Topic: About.com

SearchCap: The Day In Search, August 21, 2012

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google Webmaster Tools Adds Clarity to Traffic Alerts: What To Do If You Receive One For some time (since at least March), Google webmaster tools has been sending messages to site […]

Official: Google Panda 2.3 Update Is Live

Google has confirmed to Search Engine Land that late last week it pushed out a small update to the Panda filter. “We’re continuing to iterate on our Panda algorithm as part of our commitment to returning high-quality sites to Google users,” a Google spokesperson told us. “This most recent update is one of the roughly […]

Coming Soon: Google Panda Update 2.2

One of the bigger pieces of news — certainly for webmasters and SEOs — from our SMX Advanced conference this week is that Google will soon be releasing version 2.2 of the Panda algorithm update. Google’s Matt Cutts confirmed that during Tuesday’s keynote question-and-answer session with Danny Sullivan. Cutts said that the update has been […]

New York Times: Yes, Google’s Panda Update Hit NYT-Owned About.com

The New York Times Company has confirmed recent reports that its About.com property was one of the sites that suffered traffic declines in the wake of Google’s recent Panda/Farmer algorithm change. Speaking during its recent earnings call, CEO Janet Robinson said that About.com “experienced a moderately negative impact on page views from the algorithm changes […]

The New York Times, Demand Media Edition

Demand Media — widely described as a “content farm” — went public yesterday and quickly racked up a valuation higher than the New York Times. I figured the news might cause some at the New York Times to wonder if they needed to be more Demand Media-like. Would every story be turned into a question? […]

Google, Content Farms & Why This May Be Blekko’s Moment

At the beginning of Google’s “Searchology” event in early 2007 original Google employee Craig Silverstein opined, “If Google had started a year or two earlier, it wouldn’t have worked.” That’s because prior to that time (1998) the internet wasn’t yet large enough to require Google or enable people to see the value of its approach. […]

Five Quick Tips For Success On Google’s Content Network

According to Google’s recent quarterly earnings report, the company earns about 34% of its revenue from AdSense, placing contextual ads on its content network partner websites. This proportion has stayed steady year over year. It certainly reflects overall growth, but some might be surprised at how conservative the pace is. One of the reasons for […]

SEO

Search Biz: Google Going Down Under?; Times Selling About.com?; Latest Ad Outlook; Yahoo Offering ‘Deceptive’ Ads

Australian media are reporting that Google recently sent a five-person crew to Australia to investigate the idea of building a data center there. According to Australian IT, some Google services cost more in Australia due to the need to route data to and from the U.S. and other countries. Says Google Australia spokesman Rob Shilkin: […]

Can Newspapers Be Saved?

Have you noticed the number of layoffs being announced by newspapers of late? When the New York Times announced in February 2008 that they were cutting 100 positions from their newsroom, it was a sad moment. A prominent national paper that informs our opinion and dialogue was announcing a cutback. Then the San Francisco Chronicle […]

SEO

Local Search Finally Living Up To Its Promise

Nearly a decade ago, I believed in the power and promise of locally focused Web sites and applications. Back then, I was COO of About.com and in hindsight can say that I was a bit ahead of market adoption, to say the least! We ended up pretty successfully focusing on interest-based sites that became all […]

Cheat Sheet For Google Cheat Sheets

Lifehacker points to a two-page Google Cheat Sheet PDF document that contains information on the company, their services, the IP addresses for Googlebot, Google domains, famous operators and much more. But aren’t there more Google cheat sheets? Sure — here are some others:

Q&A With Seth Godin, Founder & CEO Of Social Search Service Squidoo

Seth Godin is widely known as one of the foremost advocates of “permission marketing,” promotional campaigns that don’t rely on interrupting the attention of your customers, but rather engage them and even turn them into enthusiastic advocates that volunteer time and effort to help you promote your products or services. Godin doesn’t shy away from […]

SEO

Industry Moves: Peter Horan Goes To IAC

Peter Horan, who was the About.com CEO until its acquisition by the New York Times and then moved west to head up small business portal AllBusiness.com, has now been appointed CEO of IAC Media & Advertising. According to the company, “The CEOs of the Media & Advertising businesses will now report to Mr. Horan, including […]