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 Fixed "Data Not Available" Webmaster Tools Bug
For the past few days, dozens of threads have been popping up in the Google Webmasters Help discussion forum about how Google Webmaster Tools was showing "Data is not available at this time" for some sites. After many complaints, Google posted it as a known issue at 5am and then at 11am, they said it should be fixed by tomorrow (which is today). I don't see any new complaints and no, I won't link to - Will You Use Google's New "Rich Snippets" Markups?
Part of the Google Searchology event announcements from yesterday, Google announced a new way to enhance the search results. This way is called rich snippets and it gives webmasters a way to communicate richer data to Google, so they can display a richer search for the searcher. Yahoo has been doing this with Search Monkey for a months now, on some level. But Google is Google and this is much bigger. Google will look for - Google Wonder Wheel & Search Options Go Live
The Google Wonder Wheel and search options we have seen being tested is now the real deal in Google.com. Google announced it yesterday at the Searchology event, which Danny live blogged. In fact, Matt posted a nice recap of all the announcements at Search Engine Land. So I won't discuss each feature, but instead, I'll show the video Google released to demo it. There is a lot of discussion around how this might impact the - Google Webmaster Tools Tests New Design
The last time Google Webmaster Tools was redesigned was back in September 2007. It has been a while since the interface was updated. That doesn't mean features weren't added over time, they were, but within the same old interface. Google announced they have refreshed things for "spring time." You can see the detailed what's new page to find out all the changes or you can watch this video below: It seems like most people are - Jim Safka Leaves Ask.com For Personal Reasons
Last night the news that Jim Safka, Ask.com's CEO for the past 16 months or so, has decided to step down from the role for personal reasons. What personal reasons? "Jim has decided to move on from Ask.com, following the recent passing of his brother which has led him to re-evaluate his personal and professional priorities," Ask.com said in a prepared statement. Scott Garell, who has been the President of Ask.com, will take his role. - Google AdSense Orientation Webinar To Be More Personal
The first AdSense Orientation Webinar took place on April 18th. It was an overview of AdSense for new publishers. Google is hosting a second orientation webinar tomorrow, Thursday, May 14, 2009 6:30pm (PST). AdSensePro Obair said in a Google AdSense Help thread that this webinar will differ from the first in that Google would like to "spend more time chatting with you and answering your questions about this presentation." You can view a recording of
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- Bot Herding: The Ultimate Tool for PageRank Sculpting, Sphinn
- Evergreen Content: Rethinking Link Development Strategies, WebmasterWorld
- Google Adds More Parameters to Advanced Image Search, WebmasterWorld
- Google Profile not showing up in search results (apostrophe?), Google Web Search Help
- How to Opt Out of The Google DoubleClick Cookie, WebmasterWorld
- Porn Google Gadget - AdSense Violation, Google AdSense Help
- The Only Link Building Secrets Out There Are The One’s You Don’t Listen To, Sphinn
- Unethical Site Duplication, HighRankings Forums
