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:
- Guarantee Top Search Placement Masked Through PPC Ads
A High Rankings Forum member had a chat with a snakeoil salesman who promised to guarantee 3000 searches a month for a client's particular niche. How is this possible without using some shady tactics? Numerous possibilities arise. They could just be using "over-inflated Overture numbers," as forum administrator Jill Whalen explains. Moderator Randy says that it could just be numbers generated from collecting AdWords impression data. You could also get an idea about the number - Duplicate Links: Better to be Safe Than Sorry?
What happens if you link to the same page twice on one page with different anchor text? Does Google devalue the link at all? This question is asked on Cre8asite Forums. I have 2 identical links on same page but with different anchor text. I know google will retain only one link for page rank, but I would like to know if the second anchor text will reduce the importance of the first anchor text - Google News Searches Stop Working Temporarily
Yesterday, at about 10AM Eastern Time, reports came in that Google News search was not working. Barry reports that he also had downtime with Google News yesterday, and four other users also announced that it impacted them. The problem was that the result pages were blank. Four hours later, Google News Guide 2 announced that the problem had been fixed. While the problem seems to be fixed (Google News works for me), another member reports - Customize Your Ask.com Home Page
Ask.com announced the launch of a feature I have been waiting for since Ask 3D launched. You can now upload your own "skins" to be used as your personal background for the Ask.com home page. The Ask.com Blog explains exactly how to do it, so follow the directions there. Here is my theme: Very cool! Forum discussion at Cre8asite Forums. - Google AdWords Relaunches Demographic Bidding
Beu in Search Engine Watch Forums had the scoop on Google relaunching demographic bidding for AdWords and AdSense. The AdWords blog writes Demographic bidding beta test, and gives users a form to sign up for the beta test. There are more details on exactly what demographic bidding is at AdWords, but in short, you can specific which age or gender you want to bid higher or lower on, or even exclude your ads from being - International Google Traffic Estimator Tool Data Off
Google AdWords Traffic Estimator for international keyword data is not producing statistically valid results. First reports came in at Google Groups yesterday afternoon. The report read as follows: At the moment the Traffic Estimator gives no or almost no data for e.g. German or Italian keywords. The English data works fine. This is definitely not the usual statistical uncertainties but completely missing data chunks for whole languages. The issue has been verified and confirmed by - ShoeMoney Vs. SEOs & Danny Sullivan Podcast Available
Jeremy, ShoeMoney, has posted the podcast of his "debate" on how "he dislikes 95% of SEOs" out there. Danny Sullivan stepped up to defend the SEO industry and community. Danny did an outstanding job, by providing the basics of SEO, a ton of history including SEMPO details and backed up his stuff by fact. Yes, many seasoned SEOs found the "debate" boring. But we can't blame Danny for that. Shoe set up the debate but
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- Build out existing site or start new ones?, Search Engine Watch Forums
- Altering domain name for SEO purposes, SitePoint Forums
- Inside AdSense blog just launched in Russian!, Google Groups
- Links At Bottom Of Page, HighRankings Forums
- New SERP layout - products from google base on bottom, WebmasterWorld
- Reader for Mobile width is incorrect on iPhone, Google Groups
- Search Marketing Resolutions for 2008, Search Engine Watch Forums
- Social Media Can Be a Great Way to Stretch Your Ad Budget, Sphinn
