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:
- Is Negative SEO Still Possible?
Last year, we looked at the impacts, if any, of negative SEO on websites, a discussion which arose from a Forbes article on the saboteurs of search. One year later, we're still discussing the consequences and seeing if negative SEO is still possible. In a WebmasterWorld thread, we learn that there are still ways to sabotage websites and rankings, from hijacking competitor's DNS to doing it to yourself by killing your URL structure. Now, though, - Google AdSense Turns Five Years Old
Google AdSense was formally announced on June 18, 2003. Now, it is five years old and still going strong. Within 2 days, WebmasterWorld had its own Google Adsense forum where people are talking about how Google AdSense has helped them. In five years, some have been making enough to earn a decent living off of Google AdSense. Many admit that Google AdSense is the best monetization program for their website. Martinibuster adds: For a program - Google Reconsiders "Incorrect Maps Location Marker" Reinclusion
In a Google Groups thread, a number of small businesses are noticing that their location marker isn't quite on target; they would like to edit it out. In the past (and unfortunately I don't have a screenshot), there was a feature that would enable users to "edit incorrect marker location." (A similar feature is discussed in our screenshot tour of the "move the map marker".) Google has acknowledged that they removed this, thinking that it - Screen Shots of More Google AdSense Fonts
Google has confirmed the Google AdSense Fonts tests as being tests at WebmasterWorld. Since then I have tried to compile some real world examples of these fonts in action. Thanks to a DigitalPoint Forums thread, I was able to find a new AdSense font. Here it is: Compare that to the normal fonts: Compare that to comic sans font: Forum discussion continued at WebmasterWorld and DigitalPoint Forums. - Google Says, Long URLs May Hurt You
We have talked about URL length issues and SEO and if long URLs are spammy in the past. But now we have a Google Groups thread with a Googler, JounMu, actually commented on a specific URL as being a bit too long for comfort. The example URL in question is: http://www.gadgetguy.com.au/small-kitchen-appliances-toaster-kettle-coffee-machine-blender-juicer-channel7-sunrise-australia-42.html John said "Now I'm all for having descriptive URLs, but .... this seems to be taking it a bit too far and I have - Finally, We Get an API for Google Webmaster Tools, But...
I can't express how happy I am to see a real live API available for Google Webmaster Tools. The announcement came late Friday, telling webmasters and developers that they can now use an API to access and communicate data back and forth to Google for the Webmaster Tools portion of the site. The tool supports some but not all of Webmaster Tools features. It gives you two overall capabilities, one with managing site and the - Google Trends for Websites : Rather Not Have It? Seriously?
I had the honor of breaking the story on the Google Trends for Websites announcement. In fact, I was on a call with Sundar Pichai (VP, Product Management), R.J. Pittman (Director, Product Management), and Matt Cutts (you know him) of Google the day before. They showed me a tool that shows estimated traffic data for many sites, plus gives you search data and much more. I was very excited about this launch, as you can - Video Recap of Weekly Search Buzz :: June 22, 2008
In this week's video recap, I announced the special Father's Day winner of the schwag, plus told you how to win this week (it's easy). I showed off the Father's Day logos from Google, Yahoo, Ask.com, Dogpile and others. I discussed the Google Webmaster Live Chat event. Did you know Page Load Time is now a factor in AdWords? I got into the topic of Google Bowling and ended it off with don't make Matt
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- Having trouble deleting tags? Check here first!, Google Groups
- Mass exodus in YAHOO management, DigitalPoint Forums
- Most Important On-page Seo Factors, HighRankings Forums
- The Evolution Of The Modern SEO, Sphinn
- Keywords In Specific Order, HighRankings Forums
