Search Buzz RoundUp Archives

In this special Mother's Day video recap, I discussed that landing page load time is coming to the AdWords quality score algorithm. The AdWords display URL policy is now being enforced. We noticed Google changes in terms of the floating four, minus sixty penalty was confirmed and more Google changes. Google's AdSense and AdWords reporting is messed up. Microsoft gave up on Yahoo. Google loves Comic Sans as a font and much more. To win, watch the video, vote at YouTube and comment here with your YouTube username.

To win, watch the video and comment at this post below with the correct answer. Make sure to subscribe to our video feed or subscribe directly on iTunes to be notified of these updates and download the video in the background. Here is the YouTube version of the feed:

For the original iTunes version, click here

Some Of The Topics Discussed:

• Google's AdWord Quality Score To Add Landing Page Load Time In June
• Google Finally Begins Enforcing The Display URL Policy
• The Floating Four At Google: Google's Position Four Seems Funky?
• Google Basically Admits to Minus 60 Penalty
• Google Says They Fixed AdSense Reporting Bug But Publishers Not Convinced
• Google AdSense & AdWords Reporting Still Showing Incorrect Data After Over 24 Hours
• Microsoft Backs Off Yahoo & Drops Offer
• Screen Shots of New Google AdSense Font, Comic Sans
• Please Take Our Reader Survey: Win Schwag & Dinner With Me

Please do subscribe via iTunes or on your favorite RSS reader. Don't forget to comment below with the right answer and good luck!

I may not be able to mail schwag outside of the United States.

Dear all, it is raining and icky outside, so today's a good day for a buzz roundup. Enjoy. ;)

Landing Page Load Time: Check

Your Google AdWords Quality Score now factors in your landing page load time. If you have a fast landing page, you'll get a great score. In other words, get good hosting!

Google Adwords Enforces Display URL

It only took a few months since Google wanted to enforce the URL display policy so that the landing page URL would match the display URL in Google AdWords campaigns, and now the policy seems to be in full force with pretty much accurate reporting.

Strange Google Rankings Still Plaguing the Internets

Barry likes to coin phrases, and in this case, floating four seems pretty accurate. He mentions that some results in position 4 seem to be floating around -- they show up on the first page, 4th ranking, but then later disappear. There are at least two people who noticed this strange behavior and we're not sure what to make of it.

The minus 60 penalty is not an illusion, according to Google. Google has admitted that it's a real penalty, and that this penalty usually involves cleaning up spam.

In our May 2008 Google SERP update, we're seeing some big traffic declines, which may be related (or not) to the aforementioned symptoms.

Google AdWords and AdSense Reports Displaying Incorrect Data

Earlier this week, AdSense and AdWords data was not being properly recorded and Google's engineering team took a looka at it. The next day, Google acknowledged that they fixed the problem but some people are still reporting inaccurate data.

Microhoo is Not in the Future

After all that anticipation, Microsoft has decided not to buy Yahoo. So long, Microhoo.

Setting Your Geographic Location in Google Webmaster Tools May Not Work

It seems that setting your geographic location in Webmaster Tools may not necessarily give you the rankings you're hoping for. For example, if you have a .com and you're in the UK, and you set your site to the UK geographic region, you're probably not as lucky as the person who has the .co.uk domain, it seems. UK people, give the US folks your .coms (I'm talking to you, Tamar!) :)

Please Tell Me that This is a Joke

If Google AdWords are really going Comic Sans, I'm going to puke. Worst. Font. Ever.

Yahoo's Universal Search is Here

It's time for Yahoo Universal Search, at least in India where Glue Pages are in beta. My verdict: very nice.

Monday is the Best Day for Google AdSense Payouts

Want Google AdSense money? Yoru best bet is to focus on monetizing your Mondays. We polled you, our valuable readers, and found that most of you are making the most of your dough on the first day of the week. I guess that's when people get click-happy from work boredom.

SEO Debate is Back

We love SEO. Seriously. Every day, there's another debate about SEO, and a bunch of people always come up to defend it. I am waiting for Danny Sullivan's post on how SEO is here to stay. I know he's working on it.

Win a Date with Barry

We're having a reader survey, and the winner gets some schwag and a free dinner with Barry. Now this guy is a fun date, so I suggest that you all participate right now!

In closing out April and moving into May, we had a fairly slow week of search forum news. We discussed how Google leaked AdWords ranking scores, a Google PageRank update and a Sitelink update. We also saw how GoogleBot is crawling less, overall. Court ruled that META keywords are immaterial. Google launched TV ads to every US advertiser. Finally, we chatted about the search controversy between SES and SMX. Congrats to the winner of the Yahoo schwag and good luck winning the eVisibility schwag! To win, watch the video and comment here with the correct answer.

To win, watch the video and comment at this post below with the correct answer. Make sure to subscribe to our video feed or subscribe directly on iTunes to be notified of these updates and download the video in the background. Here is the YouTube version of the feed:

For the original iTunes version, click here

Some Of The Topics Discussed:

• Google Updates Toolbar PageRank: April 2008
• More Webmasters Report Google Sitelinks, Few Problems Arise
• Google AdWords Displays Ad Scores: Pscore, mCPC & thresh
• GoogleBot Getting Tired? Google's Spider Crawling Less Documents
• Google Crawl Rate Drops: Google Responds?
• META Keywords Don't Matter According to US Court
• Google Opens TV Ads To All US Advertisers
• Search Conference Controversy Sparks Up Again

Please do subscribe via iTunes or on your favorite RSS reader. Don't forget to comment below with the right answer and good luck!

I may not be able to mail schwag outside of the United States.

Is it really May already? I guess time flies when you're working hard. Or something. The latter part of the week was a bit slow, but we still have a lot of great news for you, starting with a PageRank Update!

Google PageRank Update

That's right, my friends, we've observed a Google Toolbar PageRank update and some people are very happy to see it. Still, as commenter Rob Abdul points out, it really doesn't mean much.

Google Sitelinks Update

Along with a PageRank update came a Google sitelinks update. Other people are happy to see this too. A few problems have arisen, but nothing too serious, so carry on.

Google Leaks Ad Scores

Earlier this week, a few people reported leaked Google AdWords scores by the name of Pscore, mCPC, and thresh. We're not really sure what they mean and Google has no comment, according to Loren Baker of Search Engine Journal. What we do know is that they're related to ranking.

Google's Spider is Tired

As am I. But computers are supposed to work harder than humans. Yesterday, we reported news of Googlebot not crawling as often. But in this particular case, it was actually not an issue of the spider in general but the person's website. If your site is not easy to access, Googlebot won't come as often. That said, good hosting is critical! However, we're also quick to note that this may not necessarily be isolated to one guy's slow website. It may be an overall issue where we need word from Google.

META Keywords: Who Cares?

The verdict is in for a META keywords case: they don't matter, according to the US courts. The word used is "immaterial." But that's really a ruling that they made based on Google. What about other search engines? Did they forget? Or were the lawyers on the case not well-educated in area of search?

Get Your Google TV Ads Today

All US advertisers: your time on TV is coming up. Google has opened TV ads to those of us American people and there's a promotion where you can get up to $2000 off. What a bargain!

Mapping the World with Googoel and Yahoo

Yahoo has added circles to local search, and Barry has a video explaining how it's done. Ask.com has had this for awhile; I remember Gary Price explaining it to me over the phone. That man was really passionate about the technologies Ask has had to offer. :(

On the other hand, you know that a person like me loves schwag, but I'd never hide schwag forever. But the stickers are now gone! It seems like we'll never get these cool pieces of Google history. Google, it's time to print out more, mmkay?

And finally, Google has combined driving directions with street view so you can see where you're going before you get there.

VisualRank is Coming

We had PageRank. Now we're going to see VisualRank, Google's new way of weighing similar images. Will it kill SEO? Nah. Two out of three commenters think it's a good idea but wanted it earlier.

Search Conference Controversy Ensues

The battle of SES vs. SMX is continuing on Sphinn. Kevin and Danny are head to head with commentary that has been updated as recently as this morning. I love both SES and SMX guys, so obviously, I'm keeping my head out of this, but for the record, we reported on it here because the thread itself had a lot of comments and we thought it'd be relevant to the search industry at large.

Artist? Check iGoogle Themes

Google is pushing out artist themes for iGoogle to personalize your search experience even more. Not a bad idea.

Have a great weekend!

In this week's recap, I discussed my sickness with the flu, announced the winners of the Twing schwag and how to win Yahoo schwag. Also, I discussed Earth Day and Passover. Yahoo, Google & Microsoft announced earnings. Microsoft offers paid organic search support and Google messes with AdWords. Plus a lot more, so watch the video!

To win, watch the video and comment at this post below with the correct answer. Make sure to subscribe to our video feed or subscribe directly on iTunes to be notified of these updates and download the video in the background. Here is the YouTube version of the feed:

For the original iTunes version, click here

Some Of The Topics Discussed:

• Earth Day 2008 Logos: Google, Yahoo, AOL, Ask.com & Others
• Yahoo's Q1 Profits: $542.2 Million, Google announced last week and MSFT announced today Microsoft Quarterly Figures Show $14.45 billion
• Microsoft adCenter Customers Get Premium Organic Listing Support in Live Search?
• Google Tests Higher Placement of AdWords URLs
• Microsoft Launches Revamped News Service and today got RSS
• Google Sitelinks in Position 60?
• Webmasters Report Proxy Hijacking No Longer an Issue at Google
• Google Partners With Domain Tools For Whois Information

Please do subscribe via iTunes or on your favorite RSS reader. Don't forget to comment below with the right answer and good luck!

I may not be able to mail schwag outside of the United States.

I am back from Puerto Rico but the Passover holiday isn't over. It was fun, thanks for asking. ;) It rained for all of 20 minutes and I got some crazy weird sunburns and lots of bug bites. In other words, it was great fun. Seriously.

Earth Day

This week, while taking in a breath of fresh air, we celebrated Earth Day. Google, Yahoo, AOL, and Ask had some nice designs, and Cre8asite Forums as well as Search Engine Roundtable changed their theme. Did you do anything useful for Earth Day? I actually walked around old San Juan!

Q1 Earnings Released

Last week, Google's Q1 earnings saw a surge in stock prices after everyone jumped on the announcement about how well they've done. Yahoo has gone up substantially since Q1 2007, and Microsoft just announced their earnings as well. Life looks good for search giants.

Does Microsoft Favor adCenter Customers?

After a Microsoft adCenter user complained that his organic rankings plummeted after opting in to use adCenter, a Microsoft rep joined the forum discussion and gave the individual personalized attention. Do they get premium organic support if they use Microsoft's adCenter? Food for thought.

Google Sitelinks in Position 60?

A forum member pointed out that he discovered sitelinks in position 60 which looks strangely odd to most of us. This begs the question if it has anything to do with the -60 penalty and if sites ranked #60 are really supposed to be #1.

New: Microsoft Live News

Microsoft Live has launched a revamped news service that is still shadowed by Google but has promise. It'll take time, though.

Google Tests Higher Placement of AdWords URLs

What has a higher CTR, a Google AdWords ad with the URL first followed by the description or an AdWords ad that displays the description followed by a URL? Google is testing out the display of ads in this way, much like A/B testing, I suppose. :)

Google Teams Up with DomainTools for Whois Information

This is very cool news because I always found that DomainTools gives the most relevant whois information without having to worry about CAPTCHAs and the like--and also because I think that Jay Westerdal of DomainTools is a pretty cool guy. Google has partnered with DomainTools to provide Whois information, so if you type "whois seroundtable.com" in Google's search, it will show up on top. That's hot.

Gone Goes Google Proxy Hijacking

Google has been proactive about proxy hijacking and it seems like a thing of the past. Let's hear it for a sigh of relief! ;)

Google is Spidering Weird URLs

More specifically, as our friend Ben discovered, Google has spidered encoded HTML in URLs -- that is, ampersands that are declared with & in the result. If you ask me, it's a bit confusing -- and why? It's probably a bug.

Google CPC Lawsuit

A class action suit is holding Google liable for implying that a blank input box should inherit costs that are input in another box instead of assuming that blank means zero. I totally hear that concern, because if I left a box blank, I'd hope that Google or whatever service I was using wouldn't fill in the box with random gobbleygook or make assumptions for me (remember what ASSuME means, people!). Personally, while some forum members disagree, I think that this lawsuit actually is stronger than a lot of other weird Google lawsuits that I read about.

Yahoo Search Marketing Offers Click Filter Report

If you're a YSM user, you might see the new click filter report that Yahoo has provided to let you wade through statistics that relate to invalid clicks. For example, you'll get CTR, cost, and a bunch of other statistics and graphs as well.

The Large Rectangle is Annoying

While many people think that the largest Google ad yields the most clickthroughs, others think that the most annoying AdSense unit is the large rectangle. Oh well. To each his own.

Do You Want to Work at Google?

Most of you do want to work at Google, according to a recent poll. To be honest, I like the perks that Googlers are offered, but I also like what I do. What about you?

In this week's edition of the video search buzz, I talked about the Yahoo, Google and Live Search tax day updates. I also talked about the new Yahoo slap and a new AdWords slap. Google's bot is now crawling forms and Yahoo releases Slurp 3.0. Plus many more topics - make sure to watch to win search related schwag!

To win, watch the video and comment at this post below with the correct answer. Make sure to subscribe to our video feed or subscribe directly on iTunes to be notified of these updates and download the video in the background. Here is the YouTube version of the feed:

Some Of The Topics Discussed:

• Subscribe To Our New Video Podcast: Hosted By Barry Schwartz
• Tax Day Theme is Live
• Yahoo Search April 2008 'Tax Day' Update
• Microsoft Live Search April 2008 Update?
• Major Google UK Search Changes? 'Dewey' Crosses The Pond
• Possible Google AdWords Slap on April 12, 2008?
• Yahoo Jacks Up Advertisers Minimum By 2-4X Overnight
• Google Ads Now Live on Yahoo Search
• Google Now Crawling Content Behind Forms
• Yahoo Adds Slurp 3.0, Reminds Me Of Peanut Butter Memo
• Bigreds Sues Yahoo Over Click-Fraud For $1 Million
• Buy A Google-Plex Tour on eBay
• Google (GOOG) Stock Surges Overnight After Awesome Q1 Announcement
• Winners Announced in This Video

Please do subscribe via iTunes or on your favorite RSS reader. Don't forget to comment below with the right answer and good luck!

I may not be able to mail schwag outside of the United States.

While you're all reading this, I'm in sunny (rainy?) Puerto Rico preparing for the Passover holiday. This means that you'll see a little less of Barry and me over the upcoming days, at least until the holiday ends. As for me, this isn't much of a vacation since I'm blogging, and why would I want to keep you away from search news? That would be unfair, wouldn't it?

By the way, we're still looking for sponsors for our weekly video series that summarize these events. If you're interested, tell Barry I sent you. Additionally, the schwag addict in me needs duplicates. Send lots. Cool? (kthx.)

Tax Day in the USA

Ah, the day I realize I hate more than ever this year. It was Tax Day on Tuesday, and we "celebrated" (for lack of better word) with a theme:

For what it's worth, the theme DID put a smile on my face, but tax day still sucks. I can't believe the government thinks it's entitled to about 50% of my wages.

Yahoo's Tax Day Update, and Microsoft is in a Similar Boat

In preparation for their own tax due date, Yahoo had a major reshuffling of search results. The sentiment? More Wiki pages on top and "really bad" traffic. On the Microsoft update front, there are "awful SERPs" and it's a "total disaster." With Google's Dewey shuffle, it's not looking good for any search engine right now.

Google 'Dewey' Update Hits the UK

Yup, speaking of which, the reshuffling is back, as the Google "Dewey" update is beginning to impact UK-based users. I, too, keep seeing shuffled results. Maybe I should report my findings to Matt after all.

Google's AdWords Slap, Yahoo Minimum Bids Live

On April 12th, advertisers reported a Google AdWords slap with $10 minimum bid rates. Our commenters saw the same behavior. Is the Yahoo Slap next? Nope, not yet. The Yahoo minimum bids are live but the costs aren't exorbitant. Actually, that's because (as we later learned) that only Yahoo's minimum bid interface is live, but not the new pricing. It'll happen soon, they say. Well, it just happened, prices surge for some advertisers.

And finally, on a similar note, Yahoo was displaying Google AdWords ads in search results as part of a test earlier this month. The test appears to have stopped early, then came back again, and the Wall Street Journal suggests that a partnership could be underway.

Google is Crawling Content Behind Forms

For the SEO-unsavvy webmaster, you're in luck. Google is beginning to submit GET forms and see the content behind web forms. For the SEO-savvy-but-really-want-privacy webmaster, you're going to have to tweak your code to prevent Google from doing it.

Google Sitelinks Update

Google has updated sitelinks for numerous sites and added other sites to the list. Are you one of them?

Yahoo Gets Slurp 3.0

A new Yahoo crawler, Yahoo Slurp 3.0, has been unleashed into the wild. Your biggest concern is that new IP addresses will be used which is important if you're using IP-based checking.

Blended Search Changes Behavior

We're starting to see that blended search is changing user behavior and people are more inclined to click on news stories, videos, and images than the regular blue link. It's time to optimize!

Flickr Video Support Added to Google Reader

Now that Flickr video is out, it was only a matter of time for Google Reader to support the videos. And they did this week. That didn't take long. :)

Google is an Informational Search Engine?

A Penn State study reported earlier says that 80 percent of Google searches are informational, whereas the remaining 20% is split about evenly into navigational and transactional queries. Do you agree with that?

Snake Oil SEO Firm Sued with $100K+ Fine

Eric Pender says it right. "It's firms like these that, in aggregate, can give our industry a black eye." Here we are, defining SEO standards, and there Internet Advancement is, lying about true SEO offerings. I'm sure folks are glad they got what they deserved...for the most part.

Yahoo Sued by Internet Retailer Bigreds

It seems that there's another lawsuit brewing this week. The news is that internet retailer Bigreds is suing Yahoo for $1 million for click fraud that they believe begun in 2002. They refused to settle for $17k, instead requesting nearly 100x as much. Good luck.

Google Local Gives Businesses More Leeway

How do you best feel like you want to represent your company? Well, if you're offering some adult services or something sketchy, chances are, Google doesn't have a pre-filled box for you to select your business type. No need to worry any longer. Google now gives you, the business owner, the ability to enter a category that you feel is the best fit for your company or business, so you can get more targeted business results.

Googleplex Entry Fee? It's Yours to Determine

An eBay auction of a tour of the Googleplex has surfaced in the interwebs this week. The winner gets an insider's view of the "best place to work." Proceeds go to Foundation for the Future, educational organization.

Google AdSense Allows "Choose Units" Reporting Option

For Google AdSense users, you can now filter your reports by a new field called "Choose Units" which lets you either view your results by Ad Units, Link Units, or the two combined. The Google AdSense Blog expounds on the features.

Get Your SEO Terms Straightened Out

It seems that more and more people are not understanding basic SEO terms. Look things up if you're not sure. Maybe this is why people are fighting for SEO standards... not that it would help someone who doesn't know where to look!

Google's Earnings Soar, Again

Google announced outstanding earnings, sending their stock price up 18% so far today. Profits were 30% higher and revenue was up 40%.

Have a wonderful weekend and subsequent week! Don't miss us too much! (I know those of you who are going to SMX Social Media are going to have to hold it in!)

In this week's video recap, I discuss the major business turmoil Yahoo is going through with Microsoft, Google, AOL and News Corp. I also go through Flickr adding video, Yahoo acquiring IndexTools, Google's new AdWords policy, the guy who trademarked SEO, how one can penalized their competitors in Google, and so much more. The video is under ten minutes long and you can win some great schwag by watching.

To win, watch the video and comment at this post below with the correct answer. Make sure to subscribe to our video feed or subscribe directly on iTunes to be notified of these updates and download the video in the background. Here is the YouTube version of the feed:

Please do subscribe via iTunes or on your favorite RSS reader. Don't forget to comment below with the right answer and good luck!

I may not be able to mail schwag outside of the United States.

Big news this week. Barry loved my weekly roundups so much that he now has a video podcast. And we're giving away prizes for people who watch the videos. As part of promoting the project, if you spot a piece of schwag in the video, you have to comment on the post and if Barry selects you, you'll be getting some schwag in the mail. As a heads up, if you want to give away schwag for the event, contact us, and don't forget about me since this idea would not exist if not for the fact that I love schwag. (Well, maybe not.)

Flickr Videos Are Now Here

Want to watch some video on Flickr? Now you can, since Flickr now supports videos of up to 90 seconds in length. That size is perfect for me. You know, if Barry would just recap the Search Buzz Roundup in 90 seconds, I may actually watch them.

Yahoo Acquires IndexTools

Congratulations to both Yahoo and Indextools for their recent acquisition. Here's to hoping that the service becomes free. Yippee!

Yahoo Confuses Us

But besides that good news, there's some confusing news. Barry reports that Yahoo is wowing us with all this interesting news about a possible merger with AOL, a partnership with Google for AdSense ads, a breakup with Microsoft on paid search partnerships, and that News Corp may also try to bid for Yahoo. Whatever it is, please stop. That's way too much drama for us little people to handle.

MicroHoo Confusion

Microsoft wants to finalize their deal with Yahoo. Yahoo wants more money. This isn't a story that looks like it can end well. It must be very stressful.

Google Analytics Adds Beta Graph View

Want to see weekly and monthly graphs on your Google Analytics accounts? You can with beta graph view for Google Analytics. Perhaps this is, as commenter Carlos points out, a way to narrow your scope of the new benchmarking tools.

Google isn't Enforcing the AdWords URL Policy

We've been expecting a new Google AdWords URL policy for quite some time. Now that it's April, the policy is supposed to be in effect. But is it? My sources say no. However, commenters may have observed different behavior. I guess Google will be going through every AdWords account one-by-one to verify the destination URL.

Slimy SEO

Some guy in California (or is he really in CA?) is trying to trademark the acronym SEO. Does he realize how many people he's angering? If you're upset by this news, tell the United States Patent and Trademark office about the ramifications of such an action. You wouldn't want to be charged for using the phrase, would you?

Slimeballs Continued

Speaking of sliminess, if you wanted to penalize your competition in Google, you apparently can. Get some bad inbound links, generated hundreds of links from one IP address, build duplicate content, and apply 301/302 redirects. Google, are you safeguarding against these deceptive practices?

Does a DMOZ Listing Help You Rank?

We polled our readers about the inherent value of a link in DMOZ. The answer was relatively unclear. About half of you thought that the link is powerful, while the other half of you thought it wasn't.

Block Shady Advertisers in the Google AdSense Ad Review Center

If you're not liking the advertisers you get in the Ad Review Center, you can block their ad. This only works for placement-targeted ads, though, and not contextually targeted ads. In any event, it's a cool feature, and here's a screenshot if you want to see how to do it.

Initial Feedback on Google Ad Manager Reports

Barry showed us Google Ad Manager Reports complete with screenshots that look like they've been painted on by a two year old. Nothing personal, Barry. :) In terms of feedback, so far, reaction is mixed. Some love it and others hate it. Will the haters get used to it? They'll have to.

Your Boring House is on the Internet

If your last name is Boring and you live on a "private road" in Pennsylvania, you've been in the news lately because your house has appeared in Google Street View and you've decided to sue Google. I believe it's a little far-fetched to take such an extreme stance. Other readers disagree with me. But the point is that this is America, that's public property, and photography is not illegal in public areas. Here, you can read the photography bill of rights for more information.

Google Code in Google Universal Search

More and more pages are being added to Google Universal Search. Now, it's Google Code snippets. This may be completely not helpful, but for some, it may actually teach you how to code. I'd love to hear from programmers themselves. Do you find that the results are just random snippets that have nothing to do with what you're searching for, or do they help you get past a hump?

Google Suggest Test Expands

More and more people are seeing that Google is offering Google Suggest to their searches. Helpful? What do you say?

Yahoooooooooooooooooo!

Barry has a video of the Yahoo yodeler -- an easter egg that you encounter when you click on the exclamation point in the "Yahoo!" logo. Like it? I think it's fun. :)

Advertise on Google TV

Google is trying to get more advertisers to advertise on TV, according to reports. Are you ready for that?

Google's Local Algorithm Changes

Barry illustrates how Google's Local Algorithm has changed and believes it has something to do, perhaps, with new factors, such as ratings and PageRank. What do you think is contributing to the new shift?

Webmaster's Wish List: Link Unbuilding

Sometimes webmasters don't like their links. They feel that it can affect them in negative ways. The idea now is to perform link unbuilding -- that is, to ask webmasters to take those links down to your site. But wouldn't it be easier if you can remove icky quality links in Google Webmaster Central? I think this will be in heavy demand in the near future.

May 2nd is SphinnCon North Carolina

Rob Kerry wants you to know that he is an evil green monkey SphinnCon North Carolina is on May 2nd. In fact, that means that the bloke will be on this side of the pond to help organize the event. I believe my friend Jay Young will be helping out as well. I know both of those guys and can tell you that you're in good hands.

In this week's video recap of the Weekly Search Buzz we announced the winner of the prize from last week's video recap, plus I chatted about some of the most interesting and important discussions around the search industry. In addition, you can win by watching me play garbage can basketball - just comment with the number of hits and misses (it won't be easy).

This week's video recap is a summary of the Weekly Search Buzz Roundup - 04/04/08: Earth Hour, April Fools & Google Sells Performics SEOs. I made this video shorter, so I skipped many topics but covered the most important ones, in my opinion. Topics include the Dewey update, Earth Hour, Performics & Google, and much more. So check it out:

To win a prize, you need to comment below with the right answer and rate the video at YouTube.

Also, I am experimenting with adding this videocast to iTunes, so you can subscribe to it via iTunes (as a podcast). I have not yet fully uploaded the video to iTunes, but you can try to subscribe to the videocast via iTunes over here. I hope I can upload it later today and you should see the video cast in iTunes shortly. (Update: The iTunes subscription seems to work, but the file was 85MB, a bit too large, in my opinion. So next time, I hope to upload a smaller, more compressed version, for easier download. Please do subscribe via iTunes or on your favorite RSS reader.

Update 4/9: I have updated the video casts to be hosted on Amazon S3 and I have created our own feed, to replace the original one. The new feed URL is at http://www.seroundtable.com/videocast.xml and you can subscribe to it at any RSS reader you like. If you want them downloaded to iTunes or to get them on your iPod or iPhone, use our iTunes Subscribe feature.

I can't believe it's already April. After our own Search Engine Squaretable pranks and after several great April Fool's jokes around the search industry (including Yahoo's search ad for Butterfinger), things are starting to go back to normal.

Well, some things.

Dewey Update

The big stir in search forums is the "Dewey" update. People are seeing a lot of shuffling in datacenters and Matt Cutts is asking for you to submit a form to get help. If you're impacted, tell Matt. Don't be shy.

Earth Hour

In observance of Earth Hour, Google went dark on Saturday night. In the literal sense, Google turned its background from white to black. The goal of this initiative was to raise awareness about energy conservation. It's 5AM as I write this and the lights are on. I guess I should turn them off...

Google Sells Performics

Google has sold the SEM division of DoubleClick which will come as a relief to many in the search industry. They're maintaining their affiliate marketing division, but they're shedding their responsibility (and an obvious conflict of interest) by parting ways with the SEO/PPC company. Best of luck to you guys.

Microsoft Publisher? Sign up for ContentAds

If you're aching to join the Microsoft ContentAds pilot program, you now can sign up if you're a publisher. Fill out the form and get information about new developments, special focus groups, and consideration for inclusion into the program.

Adderall for Yahoo, Please

It looks like Yahoo Slurp was suffering from ADHD earlier this week as webmasters reported hundreds of crawling reports daily in comparison to Google's activity (which, as one puts it, is at "1 or 2.") Eventually, Yahoo acknowledged and fixed the problem.

Yahoo Site Explorer Available in the UK and Ireland

Living in Great Britain? You now have your own special Yahoo! Site Explorer which is giving preference to UK links but is also showing some other links as well.

Google AdWords UK Trademark Policy Changing

Google UK has revised its trademark policy so that you can bid on trademark terms as keywords but those terms cannot show up in your ad. This is the same as the US policy and goes into effect on May 5.

Get Google News Ranking Updates

If you wanted to know the truths and myths about Google News rankings, your wait is over. Google posted about it and we reported on it. Now write some killer newsworthy content and maybe you'll get indexed.

Blending is Permitted

In terms of blending your Google AdSense ads, it's permissable as long as you don't deceive your users. Makes sense.

Scrolling Arrows on Google AdSense Ads are Here to Stay

Google has confirmed earlier this week that scrolling arrows on AdSense ads are a new feature that gives users more control over the ads they can choose to read or ignore.

Google Webmaster Tools Verification Bugs Fixed and Broke Again

After we reported that Google is having difficulty verifying sites in Webmaster Tools, we were told that a bug fix is out. For most of you. If you're hosting on an .asia domain name, you're out of luck. At least, for now.

Toolbar PageRank = Regular PageRank

Google has finally updated the directory PageRank to match toolbar PageRank, Barry notes.

Google Quotation Search Results Refined

If you've done a search on Google with quotations and Google has not found any results, it will now suggest alternative searches for you without the quotes. By the way, you can't do the query Barry suggests in our announcement post because there are at least 3 pages that show that phrase. But you can try it on another phrase that makes zero sense and you'll see exactly what he means.

Google.de Mirrors Results...a Lot

If you applied a nifty little trick to your Google search query, you may have noticed that Google showed the same result in positions 20 through 120. Yeah, that's a lot. But it's only impacting Google.de.

Google Webmaster Chat = Success FTW!

Barry listened in on last week's Google Webmaster Live help session and called the event a success. If you missed it, there are audio clips and transcripts available. He notes that Google will also be holding more of these in the future, which is great for you because it really connects webmasters to the Google Webmaster Central team. There was great representation at the first one, and I can imagine we'd continue to see that in future sessions. Nice.

Subscribe to us today

If you subscribe to Search Engine Roundtable on Google Web Search, you'll see some cool results. It adds more personalization to your search experience, and I know some people do like that.

In this week's video recap of the Weekly Search Buzz we announced the winner of the prize from last week's video recap, plus I chatted about some of the most interesting and important discussions around the search industry.

This week's video recap is a summary of the Weekly Search Buzz RoundUp - 03/28/08: YouTube Video Statistics, Google Demographics Targeting & Video Ads on Google and Yahoo. In this video edition I discussed YouTube Insights, Google Demographic bidding, Google Video ads the Live Search update and much more. So check it out:

To win a prize, you need to comment below and rate the video at YouTube.

Happy Friday everyone! It's officially spring out here; the weather has gotten warmer and it's almost April! Wow.

Easter!

Yeah, that's right. Last week was Easter. And there were plenty of celebrations in the search sphere.

YouTube Analytics

Probably the coolest thing (for me) that happened this week was the announcement that YouTube is now providing analytics on their videos. I know Avinash Kaushik would be proud. It is very cool to see how well your videos are doing, and Barry provides a nice screenshot tour of the various options you can take advantage of. Sweet.

Google AdWords Demographic Bidding Screenshots

Barry has been in a screenshot mood lately. After the announcement about Google's demographic targeting for AdWords advertisers, he provides Google AdWords demographic bidding screenshots as well. You can see traffic reports by gender, age, and more.

We Asked You What You Thought About Minus X Penalties

....and most of you thought it was backlink related. In other words, the links pointing to your site may be causing a drop in your rankings. Even Barry thinks so.

New Google Mobile

A spy blogger journalist dude from ZDNet was snooping around examining Google's robots.txt file and found Google's new mobile interface. It's actually quite cool; it knows where you're located and gives you popular attractions. Of course, if you're not a tourist, the results Google provides may not help you, but a big chunk of folks are probably looking for something on that map. (For the others, Google, personalized search!)

Microsoft Live Search March 2008 Update

The March 2008 update of Live Search has left webmasters really upset at the quality of results. One even likens it to "split personalities." Not good.

Google Sitelinks March 2008 Update

On a similar note, Google is performing updates of its own. I finally have sitelinks, albeit they're ... interesting.

New Versions

Some advertisers have been invited to the new Microsoft adCenter Editor Beta. No word on performance issues yet.

On Google's end, Google AdWords API version 12 is now live, and you have until July 26 to switch over. Speaking of deadlines, it's almost April 1st, and the Google AdWords display URL policy is going into effect then. Check your campaigns carefully as soon as possible if you haven't already.

Video Ads Come to Google and Yahoo

It looks like other search engines are jumping in the video ad game. Google came out with AdWords video ads and Yahoo now has Partner Results. Life is changing and it's all video, baby. (I am not sure if I'm impressed.) ;)

Do Search Boxes in Google Search Results Increase Traffic?

The answer is maybe. Search boxes in the SERPs increase traffic astronomically, according to one person who was fortunate enough to get a search box on his site. The "traffic doubled overnight," he says. Others disagree, though. So time will only tell if it helps or hurts.

No, You CANNOT Blend Your Ads

The Google AdSense team has officially provided guidelines saying no to blending ads with your content. Will they enforce it? Hard to say. Keep watching this site. ;)

10 Minutes Until Google Time

You have about 10 minutes until you can join the Google Webmaster Help Live Chat depending on when this post gets published and when you read it. Don't miss it!

Welcome Brian and Suman

Finally, I'd like to welcome AdSensePro reps Brian and Suman who hail from Ireland and India, respectively. It's nice to have global assistance when you need it. :)

Have a great weekend!

Listen up, you have a chance to win a prize by watching this video. If you spot a "prop" during the video, comment below and star the video at YouTube. The following week, I will pull a name out of a hat and the winner gets a prize. US only contestants please.

Here is the video recap of Weekly Search Buzz Roundup - 03/21/08: Universal Porn, Malicious Links and SES NY 2008. We covered a lot of news including the Google porn issue, Google toughening up on malicious web sites, SES NY and much much more.

Again, to win, you need to comment below and rate the video at YouTube.

Finally, some closure to a really long three weeks. I can finally relax (though the work doesn't stop). SES NY wrapped up yesterday and we're ready to get back to some normalcy around here. With that said, what happened this week?

Today is Purim

Before we get into search events, Happy Purim to everyone! We have a nice theme on Search Engine Roundtable today.

Earlier this week was St. Patty's Day

Happy belated St. Patrick's Day everyone. The search industry celebrated St. Patty's Day with you. What did you do?

Google Doesn't Allow Malicious Websites

Trying to be naughty? Don't even think about getting indexed on Google with phishing sites or other malicious websites. Google has updated the guidelines to connote that it will not tolerate this kind of content, and that's great. Who needs that crap on the Internet anyway?

Two New Google AdWordsPro Guides!

Welcome aboard, Google AdWordsPro guides! It looks like the work there is getting busy, so more and more Googlers are staffing up to tackle forum discussion. I think it's great community engagement.

Yahoo Microformats Make it Easier for Scrapers?

Last week, Yahoo announced microformat support for open search. This week, webmasters have expressed concern because microformats will make it easier for scraperrs to steal content. I understand that this is a needed direction, but the spam and content theft issues will need to be addressed too.

Consider Your Linking Strategies: Order is Important

...or so some say. Rand Fishkin performed a study that showed that the first anchor text is more important than subsequent anchor texts. It's possible, and it's still a debated topic, but the findings are interesting. Go test it and see for yourself.

Microsoft adCenter's 0.0% Conversion Rate

It appears that Microsoft adCenter's conversion traffic is worsening. From a recent campaign, a forum member notices that Microsoft had no conversions from 200 clicks. Is anyone else able to reproduce this issue? I

Google Beacon Coming Soon

Don't be surprised when you see Google Beacon in the near future, which will be especially useful for Google AdSense and monetization. It's a promising metric for some, but privacy pundits may disagree. Either way, as the web grows more social, this is a likely direction that Google shall take.

Google Universal Search: Filter Out the Porn, Please!

I hope parents are watching what their kids are searching for because some very pornographic images are making their way into the universal search results. I feel sad for Barry that he had to saw it. My boss is so pure. Not anymore, I guess.

Yahoo Site Explorer Links Decrease... and Fixed

In case you were wondering, the Yahoo Site Explorer links dropped off earlier this week, but one of our commenters report that it's been fixed. Thanks for the blog discussion, Rebecca. :)

Google Suggest?

Have you seen the new Google Suggest feature? This is Google's attempt -- or so people suppose -- to propagate the drop down from search results. What do you think? I like.

Check out Google Analytics Benchmarking

Earlier this week, Avinash Kaushik suggested that Google Analytics Benchmarking was going to go live. Well, say hello to Google Analytics Benchmarking. Barry explains how it works and shows some statistics. Cool stuff.

Google vs. Yahoo Radio

Since radio is relatively new (and not embraced by the masses--yet), one wonders if Yahoo Radio can give a the company a competitive edge over Google. What say you?

Google AdWords Site Exclusion up to 5,000 Sites!

This should be pretty useful for Google AdWords advertisers: Google AdWords has now put its site exclusion to 5,000, giving you more control over your campaigns and preventing low quality traffic. Will it need to be unlimited in the future? Maybe, but this is a good extension for now!

A Lot of You Want to Work at Google

66% of you would like to work at Google, according to a poll we did earlier this week. Why? I guess the free car washes, laundry, and day care is attractive. Pool tables, foosball, and free food aren't bad perks either.

Don't you think that's cool?

SES NY 2008: It's Over. Now Read Our Coverage

We covered 34 sessions at SES NY 2008. Thanks to all of our helpers: Avi and Sheara Wilensky, Jeff Quipp, Chris Boggs, Bill Hartzer, Debra Mastaler, and Marshall Sponder.

I missed the Friday video, so I thought I work on it this Sunday. Here is the video recap of the Weekly Search Buzz Roundup - 03/14/08: Google Acquires DoubleClick, YouTube's New API, and Google Search Quality Guidelines:

To see, rate or comment at the video on YouTube, click here.

I am back from SXSW in Austin, TX and somehow I am still alive. I have no idea what really happened in search this week because I've been so immersed in the southwest, but thankfully Search Engine Roundtable is keeping me up to speed. :)

Happy 3/14

Until earlier this week, I've never heard about Pi day. Do people really celebrate it? I guess Search Engine Roundtable does. But that's news to me. Barry? ;)

Google Owns the Internets

Google's acqusition of DoubleClick has been finalized this week. Now Danny Sullivan suggests that they divest of Performics to make it more fair for others. As many people say, Google has an unfair advantage.

All Your [Military] Base Are Belong to Google the Government

Well, one thing Google didn't win this past week: the battle of keeping military installations in Google Street view has been lost. Too bad. I kind of wanted to see what they looked like.

Google PageRank = Abstract

Here's why you shouldn't live on Google PageRank: toolbar data is abstract. It's not updated frequently enough to be a metric that you should worry about that much. Calm down, everyone.

Digg's Algorithmic Changes Reduce Front Page Stories by 38%

After doing a pretty in-depth study, Pierre Far discovered that Digg's algorithmic change from late January reduced front page promotions by 38%. That makes me sad. :(

Do You Want a New Link or an Old Link?

When polling our readers, we learned that 65% of you would prefer links from old pages than newer ones. Tell us why in the comments!

Give the Google Content Network a Try

How many of you have never used the Google content network in your Google AdWords campaign? You're in good company. :) But Google is pushing for their advertisers to try the content network probably because of low AdSense earnings.

Welcome AdSenseAdvisor!

A new face has appeared in WebmasterWorld: Google AdSenseAdvisor has made his/her way into WebmasterWorld. Nice to have you join us! :)

Speaking of which, AdSenseAdvisor wants your AdSense wish list, so contribute right away! Also, what would you do if you had an AdSense account manager? I have to say that the new ASA is doing a great job with a lot of interesting questions to ponder.

Google Slap Reversed...for a Little Bit

What an emotional roller coaster. Google reversed the Google Slap on advertisers earlier this week, but then they switched back. Too bad :(

MSNBot Fails Reverse DNS Test

In case you're wondering who is crawling your site, it's probably MSNbot. Some IP addresses are not resolving properly, but it looks like some of us noticed.

YouTube Gives Great Opportunity to SEOs with Developer API

We learned this week that YouTube has expanded its API to add and edit titles and descriptions, upload videos to your site (without the need to host the videos), and more. This is a terrific opportunity for anyone really looking to dive into the video realm.

Google Search Quality Guidelines Leaked

Want to know if your page is relevant, vital, spammy, malicious, or perhaps unratable? Google's Search Quality Guidelines can give you some tips. A few very keen SEOs discovered this document this week, and it's a useful read.

Fun Stuff

If you like SEO, you'll love Steve's new license plate. I think that's awesome.

You can use the Show IP Firefox extension to see what datacenter you are on when you surf Google. It's a great extension in general. Get it!

Also, Google Sky is now an in-browser experience. Why does it rocks? In a place like NYC where there's light pollution, I can now see the sky without a lot of effort. :)

SES NY 2008: Next Week

We're headed to Search Engine Strategies 2008 in NYC next week (which is really not too far away) and we've posted our coverage schedule. For the record, Jeff Quipp has agreed to cover Thursday morning's keynote. It's not on that schedule, but Jeff, don't let me down. ;)

By the way, there's no video this week. (Yay!) Barry is too busy on this lovely Friday.

Hello from sunny Austin Texas! I'm at South by Southwest for the week but I couldn't possibly go without giving you the highlights of the week in search. So, without further ado, here you go!

From Barry: I put a ton of effort into this video to improve it and make it more "fun" to watch. I added illustrations, screen captures, captions and music throughout the video. Please take the time to watch it and give me your feedback via comments or the contact us form. Thank you!

Farewell, Ask.com

We saw it was coming, and then it happened: IAC has laid off 8% of the Ask.com workforce and decided to change their search strategy. Unfortunately, all brand evangelists (including my BFF) have decided to hang up the coat; Ask had promise and unfortunately money was more important. Danny's harsh obituary for Ask.com also expresses resentment and disappointment. My favorite part was this:

You've decided that Ask is going to be reconfigured to appeal to women. I guess I missed the memo where women said they somehow needed a search engine that was different for them. What are you considering? Pink and lots of flowers? A recipe search? Maybe a section for working moms? Any more stereotypes you think might fly? Hey, why don't you change CEOs again and put an actual woman in charge of the company that wants to build a search engine for women. That might be a good marketing move. Maybe bring back Jeeves the butler as we've all been expecting, but this time as a shirtless beefcake.

For the record, Mr. Safka, I'm a woman, and I'll never use Ask again. I might poke fun at Jeeves and do what I did when I was growing up alongside him (asking "are you gay?" and seeing Jeeves answer "that's not a nice question, is it?"), but that's all. You lost a fan in me too.

On the same note, people are seeing that Ask.com is replacing its search with Google results. That's just really sad. I have to express my disappointment in losing some wonderful colleagues, including Jim Lanzone and Gary Price. It's a stupid stupid move. As many of my friends would say, gg (see definition #2).

Yahoo's Search Update: March 2008

Yahoo is in the process of updating its ranking, indexing, and crawling algorithms. So far, nobody has spotting anything different, but we'd like to know if you see something.

Google Sitewide Search Results in SERPs

If you search for "wikipedia" in Google, you'll now see a