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:
- New York Times Sued Over Linking Practices
An article at E-Commerce Times talks about a recently-filed lawsuit against Boston.com, a NYTimes company, that is being sued for its linking practices. According to the article, the simple presence of a link has prompted the suit, but from CenterNetworks, the real reason might be apparent: GateHouse, the company suing the Times, is upset because Boston.com is linking to subpages of the site, thereby causing readers to bypass the significant advertising on GateHouse's home page. - Are there Honest Copywriters Out There?
At High Rankings Forums, there's a disgruntled individual who has been looking for honest copywriters and hasn't had any luck. All have been deadbeats. Maybe this individual isn't looking in the right place, given that there are a lot of good copywriters out there that I know. So how do you find them? * Get a reference before you hire them. * Buy a cheap writing sample to see what you're getting into. * Speak - How Do You Ask for Links?
Link building is going to happen whether I like it or not, so I better accept the 949394 emails I get per day. A WebmasterWorld thread asks link builders how they ask for links via email. Some tactics include putting the link up first (and thereby then emailing people -- they often will give the reciprocal link) and keeping the email short and brief and personal. Ask for the link. Don't demand it. Offer people - Take the 2008 Search Quiz
Know everything there is to know about search? You sure about that? Matt McGee is hosting the 2nd annual search quiz and you're invited to challenge me and others. Last year, I won this cool contest, but this year, well, I won't tell you -- I'll wait for Matt to tell you himself :) You have till tomorrow evening to play, so be sure to sign up now! Forum discussion continues at Sphinn. - My Mobile Site Is Duplicate Content. Oh No!
A Google Webmaster Help thread has discussion around a webmaster who noticed Google is treating his mobile site as a duplicate site to his main site. This user has his mobile site on a subdomain of m.domain.com, where his main site is on www.domain.com. The issue is that the content is exactly the same on m.domain.com as compared to www.domain.com. So what can you do to solve the duplicate content issue? In my opinion, the - Google AdWords Smart Positioning (BETA)
Google AdWords has a newish (October 2008) feature that some AdWords advertisers have the option of giving a try named Smart Positioning (BETA). I looked back and I don't believe we talked about Smart Positioning (BETA) here, so I thought I find a thread and discuss it now. WebProWorld has the only discussion on Google's Smart Positioning that I could find and it is not much discussion at all. What is Smart Positioning? Google says - Google's Strict Image Search Less Strict Than Moderate Option
We have complained time and time again about Google showing inappropriate images , including explicit porn and other nudity in the Google search results. But it has been getting better overall, that is until I spotted a thread at DigitalPoint Forums. The thread showed a Google Image search for fat beauty returned nude images. But what shocked me is that the stricter I set the image search filter the worse the images got. Let me
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- Little Known High Value Links!, Sphinn
- Picasa Uploader App with G1: A few bugs, Google Mobile Help
- 50 Resources for Getting the Most Out of Google Analytics, Sphinn
- are people dumb enough?, WebmasterWorld
- i can't export my feeds as opml, Google Groups
- Is it true that a large number of pages having unique content will increase the traffic on site a lot?, Google Webmaster Help
- Sandbox Database Refresh: Friday, Dec. 19, Google Groups
- MyBrand problems since migration, Google Groups
- What was Google's Greatest Achivement of 2008?, Search Engine Watch Forums
