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:
- Google Blog Search Updates Link Query Algorithm
A few weeks ago, we reported that Google released a major blog search update. That update fixed the issue with Google Blog Search finding content in the blogroll and thus showing irrelevant search results. It directly impacted the "blogroll detector" aspect of the algorithm. Today I learned via a Google Groups thread that Google has finally updated the link operator aspect of that algorithm in Blog Search. That means, if you come up in the - How Google Treats Affiliates in the Web Search Results
A detailed Google Webmasters Help thread has discussion around how Google perceives affiliates and how they need to go above and beyond to warrant ranking well in the Google search results. Googler, JohnMu, answers one affiliate, as to why he is not ranking as high as he would have liked: I believe one of the issues that you might want to work on is to make sure that your site provides unique and compelling content - Video SEO: Host Internally or on YouTube?
A HighRankings Forum thread asks if one should host videos on their own server or host them on YouTube. I do a lot of videos here in my Search Buzz Video Recaps, which are weekly digests of what we covered here over the course of the week, so I have some experience with this topic. Let me start off by saying that Google and most search engines have a very tough time understanding the content - Google Creates Local Business Center User Guide
Google has created a comprehensive user guide for the local business center. You can via the user guide over here. It is broken down in seven sections: Getting startedAdding a listingAdding more than 10 listingsVerifying a listingYour Local Business Center homepageEditing or removing a listingOther features Here is the user guide's introductory video: Forum discussion at Google Maps Help. - April 2009 Google Webmaster Report
Every month we report on a monthly WebmasterWorld thread that discusses the current state of the Google web search index. This month, the WebmasterWorld thread has very little to report. If you want to see last month's report click here. Instead, I thought I highlight the most important posts here over the past couple weeks, in relation to Google's web search changes. Google Gets Generic on Local Web Search QueriesGoogle Releases Major Blog Search Blogroll
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- Adsense and Analytics - whats your experience of it?, Google AdSense Help
- Click Payout March 2008 vs March 2009, DigitalPoint Forums
- How Companies Should Respond To Negative Reviews, Sphinn
- How to make money with SEO?, Sphinn
- Tip #21: Impression Share Report, Google AdWords Help
- Microsoft Yahoo Meetings Signal Start of Intelligent Acquisition or Merger, Sphinn
- Will Google comply with Korea's real-name verification law?, WebmasterWorld
- Yahoo shares up on news of Microsoft ad deal talks, Google AdSense Help
