Around the Search Engines Jan 27 2008

As we come to the closing of January exciting things are happening. From my Google Adsense campaigns to the new posts I have in the works. Hint hint you may see a comeback of the Google Adsense Gold Series so keep your eyes open. Anyways here's your round of Around the Search Engines:

How to Make CPC Ads Convert - PorBlogger

Wendy at eMoms at Home posted an interview with me today which focuses upon getting advertising to convert into revenue on a blog - particularly CPC ads (cost per click) like AdSense or Chitika.

Google AdWords With Demographic Bidding - Google Blogoscoped

The Google AdWords service is testing a feature for advertisers to use “demographic bidding.” This means that you can specify that your ads will only be shown to, say, women over the age of 55. Or perhaps you have an online store for men’s clothing, then you can target only men. You can also specifically exclude a certain group.

The Art of Propaganda: 7 Common Tactics Used to Influence Behavior - Dosh Dosh

Propaganda is created to influence the minds and actions of people, in order to generate a response that achieves the goal of the propagandist. Politicians and governments often use propaganda to obtain support/compliance for their policies.

81 Useful Affiliate Marketing Resources - BlogTreprenueur

Whilst the idea of selling a product on behalf of another company or person has existed for a long time, affiliate marketing itself was born in November 2004, but has only really taken off in the past few years. New generations of affiliate marketers are raking in massive per month profits, and more people are starting to experience profits through this method. Here is a list (which is by no means definitive) to help you get started - please feel free to suggest anymore if you so wish!

Google Content Network Tips: Optimizing for a content network audience - Inside Google Adwords

On the search network, ads are shown to users who are specifically searching for results using one of your keywords. On the content network, ads are shown to users as they research interests and browse sites that are related to your keywords and ad text. Users on the content network are in a different mindset than users on search, so changes to your keywords, ad text and account structure may be necessary to make the most out of your content network advertising.

Google on Automatically Annotating Images and Videos - SEO By The Sea

A newly published Google patent application explores the topic, and comes up with a method of annotation by comparison to similar images found on the Web, and the text surrounding those similar images.

Weekly Rap-up of Search Engine Industry News - Search Rank

A summary of search related news items that occurred this week including IncrediMail is back in Google's favor - their AdSense privileges have been restored, Pownce, a "Twitter plus" type of service, is now open to the public after six months in beta mode, a new real estate search engine called Roost launches with full MLS listings in more than a dozen cities, Google is to eliminate domain tasting for AdSense, and finally a fun post from North South Media that looks at eleven prominent individuals in the world of search and guesses what their action figures might look like.

Thursday Roundup for the Week of 1/20/08 - SEOMoz

Sorry for the delay in getting this out out to you all, but today was pretty hectic for both me and Rand. Technically it's still Thursday on the west coast, so at least I squeaked by and hit my deadline...

Daily Search Coverage & Link Finds: January 25, 2008 - Cartoon Barry Blog

Google sent me a letter, so I am a partner. Google Health is coming soon, would you dare? Google Domain Park gets stricter. Yahoo Search Marketing has keyword limits. SEMMYS are out. Usability over SEO? Google, don't hurt me for footer links. Email marketing edges out search marketing. Politicians have to play nice on AdWords. Watch Google Maps edits in real-time. Search in pictures is out.

SearchCap: The Day In Search, January 25, 2008 - SE Land

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.

That's it. Happy Sunday by the way and yet another week down the drain.

Thank You

Around The Search Engines Jan 23 2008

Here's your middle of the week update of what's happening in the field of search engines. Around the Search Engines:

A Smarter Start - Yahoo SM Blog

Now we’ve got oodles more, all in one place, with the publication of the Smart Start Guide. It’s a guidebook geared especially toward the beginning search marketer, but it also offers tips for the more advanced Yahoo! Search Marketing advertiser.

Feeling lucky at PubCon - Official Google Webmaster Central Blog

Listening to the Q&A, I was pleased to hear the major search engines agreeing on best practices for many webmaster issues. In fact, the presentations in the duplicate content session were mostly, well, duplicate. When I wasn't sitting in on one of the many valuable sessions, I was chatting with webmasters either at the Google booth, or at Google's "Meet the Engineers" event. It was exciting to hear from so many different webmasters, and to help them with Google-related issues. Here are a few things that were on the minds of webmasters, along with our responses:

Search Marketing Predictions for 2008 - Search Engine Watch

Last week, we shared some New Years Resolutions from several search marketers and social media marketers. I asked many of those same marketers what they thought 2008 had in store for search. Again, I'll be sharing their responses in two parts.

A Reality Check about Blogging for Money - ProBlogger

While it’s true that I have built my blogging to a point where I’m able to earn good money blogging there are many things that an article like the one in the WSJ didn’t (and couldn’t) mention about how I was able to build my blogging up to this point.

2008 Affiliate Marketing: Trends, Spends & Dead Ends - Share Results

What affiliate marketer wouldn’t want a crystal ball to reveal the online marketing trends that matter for 2008: will the social web shop socially? Will video ads trounce banners? Will mobile meander? What about widgets? And marketing mainstays such as search and email? Learn how 2008’s online marketing trends translate for affiliates with the help of Share Results affiliate network CEO Nicky Senyard.

Uber Keyword Research - Uber Affiliate

Keyword research is a pretty big part of affiliate marketing. Sometimes it’s what it all comes down to. There are a lot of things to consider when you do your keyword research, so hopefully I’ll make a few things clear for you and make your keyword selection a little more solid.

Google Drops More Than 160 Points - Searchblog

That's not something we're used to hearing, but since its peak back in the Fall at nearly 750, Google has dropped to 584 currently, a 166 point drop (it's dropped more in after hours, all the way down to 568). It's on a steep decline in the past few days, perhaps due to the new search stats from Nielsen, as well as jitters about the economy at large.

Phew! That's it you are all caught up with what happened so far this week.

Thank You

Around The Search Engines Jan 20 2008

Another Sunday another week gone past. Lately everything seems to be going slower and slower. But in a good way. Anyway here's another round of Around the Search Engines:

Associate Email Addresses With Your Google Account - Google Blogoscoped

Google has just recently added an option to associate additional email addresses with your Google Account. If you sign in to manage your Google Account and click the "Edit" link next to "Personal information" you should see this new option:

How Can You Measure the Success of Your Blog? - Ask Dosh Dosh

Here’s one way to define success: It is something that is achieved when you meet or exceed the goals you have set for your blog. Sometimes this definition of success is socially influenced. How much does your vision of success rely on comparative value and the views of others?

10 Things Yahoo! Search Must do to Become Relevant - SEO Book

Yahoo! killed off their brand universe project, and recently fired 30 people. Rumor has it that about 2,000 more layoffs might be coming soon. Yahoo! shares are nearing $20, trading at $20.78, and giving them a market capitalization of $27.8 billion.

Delicious Integrated Into Yahoo Search Results - TechCrunch

I just got word that Yahoo is testing the integration of Delicious user generated bookmarks into Yahoo search results pages (Yahoo acquired Delicious in late 2005). Some users will see the Delicious icon as part of their normal search results, which tells them how many people have bookmarked those pages, as well as the tags people have supplied for those pages.

Google The Double Standard of Being an Authority Website - Wolf Howl

If you’ve ever been to search engine conference and attended a site review session chances are you’ve heard panelists mention duplicate content penalties and filters. For "normal" people these problems are real, however with Google a double standard exists for trusted authority websites.

10 Ways Google is More Social Than You Think - Google Tutor

Although you often hear me pandering on the likes of the Digg, StumbleUpon and Mixx communities, I’ve decided to post regularly here at Google Tutor to talk about Google’s role in social media.

Thank You

Around The Search Engines Slowdown

Keeping up with Around The Search Engines has become a hustle. So I've decided to switch to twice a week that way the news won't be old and it won't be too much. When I started the Around The Search Engines series I was hoping I'd have a enough time each day to go over the biggest news in search engines for that day and put it together in a nice informative post.

But I looked at my main page and it looks like the series took over the blog. So I've decided to only do it twice a week on Wednesday and Sunday. Those are the best when it comes to news especially across the blogosphere. That's all really I just wanted to let you guys know in case you notice the series slowing don a bit.

Thank You

Around The Search Engines Jan 16 2008

Half way through the week guys keep your head up and be sure to read this round of Around The Search Engines:

Google's Quality Score Failures - Straight Up Search

To refresh everyone’s memory, Google rolled out "quality score" for its paid search network in August 2005. The 2005 quality score algorithm evaluated the relevance of keywords, ad text and click through rate.

A new addition to the Quality Score - Inside Adwords

In August, we introduced the Quality Score along with the launch of quality-based minimum bids, letting you know that we evaluate many factors, such as your ad text and clickthrough rate (CTR) to determine the minimum bid for your keyword. Today, we started incorporating a new factor into the Quality Score -- the landing page -- which will look at the content and layout of the pages linked from your ads.

How to Troubleshoot Dropped Search Engine Rankings - ISEDB

Are you baffled about a recent drop in your search engine rankings? Do you know where to start and get a handle on what the problem might be and how to remedy it? One option to consider is using search engine forums as a resource. They are full of questions from people who have experienced similar situations and are great resources for an answer or two. But let’s say you really want to get to the bottom of the problem and you want to do it yourself. The following are some of the beginning steps StepForth takes when evaluating dropped rankings.

Yahoo Replaces PageRank Assumptions with User Data - SEO By The Sea

PageRank is an algorithm that measures the importance or quality of a Web document.It can be used in a number of ways by a search engine, such as being combined with relevance factors to rank search results, or to determine which web pages to crawl (pdf) and how frequently to crawl them, or which part of a database a document should be placed within.

Guest Post: SEO Kaleidoscope: Exploring the various facets of search engine optimization - SEO Book

Here’s the thing about SEO. Everybody thinks they’re an expert.From the greenhorn working out of their (or their parents’) garage, to the recent college grad working in the marketing department of Fortune 500 corporation, to the seasoned and often burned-out veteran working at a name brand interactive agency, there are literally hundreds if not thousands of “search engine optimization experts” both in U.S. and the world at large.

Top 500 Search Engine Keywords Of The Week - Search Engine Guide

These are the top 300 queries from the last 48 hours, which represents the complete queries from the largest Metacrawlers on the web (Metacrawler/Dogpile etc..) for the last 48 hours.

Why You Should Reveal SEO Secrets To Clients - Search Engine Land

When you buy search services, some agencies merely provide a general overview of their SEO methodology without revealing any details. They claim this relieves the client from being bogged down in the minutiae of implementation. In reality though, these firms are simply trying to keep their intellectual property under wraps and create a dependence for their implementation services. With a little help though, well trained in-house teams are fully capable of implementing search strategies on their own. So why should a search marketing firm, which has spent considerable time and money developing proven methods, risk losing a client by empowering them with proprietary knowledge and skills?

And the game is finished for now.

Thank You

Around The Search Engines Jan 15 2008

Fe! Fi! Fum! it's another round of Around The Search Engines [insert laughter here]:

Sign up for the Conversion Optimizer online seminar - Inside Google Adwords

We'd like to remind you that the Conversion Optimizer team will be giving a free online seminar tomorrow, January 15th at 10 am PST. This one hour session will cover how the Conversion Optimizer works and how you can use it to get more conversions and improve your ROI. You'll also have the chance to get your questions answered by the team.

Sitemaps FAQs - Google Webmaster Blog

Last month, Trevor spoke on the Sitemaps: Oversold, Misused or On The Money? panel at Search Engine Strategies in Chicago. After receiving a lot of great questions at the conference in addition to all the feedback we receive in our Help Group, we've pulled together a FAQ:

Q&A with Nick Carr, Author of The Big Switch - Search Engine Watch

Nick Carr, author of The Big Switch: Rewiring the World from Edison to Google, is the keynote speaker at Search Engine Strategies London, which will be held February 19-21, 2008, at the Business Design Centre in Islington.

12 Ways to Keep Your Content Hidden from the Search Engines - SEOmoz

Here at SEOmoz, we're usually talking about how to make your content more visible to the search engines. Today, we're taking a different direction. It may seem unusual, but there are plenty of times when content on your website needs to be protected from search indexing and caching. Why?

LambdaRank, RankNet, and MSN Search - Geeking with Greg

Microsoft Researchers Ping Li, Chris Burges, and Qiang Wu wrote a June 2007 technical report, "Learning to Rank using Classification and Gradient Boosting", that follows up on the RankNet paper. That older paper was particularly interesting because RankNet apparently made it live into the MSN Search engine.

Google Updates, Penalties and Filters - A Walk Down Memory Lane - Sitemost

Google have been pretty busy with updates lately and when there are updates, you can be sure to find penalties and filters being applied.

Free 125×125 Ads on UberAffiliate.com - Uberaffiliate

Soooo…5 out of the 6 ads on my sidebar are expired and are ready to be renewed or replaced. I’m too lazy to do any of that, so guess what I’m giving them away for free. Not really free, but I don’t really care about making money from this blog so I’m going to have a little contest to give away all my spots.

That's all. Enjoy yet another day i our lives.

Thank You

Around The Search Engines Jan 14 2008

Here's another faithful Around The Search Engines:

Google For iPhone Update - Blogscoped

In an interesting article on CNET, Vic Gundotra – a vice president of engineering at Google, responsible for developer evangelism and open source programs – revealed that a new user interface for Google services on the iPhone would be announced at MacWorld only 6 weeks after the previous revision. (Do these people ever have holidays?)

Is your site a secret garden? - Official CPG BLog

A new survey from Prospectiv, a lead-generation company, further indicates that consumers are actively looking for information on CPG products online. Some 70% of respondents said that they seek information on the Internet before purchasing. Most people preferred researching CPG products via branded e-newsletters or search. The real takeaway, though, was that although consumers trust and prefer branded CPG sites for product information, 67% said they often cannot find them.

Professor Bans Google & Wikipedia In Class Room - SE Land

Lecturer bans students from using Google and Wikipedia from The Argus reports that Professor Tara Brabazon from the University of Brighton has banned the use of Google and Wikipedia in her classroom.

Yahoo on Testing Relevance and Variety in Search Results - SEO By The Sea

At Yahoo, if you’ve ever seen the words “Also Try” at the top or bottom of a set of search results, along with a list of selected queries, then you may have seen part of Yahoo’s internal relevance and variety checking process in action.

Adwords Tweaked Conversion Optimizer for Profit Increase - SE Journal

The Conversion Optimizer introduced by Google AdWords in September is now out of beta. Along with this development are some improvements that would benefit AdWords advertisers in increasing profits and saving time. Conversion Optimizer is a free AdWords tool for managing CPA (cost-per-acquisition) bids.

20 Awesome Images Found In Google Maps - SE Land

The introduction of satellite images into map search interfaces has excited both virtual sightseers and local app developers. Further innovations like Google's Street View have caused consternation from privacy advocates while further pumping up the buzz about online mapping. In 2008, we can expect further innovations that stretch the envelope while dynamic map interfaces solidify as basic table-stakes for all local sites. In gearing up for this year in local search, I thought I'd give you a pure entertainment piece—here's a guide to the top coolest things to see in Google Maps.

Google Checkout Launches Shopping Trends (Goes Offline) - SE Roundtable

In short, Google Checkout Trends uses Checkout data to show you trends in what people are buying and selling online. It aggregates the sales data from their merchants and plots the revenue (price x quantity sold) over a time chart. Currently it's offline.

Thank You

Around The Search Engines Jan 10 2008

Hmm..What's that smell? Is it the garbage or just your clothes? No it's it's just another round of Around The Search Engines:

The Google Fridge Giveaway - Dan Perry

I acquired a Google Fridge a while ago, and have decided to give it away to one lucky reader.

40+ Social News Websites: A List of General and Niche Social Media Communities - Dosh Dosh

You don’t have a lot of time on your hands. You want a community that gives you fresh news on topics you care about. You want something that sends prospects and traffic while branding your website or business. You want a social news site with a long term returns on investment. Here’s a list of some of them.

The Conversion Optimizer: Increase profits and save time - Inside Adwords

Last September, we launched the Conversion Optimizer, a free AdWords feature for managing CPA (cost-per-acquisition) bids. Since then, the Conversion Optimizer has helped many advertisers save time and money, and we're announcing today that it's no longer in beta. We're also making it available to more campaigns: any campaign with AdWords conversion tracking enabled that has received 200 conversions in the last 30 days can now use the Conversion Optimizer (previously 300 were required). We've received lots of feedback from advertisers using the Conversion Optimizer including Moritz Daan, Webgamic's CEO, who shared with us:

Search Marketing: A Rewarding Career Path - Search Engine Watch

While it's not always a quick path to riches, a career in search marketing can be very rewarding, according to a new survey of in-house SEMs conducted by SEMPO, the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization.

MSN Talks Webmaster Tools - Web Pro News

Product Manager of Live Search Webmaster Tools, Jeremiah Andrick spent the day here at the WebProNews headquarters. Our very own Mike McDonald took him on a wild, Kentucky escapade while picking his brain about Webmaster tools at MSN. Andrick discusses indexing issues, cloaking detection, and goes into detail about why AdSense showed up in their search results. While showing off their athleticism, the two also discuss why transparency is key and why to stay away from paid links. Don’t miss all of this and the inside scoop to both companies’ viral campaign, right here on WebProNews.

Ad Intellegence - New Slick Free Microsoft AdCenter Keyword Tool - SEO Book

I hate to curse, but this tool is bad ass. Ad Intelligence is a new keyword tool from Microsoft which is well worth using, and will probably force Google and Yahoo to make better keyword tools. All of this data is free during the beta test as long as you have a Microsoft AdCenter account (you can set one up for $5, with a $50 coupon if you search Google for AdCenter) and a copy of Microsoft Excel 2007 (the Ad Intelligence link above allows you to download a free trial of Excel).

Spice Up Your Google AdWords Ads With ASCI Art - SE Land

The BannerBlog wrote that they wanted their German car rental client, Sixt, to stand out in the sponsored listings for a search on "Mietwagen" (car rental) in Google. They came up with the idea to display ASCI art of cars in the ad spot.

Google Moves "Cache" & "Similar Pages" Links One Line Down - SE Roundtable

It appears Google made a slight change in how they display the "cache" and "similar pages" link within the search results listings.

That's it for today.

Thank You

Around The Search Engines Jan 09 2008

Around the Search Engines brings some exciting news across the web today:

Google, Facebook, and Data Portability - SearchViews

Representatives from Google, Facebook, and social address book Plaxo yesterday joined the Data Portability Workgroup (DPW), an organization whose mission is "to put all existing technologies and initiatives in context to create a reference design for end-to-end Data Portability."

User Data, Mobile Explosion, Death of SEO - SEM Trends in 2008 - Toprank Blog

We recently ran a Reader Poll asking what the hot search marketing trends will be for 2008. The new year is here and we now have good enough sample of votes cast (78) to share what Online Marketing Blog readers are thinking:

New API Features - Official Google Base Blog

If you've been wondering what the Google Base API team has been working on lately, wonder no more. We are happy to tell you that a couple of new features were released in the last couple of weeks.

Predictions for 2008 - Yahoo Search Marketing Blog

Our master computer, YaHal-9000, sits calculating day and night in the bowels of our Burbank office building, giving off sparks, discharging wisps of eerie, green smoke, and occasionally dimming lights across the San Fernando Valley as it churns through reams upon reams of data from its billions of inputs.

Daily Search Coverage & Link Finds: January 9, 2008 - Cartoon Barry

Google AdSense updates referral policies. AdWords Editor is fixed again. City search isn't working on Google Maps. Google Reader's subscribe feature isn't working fully. Live Search does video with Mike McDonald. FeedRaider getting to you? Google removes the nofollow attribute on some pages. Microsoft buys Fast Search. Google's search share is up again. adCenter got its add-in for Excel. Google hires their Homer Simpson. Google updates Google Sky.

Ask.com Names New CEO Jim Safka, Replacing Jim Lanzone - Search Engine Journal

IAC made an interesting move today, replacing one of the head figures responsible for taking Ask.com out of the search spammy shadow of Jeeves, and transforming it into the incredible search engine it has become today, announcing that Jim Safka will takeover as CEO of Ask.com.

Microsoft Launches adCenter Add-in Beta for Excel 2007 - Search Engine Land

The adCenter Blog announced the launch of the adCenter Add-in for Excel 2007. To download the 64MB zipped version of the add-in, click here. There will be a webinar explaining how to use the add-in on January 23, 2008, which you can register for in advance.

Thank You

Around The Search Engines Jan 08 2008

Here's another round of Around The Search Engines for my adoring readers:

Google's search juggernaut continues - News.com

Google just keeps getting more popular for search.The latest figures from Hitwise, which monitors search market share, show Google with a record 66 percent share of Web searches in the United States for the month of December 2007.

The AdWords Content Network - Better Than Ever - PPC Discussions

If you've been in the paid search game for awhile you no doubt have an opinion of the AdWords Content Network. If you haven't used the content network in the past 12 months that opinion probably is something along the lines of "it sucks". I know a few years back, almost without exception, that was my opinion. One of the first things I told folks new to AdWords to do was to make sure they were opted out of the content network.

The flow of information at the Googleplex - Official Google Blog

Earlier on this blog, we shared some exciting early results from our firm's implementation of prediction markets. At last Friday's meeting of the American Economic Association, we shared the results of a deeper study, "Using Prediction Markets to Track Information Flows: Evidence From Google," that uses prediction markets to show how organizations process information and respond to external events. Here are some interesting findings:

Matsushita's Panasonic and Google to launch Internet TVs - Reuters

Web giant Google Inc is developing televisions that display Internet content such as photos and videos together with Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd's Panasonic unit.

10 Simple Steps To Social Media Success In 2008 - Search Engine Land

It's no secret that social media should be an integral part of your online marketing strategy. Creating viral content and promoting it is only a fraction of the equation. You must also strengthen your online footprint and become part of the network. Trying to figure out where to start can be daunting.

Enjoy and be refreshed!

Thank You

Around The Search Engines Jan 07 2008

Oh lord not Monday again! Don't worry don't get overwhelmed by with all the news that rushes in fro the weekends. Here's a nice way to sit back and read the true gems that probably will affect you the most in another round of Around The Search Engines:

Posting Less Frequently Can Lead to Higher Reader Engagement - ProBlogger

But as I read through the 10 blogs I noticed something else that I think might also account for it and increase the chances of them having their posts actually read….

Wikia Search Alpha Launched - Google Blogoscoped

Wikipedia creator Jimmy Wales has finally launched the alpha release of his search engine Wikia Search to the public, and the Internet is buzzing with early reviews and thoughts. Unfortunately, the consensus so far (according to Techmeme) is that it’s pretty bad. But at least they know it.

Displaying the most relevant refinements - Google Custom Search

Over the past year, a number of you have asked to show only the matching refinements above Custom Search results. Today we're announcing that very feature: You can have as many FacetItems as you like in the XML definition of your CSE and control the number that display on a search page using this feature.

Is Organic Search Still Number One For Google? - Smart Keywords

I have a hard time believing Google's main priority is its flag ship product - organic search. With the constant playing it now does; pushing sites up and down on what appear to be whims - we know that is not the case but the reasons at times seem lame.

Highlights from the SEW Blog: January 1-4, 2008 - SE Watch

We've collected all the search marketing news from selected posts to the Search Engine Watch blog in the past week, along with recent search-related headlines from around the Web.

Social Bookmarking Submission Tools - Toprank Blog

TopRank started using social bookmarking as an active/passive content promotion method several years ago. In fact, here is a podcast interview I did with Rok Hrastnik in March 2005 discussing SEO, tagging and bookmarking. We’ve also been fairly successful at promoting a social bookmarking tool for blogs over the past 18 months or so, gathering 50,000+ links.

That's it folks. Now site back relax and enjoy another week with me here at All About Google Adsense.

Thank You

Around The Search Engines Jan 06 2008

Here we go with yet another round of Around The Search Engines. This one's brief as the weekends are a little slow when it comes to news.

7 Reasons you Should be Advertising on Blogs - Advertise Space

Good bang for your buck: Most bloggers are part time and or just do it for a hobby, so any income is usually good income. You can get on some great blogs for as low as $50 or $100 a month and even some massive ones for as low as $500 - $1000. Try getting on Yahoo or MSN for $100. See if they return your email.

What one thing did you do on your blog in 2007 that improved it the most? - The Last Answers - ProBlogger

Over the last week I’ve run a 1 Question Interview Series here at ProBlogger. There have been some great responses (links to the full series are listed at the bottom of this post) but it’s not over yet. Today I want to post the last two responses (actually there might be one more to come in I’m told).

Mahalo Adds More Social Features - Search Engine Land

Mahalo has just launched several new features that entwine the human-powered search engine even further into social networking and online community building. The Mahalo Follow toolbar now enables you to post links to Delicious, Ma.gnolia, and Mahalo Social, and Twitter with the click of one button. The sidebar now displays quick tips when you're on sites like Twitter and Gmail.

Magellan to provide local listings from Google - ZDNet

Google and Magellan are working together on the new Maestro Elite 5350+GPRS. The new device will let users view local business listings from Google while on the road. This is the first GPS device that lets users search for events, businesses and services according to the two companies.

Will We Ever See Google Personal Ads? - SEO By The Sea

There’s a potentially huge untapped advertising market on the Web involving personal ads that point people to the profile pages of advertisers who might want a little more attention for their personal pages.

That's all for today.

Thank You

Around The Search Engines Jan 05 2008

It's a nice Saturday night and if you got a couple of moments here's another update on Around the Search Engines:

Who Designed Your Blog? [POLL RESULTS] - ProBlogger

Over the last couple of weeks I ran a poll here at ProBlogger which asked readers who designed their blogs. 1828 readers responded in total (thanks everyone).

Ask.com Launches Voice-Activated Driving and Walking Directions - Research Buzz

Ask.com launched Ask.com Mobile a while ago. Now it’s also launching “Click to Speak”, a voice-activated directions service.

How to Get Started With Computer Programming - Chris Pirillo

Programming is NOT as scary of a task as you might imagine. I know some people who shudder at the thought of learning any programming language. However, take a read through these tips, and find out for yourself how to get started.

The Difference Between Selling Something and Giving it Away - SEO Book

I think these two comments do a nice job of showing the difference between how people perceive something they paid for and something they got for free. If people do not have a tangible opportunity cost they often tend not to respect or value the product or service.

Syndication and the Live Web Economy - Linux Journal

What new economy does syndication suggest? And does Linux point the way?

The Google Challengers: 2008 Edition - Search Engine Land

Rich Skrenta -- who, aside from creating the first computer virus, is more notable to search as a cofounder of the Open Directory Project and the Topix news search engine -- has announced he's founded a search start-up. A stealth one, as TechCrunch puts it. Don't we already have several stealth search start-ups? Yep. Here's a guide to who's who.

Excessive Length URL’s and Social Media - Graywolf's SEO Blog

Most CMS systems today are capable of generating clean URL’s. Unless you are dealing with newspapers or magazines where existing legacy systems it’s almost a non issue. However I came across two incredibly horrible URL’s in the same day.

SortFix - Improve your Search - Phil Bradley

SortFix - Improve your Search. This is a search engine that is bolted onto the front of Google, Yahoo and DMOZ, and you can choose which of them you search.

There you have! Wishing everyone a happy continuing weekend. And I'm off.

Thank You

Around The Search Engines Jan 04

Here's another round of Around the Search Engines for you to chew on:

Ask.com Fixes Crawler Issue With Badly-Formed URLs - SE Roundtable

Earlier this week, we reported that Ask.com Crawler Inserting Url-Encoded Spaces in URLs Causing 404 Errors. In short, Ask.com's crawlers were crawling badly formed URLs, causing tons of 404 errors in web server log files.

Google AdWords Ads Live While Site is Offline - SE Roundtable

It really isn't cool when you're busy entering tons of data for Google AdWords and your site goes down. Consequently, Google cannot verify the site and cannot check your landing pages and your quality score probably is not where it could be. That's what happened to a WebmasterWorld members, who writes:

Google's User Experience Expert, Kevin Fox, Joins New Start-up Company - Search Engine Land

Kevin Fox, Google's user experience designer responsible for helping design Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Reader 2.0, has announced he is leaving Google to join a "very small start-up." Today is his last day at Google, after being with Google for over four years.

Welcome Back Search Headlines - Bruce Clay

Hey! We’re back from break. Huzzah! Come with me as I clean out my feed reader. I promise it’ll be fun. Or at least more fun than the work you’re putting off by reading this. Ready? Let’s go! A nice roundup of what has been happening while we were away.

The coming 2008 dot-com crash - Geeking With Greg

Early January is the time we see many predictions for 2008. I have not played this game since 2006, but I want to chime in this year.

Google AdWords 101 - Search Engine Watch

I've seen several requests on the various forums of late from new search marketers wanting to know how best to launch their first PPC campaign. So I figured that would make a great first topic for this new column.

Google on Reading Text in Images from Street Views, Store Shelves, and Museum Interiors - Seo By The Sea

One of the standard rules of search engine optimization that’s been around for a long time is that “search engines cannot read text that is placed within images.” What if that changed?

That's it for today. Enjoy your weekend!

Thank You

Around The Search Engines Jan 03

Here goes today's Around The Search Engines:

Politicians: Four Years Late to the SEO Party - SEO Moz

It's the third of January and those of us in the United States are already pretty tired of hearing about November's Presidential Election. I'm sure the rest of you are, too. The world of social media is already flooded with stories about the U.S.'s political dramas and I can only imagine that if you're in any other country, today's offerings at Reddit might not interest you all that much. Currently, seven of the top 10 Reddit stories focus on the U.S. elections. But this really isn't my point.

Matt Mullenweg on No Follow - ShoeMoney

I love interviewing non SEO, but probably some of the most influential people about no-follow. Without very influential people the whole no follow movement would never work. So I shot a email to Matt Mullenweg, the head of Wordpress which was the first time I had ever really seen the no-follow tag being used, some questions.

AdSense Fix Inverted Exchange Rate Problem for Australian and New Zealand Publishers -Problogger

Earlier in the week it was revealed that AdSense had made a mistake in calculating payments to some non US publishers. It seems that the problem was localized here in Australia and New Zealand and that Google inverted the exchange rate that they used to calculate how much publishers would be paid in their local currency.

How to get traffic from the New York Times - SEOptimise

A number of blog aggregators exist including the popular Techmeme but none have the ability to get your content showcased on multiple pages of the New York Times website like BlogRunner does.

Blogs and self promotion - Seth's Blog

The truism of the web: people talking about you is far more effective than talking about yourself.

Did You Know You Can Get Traffic From CNN? - Essential Keystrokes

So, I was going about my business last week when the latest story about another toy recall hit. The recall of Aqua Dots struck a nerve with me because that was an item my two artsy girls had recently added to their Christmas Wish Lists. Moments after reading the CNN story, I opened up my dashboard at Raising a Healthy Family (I know, I know, too many to keep up with!) and started writing. I linked to the CNN story and the CPSC site complete with a listing of all the recalls, and hit publish.

Ttttthat's all folks!

Thank You

Around The Search Engines Jan 02

It's about time for another round of "Around The Search Engines":

Google's Algorithm Awarding New Pages? - Search Engine Land

Google Artificially Promotes Recent Web Pages from Google Operating System reports that Google has been recently showing a bit too much love to new or very recent pages indexed by Google. Ionut Alex Chitu example was that Google's New Years logo promoted a search for January 1 tcp/ip, which then showed results for Digg and other new pages that had zero historical factors to be weighed on in the Google algorithm.

Sites With Downgraded Toolbar PageRank Still Passing Link Juice? -SE Roundtable

Ever since Google downgraded the visible PageRank scores seen in the Google Toolbar for sites that do not use the nofollow on their ads, people have been wondering how it has been impacting the Google search results and algorithm.

7 SEO Techniques That Google Smashed in 2007 - Copy Brighter

The SEO playbook changes fast. Really fast. Best practices shift on a monthly basis, and time-honoured methods can become obsolete and dangerous – literally overnight. Here's the top ten methods Google snatched out of the game in 2007.

18 most popular Web Analytics blog posts of 2007 - Visual Revenue

I decided to do my general 2007 Web Analytics status using Avinash’s Top Ten Web Analytics Blogs: July 2007 as a foundation (Since most of them happen to be friends of mine anyway) and ask them to provide me with their 3 most popular posts of the year. Find the result below; which is simply a minimum MUST READ list – if you are working in the Web Analytics industry.

That's it folks. Be back again tomorrow for another thrilling round of Around The Search Engines!

Thank You

Around The Search Engines

First of all I guess an explanation is in order. Well after careful consideration I decided to start a daily roundup of not just Google Adsense news around the Internet but of search engines everywhere. I figure since many of my readers are also webmasters they would appreciate getting all of their SE news in one spot. For the next few days or so I'll play around with the format to see what works best. So here goes nothing:

Google & Human Quality Reviews: Old News Returns - Search Engine Land

A quote from Google's director of research Peter Norvig in an article at Technology Review about how human reviewers assess Google's search quality is starting to pick up play on the web and will no doubt grow. Problem is, it's not news. Still, I suppose it's interesting to those who are new to the space or missed the attention it got back in 2005. Some history.

New privacy tips video series - Google Blog

In order to give you the best possible information about the privacy settings for our products, we asked the engineers and product managers who actually designed them to explain how they work in a series of new videos we released today on our YouTube Privacy Channel.

Viacom and Microsoft Announce Long-Term Digital Content and Advertising Partnership - Microsoft

Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA and VIA.B) and Microsoft Corp. today announced a broad-based, strategic alliance under which major divisions of both companies will collaborate on advertising, content distribution, event promotions and games over the next several years.

Taking feeds out of our web search results - Google Blog

We, at Google, prevent feeds from being returned in Google's search results, with the exception of podcasts (feeds with multimedia enclosures).

The Ultimate Fate of Supplemental Results - Google Blog

From a user perspective, this means that you'll be seeing more relevant documents and a much deeper slice of the web, especially for non-English queries. For webmasters, this means that good-quality pages that were less visible in our index are more likely to come up for queries.

Google Android Developers Battle Bugs, Frustration - Smart Money

Google Inc. (GOOG) claims its Android mobile phone software will usher in a new era of wireless communications. But for developers such as Adam MacBeth, Android has so far brought nothing but headaches and frustration.

Live Search Is Returning Google AdWords Ads In Their Natural Search Results - Raven SEO

Live Search is offering a new way for AdWords customers to get click-throughs — their own natural SERPs. They appear to be indexing AdWords ads from Google's own SERPs.

Google Talk Live Translation - Google Talkabout

If you want to try it, just add en2zh@bot.talk.google.com as a friend in Google Talk and send it a message to translate from English to Chinese.

Better flight stats results from Google - Google Blog

For the latest information on a flight's status, simply search for an airline and flight number, and the first result will tell you whether your flight is on time or delayed as well as the estimated departure and arrival times.

Live Search for Mobile Updated - Virtual Search

The browser-based local search and mapping site for mobile has been updated with a bunch of new features. point the browser on your mobile to http://m.live.com/ to try it out.

Google Cache Temporarily Goes Down - Search Engine Roundtable

Earlier, a bunch of folks looking at the Google Cache couldn't find what they were looking for.

Recently Posted Research Papers and Biblographic Info by Googlers - Resource Shelf

Might give some insight into how Google identifies material on YouTube. A very technical paper but the intro and conclusions can be of value to the non-geek. And a couple of other papers.

Yahoo Search Marketing Christmas Gift 2008 - Laptop Case - CPA Affiliates

This years Christmas gift from Yahoo Search Marketing which is a slick looking Laptop Case.

That's it so far for today. More at the end of each day.

Thank You