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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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 (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.

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, 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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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:

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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...

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.

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.

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 (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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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).

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.