Google Lets You Tell Them Which URL Parameters To Ignore
Sep 16, 2009 at 4:13pm ET by Vanessa Fox
A new feature has appeared in the Site Configuration Settings Sections of Google Webmaster Tools. The setting, called Parameter Handling, enables site owners to specify up to 15 parameters that Google should ignore when crawling and indexing the site.
Google lists the parameters they’ve found in the URLs on your site, and indicates whether or not they think they those parameters are extraneous (with a suggested “Ignore” or “Don’t ignore”. You can confirm or reject those suggestions and can add parameters that aren’t listed.
So what does this mean for site owners?
The [...]
Filed in: Google: SEO, Google: Webmaster Central, SEO: Duplicate Content, Top News
Google Loses “Backwards Compatibility” On Paid Link Blocking & PageRank Sculpting
Jun 3, 2009 at 12:39am ET by Danny Sullivan
Imagine that you fired up your computer and found that a bunch of your programs no longer worked, because behind the scenes, the operating system had been upgraded without any backwards compatibility. That's what happened this week with Google. Some things that were working just fine now are broken, because Google isn't being backwards compatible. And that's fairly unprecedented.
Don't panic. One of the changes really shouldn't hurt many sites, impacting only a "power SEO" technique commonly called PageRank sculpting that I'd say fairly few use. The other has a bigger impact and pote [...]
Filed in: Features: Analysis, Link Building: General, Link Building: Paid Links, SEO: Duplicate Content, SEO: Spamming, Top News
SEOs Say AOL’s Love.com Feels More Like A One-Night Stand
Apr 27, 2009 at 2:22pm ET by Matt McGee
AOL recently soft-launched Love.com, which it advertises as a collection of "topic blogs" that "provide a central view into what the world is loving now."
But it's really an SEO play. Give the site any subdomain under the sun, and Love.com will make a new site on-the-fly with content scraped from news sites, blogs, YouTube videos, Twitter messages and more. Like this:
Everybody loves cold sores, right?
Well, not everybody loves Love.com. Says Dave Naylor:
"Approximately 1 bazillion keyword specific subdomains filled with scraped content and ads? Are AOL so desperate that they [...]
Filed in: AOL: General, SEO: Duplicate Content, SEO: Spamming
Google’s Advice On Using The New Canonical Tag
Mar 13, 2009 at 9:19am ET by Barry Schwartz
A month ago, Google, Yahoo and Microsoft announced they will be supporting a new canonical tag that allows you to tell search engines that page X is a duplicate page to page Z. In a way, it is a 301 redirect, without the physical redirect.
The tag is incredibly powerful, as are 301 redirects and using this tag should be done with caution and slowly. Matt Cutts posted a new video explaining how one should go about using this tag, being that it is so new. Here is the video:
[...]
Filed in: Google: SEO, Google: Webmaster Central, SEO: Blocking Spiders, SEO: Duplicate Content, SEO: Redirects & Moving Sites, SEO: Submitting & Sitemaps, SEO: Tagging, SEO: Titles & Descriptions
Google, Yahoo & Microsoft Unite On “Canonical Tag” To Reduce Duplicate Content Clutter
Feb 12, 2009 at 3:55pm ET by Vanessa Fox
The web is full of duplicate content. Search engines try to index and display the original or "canonical" version. Searchers only want to see one version in results. And site owners worry that if search engines find multiple versions of a page, their link credit will be diluted and they'll lose ranking.
Today, Google, Yahoo and Microsoft (links are to their separate announcements) have united to offer a way to reduce duplicate content clutter and make things easier for everyone. Webmasters rejoice! Worried about duplicate content on your site? Want to know what "canonical" means? Read on fo [...]
Filed in: Features: General, Google: SEO, How To: SEO, Microsoft: Bing, SEO: Duplicate Content, Top News, Yahoo: SEO
Become a Premium Member and see all articles in our SEO: Duplicate Content archives!
Premium Members get unrestricted access to all archives - and more! Premium membership details below...
Become A Search Engine Land Premium Member
Gain insider access to the industry's leading online publication, covering the latest search engine news, in-depth features and analysis of products, technologies and search trends.
Subscribe as a premium member today and you'll get:
- Unlimited access to news & How To articles.
- Exclusive videos & webinars with search experts.
- Expanded community profile & posting privileges.
- Discounts to SMX Conferences & Events.
- 30 Day money back guarantee.
FREE DAILY SEARCH NEWS RECAP!
Stay on top of all the search news with our daily summary, the SearchCap newsletter. View a sample ›
STAY CURRENT THROUGHOUT THE DAY
Search Engine Land produces SMX, the Search Marketing Expo conference series. SMX events deliver the most comprehensive educational and networking experiences - whether you're just starting in search marketing or you're a seasoned expert.
SMX Web Site » | SMX Difference » | SMX News »
Join us at an upcoming SMX event:
- SMX West - March 2-4, 2010
- SMX Munich - March 23-24, 2010
- SMX Toronto - April 8-9, 2010
- SMX Sydney - April 22-23, 2010
- SMX Advanced London - May 17-18, 2010
- SMX Advanced Seattle - June 8-9, 2010
- SMX East - October 4-6, 2010
- SMX Stockholm - October, 2010
Learn more about search marketing with our free online webcasts and webinars from our sister site, Search Marketing Now. Upcoming online events include:
- PPC Advertising & Geo-Targeting - November 12, 2009
- Making Online Marketing Relevant and Responsive: Tactics and A Tool for Success - November 17, 2009
- Ask the Search Engines: War Stories from the World Tour - December 1, 2009
TRACK US SOCIALLY
- Wall Street Journal Recommended Reading
- Ad Age Power 150 Blog
- Technorati Top 100 Blog
- Techmeme Leaderboard Source
- Best Search Engine Community/Forum
© 2009 Third Door Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Google, Yahoo & Microsoft logos trademark respective companies and used with permission.
