DMCA as a weapon: How to fight fraudulent takedown claims
A fraudulent DMCA notice can cost you search visibility. Here’s what to document, how to file a counter-notice, and when to escalate.
Topic: Internet Archive
Cached pages in SEO: What they are and how to use them
Cached pages reveal how Google last saw your site. Learn how to check, troubleshoot, and leverage caches—whether you’re new to SEO or managing at scale.
How to recognize quality backlinks
Not all links are equal. Learn what makes a backlink high-quality, why it matters for SEO, and how to build a link profile that drives rankings and trust.
11 free Chrome extensions you need for SEO
Don’t rely solely on tools like Search Console or Screaming Frog. Diversify your toolset with these time-saving Chrome extensions.
Google Search completely kills the cache feature
9 months after Google dropped the cache link and 2 weeks after Google added the Wayback Machine links, the cache operator has fully stopped working.
Google Search adds Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine links to about this page
This comes after Google dropped the cache link from the search results.
Google Search officially retires cache link
Google might add links to the Wayback Machine in place of the cache link.
5 free SEO tools and plugins to try
Use these five handy and free tools and plugins for your SEO efforts to save time and become more efficient.
Indexing and keyword ranking techniques revisited: 20 years later
Learn how keyword-based ranking techniques have evolved – from the 'little old ladies' to the vector space model, to today.
5 ways to use the Wayback Machine for SEO
Use the tool to recover lost information and glean insights into the direction of competitor strategies.
Messy SEO Part 3: How to find cached images and improve user experience
Anyone who’s worked with website moves and merges knows redirecting the old pages to the new domain is just part of the story. User experience optimization is an equally important stage in any SEO project.
Mixed Directives: A reminder that robots.txt files are handled by subdomain and protocol, including www/non-www and http/https [Case Study]
Since robots.txt files impact crawling, it’s important for site owners to understand how they are treated by search engines. Columnist Glenn Gabe covers two cases involving multiple robots.txt files (by subdomain and protocol).
Wayback Machine adds ‘changes’ feature
Now you can compare the same URL but on different dates, to see what content was changed, added or deleted.
Public Google+ content is getting archived for future generations
Your public Google+ posts will be saved for posterity with the Internet Archive.
Did you know you can report Google Maps-related spam calls and other violations to Google?
Google local has its share of spam and manipulation issues. There's a form you can use to report some of those violations.
CEO who forged court order to get Google to remove defamation faces prison
Contributor Chris Silver Smith tells the lamentable story of a sophisticated apparent reputation attack and a victimized company led to take desperate steps to recover.
The Wayback Machine Gets Grant To Rebuild & Add Keyword Search
The Internet Archive's Wayback Machine will be rebuilding the service from the ground up.
On MetaFilter Being Penalized By Google: An Explainer
MetaFilter is a news and discussion site dating back to the early years of the web. Founded in 1999, it’s attracting attention this week after coming forward about how a Google penalty has severely harmed its business, to the degree of having to let staff go. It serves as a poster child of problems with […]
SearchCap: Google Knowledge Maps, Right To Be Forgotten & No Google Algorithm Updates
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’s Knowledge Graph Expands Into Google Maps Google is expanding its Knowledge Graph into Google Maps. The company has confirmed to Search Engine Land that some locations in Google Maps will […]
SearchCap: Google’s Matt Cutts Regrets, Bing On Firefox OS & Google Doodles
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’s Matt Cutts Regrets Not Acting Faster On Paid Links & Content Farms In Google’s Matt Cutts latest video, he answers a question I personally asked about what he regrets, what […]
Wayback Machine Adds 160 Billion Indexed Pages In A Year, Surpasses 400 Billion Indexed Pages
The Internet Archive announced that the Wayback Machine, a huge internet archive of web pages dating back to 1996, has surpassed 400 billion pages indexed. In January 2013, a little over a year ago, the Wayback Machine said they had 240 billion URLs indexed and since then, they have added another 160 billion URLs! That […]
Google’s Matt Cutts: How To Avoid Buying A Domain Name Previously Ruined By Spammers
In his latest video, Google head of web spam (and, today, Boston Marathon runner) Matt Cutts offers a few quick tips to avoid purchasing a domain name that may have been previously destroyed by a spammer. The video is in response to the following question from a site owner who purchased a bad domain: How […]
Searching For TV News Online
Most news organizations provide video content on their sites, and aggregators like Google News also offer video clips for some stories. But there are also some excellent search tools that focus exclusively on broadcast television news, and they can often take you to “all the news that’s fit to watch” more quickly and efficiently than […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, January 14, 2013
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: RIP Aaron Swartz, One Of The Earliest Google Bloggers I was saddened to see the news that Aaron Swartz had committed suicide. Such a tragedy. Swartz is known for a wide-range […]
Wayback Machine Now Has 240 Billion URLs
The Wayback Machine from the Internet Archive, one of the most useful and important Internet research tools, recently reached a major milestone. In a blog post, archive founder Brewster Kahle announced that The Wayback Machine now provides access an index containing more than 240 billion URLs (about five petabytes of data), with archived pages dating […]
The Strange Explanation Of Why Windows Phone Users Lost Access To Google Maps
On Friday, Windows Phone users supposedly found themselves unable to access Google Maps. But Google said it made no sudden change on its end to cause this. What happened? It seems likely many people simple noticed for the first time long-standing redirection that Google had in place for those not using Android or iOS devices. Windows Phone […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, March 13, 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 Research: Yes, You Still Need To Keep Buying Search Ads Though most marketers likely think of their SEO activities and their paid search advertising as complementary, you’ve probably wondered, at […]
Google: Yes, Sponsored Post Campaign Was Ours But Not What We Signed-Up For
It’s been about a day since we covered Google’s sponsored post campaign to promote its Chrome browser, a campaign that produced posts that violate Google’s guidelines against “thin” content and potentially those against buying links. Yes, it was a Google campaign, but not what the company says it signed-up for. One agency is falling on its […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, August 24, 2011
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: America’s Fastest Growing Search Marketing Companies Each year, Inc. Magazine releases its Inc. 500/5000 list of the fastest growing companies in America. We’re proud to announce that Search Engine Land’s parent […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, June 15, 2011
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 Tweaks Interface For “Keyword Ideas” In AdWords Keyword Tool Google has changed the way it’s displaying “Keyword Ideas” in its AdWords Keyword Tool, breaking them into a separate tab so […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, January 24, 2011
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Hot At Sphinn: Google Favoritism In Search Results, Eric Schmidt Steps Down & More The idea that Google might be favoring its own properties and content in search results was a […]
Searching For Old Versions of Web Sites? The Wayback Machine Is New and Improved
The Internet Archive was founded in 1996 to “build an internet library” and offers a searchable collection of digital collections. Internet Achive’s Wayback Machine (launched in 2001) has archived web pages going back to 1996, enabling historical snapshots of the web. As ReadWriteWeb notes, the Wayback Machine has just been redesigned and relaunched with a […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, December 13, 2010
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Googler Quits To Build Browser To Block Google Tracking TechCrunch reports Brian Kennish, a former Googler, quit Google a few weeks ago in order to build a browser that essentially blocks […]
Meet The New Borg: Google, Facebook & Apple
Back in 1996, the now defunct Boardwatch Magazine had a classic cover depicting Microsoft and CEO Bill Gates as the Borg. For 2010, we’d like to submit some more modern candidates: Google, Facebook and Apple. The article below assumes some knowledge of the Borg from Star Trek. Never heard of them? Nasty creatures that “assimilated” […]
Google’s New Philosophy: We’re A Portal
After years of refusing the “portal” label, it seems that Google has finally had a change of mind. Google’s new attitude is evident on its Our Philosophy – Ten things we know to be true page. As Eric Goldman points out, that page has changed: On June 3, 2004 (per archive.org), the page said “Google […]
Tim Mayer, Who Worked For Practically Every Search Engine, Leaves Yahoo
Earlier I wrote about the depature of Yahoo’s Srinija Srinivasan. Yahoo’s lost another person, and another big figure in search, that of Tim Mayer. Tim just tweeted, as shown above, that he’s enjoying his first “post-Yahoo” day. Tweeted using the Twitter account I personally set up for him ages ago, I might add! Who Didn’t […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, February 15, 2010
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Bing Gets Dedicated Button On New Windows (7) Phones This morning in Barcelona, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer delivered a keynote address at the GSM Mobile World Congress trade show. I’m not […]
Did Google Get A TSA Subpoena Over Security Directive? It Can’t Say
Many headlines yesterday about two bloggers who received visits — and subpoenas — from the Transportation Security Administration after publishing a security directive that was emailed to them anonymously. The source used a Gmail account. So did Google get a subpoena, too? The company says it can’t comment either way, sending me this statement: We […]
Oh Say Can You See Ask.com’s Irrelevant Ads Showing On Google?
I said from time to time, I’d highlight some bad search results I come across. Here’s a killer — a top ranking for us national anthem on Google that when you click on it brings up random web sites that have nothing to do with the song. Behind the scenes, there’s an Ask.com connection. Let’s […]