Search spam, using techniques that manipulate the search results, feels like it is getting more dangerous every day. Some search spammers go as far as hacking sites to inject link spam into unsuspecting web pages. And some go even further by polluting the search results with nasty malware. Yesterday we covered a story about a serious malware issue in the search engines, where hundreds of pages were being returned by Google, Yahoo, Live and other search engines that contained harmful malware. Today, a WebmasterWorld thread pointed me to Spammers hack Al Gore's climate site from Vnunet. In [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Legal: Security | SEO: Spamming

I'm not a blogger—I just play one on the Internet. There are a lot of professional bloggers out there. I'm not one of them. Like many small business owners that also happen to blog, I have to find ways to balance my time between the demands of running a business and pushing out information that helps me build up my online reputation. Lately I've been feeling overwhelmed between business and blogging issues. I love to write, but blogging takes up a considerable portion of my day. I then have the added self-imposed pressure that I have to blog regularly. In talking with my wife abo [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | Small Is Beautiful

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: The Anatomy of a Google Search ResultAs Barry noted earlier, Matt Cutts, keeper of all things webspam and webmaster for Google, is reviving his video series. This new set is on the official Google Webmaster Central blog, rather than his personal site, and so far, don't seem to feature either of his cats. But even cat-free,... Speaking At SMX WestInterested in speaking at our upcoming SMX West conference? We're now taking submissions through the Speaker [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | SearchCap

As Barry noted earlier, Matt Cutts, keeper of all things webspam and webmaster for Google, is reviving his video series. This new set is on the official Google Webmaster Central blog, rather than his personal site, and so far, don't seem to feature either of his cats. But even cat-free, they are a welcome addition to the arsenal of information piling up at Webmaster Central. The first in the series is about the anatomy of a search result. He provides tips for crafting a search result that compels searchers to click through, but in true Matt fashion, he couches his suggestions in non-committal [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: SEO | Google: Webmaster Central

Want to speak at our upcoming SMX West conference? We're now taking submissions through the Speaker Pitch Form that was updated today, with all open sessions listed on the form and in more detail here. Please use this form even if we know you and you have spoken before. We're moving to a centralized conference management system, and submitting through the form helps us keep everything organized and get pitches quickly to the person who's coordinating each session. Ready to pitch? Again, please use the Speaker Pitch Form (not email) to express your interest. Thanks, and we hope to see you at [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | SEM Industry: Conferences

Have you ever wondered what it really takes for a story submitted to Digg to get to the home page? Or why a certain story—even a really good, social media friendly story—never got to the home page? I'm frequently asked the question, "Hey, my story has [number] of Diggs but it still hasn't been promoted to the home page. Any idea what's wrong?" And, relatively less frequently, I hear someone saying in amazement, "Wow, all it took was 29 Diggs and that story rocketed to the home page!" I'm always tempted to reply "It's the algorithm, stupid!" Digg has an algorithm? Yes, just as Pag [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Search Engines: Digg | Social Media Marketing

Google Gadgets can now run on Apple's Dashboard as a native Dashboard Widget. Now you can have the same Google Gadget on your iGoogle page and Google Desktop Sidebar as well as in your Apple Dashboard. From a developer's standpoint, now if you make a Google Gadget, that gadget can work easily on a Mac, without any extra code. Below is a walkthrough of me installing a Google Gadget directly on my Mac as a widget in Dashboard. (1) Load up the Google Gadgets application on your Mac: (2) Select a gadget and click add: (3) The Google Gadget then opens in Apple's Dashboard: (4) It also [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Google: Gadgets

Many mobile industry insiders and pundits have argued that when GPS becomes ubiquitous then "location based services" will really take off. The problem is: GPS doesn't always work, it isn't yet in every device, and isn't always enabled even if it is present. But the premise that passive location awareness represents a big opportunity in mobile is correct. Accordingly, Google is introducing a new "My Location" feature for Google Maps for Mobile that takes advantage of GPS (if present) but uses cell-tower triangulation for the majority of phones where GPS isn't present or won't work for one reas [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Google: Maps & Local | Google: Mobile

Roughly a year ago, AOL acquired Relegence, a search technology company that offers real-time information and data feeds on a subscription basis to Wall Street professionals. Now AOL is bringing the fruits of that acquisition to a newly redesigned Money & Finance site intended to go head to head with Yahoo Finance, which is the current market leader. The new site presents huge volumes of public data in a more dynamic, visual form, including a range of interactive charts and graphs. Compare, for example, an old and a new page displaying the current quote for TimeWarner, AOL's parent. Old sit [...]

Related Topics: AOL: General | Channel: Other

Subverted search sites lead to massive malware attack in progress from ComputerWorld reports that Google, along with Yahoo, Live Search have been targeted in a massive attack that puts links leading to malware sites into top search results. Alex Eckelberry, Sunbelt Software's CEO said "So far we've found 27 different domains, each with up to 1,499 [malicious] pages. That's 40,000 possible pages." The pages are specifically being returned by search engines in their organic results (not the paid results). Eckelberry explains, "They get themselves on to Google, then redirect people to their [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: SEO | Google: Webmaster Central | Legal: Security | Search Features: Safety | SEO: Spamming

Kevin Gibbons reports he has a new feature in his AdWords account. He is now able to use the "Google AdWords Template Center." The Google AdWords Template Center enables him to create a template that can be used across all his campaigns for any of his clients. If you often set up new clients, you can create several templates and reuse them quickly for each new account. Kevin says it is a "very useful feature to speed up the setup process for new client accounts or similar campaigns." For more details and a step-by-step screen shot view of the new feature, check out SEOptimise. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Google: AdWords

Matt Cutts of Google has written two posts on the topic of SEO: Detecting more "undetectable" webspam The anatomy of a search result The first, Detecting more "undetectable" webspam, should trigger some heated comments at his blog. It shows how he was able to find what was claimed to be "undetectable" cloaking and web spam. Matt then issues his warning to webmasters: More generally, if someone is trying to manipulate Google by deceptive cloaking, it means that a webserver is returning different content to Googlebot than to users. That’s a condition that can be checked for by algorithms [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: SEO | SEO: Cloaking & Doorway Pages | SEO: Spamming | SEO: Titles & Descriptions

The Google LatLong Blog announced that when you do a search in Google Maps and click on a listing, they will now show -- when available -- a "Street View" image of the location within the pop-up bubble or "balloon" that appears. For example, a search on abigaels, new york, ny will return three results on the left. Clicking on the first one will show you this bubble with a Street View image. Personally, I think this is a wonderful default feature. Some people, when it comes to directions, are street name savvy and some are "I got to see it" types of people. My wife needs to know a sign [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Google: Maps & Local

The Google Lat Long Blog announced that My Maps now can be built by groups of people, not just individuals. Maps can be edited by only selected friends and family or by Google Maps users at large. The benefits of this are fairly straightforward: group travel planning, collective favorites, better overall data (wisdom of crowds), and so on. There's also a potential scrapbooking dimension of this too (pictures and video from our trip, etc.). Below is a screenshot of the window that opens when you click a "collaborate" link in the upper left in My Maps: This is the next installment in the o [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Google: Maps & Local

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: You've Made Digg - Now What? When you work with Digg, reddit and the like, you want to get the POP: getting your content to a coveted spot on the homepage. Getting the pop can be difficult— social news users are wary of ulterior motives and will sometimes bury your wonderful content before it can... Google Maps Adds Terrain View, Replaces Hybrid ViewIf you load up Google Maps, you may notice that they have removed the "Hybrid" button and replaced [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | SearchCap

When you work with Digg, reddit, and the like, you want to get the POP: getting your content to a coveted spot on the homepage. Getting the pop can be difficult— social news users are wary of ulterior motives and will sometimes bury your wonderful content before it can see the light of day. So, we do lots of things to make our sites look less commercial (such as removing ads, calls to action, and other overt "selling" signs). If you get past those barriers and your content has made the homepage of Digg or Reddit and is attracting links like crazy, your page now has juice and will get [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Search & Social | Search Engines: Digg | Social Media Marketing

If you load up [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Google: Maps & Local

It a potentially dramatic move, Verizon Wireless is saying that it will allow customers to use phones and applications that it does not specifically sell. As a practical matter that potentially means that a mobile consumer could buy any phone and use it with the Verizon network, so long as the phone meets certain technical specifications. From the press release: In early 2008, the company will publish the technical standards the development community will need to design products to interface with the Verizon Wireless network. Any device that meets the minimum technical standard will be acti [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Google: Mobile | Search Engines: Mobile Search Engines

Search Engine Land has had a group on Facebook for some time here, with nearly 1,300 members. Now we've added a Facebook page that you can join. The difference? To be honest, I think many people including myself are still figuring it out. As a brand owner, I find it odd that I couldn't migrate a group into being a page, or that some of the Facebook Apps for pages like showing a blog feed don't seem to work, not to mention frustration that our page has a number like this: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=7138936668 Rather than something like facebook.com / searchengine [...]

Related Topics: About Search Engine Land | Channel: Other

The Google Book Scanning project has been controversial from the start. There are a number of competitive efforts, including from Microsoft and the Yahoo-supported Open Content Alliance, which appear to replicate the competition among these companies in other areas online. Now Ars Technica explores a new phase of the debate sparked when the University of Michigan's head librarian, Paul Courant, defended his school's relationship with Google and participation in its program. Here's our previous post on the politics of book search. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google: Book Search | Google: Critics