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Search Engine Roundtable

• 

  Video: Search The AdWords Community

  Fetched: April 4th, 2012, 1:55pm CEST by Barry Schwartz

  Tags:  SEO SEM Forum News  

  Google AdWords representative, Zee, created a how to video for using the new AdWords Help forum. The video is less than two minutes and shows you how to search the AdWords Community site.

  Here it is:

  Personally, I love the AdWords forum, even more than the new forums the other properties are adopting. I do wish they all used those forums but they all decided to go with the Google Groups style. I am not sure how AdWords was able to break off and do their own thing here.

  Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

  
  

• 

  Google Panda Help Thread Mostly Gone

  Fetched: March 14th, 2012, 8:41pm CET by Barry Schwartz

  Tags:  SEO SEM Forum News  

  Just over a year ago, Google started a help thread for Panda victims where they can go post their site's information and seek advice from other webmasters and maybe Googlers.

  The thread had reached almost 9,000 posts, probably a record for the forum, over the course of the year and saw no sign of slowing down.

  But when Google migrated to the new forum system this weekend, the thread was killed. Only about 20% of the posts are in the main thread now, Google lost the rest or they are split off into other threads, hard to find.

  You can see the what is left of the thread over here.

  I was a little upset for two reasons. The first is that I wanted to do a post for when it hit 10,000 posts, which would have been in the next few months. The second reason is because Googlers told me that every single time someone posts in that thread, it goes to their email account and they read each and every post. Now what?

  John from Google said in a Google Webmaster Help thread:

  It looks like the particularly long threads were split up for migration. The content is still there, you can find it in search :). It's great having your feedback, even (and especially) if it's critical. Please continue posting, feel free to start a new thread if you'd like.

  This went against what Google suggested a few months ago, saying to use that thread for Panda related help and not start a new thread. But I guess with the new forum upgrade, this is the new advice.

  Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.

  Image credit to ShutterSock for Panda doctors.

  
  

• 

  Spammers Flock To Bing Webmaster Forums

  Fetched: March 14th, 2012, 8:41pm CET by Barry Schwartz

  Tags:  SEO SEM Forum News  

  Sometimes some of my readers here complain that I do not cover Bing enough. The truth is, it really isn't my fault, it is Bing's fault. :)

  Why? Well, this site is very niche in that it only covers topics found in forums and social media areas. We figure, if the SEO/SEM community isn't discussing it, it likely is not worth being covered here. Things at the top of the mind of SEMs are often discussed in forums and social settings - the rest is all just "news."

  So why is it Bing's fault they aren't covered too much here? Well - they do a horrible job, recently, keeping their Bing Forums clean and on topic. Just check out the Webmaster section, it is filled with spam or check out the indexing section. It has been like this for at least a month or more. It is almost impossible for me to find good threads in forums filled with spam.

  So I check in on the forum every morning and see this stuff and I leave - hoping that the next day it will be cleaned up and never is.

  In fact, I felt that Duane's post on mobile SEO URL structure was important, so I made my own thread about it at the forums. No responses because the place is a spam fest.

  So much so, people at WebmasterWorld are complaining about the spam in the Bing forums.

  Bing, I want to cover you more - please help me.

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

  
  

• 

  AdWords Forum Upgraded But To A Newer New Version

  Fetched: February 17th, 2012, 12:25pm CET by Barry Schwartz

  Tags:  SEO SEM Forum News  

  Google forums have begun to slowly migrate to the new Google Groups format. I personally do not like that new format, but Google doesn't always listen to me about my likes and dislikes, even with forums, despite me being of the most active trolls in the forums.

  Google AdWords representative, Zee, announced the switch over in the Old Google AdWords Help Forum and the New Google AdWords Help Forum yesterday. The thing is, this is not the new Google Groups format, it is very very different and at first glance, I like it a lot better than the Google Groups version.

  Here is a picture (click to enlarge):

  I like this format mostly because I can see by profile who said what, Google Groups does not have that feature. Plus, overall, it seems snappier and faster than Google Groups. Google Groups has a pretty significant delay on clicking around the threads, even on my super fast machine.

  Congrats on the upgrade AdWords folks!

  Forum discussion at Old Google AdWords Help and New Google AdWords Help.

  
  

• 

  Googlers John Mueller & Matt Cutts Working On Christmas

  Fetched: December 27th, 2011, 1:03pm CET by Barry Schwartz

  Tags:  SEO SEM Forum News  

  Googlers are known to work on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, they have been doing so for as long as I can remember.

  I like to give kudos to some (not all) of the Googlers who spend the time to respond to webmaster and SEO questions on and during Christmas because they could easily be spending time with family and no one would complain.

  John Mueller, aka JohnMu, replied to about a dozen threads between the 23rd and 26th of December. From wishing happy holidays to IP address questions and robots.txt issues. JohnMu is known to often be around helping webmasters on Christmas and New Years.

  Matt Cutts made a rare appearance in the forums, he spends most of his time in other areas but came out on Christmas day to help webmasters. He posted in three different threads all on Christmas day.

  Yes, there were other Googlers responding to questions in the other forums but I wanted to point out those answering SEO and webmaster questions.

  Like I said, Googlers are known for working on the Christmas and New Years break. They did in 2010, New Years 2009 New Years 2008. Also Christmas 2009, 2008, 2007 and 2006.

  I won't be writing more stories here today - since it is a day off for most and the forums were pretty slow.

  Happy Holidays everyone!

  Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.

  Image credit to ShutterStock for working Santa.

  
  

• 

  Funniest SEO Threads Of 2011

  Fetched: December 17th, 2011, 8:03am CET by Barry Schwartz

  Tags:  SEO SEM Forum News  

  The Google Webmaster Forum Top Contributors started a thread at Google Webmaster Help trying to compile the "funniest" threads of 2011 in that forum.

  They came up with three, so I thought it would be fun to look back at the funniest SEO threads I found this year and share them with you. First, the three the Top Contributors came up with.

  Top Contributor's Selected Funniest Threads of 2011:

  • How am I supposed to deal with abusive "Webmaster Bionics"? - I believe the title is self explanatory. In short, someone ranting how the top contributors, also known as bionic posters are abusive.
  • A MILLION DOLLAR DOMAIN NAME!!! GOOGLEBRAND.COM - someone setting themselves up with a Google lawsuit and not even knowing it.
  • How come a site that made me 1.7 million loses 20% of traffic in panda update? - one of the many Panda stories.

  My Funniest 2011 Picks:

  • Scraper Site Software Site Complains Site Not Listed In Google, Seriously! - a site named scrappingexpert.com was actually upset they were not listed in Google.
  • Dad, Stop Spamming Google - It's Embarrassing! - a kid embarrassed by his dad's spamming tactics, calling him out in a Google forum thread.
  • Google Smacks Down Webmaster Over Panda Update - maybe more sad then funny - but it is funny/sad.
  • SEO Company Badmouthed In Google Forum But What Happens Next Is Strange - not a good way to get your site listed again.
  • Don't Force Google's Hand, Especially If You're Sketchy - lessons learned.

  Did I miss any? Let me know.

  Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.

  Image credit to ShutterStock for funny horse.

  
  

• 

  Google's New Help Forum

  Fetched: December 5th, 2011, 7:04pm CET by Barry Schwartz

  Tags:  SEO SEM Forum News  

  Google has slowly been migrating their help forums to a new platform.

  I believe the first Google product to use this new help forum platform was Google Plus Help. But since then, the Google Book Search Help platform migrated over. We are expecting both the Google Maps Help forum and the Google News Help forum to switch over soon.

  Personally, I am not looking forward to the change because it will make me rethink the way I track all the forum discussions. But I guess the best time to do it is over the holiday month, because I should have more time to do it than the rest of the year.

  New design looks like this:

  Old (current) design looks like this:

  It has been about 3 years since Google went with the existing Google help forum design and feature set. Now that Google + is out, they are switching it over to something new.

  Forum discussion at Google Maps Help and Google News Help.

  
  

• 

  Introducing Marketing Land As Sphinn's Successor

  Fetched: November 15th, 2011, 4:41pm CET by Barry Schwartz

  Tags:  SEO SEM Forum News  

  Marketing Land at marketingland.com is opening on December 11th. It is a sister site to Search Engine Land. Full disclosure, I am the News Editor at both sites.

  Danny Sullivan explains the difference between the two:

  Search Engine Land will continue to provide all the great coverage about search marketing and search engines that you love. Marketing Land will go beyond into other areas, including social media, affiliate marketing, email marketing and other internet marketing topics.

  With that, Sphinn is going away - the content will be somewhere but the site will stop operating. Sphinn has changed directions a couple times since launching in 2007.

  And one of the last times I can say this....

  Forum discussion at Sphinn.

  
  

• 

  Becoming A Google Top Contributor

  Fetched: November 9th, 2011, 7:18pm CET by Barry Schwartz

  Tags:  SEO SEM Forum News  

  Google's support forums, from AdWords to Chrome, from Mobile to Webmaster have "top contributors" helping Googlers help Google users.

  These are not Googlers, but people nominated by Googlers and other top contributors, as helpful people to have slightly more 'power' in the forums to help the user out. They are not Google certified, they do not get paid but they do get the badge of honor and get to meet Googlers from time to time.

  So how does one become a Top Contributor?

  This week, one of Google's most active forums, the Google Webmaster Help forum, nominated a new Top Contributor. Archie Watt was nominated by Googlers and Top Contributors within the forum.

  Which lead to the question, how does one become a top contributor?

  John Mueller from Google explained:

  No, we don't want to do any automatic "promotions." It's important to us that a user is not only active, but also very knowledgable and friendly. Sometimes this can result in people becoming Bionic Posters / Top Contributors with a lower post count / level (for example, if they are extremely knowledgeable in specific areas). We know that we (Googlers) aren't able to keep an eye on everything and every poster all the time, so we'll generally also ask for input from the existing Bionics -- they're generally all over the forum and see many active posters and the (frequently) fantastic help they post. If we can't find someone we can all agree on, then we'll generally wait ... We don't need to fill a specific quota of Top Contributors, so maybe we'll check back in a month or so, and see how things have been developing. :-) Sometimes these decisions take a lot of time :-)

  It is kind of like being nominated to become a moderator at a forum but this one is at an official Google forum.

  So it is not about quantity, but I am sure that has a factor. It is also about how helpful and patient you are.

  Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.

  
  

• 

  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.

  
  

• 

  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.

  
  

• 

  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.

  
  

• 

  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.

  
  

• 

  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.

  
  

• 

  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.

  
  

• 

  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.

  
  

• 

  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.

  
  

• 

  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.

  
  

• 

  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.

  
  

• 

  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.

  
  

• 

  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.

  
  

• 

  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.

  
  

• 

  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.

  
  

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  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.

  
  

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  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.

  
  

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  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.

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  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.

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  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.

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  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?