July 3, 2009 Archives

In this week's video recap, we discuss the July Google webmaster report, a lot has happened over the past 30 days. Google may have had a PageRank quirk. Google penalized the porn industry and then reversed it. Google is messing with international search filters. Many of you like the new Bing commercials. Bing tries real-time search with Twitter answers. Microsoft adCenter has a quality based ranking team. Google announces the new AdWords API, v2009. Google has payment issues with Australian AdSense publishers. Selling SEO before the site is developed, is not easy. Google insults their top forum help contributors. Have a wonderful July 4th weekend! That was this past week at the Search Engine Roundtable.

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Some Of The Topics Discussed:

• July 2009 Google Webmaster Report
• Google's Recent PageRank "Technical Quirk"?
• Google Search Spanks The Adult Porn Industry?
• Google Reverses Adult/Porn Site Penalties
• Searchers Want "Pages From [Country]," Google Might Drop It
• 60% Of Our Readers Like The Bing Commercials
• Bing Adds Tweets Answers But How Real Time Is It?
• Bing's Quality Based Ranking Team for adCenter
• Get Ready For The Google AdWords API v2009
• Google AdSense Australian Payments Not Being Issued
• Offering SEO Before The Site Is Developed
• Google's Support Forums Member Status Glitch

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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.

Continue reading "Daily Search Forum Recap: July 3, 2009"

We are a few days into July and the WebmasterWorld thread that covers Google changes from month to month has been getting a lot of traction over the past couple weeks.

The overall theme is that there is a lot of ranking fluctuation taking place over the past few weeks. There are some rumors that Google has adjusted their link algorithm to look more at how "relevant" the link is to the page it is linking to. What exactly that means and if the rumor is true, is incredibly hard to validate. But the thread is getting a lot of traction and if you are noticing unstable shifts in Google for your search phrases, you might want to take a look at that thread.

Overall it has been a busy month, from adult sites being penalized and restored, to a couple PageRank updates and new Webmaster Tools features - Google has been up to a lot of things over the past 30 days. Here is a rundown of our Google specific coverage over the past thirty-days.

• Google's Recent PageRank "Technical Quirk"?
• Google Reverses Adult/Porn Site Penalties
• Google Search Spanks The Adult Porn Industry?
• June 2009 Google PageRank Update: Kind Of Early
• Why Google May Shorten Your Long URL in the SERPs
• Google Webmaster Tools Link Reports Change
• Google Finally Adds Domain Change Tool & Launches New Webmaster Tools Design
• Google Now Notifying Webmasters After Reconsideration Request Review via Email
• Google UK Search Shake Up - June 2009

For last month's report, see the June 2009 Google Webmaster Report.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

It seems like there are several threads around the SEO forum space that have discussion on a recent PageRank update. Yes, even more recent then the June PageRank update.

There is a WebmasterWorld thread, a few DigitalPoint Forum threads and a few Google Webmaster Help threads. I will only link to two, but there are plenty out there.

In the Google Webmaster Help, Googler, JohnMu, replied to one webmaster saying that he/she should not worry about the last PageRank change because it was likely a "technical quirk."

The way John said it, made it sound like the error was on Google's side. Here is what John said:

You have a nice-looking site :). As far as I can tell, it looks like the change in Toolbar PageRank for your site is only due to some technical quirk and not something that you need to worry about.

So I am wondering if the recent PageRank update noticed by a small percentage of webmasters, was a technical bug on Google's front?

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and Google Webmaster Help.

A WebmasterWorld thread asks if DMOZ is still relevant in 2009? DMOZ is a legendary web directory and has a ton of history. But is it still a critical or what it ever a critical part of your overall SEO or link building strategy?

I don't often see discussions around DMOZ (Open Directory Project) these days. In the past, the SEO forums were more likely to have an active discussion around the value and tips for submitting to DMOZ. Nowadays, I don't see it too much.

So I decided to create a poll and hope to get some responses from you on how important DMOZ is to you, as an SEO. Here is the poll:

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Shaun, aka Hobo, has released a 157 page PDF guide on SEO. You can download the book over here.

There are many SEO books out there, some free, some at a price. I would list some that I recommend, but I honestly don't want to leave any out. So I'll just list a few, but please don't be insulted if I don't list yours.

• Google SEO Guide (PDF)
• SEOmoz SEO Guide
• SEOBook.com (not sure if they still got the book)

Those are just a few and now we have this new one.

Forum discussion at Sphinn.

There are some countries that simply do not like Google or they simply don't get along with Google. If you are in one of those countries and you try to access Google AdSense or possibly other properties, you may see a message from the provider.

A WebmasterWorld thread has a copy of that message. Here it is:

Unable to access AdSense homepage

A connection has been established between your current IP address and a country sanctioned by the U.S. government (for more information, see http://www.ustreas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/ ).

We're unable to grant you access to the AdSense homepage at this time.

I personally never saw such a message, so when I saw a thread about it, I found it interesting.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.