Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
- Microsoft Live Search Spam-Like Referrals Are Still Occurring
In September, we reported that Microsoft's Live Search spam-like referrals are official tests performed by Microsoft and that blocking them could have you delisted from the search results. A bunch of forum members are still reporting this "abnormal" activity and have seen it for about a month now. Unfortunately, this negatively impacts these users' analytics. How long is this supposed to last? One member said one week. But a month? What is the purpose? Forum - You Can't Cancel Your Google AdWords Account
Unfortunately for some Google AdWords subscribers, they've learned that there's no way to cancel the Google AdWords account -- you can only deactivate the account. And they're unhappy because they don't want Google having access to their information, even if Google is such a big company. I suppose I have no choice but to cancel the credit card I used for this account- to assure Google will not have access to my financial information- and - The Local Sphere: Ask.com Does it Better than Google
Forum members are noticing a bit of a change in terms of presentation for Google Local results. One member was a bit disgruntled by the results presented when he performed a local search and found 10 links -- without the necessary map: I am no longer seening a map and now I get the "top ten local results" instead of the 3 links and the map. That observation piqued another response from someone who watches - YouTube is Most Popular Video Search Engine, According to Alexa
Let's face it: even if Alexa is not a good measure, it still shows interesting data. Forum members note that YouTube now has an Alexa rank of 3, which beats out Live.com and MSN (ranking 4 and 5 respectively). Do you suspect that the numbers will change? Who will be #1 in one year (currently Yahoo)? People are already putting bets on Google. Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums. - PayPerPost Sites Hit with PR0 Penalty
Somehow, I think that the incident with Shopzilla is related to the recent news that anyone using the PayPerPost method just got their PageRanks reduced this weekend. Forum members have mixed reactions. Some have obviously participated in such schemes. Others hope that those who participate suffer the consequences: If you cheat you die. Google seems to be taking out all the "schemes" that were set up to game the system. Finally, others note that they - How Much Search Traffic Do You Get from Google?
There's a poll going on at DigitalPoint Forums to discern how much search traffic comes to a variety of sites versus other search engines. And surprisingly, Google has come out the victor, claiming the majority of the vote: 90% of search traffic comes from Google (14 votes). In second place, 50-80% of search traffic has only garnered 7 votes. Why is this happening? Surprisingly, it isn't what you think. Sure, Google has the market share, - Five Gigabytes of Gmail Storage Now Available
Have you checked how much space your Gmail account is using lately? Well, if you haven't, it's at 5053MB right now and surpassed the 5GB mark over the weekend. Pretty sweet, eh? Forum members think so too, but oddly enough, they don't think that anyone would use that much storage. But if you create a centralized hub for all your mail needs (like I do), you will find out that you run out of Gmail - Vote for an SMX in Israel
Would you want to visit one of the most beautiful countries in the world while attending an esteemed SMX event? Barry will be in Israel on February 3, 2008, and he'd like to organize an event. If you're Israeli, would like to make an excuse to travel to Israel, or just want to meet Barry (trust me, he's a cool guy, and he hasn't paid me to write this endorsement), you should sign up for
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- do 301s update IBL?, WebProWorld
- I Got Excluded From Google...twice!, HighRankings Forums
- Is there a low cost way to obtain one way backlinks?, SitePoint Forums
- When Stealing from Bloggers Is OK - A Technorati Moment, Sphinn
- Does a 6-second flash intro affect my site's rankings?, SitePoint Forums
- Discovery of Yahoo Import Campaign from 3rd Party, Search Engine Watch Forums
- Google Adsense Clickers?????????, DigitalPoint Forums
- MSN / live.com Offers incentives to Search, Search Engine Watch Forums
- Site: results on google.co.uk - major issue, WebmasterWorld
