Rob and Matt are loved in the community. Rob promises in a Sphinn thread that he will continue to be active in the community. Rob said:

  I'm sad to announce that I will be stepping down as Editor of Sphinn, as of today. I will however continue to take an active part in the Sphinn community and will stay on as part of the Moderator team.

  Rob then announced Matt as his successor in another Sphinn thread:

  Please join me in welcoming Sphinn's new Editor, Matt McGee. Matt is a familiar face to Sphinn, having already served as a Moderator and now moving up to manage the site overall.

  Good to know Rob isn't going far! Best of luck Matt in the new role!

  Forum discussion at Sphinn - Rob Leaving & Sphinn - Matt Joining.

  
  

• 

  Google, Yahoo & Ask Honor World AIDS Day

  Posted: December 1st, 2009, 2:44pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  If you visit Google, Yahoo or Ask.com today, you will see they are all honoring World AIDS Day with a red bow on their logo or on their home page. Bing, AOL, DogPile and others seem to be missing the mention today (we may put something up later).

  Google has a ribbon under the search box which links to google.org/world-aids-day-2009.html (yes, Google.org):

  Yahoo has an animated logo which links to yahoo.com/worldaidsday/:

  Flash Version:

  Static Version:

  Ask.com is the only one linking to a search result (go figure):

  Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help.

  
  

• 

  Thanksgiving Greetings 2009 From Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask & Search Industry

  Posted: November 26th, 2009, 2:10pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  Happy Thanksgiving everyone, it is my favorite holiday. As you can imagine, the search news (as in all news) will be slow today, so here is a look at today's special logos, themes and designs from our industry. We have logos from Google, Yahoo, AOL, Bing, Ask and others in the search industry. For the past years logos, see 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005 and 2004 logos.

  Here are 2009's Thanksgiving Day Logos:

  Google:

  Yahoo (Flash):
  

  AOL (Flash):
  

  Bing:
  

  Ask.com:
  

  Dogpile:
  

  Cre8asite Forums:
  

  PPC Heros:
  

  Search Engine Roundtable (us):
  

  Again, For the past years logos, see 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005 and 2004 logos.

  Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

  
  

• 

  Danny Sullivan Looks Back at Starting Search Marketing Conferences

  Posted: November 19th, 2009, 2:34pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  Yesterday, Danny Sullivan wrote an article named 10 Years Ago: The First Search Marketing Conference, A Retrospective. The article is a must read for everyone who is a daily reader of this site.

  In short, Danny talks about how the first search marketing conference came about. He also talks about the various sessions they hosted then. Including many of the panelists who still talk today at his conferences. Yes, the first conference in search marketing was in 1999 and Google's founders were on a panel as the "small search engine."

  While the agenda listed Larry Page as speaking, Sergey was also there. He either joined Larry or replaced him at the last minute. Some conference veterans remember how Sergey rollerskated on stage. Actually, he did that a year later, joking about new Google technologies and demoing his shoes with pop-out wheels.

  We didn't start covering search conferences until 2003, four years after the first search conference. Wow, has the time flown by and has this industry changed or has it?

  Forum discussion at Sphinn.

  
  

• 

  New Google Support Forums Turns One & Adds Profile Answers

  Posted: September 29th, 2009, 4:51pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  SEO Forum News  

  It has been just over a year since Google opened the new Google help forums. The official date seemed to be the Google Talkabout forum in September 25, 2008, but most Google services didn't move over until later. The Google Webmaster Help forum didn't move until December 2008 and the Google Reader forum didn't move until last week.

  The forum received many updates since the launch. The most significant was the redesign last August. Today, I was told by Googler, JohnMu that one of my pet peeves of the forum has been resolved.

  Now, Google support forum profiles have not just questions asked, but also answered posts. So if you leave answers on other people's threads, they are included in the profile of the user. There is no RSS feed yet, but this is a major benefit to me and helping me bring you some of the best discussions in these forums. For example, see JohnMu's profile and you will see both questions he started, plus threads he replied to (but did not start).

  Forum discussion continued in the original welcome thread at Google Webmaster Help.

  
  

Emily Chang

• 

  Ideacodes and Mind Over Media

  Posted: September 16th, 2009, 7:44am CEST by Emily Chang

  Tags:  News  

  Ideacodes is thrilled to be working with Mind Over Media, a team of content and creative experts whose clients include the New York Times, Harvard Business School, Estée Lauder and American Express. Ideacodes is providing a range of services for several of Mind Over Media’s projects, ranging from web strategy, UI and UX design, to open source development.

Search Engine Roundtable

• 

  Why "SEO Experts" Get a Bad Rep from Newbies

  Posted: August 20th, 2009, 3:54pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  SEO Forum News  

  I follow tons and tons of threads on SEO, SEM, Google, etc. I have been doing this for just about six years. One thing I often see is that there are people who want quick answers to why they don't rank well or how they can become rich in days. When they don't get the answer they like, they rant on how unhelpful the "experts" in the field are.

  A WebmasterWorld thread member, wheel, was very smart about his post. He initially posted a teaser saying, I built a site five years ago, did SEO for a month on it and it still ranks in the top ten for a competitive keyword with zero additional work. Of course, we all wanted to know how he did it and he strung us along. But that was part of his plan, his plan to get us listening so he can follow up and blast all us newbies. He said:

  The secret is, there is no secret. There are two themes that run through this and all the other forums, for years. The first is, everyone's looking for the latest trick or secret to ranking. The second theme is all the experts (at least the ones that I read) tell us to forget the glitter and develop proper backlinks.

  And people repeatedly don't like the answers from the experts - to forget the glitter and develop proper backlinks. We want a quick technical answer. We don't want to hear what basically means 'try working hard yourself'. The experts actually aren't holding back some big secret or the latest trick. They ARE telling you directly and specifically what to do. Hard work marketing your website is what gives high long term rankings, not some technical gimmick.

  It is true - SEO, money, happiness, etc, doesn't come easy - it requires work. Wheel, did explain how he got the site and his other sites to succeed in the search results, but it wasn't over night and it took work. For more on how he did it, read the thread and get to work.

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

  
  

Emily Chang

• 

  Emily Chang Cited in WE Magazine’s 100 Women Bloggers to Watch

  Posted: August 1st, 2009, 7:45am CEST by Emily Chang

  Tags:  News  

  Emily Chang, designer and co-founder of Ideacodes, has been included in WE Magazine’s 100 Women Bloggers to Watch in 2009. WE magazine is a “woman’s online magazine, an International Digital Business & Lifestyle Magazine that made it’s debut in the fall of 2006. Our focus is on the total woman. WE’s audience consists of women who want to explore great destinations, improve their outlook on life, learn quick and easy ways to get and stay healthy, fine out about the latest technology gadgets and information, get some networking tips, become inspired as they read about women making a difference in the world and even ideas for great entertaining and learn how to more effectively and efficiently market and promote their business on and off the web.” Thanks to Heidi Richards, publisher of WE.

Search Engine Roundtable

• 

  Poll: Should Search Updates Be Named?

  Posted: July 16th, 2009, 4:24pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  The Florida update, Vince/Brand update, April Fools update, Dewey update and so many more are code names for Google updates. We even named a few Yahoo updates, like the Tim update.

  A Google Webmaster Help thread asks what are these names all about? Well, typically nothing. Naming updates first came from WebmasterWorld, with the Boston update being named in 2003. Sometimes they are named after people, like the Tim update and Vince update. Sometimes they are named for places or events and sometimes by date and by type of update.

  The question is, do we need the names? I personally don't think the names are necessary, but they are nice to have, especially for big updates. Who doesn't remember the Florida update that shook the SEO space? Calling updates by names, gives it more character in my opinion. Some don't agree, what do you think? Take our anonymous poll:

  
  Should We Name Search Updates? (i.e. Florida Update)(polls)
  

  Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.

  
  

• 

  Sphinn 2.0 Launches On Two Year Anniversary

  Posted: July 14th, 2009, 3:38pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  SEO Forum News  

  A day after Sphinn's two year birthday, that is right, Sphinn was launched on July 12, 2007, version 2.0 of Sphinn was pushed live. Sphinn is the social forum-like site where SEOs and SEMs can submit stories or discussions, members can then vote and comment on those stores. It is a fairly popular site and it is pretty fun to use.

  The Sphinn Blog has the details on version 2.0 of Sphinn. Here are the main points:

  • New, cleaner look
  • Much improved moderation and spam controls
  • The removal of the “Discussion” option for submissions
  • My Network – Friend and follow the people you like
  • "Show Me" Filters – Only show submissions from My Network, or your favourite categories
  • Subscribe/Unsubcribe to stories that you’re interested in, with email notifications
  • Save stories that you enjoyed or want to come back to
  • My Sphinn – A one-stop dashboard for your network, important topics and an expanding list of blog content

  Also coming soon, but not yet live, are Private Discussions, Live Chat and a Members-Only directory.

  Here is a picture of Sphinn soon after it first launched in 2007:

  Here is Sphinn 2.0:

  Happy Birthday Sphinn!

  Forum discussion at Sphinn.

  
  

• 

  Father's Day '09 Logos From Google, Yahoo & Search Industry

  Posted: June 21st, 2009, 8:02am CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  This is my first time being a father for Father's Day, so it is a bit different for me now. I am about to go to sleep here on the East Coast but many of the logos from the search industry are live now. Including logos from Google, Yahoo, AOL, DogPile and others. Here is a quick run down, which I hope to update tomorrow, when more logos and themes go live (specifically from Bing and Ask.com).

  Google:
  

  Yahoo:
  

  AOL:
  

  DogPile:
  

  Bing:
  

  Ask.com:
  

  Cre8asite Forums:
  

  Search Engine Roundtable:
  

  For previous Father's Day logos from Google and the search industry, see our archives:
  

  • Father's Day Logos from 2008
  • Father's Day Logos from 2007
  • Father's Day Logos from 2004
  
  

  
  

• 

  Poll Results On How Google Views SEOs (Innocent or Guilty)

  Posted: June 19th, 2009, 2:07pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  A week ago, we asked our readers to vote on their thoughts on if Google sees SEOs as criminals. If you remember, this is based on the double-standard that some bloggers feel Google is placing on some groups over another group.

  With just under a 150 responses, I wanted to share how we (SEOs) perceive how Google sees us.

  Question: Does Google See SEOs as Criminals?

  :: Only Some Groups of SEOs said 77 respondents or 52%
  :: Yes said 43 respondents or 29%
  :: No said 25 respondents or 17%
  :: Other answer... said 3 respondents or 2%

  It is very interesting looking at how SEOs perceive how Google sees SEOs. Kind of a circular statement there, but you know what I mean.

  Forum discussion continued at Sphinn (Lisa), Sphinn (Michael) and Sphinn (Susan).

  
  

• 

  Does Google See SEOs as Criminals?

  Posted: June 10th, 2009, 3:22pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  The Nofollow PageRank sculpting topic was not the only heated debate at last week's SMX Advanced conference. We have some SEOs claiming Google sees all SEOs as criminals before being innocent.

  Michael Gray's How Google Profiles SEO’s and Lisa Barone's Google Openly Profiles SEOs As Criminals are both well written pieces arguing that Google doesn't treat SEOs equally to all personalities on the internet. Let me quote one section to sum it up, but honestly, you should read both pieces in their entirety.

  How does this show that Google is profiling SEO’s and not the rest of the blogging world? How else can you explain high profile A-List bloggers like Robert Scoble and Sarah Lacy accepting free all expense paid trips to Isreal and not getting penalized? How can Guy Kawasaki get “loaned” one, two, three cars in three years and still be within Google’s guidelines . How can “lending” Guy Kawasaki an Audi Q7 for three months in exchange for him blogging about it be OK but I can’t connect bloggers with people who want to give away a pair of sunglasses? Matt Cutt’s says “The closer you get to money for links, the higher risk we consider it”. Go to any rental car agency ask how much it is to rent an Audi Q7 for three months, you’ll have your answer how close it is to the money.

  On the other hand, Susan Esparza takes the opposite view in her piece named I Don't Like Conflict (But Google Doesn't Think SEOs are Criminals). Susan explains that SEO are rightly held to a higher standard, because SEOs are search professionals.

  I totally see both sides of the argument. I thought I conduct an anonymous poll asking our readers if they think Google see SEOs as criminals or not. Here is the poll, please have your friends take the poll:

  
  Does Google See SEOs as Criminals?(polls)
  

  Forum discussion at Sphinn (Lisa), Sphinn (Michael) and Sphinn (Susan).

  
  

• 

  What You Should Do With Black Hat SEOs?

  Posted: May 21st, 2009, 4:13pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  This is a great video posted at SEOptimise on what should Google do with black hat SEOs. The video interviews 50 SEOs at SES London.

  Really funny stuff - great job!

  Forum discussion at Sphinn.

  
  

• 

  Google AdSense Advisor Heads to Barbados for Vacation

  Posted: May 18th, 2009, 8:30pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  SEO Forum News  

  I love it how personal some people are in the SEO/SEM forums. It reminds me of the old days when the forums were like extended family for most of us. It many cases, that is still true, but as the industry has grown, we feel less of that.

  Case in points, a Googler, AdSenseAdvisor in WebmasterWorld first tells us that he/she will be on vacation for a week and there will be a fill in during that time. Here is the post:

  I'm taking some vacation next week, so I'll be away from Webmaster World 5/16-5/25. I have someone covering for me if you need anything in my absence, but I wanted to give you a heads up in case you notice a significant drop in snark compared to your usual ASA. :)

  Later on, he/she tells us that the vacation is in Barbados. Just reading the back and forth in the thread, reminds me of how forums should be.

  In any event, enjoy your trip AdSenseAdvisor, we will miss you - but you deserve the time off.

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

  
  

• 

  Poll: Do You (SEMs) Currently Have a Job?

  Posted: April 30th, 2009, 3:52pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  I wanted to run a quick poll to see how many of you are employed in this deep recession. The poll is completely anonymous and it would help others gauge how safe or unsafe the search marketing industry is during this recession. Please take the poll below and tell your friends to take it.

  
  SEMs: Are You Employed?(online surveys)
  

  A Search Engine Watch Forums thread seems to believe that the search marketing industry is doing excellent these days. In fact, this person says that there are plenty of job openings and very few skilled SEMs to fill those positions. Do you agree?

  Are you currently employed or looking for work in the SEM field? Please take the poll above and tell your colleagues and friends to take the poll.

  Forum discussion at Search Engine Watch Forums.

  
  

• 

  Optimizing Sites For Search Engines For 10 Years

  Posted: April 24th, 2009, 3:52pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  SEO Forum News  

  There aren't many people out there that can say they have been in the SEO industry and optimizing sites for search engines since 1999. But there are probably a hundred or so people who can say that. Personally, I joined the "SEO industry" in 2002 (been in the internet industry since 1995), what is known as the second wave of personalities who joined the industry. Danny Sullivan, Chris Sherman, Daron Babin, Greg Boser (I better stop naming names before I insult people) were part of the first wave - people who were in the industry before it may have been known as SEO.

  That being said, a YouMoz post named SEO Since 1999 takes you through the history of one quiet SEO, who was optimizing sites for ten plus years. Can you imagine? In any event, this write up should interest anyone who loves the industry.

  Here is the introductory paragraph:

  Monday, April 20th, 2009: Today I celebrate the completion of my first decade in search. I have been waiting for this day with some trepidation for the past 6 months or so. I am not really sure why or even what this anniversary really means. Does it mean that I am some sort of expert? Well, anything is possible. Or does it mean that I have wasted the past decade with little to show in an industry that my friends and family can hardly even understand? Hmm, I hope not. In truth, it means I not only have a job that I like, but a career that I love.

  Forum discussion at Sphinn.

• 

  '09 Earth Day Logos From Google, Yahoo, AOL & Others in Search Industry

  Posted: April 22nd, 2009, 1:21pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  Today is Earth Day and many of the search engines have created special logos to remind people of the day! We have Earth Day logos from Google, Yahoo, Microsoft's Live.com, AOL, Ask.com, DogPile and others!

  Google:
  

  Yahoo (animated):
  

  AOL (animated):
  

  Live.com:
  

  Ask.com:
  

  DogPile:
  

  Cre8asite Forums:
  

  Search Engine Roundtable:
  

  We covered the logos for the past several years including 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005 and 2004.

  Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums & Cre8asite Forums.

• 

  April Fools Day & Search Industry

  Posted: April 1st, 2009, 3:33pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  I wrote a big write up at Search Engine Land on the various search related April Fools gimmicks over here. Here, let me focus on the forum threads I found related to questions on the various April Fools jokes.

  Google went back to 1990 with CADIE: Cognitive Autoheuristic Distributed-Intelligence Entity. In short, the intelligently designed this awesome blog. Honestly, I am not too much into the joke. The funny part is that someone asked "How can I install Gmail Autopilot by CADIE in my gmail account?" Hmm, April Fools!

  Cre8asite Forums renamed to Cre8abanana:

  Finally, you may have noticed that visiting this site, will spring you for an April Fools hoax. The hoax changes if you are on a PC or Mac.

  Mac users (or linux) get the ever so scary kernel panic:

  PC users users get the blue screen of death:

  Hope it didn't freak you out too much. Honestly, every time I visit this site and get that hoax, I get nervous. Something about seeing the kernel panic that scares me, even though I know it is a hoax.

  I wrote a big write up at Search Engine Land on the various search related April Fools gimmicks over here.

  Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help, Cre8asite Forums and Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

• 

  Happy Purim: No Logo From Google This Year

  Posted: March 10th, 2009, 3:18pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  In March 2007, Google Israel had a special logo for today's Jewish holiday, Purim. Last year and today, there is no special logo at Google Israel or Google or any of the search engines that I looked at, including Yahoo, Live.com, Ask.com, or even DogPile.

  But that is okay, we have a special theme live for the holiday. Here is a picture of it, but you can see the whole theme live at the Search Engine Roundtable:

  We also had a theme last year and a picture of that is over here.

  Maybe Google will have a logo in 2010? It is a fun holiday and they can go wild with the logo, if they like.

  Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

• 

  Happy Square Root Day : Google Not That Geeky?

  Posted: March 3rd, 2009, 4:23pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  You think Google is a "geeky" company? Well, they did not have a special logo for Pi Day last year, nor do they have a special logo for today, Square Root Day.

  What is Square Root Day? Well, today is 3-3-9 and it is celebrated on "dates where the day and the month are both the square root of the last two digits in the current year," according to Wikipedia. The next time it is celebrated will be on April 4, 2016, so it doesn't happen all that often.

  We decided to put up a special theme for the day, even though no other search engine did. Here is our theme:

  Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums and Google Webmaster Help.

  Update: Google's Twitter account posted a mention saying, "Happy Square Root Day from all of us at Google!" at 5:16pm (EST) linking to a search result for square root of 9.

• 

  Google News Adds Over 20,000 News Sources

  Posted: February 27th, 2009, 2:43pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  Google News Press  

  If you look at Google News a year ago, you will notice they said they had "4,500 news" sources. Now, if you visit Google News today, you will see they have 25,000 news sources.

  I do not know when Google changed that number, but I believe it was some time in the recent past.

  I know publishers are constantly being added as sources to Google News but to explode from 4,500 sources to 25,000 sources in a year? Wow, that is pretty impressive. Does quality suffer? I am not sure.

  Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums.

• 

  Google Drops & Yahoo Gains In Search Share, comScore

  Posted: February 20th, 2009, 3:04pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  comScore released their January 2009 report on search market share, and for the first time in a while, Google's share declined month to month.

  In December 2008, Google had a 63.5 % share, but in January, they dropped down to a 63.0% share. Yahoo gained month to month with a gain from 20.5% to 21.0%.

  Google Sites led the U.S. core search market in December with 63.0 percent of the searches conducted, followed by Yahoo! Sites (21.0 percent), Microsoft Sites (8.5 percent), AOL LLC (3.9 percent) and Ask Network (3.7 percent).

  In any event, you need to understand this is month to month and you need to look at the numbers over time. So I wouldn't jump to any conclusions after looking at the monthly numbers.

  A WebmasterWorld thread is discussing this and one member said something very funny, as to a possible explanation:

  maybe it had to do with that malware issue to which google was linking people

  Could be... They go to Google, do a search on that Saturday and freak out and leave. Then they head over to #2, Yahoo.

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

• 

  2009 Valentines Day Logos from Google, Yahoo, Live & Search Industry

  Posted: February 15th, 2009, 1:20am CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  Happy Valentines Day everyone! Here are the logos from the various search engines:

  Google had two logos, depending on where in the world you were:

  Yahoo's animated logo:

  AOL's animated logo:

  Live.com's Theme:

  Ask.com's Theme:

  DogPile's logo:

  YouTube's logo:

  Cre8asite Forum's Logo:

  BruceClay's logo:

  Search Engine Roundtable (us) Theme:

  For the past years, see Valentines 2008, Valentines 2007, Valentines 2006 and Valentines 2005.

  Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.

• 

  Did Microsoft's European adCenter Rep Boycott WebmasterWorld?

  Posted: January 29th, 2009, 9:29am CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  It has now been a year since adCenterEU, the official Microsoft adCenter representative at WebmasterWorld, has posted at the forum. His last post can be found at a thread named Microsoft To Serve Ads On WSJ Digital Network where he said:

  Thankyou pageoneresults!

  Nice comments like that get us all fired up!

  :-)

  Cheers

  adCenterEU

  That was on January 29, 2008 at 12:12 pm (EST). Since then, not one peep from adCenterEU.

  How about adCenterEU's US counterpart, adCenter411? Well, that representatives last post was on February 18, 2008 at 11:36 am in a thread named Is it posible to split test ads with adcenter.

  So why aren't adCenter representatives still participating at WebmasterWorld? I know they have launched a major initiative to education at the adCenter Community, but should they ignore where they got their start? I hope not.

  Forum discussion, well - it doesn't exist.

• 

  Google & Microsoft Announce Earnings

  Posted: January 23rd, 2009, 12:06pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  In the past two days, Google and Microsoft have announced earnings. Google's announcement is over here and Microsoft's announcement is over here.

  The market had time to react to Microsoft's announcement of cutting 5,000 jobs and a weak outlook on sales and products. Microsoft (MSFT) saw a 11.71% drop in their stock price based on that announcement. Google released their earnings report yesterday, after the market closed. It is hard to predict if their stock price will rise or fall but they are currently down 2.67% in the after market. Although Google's revenue was up 18%, they saw a 68% drop in fourth-quarter profit.

  We have lots of discussion around the two announcements. Google discussion at WebmasterWorld,Microsoft job cuts discussion at WebmasterWorld and Microsoft earnings discussion at WebmasterWorld and DigitalPoint Forums. Plus respective coverage at Techmeme.

• 

  Take the 2009 SEMPO In-House SEM Salary Survey

  Posted: January 19th, 2009, 2:20pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  SEMPO is running their yearly survey for in-house SEMs. They are asking all in-house SEMs to take the salary survey. The survey is available at this location and is available until February 20th, 2009.

  The survey is 22 questions and should not take more then 10 minutes. It is also completely anonymous.

  I am very interested in seeing how the recession may or may not impact SEM salaries and jobs. So if you have ten minutes, go take that survey.

  Forum discussion at Search Engine Watch Forums.

• 

  Martin Luther King Day 2009: Logos from Google, Yahoo, Ask, Live, Dogpile & More

  Posted: January 19th, 2009, 1:22pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day and many of the search engines, including Google, Yahoo, Ask.com, Live.com, AOL, and others are remembering the day with special logos. Here is a collection of logos from the various search engines in 2009. For last year's collection, see over here.

  Google:
  

  Yahoo:
  

  AOL:
  

  DogPile:
  

  Live.com:
  

  Ask.com:
  

  And us, at the Search Engine Roundtable:
  

  Tomorrow is inauguration day, so expect a batch of additional logos for tomorrow.

  Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

• 

  Happy '09 New Years From Search Industry: Logos from Google, Yahoo, AOL, Live, Ask & Others

  Posted: January 1st, 2009, 1:55pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  Happy New Years Search Engine Roundtable readers! I would like to wish you a happy and healthy 2009 from myself and the whole search industry. To keep up our tradition, below is a collection of special logos from the 2009 New Years. The logos are from the search engines Google, Yahoo, Live.com, Ask.com, AOL, Dogpile, Baidu and search community sites BruceClay, Cre8asite Forums and us.

  Google's Logo:
  

  Yahoo's Animated Logo:
  Seems like Yahoo had a calendar that said December 31, but on New Years itself, they have nothing.

  Live.com's Theme:
  

  AOL's Animated Logo:
  

  Ask.com's Theme:
  2008...
  

  2009...
  

  DogPile's Logo:
  

  Baidu's Logo:
  

  BruceClay's Logo:
  

  Cre8asite Forums Logo:
  

  Search Engine Roundtable's Theme:
  

  Want to go back to the past? Here are logos from New Years 2008, New Years 2007, Google's 2006 logo, Search Engine Roundtable's 2006 logo, Ask's 2005 logo, and Cre8asite's 2005.

  Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums, Google Webmaster Help, DigitalPoint Forums, HighRankings Forum, Search Engine Watch Forums, Cre8asite Forums, and WebmasterWorld.

• 

  Google Webmaster Helps Tries Live Lively Event, Before Lively Shuts Down

  Posted: December 31st, 2008, 2:15pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  SEO Forum News  

  Googler, JohnMu, suggested in a Google Webmaster Help thread that they give Google's Lively, Google's failed attempt at a SecondLife virtual world, a shot before it closes down.

  Yesterday, John posted a thread announcing an "Informal End Of Year live-chat over at Lively." I missed it, and so did most people. In fact, I don't think it actually worked.

  Looking over the thread, it seems like the event really never happened. I did see a chat room URL in there, but I don't see it anymore. So it seems like the Lively event, wasn't too lively. But it was a great idea to give Google's Lively a last whirl.

  Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.

• 

  Are there Honest Copywriters Out There?

  Posted: December 30th, 2008, 3:50pm CET by Tamar Weinberg

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  At High Rankings Forums, there's a disgruntled individual who has been looking for honest copywriters and hasn't had any luck. All have been deadbeats.

  Maybe this individual isn't looking in the right place, given that there are a lot of good copywriters out there that I know. So how do you find them?

  * Get a reference before you hire them.
  * Buy a cheap writing sample to see what you're getting into.
  * Speak with site owners and find out if they have professional writers on staff who can help with content production.
  * Copy+paste snippets of text to make sure they're providing original and not plagiarized content.

  How do you spot good copywriters?

  Forum discussion continues at High Rankings Forums.

• 

  Take the 2008 Search Quiz

  Posted: December 30th, 2008, 3:08pm CET by Tamar Weinberg

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  Know everything there is to know about search? You sure about that? Matt McGee is hosting the 2nd annual search quiz and you're invited to challenge me and others.

  Last year, I won this cool contest, but this year, well, I won't tell you -- I'll wait for Matt to tell you himself :)

  You have till tomorrow evening to play, so be sure to sign up now!

  Forum discussion continues at Sphinn.

• 

  Happy Holiday '08 From The Search Engine Industry

  Posted: December 25th, 2008, 3:25pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  I just wanted to wish everyone a warm and happy holidays! Every year I try to echo the same message about our industry. From the search engines, the search marketing firms and the search community, this industry is truly a pleasure to be working in. The warmth and care I have personally experienced in the industry is very meaningful to me. So thank you and have a wonderful holidays!

  As it is tradition at the Search Engine Roundtable, we have for the past five years, documented the holiday logos from the search engines and search industry. Here they are:

  Google has five logos, here they are in order:

  Yahoo's animated logo:

  Live.com's holiday theme:

  DogPile has a Christmas and Chanukah theme:

  Ask.com has a nice theme:

  AOL.com's logo is actually animated also:

  Baidu:

  FriendFeed has a logo:

  Quintura's logo:

  BruceClay has two logos:

  Hitwise dresses up their logo:

  Marketing Pilgrim is colorful:

  PPC Heros is ready:

  Cre8asite Forums:

  Search Engine Roundtable, that is us, we have a new theme every day. Here are the ones you have seen, including Chanukah, Festivus and Christmas - but we got more to come!

  That is the logo roundup, hope I did not miss anyone.

  Want to go back to the past years? Here are the 2007 logos, plus Google's five logos, 2006 logos, Cre8asite in 2005, also '05 Search Engine Roundtable and '05 Google, Yahoo and Ask, plus we have 2004 and some of 2003 archived for you.

  Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help, Google Docs Help, WebmasterWorld, HighRankings Forums, WebmasterWorld, and Cre8asite Forums.

• 

  Letting of Newbie SEO Steam at Google Webmaster Help Groups

  Posted: December 24th, 2008, 2:16pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  SEO Forum News  

  I see them every day, the newbie SEO post. Almost every SEO goes through it at one point. They ask a newbie question and people in the industry are nice enough to answer it. Some mock others, but overwhelming, the community responds in good kind.

  I spotted a thread at the Google Webmaster Help discussion forum, where long time members are letting off steam. In short, one member writes this long post mocking, with extreme sarcasm, some of the posts he typically sees in the forum. Of course he put in a lot of exaggeration into his post, which makes it incredibly funny.

  Here is a brief snippet of just part of his post, where he asks like a person seeking Google webmaster help:

  My friend, who's cousin Nora, once went out with someone who's brother built the stand at Seomoz said he heard someone saying that they oveheard someone else saying that Mattt Cutts said Google are going to stop indexing websites with less than 20 pages, is this true?

  A while back, I installed the seo for lemons plug in on my blog, which might have helped, so I also added the seo made ez tool, the get google by the balls widget, the mega meta tag generator and the google number one blaster. The only hitch is that my home page now has 5 titles, 10 description tags, 7128 keywords, 233 h1 tags and 300 outbound links to the tool makers sites. This was so heavy, I had to remove all the actual content, do you think this will matter?

  It goes on and on and it pretty funny if you are an active forum goer. It might insult some people, but I assume these folks who reply to twenty questions per day just need to let off some steam some time.

  Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.

• 

  Search Engine Land Does Major Revamp: Becomes More News Formatted

  Posted: December 22nd, 2008, 6:15pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  Search Engine Land has a new look as of this morning. The new look really makes the site look more "news" oriented. Stories are no longer in chronological order all the time. We (I am the news editor) have the ability to control which sections the content shows up and for how long. This is great flexibility that Danny, Greg, Matt and the rest of the team will use.

  In addition, my favorite feature is that readers can comment directly at Search Engine Land. This way, if you hate what I wrote, you can blast me right there. Instead of having to submit the story to Sphinn, or sending me hate mail. This should make for good times.

  There is also a new premium membership, which I recommend you sign up for. You get a lot in return and it is your way at giving back to the community. I personally do this at many sites, including WebmasterWorld and SEOmoz, amongst others.

  Huge kudos to the team who worked for months and months to get the new design, features and format live. It totally is impressive and makes me want to redo the Search Engine Roundtable - which would mean scrap Movable Type for a custom built CMS (I will never go with WordPress).

  Anyway, I hope you like the new features - I sure do!

  Forum discussion on the new design and features at Sphinn.

• 

  2008 Holiday Season Logos From Google & Search Engine Roundtable

  Posted: December 22nd, 2008, 3:54pm CET by Tamar Weinberg

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  Last night, those of us who celebrated Chanukah lit the first candle. This means it's holiday season officially! Google is also building momentum with their holiday festivities with two new images:

  And given that there are 8 days of Chanukah, we're doing something special at Search Engine Roundtable. Every night around the time the Daily Search Rountup comes out, we'll have a new theme. Here's our first logo which is live until later this afternoon:

  Forum discussion continues at DigitalPoint Forums and Cre8asite Forums.

• 

  Search Industry Celebrates Talk Like a Pirate Day 2008

  Posted: September 19th, 2008, 3:42pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  Happy Talk Like A Pirate Day, one of the geekiest days of the year. Yes, our geek companies are loving up the day!

  Google Pirate Search interface, via Google Blog:
  

  Dogpile pirate looking dog:
  

  Facebook's translation via TechCrunch:
  

  FriendFeed's logo:
  

  Our, Search Engine Roundtable's theme:
  

  Finally, I dressed up for the day!
  

  Last year Flickr had a pirate logo, but not this year. And Ask.com in 2005 dressed up Jeeves as a Pirate, not since.

  Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

• 

  The Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics & The Search Engine Industry

  Posted: August 8th, 2008, 4:22pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  The 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China start officially today. To celebrate the day, Google, Yahoo and Ask.com all have logos and themes up. We also have our theme up, we hope you like it.

  Here is the Google Logo:
  

  Here is Yahoo's animated logo:
  

  Here is the Ask.com theme:
  

  Dogpile and Live Search do not have themes. It would have been nice to see a custom background with Olmypic "hotspots," maybe next year.

  Here is our theme:
  

  Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

• 

  YahooSarah Goes MIA - Blame Yahoo Publisher Network?

  Posted: July 16th, 2008, 2:45pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  SEO Forum News  

  Yahoo has been having a rough time over the course of the past several months. But that doesn't mean the company stops working and competing, at least that is what you would think.

  YahooSarah, the official Yahoo representative at WebmasterWorld, has not posted a response at WebmasterWorld in exactly a year from today. YahooSarah's last post was in a thread named Publisher broken? on July 16, 2007 at 3:50 pm (EST). She said:

  I wanted to chime in briefly to let you know that we are aware of the problems you are experiencing and are working to resolve as soon as possible. Apologies for the inconvenience.

  I'll post again when I can confirm that we have resolution.

  But not post came after that. Yes, YPN was fixed, but no confirmation from Yahoo was received - even a year later.

  Yes, we still have YahooPete posting in the forums. His last post was about three weeks ago. But YahooPete is responsible for Yahoo Search Marketing topics, while YahooSarah is responsible for Yahoo Publisher Network (YPN) topics. Maybe YPN is dead and there is no need for YahooSarah's posts?

• 

  Memorial Day Logos from Yahoo, Ask.com, Dogpile But Still Not Google

  Posted: May 26th, 2008, 3:33pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  Historically, most search engines do not place a special logo up on their home page for Memorial Day. I am not sure why, I know it is just a U.S. holiday - but typically, the lack of a special logo, confuses many Americans.

  This year, we had some search engines that historically have not placed a special logo for Memorial Day, place one. But Google, still, has yet to showcase a special logo for today. In any event, here is a run down of the special logos from Yahoo, Ask.com, Dogpile, Cre8asite Forums and yours truly.

  Yahoo:
  

  Ask.com:
  

  Dogpile.com:
  

  Cre8asite Forums:
  

  Search Engine Roundtable:
  

  Here is a look past at the previous years coverage of Memorial Day:

  • Memorial Day Commemorated: Ask.com & Search Engine Roundtable
  • Ask Jeeves Commemorates Memorial Day : 2005
  • Memorial Day & Search Engines : 2004

  Where is 2006? Well, I got married on Memorial Day weekend of that year.

  Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

  Update: Where is Google's logo, the Stepforth blog has a comment from Google:

  Thank you for your note. We understand your interest in seeing a Memorial Day Google logo. If we were to commemorate this holiday, we'd want to express reverence; however, as Google's special logos tend to be lighthearted in nature, this would be a particularly challenging design.

  We wouldn't want to create a graphic that could be interpreted as disrespectful in any way.

  We have a long list of holidays that we'd like to celebrate in the future. We have to balance this rotating calendar with the need to maintain the consistency of the Google homepage. We really appreciate your feedback regarding the Google logo, and please be assured that we're actively pursuing ways in which we can acknowledge Memorial Day and other such occasions in the future.

  Regards,
  The Google Team

• 

  Yahoo! Outsources its Messenger Phone Calls to Jajah

  Posted: April 29th, 2008, 6:19pm CEST by Tamar Weinberg

  Tags:  Yahoo News  

  According to a Yahoo News report, Yahoo will be outsourcing the Internet telephone functions of its instant messaging program to the startup Jajah.

  Of course, this is great news for the startup -- but forum members wonder why Yahoo seems to be outsourcing a lot of its internal affairs. However, that may not necessarily be a bad thing, as another forum member says. The less important things are fine if outsourced; the more important things are when one needs to worry. As long as they focus on what they're good at and keep it internal (web, email, search), that's the way to go and avoids the distractions that can cause the company to go into turmoil.

  Forum discussion continues at WebmasterWorld.

• 

  META Keywords Don't Matter According to US Court

  Posted: April 28th, 2008, 5:22pm CEST by Tamar Weinberg

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  At Search Engine Land, Barry writes about how a US court has decided that META keywords don't matter -- they are "immaterial." The tip came from Eric Goldman's blog where he writes about a recent case that held a company responsible for including trademarked terms in their meta tags.

  In this case, because search engines don't use the actual META tags, there is no case. Jill Whalen says on Sphinn that you can test this easily by including a page with an arbitrary word and seeing if that word will come up in your search results once Google spiders the page.

  META keywords are not discussed in this Google Help document which should support the law's findings.

  However, as another member points out, Yahoo may be using these keywords to rank. In other words, the US Court is overly focused on Google, but perhaps they should weigh in on other search engines.

  Forum discussion continues at Sphinn.

• 

  Yahoo's Q1 Profits: $542.2 Million

  Posted: April 24th, 2008, 5:40pm CEST by Tamar Weinberg

  Tags:  Yahoo News  

  Yahoo News reports on Yahoo's Q1 earnings of $542.2 million, which is substantially higher than 2007's Q1 earnings of $142.4 million.

  Forum members are hoping there can be insights into this financial gain. WebmasterWorld moderator martinibuster quotes Jerry Yang's comment: "Not only does Yahoo! have a unique franchise, it increasingly has industry-leading tools, technology and, most importantly, people."

  He adds that Yahoo is shutting down their tools that aren't yielding results (e.g. Yahoo 360 and Yahoo Music Jukebox). It's interesting to note that Yang says that Yahoo has great people, though. Does he also mean the employees that were laid off in January?

  
  Forum discussion continues at WebmasterWorld.

• 

  Earth Day 2008 Logos: Google, Yahoo, AOL, Ask.com & Others

  Posted: April 22nd, 2008, 4:13pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  Today is Earth Day and the search industry is sporting special logos for the day. Here is a run down for the 2008 logos:

  Google:
  

  Yahoo (Flash version):
  

  AOL:
  

  Ask.com:
  

  Cre8asite Forums:
  

  Search Engine Roundtable (our theme, it actually glows):
  

  Past earth day themes and logos from the search industry:

  • Google, Ask.com & Yahoo! Earth Day Logos, 2007
  • Search Engine Commemorate Earth Day 2006, 2006
  • Ask Jeeves & Google Earth Day, 2005
  • Google Commemorates Earth Day, 2004

  Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums

• 

  Google VP of Search Quality Udi Manber Interviewed

  Posted: April 22nd, 2008, 2:28pm CEST by Tamar Weinberg

  Tags:  Google News Press  

  Udi Manber, VP of search quality for Google, sat down with Popular Mechanics for a rare interview and issued some insights into the state of Google search today.

  The article deserves a read in itself, but some WebmasterWorld members particularly liked some of the statements about Manber's emphasis on keyword density and how Google rolls out tests (at least with regards to algorithm analysis):

  I wish people would put more effort into thinking about how other people will find them and putting the right keywords onto their pages.

  I’ll give you an example of something that came last week. We were evaluating a certain algorithm that adds diversity to the result. We did live experiments, which means we launched the algorithm to a very small percentage of users and then see how that compares to the result without the algorithm.

  The results we show you are based not only on what we know of the Web, but also what other people have searched for.

  Furthermore, forum members were happy to see that the algorithm changes have no relationship to Google AdWords.

  All in all, very informative and useful, and forum members welcome the insights.

  Forum discussion continues at WebmasterWorld.

• 

  Search Engine Optimization Firm Sued, Required to Pay More than $100K in Fees

  Posted: April 14th, 2008, 4:34pm CEST by Tamar Weinberg

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  Kevin Heisler writes at Search Engine Watch that an "SEO agency" called Internet Advancement has been sued by Washington State and required to pay over $100,000 in fees for scamming its clients. Among the restitution includes penalties against offering services to new members and requiring refunds to be handed to scammed clients.

  Some of their failures are outlined in this complaint (doc link) document. They include:

  • Defendants represent they will be able to secure top 10 search engine rankings for their customers. In fact, in many instances, they are unable to do so.
  • Defendants represent that their customers will obtain increased sales by obtaining defendants’ services. They have told customers to expect a “flood of traffic,” have promised thousands of “hits” a day, and have said the customers’ “only concern will be having extra employees to fill the orders.” In fact, in many instances, defendants’ services do not result in increased sales.
  • Defendants represent that they have a “96% success rate” with their “over 47,000 clients.” In fact, they do not.

  So what did they do wrong? They made false promises and lied about their service offerings. Additionally, as Kevin Heisler notes, they made unauthorized charges to clients' credit cards and lied about their standings with the Better Business Bureau.

  Hopefully, for the sake of their clients who were scammed out of thousands of dollars, this company will be put to rest.

  Forum discussion continues at Search Engine Watch Forums.

• 

  You Got Three Weeks Yahoo, Said Microsoft; Give Us More Money, Responds Yahoo

  Posted: April 7th, 2008, 2:42pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  Microsoft's CEO, Ballmer, sent Yahoo's board members a public letter saying:

  If we have not concluded an agreement within the next three weeks, we will be compelled to take our case directly to your shareholders, including the initiation of a proxy contest to elect an alternative slate of directors for the Yahoo! board.

  Basically, if you do not accept our offer in three weeks, then we will acquire you another way.

  The news flew through the blogosphere and news pipelines, you can see a piece of that articles and blog posts at Techmeme.

  There is some discussion on this at the forums. If you want to read SEO and Webmaster reactions, check out WebmasterWorld and DigitalPoint Forums.

  Personally, this just seems like corporate bullying done through the PR teams. I wonder how Yahoo's shareholders will see this and how this will impact any decision Yahoo makes. Thankfully, I am not in Yang or Decker's shoes right now.

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and DigitalPoint Forums.

  Then this morning, Yahoo responds that they have rejected their offer. Not because they are opposed to a deal with Microsoft, but because they feel the price under values what Yahoo is worth. In short, Microsoft, if you want us, give us more money.

• 

  Google To Sell Off SEM Division of DoubleClick, Performics: Does Right By SEM Community

  Posted: April 3rd, 2008, 3:04pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  After Google finally acquired DoubleClick the controversy of Google now officially owning an SEM company was a reality. DoubleClick owned Performics, a company that sells SEM services, including SEO and PPC. Yes, a major conflict of interest. Google, officially announced that they will be selling off the search marketing side of Performics.

  While that means a bunch of SEOs and SEMs jobs are bit up in the air now, the SEM community still feels, overall, that Google has made the right decision. Google's blog post explains the rational in selling it off:

  It’s clear to us that we do not want to be in the search engine marketing business. Maintaining objectivity in both search and advertising is paramount to Google’s mission and core to the trust we ask from our users. For this reason, we plan to sell the Performics search marketing business to a third party. We believe this will allow us to maintain objectivity and the search marketing business to continue to grow and innovate and serve its customers. While we have not yet identified a buyer, we’ve received preliminary interest from a number of our current partners. Search Marketing will continue to run as a separate entity until the division is sold.

  Stand up in my opinion. On the other hand, Google will be keeping the affiliate marketing group of Performics. Google explains that keeping that division in the Google team will provide "enhanced value and reach for our affiliate advertisers, and additional tools and monetization opportunities for our publishers." I guess it can bolster the Google AdSense referral project and some of their DoubleClick ventures.

  Did any individual influence this decision? I suspect Danny Sullivan and Google's Matt Cutts had an influence, I suspect Matt actually had a huge impact on that decision, but he can obviously not talk about it. In fact, I am glad it happened after our April Fools Matt Cutts Transfers to Performics – Will Assume Lead SEO Role (it would have killed that story if released a couple days earlier).

  In any event, I wish the best to all the SEMs and SEOs at Performics. I am sure it will work out for the company and your jobs in the long run. You can always pitch clients that Google once owned your company, as John jokes. But the bottom line is that this is the right move by Google and most of the SEM community would agree on that. Of course, this decision comes to no surprise to any of us.

  Forum discussion at Sphinn, WebmasterWorld and DigitalPoint Forums.

• 

  April Fool's Day '08 Around the Search Industry

  Posted: April 1st, 2008, 8:24pm CEST by Tamar Weinberg

  Tags:  News Industry Engine Search  

  So, if you haven't noticed, today was April 1st. You know, April Fool's Day. Some of our little pranks were funny, while others were expected. Perhaps we should pull more pranks during the year when you guys least expect it.

  In any event, for the 24 hours that marks April 1st on the East Coast (which is still ongoing), we were the Search Engine Squaretable. And we also had some interesting news:

  • Microsoft Buys Yahoo So Google Buys Microsoft in Hostile Takeover
  • Berkowitz Replaced By Lanzone at Microsoft
  • Danny Sullivan Starts Four Door Media
  • Matt Cutts Transfers to Performics - Will Assume Lead SEO Role

  But we weren't the only ones who pranked the Internets. Cre8asite Forums Staff took a break and their logo turned upside down.

  In fact, other members, such as DazzlinDonna, did the same thing:

  WebmasterWorld members point out that Google Australia also participated in the festivities with gDay with Mate. The idea is to search tomorrow's news today.

  It's a simple concept, really:

  Similarly, one WebmasterWorld member fell for the Gmail Custom Time prank. It seems that a guy on DigitalPoint Forums also fell for it.

  Actually, my Grandma's birthday was 5 months ago. I need to set the custom time....

  DigitalPoint Forums members were more amused with the Virgle initiative to help establish a human colony on planet mars. Together with Virgin's chairman, Richard Branson, Google will start this mission in 2014. If you believe you have what it takes, take the questionnaire and then you'll need to upload a YouTube video. Here are some Virgle Videos.

  Today, Dogpile also has April Fools Cards that you can send your friends and foes. Just click on the doggie, yo!

  If you wanted to do some April Fools jokes for 2009, check out this April Fools Guide for Webmasters. Oh, and it's on Sphinn too.

  Finally, for more April Fools jokes and inspiration, check our previous coverage on April Fools Day right here at Search Engine Roundtable.

  Forum discussion is, franky, everywhere.

• 

  Microsoft Buys Yahoo So Google Buys Microsoft in Hostile Takeover

  Posted: April 1st, 2008, 1:45pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  News Industry Engine Search  

  Of all days, on April 1st, Microsoft finally acquired Yahoo. All the silence we have been hearing was confidential discussions between Yahoo's executive team and Microsoft's executive. It really didn't even take that long, but most of us expected that Microsoft would own Yahoo in the long run.

  At this point, Microsoft tells us that they will leave Yahoo as a standalone property. They did not yet decide if they will consolidate their efforts on the search front. But I suspect they will group the two search teams together and join forces in building out an engine that can seriously compete against Google.

  Of course, Google is not happy. Google, in fact, is taking the Microsoft approach and placed a bid of $50 per share for Microsoft. Google is going to use the hostile take over approach to buyout Microsoft, Google's biggest ever acquisition. Probably the biggest acquisition anywhere.

  So in this round about way, Google will own both Yahoo and Live Search. Google will soon secure almost 100-percent of the search market share, if this hostile takeover happens, which seems very likely.

  What crazy news for April Fools Day, who would believe it?

• 

  Danny Sullivan Starts Four Door Media

  Posted: April 1st, 2008, 1:45pm CEST by Tamar Weinberg

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  We've received reports that Danny Sullivan and his friends (Chris Elwell, Chris Sherman, Claire Schoen, Sean Moriarty, Michelle Robbins, and Karen DeWeese) have launched Four Door Media. What's behind door number four? The team has decided to take a direction away from search. Four Door Media is all about Apple and Mac evangelism.

  Last month, Danny finally caved and bought a Mac. Only a few days later, he was raving about Mac and Windows on his blog. A week after that, I ran into Danny at a bar in NYC and he whipped out his Mac to show me some neat tricks. I'm not kidding when I say that Danny got me super excited to start using my Macbook.

  With this change comes nothing incredibly big -- Danny will continue blogging about Macs, he'll hold conferences and brag about his Mac, and he'll probably one day do a dance in a hot Mac tank top. Expect future Search Marketing Expo conferences to provide Macbook Airs to all conference attendees in hopes that they, too, convert over to the other side. (If you already have one, you're SOL.)

• 

  Matt Cutts Transfers to Performics – Will Assume Lead SEO Role

  Posted: April 1st, 2008, 1:45pm CEST by chrisboggs

  Tags:  Search Engine Industry News  

  In a move that comes as a surprise to many, Google has decided to reinforce Performics, a company that came with the Doubleclick Acquisition, by transferring long time search quality lead Matt Cutts into a role with the search engine optimization firm. This immediately strengthens the perceived value of working with Performics, since Matt is obviously very familiar with the Google algorithm, and has had insight into the Yahoo system during his brief stint with Yahoo last year.

  Matt will head up the SEO team at Performics, which will undoubtedly operate strictly within the search engine-approved guidelines for ethical optimization tactics. In December of 2007, Matt Cutts and his team changed the Google Help Document about SEO slightly. This caused some including Tamar “Scoop” Weinberg at Search Engine Roundtable to openly wonder if these changes had anything to do with the Performics Acquisition. Apparently, this transfer may have been in planning for some time.

  As of press time, Mr. Cutts was unavailable for comment. His personal press attaché, Ozzie Houndslayer, did confirm that Matt would be moving over to Performics, but would not comment on the allegation that Performics would be listed as a primary recommended SEO in the Google Webmaster Guidelines.

  Fact: Google is now selling SEO services through Performics. An investigative team recently contacted Performics directly and was told that Performics was unable to offer SEO services to anyone not spending over $1Million U.S. per year with Google AdSense. This seems to be strong evidence that there is in fact a correlation between Paid Search spending and organic rankings, as long suspected . Search Engine maven Danny Sullivan is one of many who have officially suggested that Google should divest itself from Performics. The transfer of Matt Cutts is obviously a sign that this discussion is far from being over.