Archive for November, 2009
Google Explains Importance Of Spam Free Web Sites
Google has written two spam related posts over the Thanksgiving period on the Google Webmaster Central Blog tackling the issue of comment spam.
The first post focuses on the futility of comment spam, saying:
At best, a link spammer might spend hours doing spammy linkdrops which would count for little or nothing because Google is pretty good [...]
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Search: Where Does It Go from Here?
If there’s one thing that both Google and Microsoft agree on, it’s that search isn’t solved yet. Google’s vice president of search product and user experience Marissa Mayer has said:
We’re all familiar with 80-20 problems, where the last 20% of the solution is 80% of the work. Search is a 90-10 problem. Today, we have [...]
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Analytics, PPC & SEO: So Happy Together
“Search is the world’s largest focus group.” A while ago, someone said this to me (I can’t remember who, but buy yourself an eclair if it’s you: you’ve earned it), and it struck me as pure brilliance. We tend to get so focused on the challenge of showing up in search results that we [...]
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Happy Thanksgiving & Snoopy Logo At Google
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! In observance of the Thanksgiving holiday, we will likely not be writing much here today. But I did want to share with you, like I did at the Search Engine Roundtable, the various logos we have from Google, Yahoo, Ask, Bing, AOL and others in the search engine industry.
Google:
Yahoo (Flash):
AOL [...]
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So You Know Your Stuff… But You Still Don’t Know Jack!
by Stoney deGeyter
One of the things I like to tell my clients when I’m trying to get them involved in the SEO process is that they know their business better than I do. This is true. What do I know about flow meters, motorcycle batteries, baby diapers, ski jackets or cost segregation?
An argument can be made that as soon as I take on these clients I need to learn everything I can about their industry so I can market it properly. This is also true. But no matter what, I’ll never be an expert at cost segregation. Nor do I believe my clients want me to be. They want me to be an expert in SEO and that takes enough of my time as it is.
And this is why clients need to be involved. I can do the keyword research, weed out the junk, and help them organize them into strongly optimization groups. But I still need the client’s help telling me what’s good and what’s not. How am I to know that “net present value equation” is a good keyword while “net present value annuity” isn’t. The client, that’s how.
Affiliate Convention LA Next Week, Free Admission Open Til Friday
Affiliate Convention starts next week in Los Angeles and if you act fast there is still the chance to get full access for free until Friday.
WebmasterRadio.FM and AffEuro.com are bringing the second Affiliate Convention to the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles California on Thursday December 3rd and Friday 4th. Free registration for affiliates closes on Friday November 27th though paid tickets are available online or at the event for those who miss the cut-off date.
The sign up is available here.
The conference has some of the best speakers in the search and affiliate space including Dush Ramachandran, Vice President of ClickBank, Rosalind Gardner, Author of the Super Affiliate Handbook, Mike Mackin, CEO of Web-Traffic-Management, Rebecca Madigan, Executive Director of Performance Marketing Alliance, Heather Paulson, CEO of Paulson Management Group, Shai Pritz, CEO of Unique Leads, Matt Mickiewicz, Founder of 99Designs, David Duckwitz, CEO of Citizen Hawk, Tim Ash of SiteTuners, Scott Polk of Search and Social, President of SEOMoz Gillian Muessig and many more.
Add this to the party schedule that only the founders of WebmasterRadio can throw and this becomes an event you don’t want to miss.
Italian Govt. Seeks Jail Time For Google Execs
The Associated Press reported that Italian prosecutors are seeking “six-month to a year sentences for four Google executives Wednesday over an Internet video showing the bullying of a teenager with Down’s Syndrome.”
The Italian government believes Google had a responsibility of the published video when it was placed on YouTube, one of their properties.
The Google executives on trial are David Carl Drummond, the head of Google Italy’s managing board at the time; George De Los Reyes, a board member who has since quit; Peter Fleitcher, in charge of privacy protection in Europe; and Arvind Desikan, head of videos for Europe.
Google claims they did exactly what is required under European and Italian law.
Peter Fleitcher, on his personal blog, stated “I won’t be attending my trial in Milan in person. I’ll be represented by outside counsel. I believe that each of my 3 co-defendants has reached the same conclusion. As for me, I’m under clear instructions from my outside counsel not to set foot in Italy, at all. That’s a tragedy, since I love Italy.”
He also outlined the timeline for the prosecution, “the Prosecutors present their case today, November 25. The Google employees’ lawyers will present their defense on December 14 and a verdict should be issued on December 23.”
Bing Hands Out 1,000 MasterCard Cash Cards at Boston and Seattle Airports
If you’re traveling through Boston’s Logan Airport (BOS) or Seattle-Tacoma Airport (SEA) today, you have the chance to be one of 1,000 lucky people randomly selected to get a MasterCard cash gift card worth . That’s the price of checking luggage on some airlines.
Bing is doing these random-acts-of-publicity the day before you stuff your face full of sweet potatoes and marshmallows.
Why Boston Logan and Seattle-Tacoma? These are the two airports that were used to launch the original Price Predictor.
Good luck, and safe travels to you.
AdCenter Updates Pop-Up Help Boxes
Microsoft’s adCenter have updated their pop-up help boxes to make them more, um, helpful.
The boxes now offer a “More” link that expand the information you have access to. They also offer assistance to guide you through the task you’re embarked upon. There are also links to support and forums if you need even more information.
The goal is to provide on-the-spot help instead of users having to go hunting for help.
The pop-ups also now stay open until you don’t need them anymore. They’ll only close when you click the close X button, open a different pop-up, or navigate to another page.
AdWords Makes Product Extensions Available to All U.S. Advertisers
Google has unleashed a new feature in AdWords and is making it available to all U.S. advertisers. The feature is called Product Extensions and it uses information from an advertiser’s account in Google Merchant Center.
Product extensions allow images to be shown with your ad. However, unlike Product Listing Ads which are available on a Cost-Per-Action (CPA) basis, product extensions are available on a Cost-Per-Click (CPC) basis. The ads include a plusbox, which expands the ad. Advertisers will not be charged when a user simply clicks the plusbox – only when a user actually clicks through to the site.
Additionally, product extensions offer more control than product listing ads. For example, product extensions will only be triggered for ads by keywords set up in your campaign. And you can control which products appear in an ad. With Product Listing Ads, Google chooses these options for advertisers.
In order to use product extensions, go to your Google Merchant Account and add your AdWords account ID. Then, under the “Campaign Settings” in AdWords, look for “Ad Extensions” and choose “Use product images and information from my Google Merchant Center account.”