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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: September 5, 2008"

It's September, school time for many and moving time for me. I'm in the new place, baby! Now I need about a year to unpack, but I've made good progress. ;)

This week, we celebrated Labor Day and saw a bunch of new Google developments, particularly Google Chrome's debut. Let's take a look.

Google AdWords Gets Spiced Up

The new Google AdWords Quality Score has been spotted and there are some screenshots available. The Quality Score is now on a ranking of 1-10, which should give you a lot of room to make changes and optimize your ads better.

Google AdWords also launched a new feature, the Geographic Report, where you can see how your ads are performing in each geographic region. It should give you some good idea of how to make improvements and hopefully that will trickle down to improve your Quality Score.

Google Chrome Released

Google Chrome, its open source web browser, was launched on Tuesday. Google is a bit late to the browser wars, as some people suggest, but we polled the audience and 44% of you think that Google won't make any impact on the browser wars. From what I've been reading, Chrome is super fast, but that's all it really has going for it for now.

Already, though, we're seeing a large percentage of users using Chrome to surf web pages, but I'm going to assume that it's just the early adopters who will probably use Chrome and then go back to their preferred browser of choice. I may be wrong if Chrome gets consistently updated, but I'd love to hear your thoughts regardless.

Speaking of which, Barry thought of a clever title for the Google Chrome thread where we told people where to suggest their Google Chrome feedback. Of course, a lot of people who read blogs don't actually read beyond the title, so apparently that thread is more active than Google Groups where we actually tell people to go. After this weekend, I'm sure that post will have more than 100 comments. It's at 90 now. (People, learn to READ. That post isn't even long!)

Google's Image Filter Never Works

Google can't figure out the best medium for its image filter. When they tweak the algorithm for the image filter, either it lets in too much porn or not enough...oh wait. But sometimes it makes too much of an algorithm adjustment on the other end and legitimate non-pornographic images get filtered out too. I guess Google is finding image algorithms a lot more difficult since it's not text-based. In due time.

Yahoo Site Explorer Updates their Link Data

Earlier this week, Yahoo Site Explorer updated its internal data and a lot of webmasters are now seeing that the numbers of links reported by the tool is substantially lower than before. Is it temporary? We don't know yet. But since this happened in March, this is hardly the first time we've seen it.

Ask.com Flaunts its Google Image

Ask.com is showing Google ads and is happy to do so, even to the Firefox and Safari audience who is likely more technical savvy. At this point, I suppose that Firefox users don't mind the Google ads on Google's results, so why not try the same thing on Ask?

Your Private Domain Registration Won't Affect Your Search Rankings

Got your domain registration hidden behind WhoisGuard? That's okay -- it won't kill your Google rank. However, keep the information behind that screen up to date for ICANN. Also, if you're a public facing business, don't hide that information at all. It doesn't reflect well on your company.

We Ran a Few Polls this Week

In addition to the Google Chrome poll we ran this week, where 44% of you said that Google won't win the browser wars, we also asked if you should issue refunds to your clients for SEO services. So far, 75% of you do.

Would you start a new site after you get penalized? I think it'd be silly to do that, to be honest. That's why over 78% of you will clean up your site and request reinclusion. I hear that. It would be hard to create a new brand on another domain, yanno?

Canadian Exchange Rate Issue to be Resolved

If you live in Canada and use Google AdSense, you should note that Google is going to fix the issue with the exchange rate, so hopefully you'll see better payouts soon.

Check Your Rank Using WebPosition Gold

Google has addressed the problem with rank checking software and you can now use tools like WebPosition Gold to check your site rankings. Will that make all people happy? I know a previous commenter who thought rank checks are a waste of time, but I know others who will appreciate the fact that it works again.

Googlers and Yahooligans Work on Labor Day

That's the sense I get when I see no logo for Labor Day on either search engine. However, Dogpile and Live.com played along. Search Engine Roundtable did too, but most of us actually did work. :)

Have a great weekend!

With the number of scammers who try to usurp ownership of domain increasing (I got 2 letters for 3 domains last week), it's a surprise that few people really take advantage of private registration for their domain names. However, many people don't know about WhoisGuard or Domains By Proxy and instead leave their domain names exposed with all identifying information intact. It's no wonder I even got a call yesterday about my domain name. In a way, it's nice to know when people are checking on you. In another way, it's something that can be easily abused.

The obvious SEO question still hasn't been addressed though. If you have a private registration, will your rankings be impacted?

According to JohnMu, it typically doesn't impact rankings, so you need not worry if you are already implementing it.

However, if you're a business, why would you hide your identifying information? What does that say about your company? What happens if your web site gets hacked and there's no obvious or working contact form on your site? It'll be hard to get reached by Google or someone else who stumbles upon your site in that case. Thus, while it's a hassle at times to have to worry about your identifying information, losing your rankings altogether due to intrusions can be a lot more costly to your business.

Also, JohnMu suggests that you list valid contact information in your domain. This is actually required by the ICANN, not by Google. I spent a good chunk of last night updating my new address in the 40something domains I own and it was a hassle, but at the end of the day, it's better to do this than risk losing your domain altogether.

Forum discussion continues at Google Groups.

Yesterday, the Inside AdWords blog reported that Google AdWords now gives you a Geographic Performance Report so that you can get "geographic distribution of your impressions, clicks, and conversions down to the ad group level." Here's one screenshot that we were able to get from our Google AdWords accounts:

Already, this seems to be a great addition to help generate ideas. Forum members are overall very happy to see this addition but one member says to use caution when interpreting metro and city level data since the data shows an abnormally high CTR in some areas versus others.

It's also helpful to note that Google only has a little over a year of data. The reports go back to May 27, 2007.

Forum discussion continues at WebmasterWorld.

It's only been less than a week and a large percentage of internet folks are using the new Google Chrome Browser. (As for me, I haven't had time to give it a spin yet, but moving on...) Over at Search Engine Land, an extremely large early adopter crowd has surfaced. Barry has compiled all of the stats of the Google Analytics users and Chrome is emerging in an impressive third place position (on average).

Of the three sites sampled in the Search Engine Land post, 6.42% of site visitors are using Chrome. Barry solicits statistical feedback on Sphinn and a number of users are also seeing substantial Chrome representation. Matt Cutts, for example, finds that a whopping 19.44% of his visitors are using Google Chrome.

Here's the Search Engine Roundtable representation:

The average percentage of Chrome users among the Sphinn readership for September 3rd is approximately 3.87%. This includes a tally of 17 different responses in the Sphinn thread and includes some sites that had not reported any Chrome usage.

Forum discussion continues at Sphinn.

A week ago, I asked what would you do if your site gets penalized. The options I gave were (A) Clean Up The Site & Request Reinclusion, (B) Quit the SEO Game and Play Golf or (C) Burn the Site & Start Fresh.

Most SEOs would go with the method of cleaning up their site and requesting a reconsideration request with Google. While only 9% will kill the site and start new.

Here is the break down:
:: Clean Up The Site & Request Reinclusion said 61 respondents or 78%
:: Quit the SEO Game and Play Golf said 9 respondents or 12%
:: Burn the Site & Start Fresh Idea said 7 respondents or 9%

So there you go, go with the masses. Don't crash and burn, clean and sparkle!

Forum discussion continued at WebmasterWorld.

A few days ago, I asked you guys if you think Google Chrome will win the browser wars.

The responses were pretty much all over the place. We had a total of 162 responses, with 72 people saying no, 55 saying yes and 35 saying they have no idea.

Here is the break down:
:: No said 72 respondents or 44%
:: Yes said 55 respondents or 34%
:: No Idea said 35 respondents or 22%

Forum discussion continued at:

• Google Chrome, Google's Browser Project, Google Blogoscoped
• Google Chrome - Google's Browser Project, WebmasterWorld
• Google Chrome, Google's Browser, Google Blogoscoped
• Google Chrome, Google's Web Browser: Is it Real?, Sphinn
• Google Chrome, HighRankings Forums
• Google Chrome, Google's Browser Project, Sphinn
• Will Chrome kill IE , DigitalPoint Forums

A common issue for e-commerce sites is what to do when an item goes out of stock. Do you delete the page? Do you redirect the page somewhere else? Do you just tell the user the item is out of stock?

That was the question asked at a Google Groups thread and JohnMu, a Googler, replied. Before I tell you what he said, I'll tell you what I think.

From a search engine perspective, if you have a product that goes out of stock and you decide to delete the page, then the search engine will take notice that the page is gone. If you ever get that item back in stock, the search engine can take a long time to reindex and list that page in their search index. Then what do you do? Now, if you redirect the page to a different product, the search engine will also pick that up and if you ever pull that redirect, it can take a long time for the search engine to notice that you stopped the redirect. But if you leave the page there and keep all the content, but say the item is out of stock, however, we have the following related products and link to them. A search engine will keep that page in their index, also crawl the related products and it makes for a happy SEOed site.

From a user's perspective, if you have a product that goes out of stock and you decide to delete the page, then the user will have no recourse on your site. Maybe they will look around your site for related products but they probably will click the back button and try a different site. If you redirect the page to a different product page, the user who is being redirected will be confused - which is never a good thing. If you leave the page and note it is out of stock and list related products, the user will likely understand and be more willing to try the related products before clicking back.

Googler, JohnMu's advice:

Personally, I find being redirected to a different product without knowing why always a bit unsatisfactory. How is the user to know that this product does not exist any more or is just temporarily out of stock? All they see is a different, related product..

With that in mind, I would personally prefer to see a page that mentions that the product they're looking for is not available (at the moment / forever) and that these other related products might be just as relevant to the user. To help search engines, you could use a robots meta tag on that page with "noindex, follow", which tells them not to index the page like this but to still follow the links.

Alternately, using redirect is also a possibility. I wouldn't worry about multiple redirects in a row, unless it is really excessive (I think HTTP/1.0 allows for up to 5 redirects, which should be enough).

Forum discussion at Google Groups.

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: September 4, 2008"

This month, there are already a lot of different observations from the WebmasterWorld discussion on Google SERP changes. Forum members have noted that Google is looking for more fresh results and is specifically weeding out old and outdated pages. One forum member notes the following:

I think Google looks at a site and compares all the content, then keeps some of the most recent content in the results including the higher PR stuff and puts the older stuff in supplemental. That is only a guess but seems to be what is happening.

Additionally, reciprocal linking has been touched upon. It looks like Google is paying more attention to artificial linking versus natural linking schemes. From personal observations as well, I believe this to also be the case.

Numerous forum members are reporting traffic drops and ranking fluctuations as well.

I'm sure there will be a lot more discussion, so check out the thread at WebmasterWorld for additional updates.

Sometimes it's better to do SEO for a site before it's launched. Such is the case for a High Rankings Forum member who is looking to build up his site's presence before it's actually live for the masses. How do you do SEO for a site that is not yet launched, though?

It's not that hard, believe it or not, even though some other forum members suggest that you shouldn't do this until the site is completed.

For one, if you know what your site is about, you can start writing articles on a related subject matter and build links to the content. But make sure these pages have the place in the final site design, because if you do changes on a site that's under construction, it really is doubtful that it will help unless you know exactly what you're trying to accomplish.

You can definitely rank webpages that are under construction, but the value in doing so is lost on me. Even if you work hard and get ranked early on, you will only rank for the content that is on your website, so if the page is not finished and you change that content in the future your rankings will change.

That said, SEO can be done just about any time, but it's generally agreed that the best course of action is to do it after the final site is launched.

Forum discussion continues at High Rankings Forums.

In July, Dave Naylor spotted a "Twitter loophole" in the bio section of Twitter: Twitter nofollows users' web sites but links in the biography were actually not nofollowed. When Matt Cutts read the post, he notified Twitter's staff about the issue. Consequently, Twitter made some changes to disable the links in the biography, a move that appears to have occurred yesterday.

The move has hardly been received well by the search community. In several blog posts, one by Kevin Gibbons and the other by Rae Hoffman, one wonders why Twitter decided to make this change and they suggest alternatives for how Twitter should best handle it.

The problem isn't necessarily the abuse of the system, which might be something that Twitter thinks can be a problem, but more about the fact that people who use Twitter are the ones propagating that profile and building up their solid account. As such, the mindset is that Twitter should not penalize users who have already established themselves as active community members.

Perhaps, then, Twitter should look for an incentive program for good contributors rather than penalize everyone. Kevin suggests a good compromise:

... in my opinion Twitter could learn a great deal from the way Sphinn and SEOmoz reward the active members in the community. Sphinn nofollow all submission links until they hit the homepage and SEOmoz nofollow profile links until you reach 100+ user points.

At this point, I'm compelled to agree. Nobody loses here. Twitter members who have been active for a certain amount of time or who have established themselves should not be impacted.

Forum discussion continues at Sphinn.

It has been confirmed via a WebmasterWorld thread that many search ranking checking tools have been working over the past day or so.

Just about a month ago we reported about the issues people were having with WebPosition Gold and other rank checking tools. We first thought Google was going after these rank checking tools but then we learned that the issues were due to Google testing out new HTML structures and layouts in the search results pages.

The WebmasterWorld thread reports that not only is WebPosition Gold now working, but other rank checking tools also. So maybe the Google experiment is over or maybe it is on a vacation? Or perhaps, the tools built in a fix for the scraping issues.

I still know Google hates these tools but will they go as far to block them?

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Back in February, I spotted how Ask.com was showing up to five Google search ads above the organic search results. It only happened when using Internet Explorer on a PC, because (I guess here) the Ask.com team didn't want to upset the early adopters who use Firefox and Safari or a Mac.

Well, it now seems Ask.com is no longer shy or embarrassed about showing these ads. A search for mp3 players at Ask.com on any browser will show five Google search ads at the top of the organic results. Here is a picture:

Yes, it is even hard to distinguish between the background color of the ads and the organic results.

Back in mid-2005, Ask promised us to reduce the search ads in order to focus on relevancy and a better search experience. But that seemed to have gone out the window with Ask.com new Diller strategy.

It just seems to me that Ask.com is going backwards. Remember, back in December 2004, I asked Michael Palka in the Meet the Crawlers session at SES:

Q: I asked Ask Jeeves why they bury the Teoma results way under the Google AdWords results at Ask Jeeves?

A: Michael answered that is was not about not being more relevant, they feel Teoma is more relevant than AdWords. But it is set up that way from a monetization standspoint only. Fair answer.

Seems like we are back in 2004. Sad but true.

Forum discussion at Search Engine Watch Forums.

Google's web browser, Chrome, launched two days ago and it was missing one major feature that SEOs took notice of. That feature is the PageRank indicator found in the Google Toolbar. But why is it missing? Is it just a feature that may be coming in the future or was this intentionally left out?

This is the question on the mind of some DigitalPoint Forums members and it has been asked at the blog of Matt Cutts two different times. I have currently not seen a response from Google about why it is not in the Chrome browser.

I know Matt Cutts has stated in the past that he would like to work on Google to remove the PageRank indicator. Matt said back in December 2007:

Personally, I wouldn't mind removing the PageRank in the Google Toolbar or swapping it with some other indicator, but that would be a large undertaking. Maybe that can be a long-term goal for me. :)

We also know Google asked for feedback on the PageRank indicator in the past, and that many SEO wants PageRank to go away. So maybe, just maybe, this is Google's first step to do away with their historical PageRank score?

On a funny note, yesterday, Tamar did a write up named Submit Your Google Chrome Feedback Over Here. So now we have about 40 comments, in less than a day, with Chrome feedback. But the post tells people where to go to place their feedback. Of course, I gave Tamar this title, wondering if people would skip the content of the post and just go by the title.

Anyway, is this the beginning of the end to Google's toolbar PageRank score?

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums.