Microsoft’s “Scroogled” ad campaign, which attacked Google over paid inclusion in shopping and Gmail over privacy, is coming to an end. KQED reports that Microsoft will stop TV, newspaper and social media ads promoting the Scroogled message: “That part is about finished,” Stefan Weitz, Microsoft senior director of online services, said on Thursday. Microsoft launched […]
Interflora, the major UK flower delivery service, is showing up again in Google’s search results — just 11 days after it was penalized. According to some tweets and posts on Google+, Chris Gilchrist was first to spot Interflora’s resurrection today. As you can see in the screenshot above, Interflora is ranking again on searches for […]
Marissa Mayer is tightening Yahoo’s belt. Since taking over as Yahoo’s CEO, she’s spoken repeatedly on the need to zero in on being part of its users’ “daily habits.” Today, the company announced the shut down of seven products that don’t fit that “daily habit” mantra. Included in the group are a couple search-related products, […]
As part of today’s big “How Search Works” reveal, Google also took the big step of sharing its Search Quality Rating Guidelines for the first time. This is the document that Google’s human search quality raters use when grading Google’s search results. But the new, public document is actually an edited version of the old […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: WATCH: Google Now Shows Live Examples Of Spam Removed From Its Search Results In Google’s new How Search Works, Google is showing real live examples of spam that was recently removed […]
In Google’s new How Search Works, Google is showing real live examples of spam that was recently removed from their search index. Most of these examples are of pure spam, as Search Engine Land founding editor Danny Sullivan explained in his write up, Google Charts “Manual Actions” Against Spam In Search For First Time. Most of […]
As part of the How Search Works interactive infographic Google released today, they have decided to publish their search quality rating guidelines publicly to the world. You can access the 43-page PDF document over here. It was most recently updated November 2, 2012. As you may remember, the document has been leaked back in 2008, […]
How often does Google take “manual action” against websites for spam, where a human being reviews a site and decides it deserves some type of penalty? For the first time, Google’s released a chart showing this, going back nearly 10 years. The chart is part of Google’s new “How Search Works” area, and it stretches […]
Ever wondered how Google Search works, finds pages from across the web and decides how to list them in response to a search? If so, Google’s got a new resource designed to answer questions. Called “How Search Works,” the new area announced today is an interactive infographic that explains more about the search process, including […]
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 Maps Adds Variety Of Hi-Res Image Improvements Bing Maps has announced a series of updates to its high-resolution imagery, including expanded coverage, better mapping of ocean floors, cloud filtering and […]
Majestic SEO announced that their SEO toolset is now supported in 9 different languages. The languages they currently support include English, Chinese, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese and Russian. Who helped translate the popular SEO tool? The Majestic SEO ambassadors including Branko Rihtman, Dixon Jones, Alberto André, Francois Goube, Miguel Lopez, Sante J. […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: Gmail Search Field Trial Adds Calendar Results To Google Search Google keeps increasing the amount of information it will show from your Gmail account within your Google searches, if you’re part […]
Getting Ahead With Google+ Presentations from SMX Social Media Marketing, December 2012 It’s been over a year since Google CEO Larry Page stated Google+ is the "new DNA" for all aspects of Google. Not yet convinced Google+ is worth the effort? This session is for you. We’ll examine the flexibility to connect with followers, features […]
SEO For Social Media Managers Presentations from SMX Social Media Marketing, December 2012 Integrating your search and social media efforts can dramatically improve your marketing results and ROI. Learn how to effectively work with your SEO team to uncover new audience segments, grow your community through targeting keyword interests, use social media for effective link […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: How To Stop The Panic Before Asking “Have I Been Panda Slapped?” You may see a drop in rankings or traffic and immediately panic. Have I been Panda-slapped? Even now, as […]
We just came upon the two year anniversary of what came to be known as the Google Panda Update. Between then and now, a seismic shift has seemingly taken place in the link building and SEO industry. Many of you reading this know the gory details, but if you don’t, I recommend reading Vanessa Fox’s […]
(Editor’s Note: This is the final article in a 3-part series looking at the aftermath of Google’s Panda algorithm update, which launched February 24, 2011. To catch up, please see the first two articles in the series: Google Panda Two Years Later: Losers Still Losing & One Real Recovery and Google Panda Two Years Later: […]
If you’re an in-house SEO, you probably work with another in-house team that manages paid search campaigns, or vice-versa. Because you’re working for the same company you know these people are “on your side,” but at times tension can arise when “competing” for similar keywords, or budget, or even when it comes to properly giving […]
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 Panda Two Years Later: The Real Impact Beyond Rankings & SEO Visibility (Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of articles looking at the aftermath of Google’s Panda […]
Just under three years ago, we reported that 301 redirects don’t pass full PageRank and that you should try to link through a normal link versus using 301 redirects. The truth is, a 301 redirect and a link pass the same amount of PageRank. There is no more dilution of PageRank with a 301 redirect […]
(Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of articles looking at the aftermath of Google’s Panda algorithm update, which launched February 24, 2011. To catch up, please see the first article in the series: Google Panda Two Years Later: Losers Still Losing & One Real Recovery.) Google’s Panda algorithm update, which launched two […]
Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series of articles looking at the aftermath of Google’s Panda algorithm update, which launched February 24, 2011.) Two years ago today, Google sent shockwaves through not only the SEO industry, but also through online publishing in general when it launched the Panda algorithm update. It was originally […]
A day after warning publishers against advertorials, will Google’s search team now have to penalize parts of its own company for running advertorials? Perhaps, and if so, it wouldn’t be the first time. It’s also another absurd chapter in Google’s war on paid links. Google Says: Advertorials, Beware! After news came out yesterday that Google […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: After Penalizing Interflora & UK Newspapers, Google Warns Against Advertorials After penalizing Interflora and UK newspapers Google has issued a stern warning that selling links on sites that pass PageRank can […]
After penalizing Interflora and UK newspapers, Google has issued a stern warning that selling links on sites that pass PageRank can lead to a penalty in Google. Google specifically called this a “reminder,” because in 2007, they clearly went on record that selling paid links can lead to a penalty. Google’s Matt Cutts, the head […]
Google has downgraded the Toolbar PageRank scores for several dozen UK operated newspapers and news sites today. It is believed the reason Google has downgraded their PageRank scores is because they were selling links on a massive scale. Google Penalizes Sites Selling Links As you may remember, in October 2007, Google went on record that […]
The popular UK flower website Interflora seems to have been penalized in Google. They no longer rank for their key terms, such as [flowers], [flower delivery] and related terms — nor do they rank for their own name [Interflora]. Here is a picture of the search results in Google UK for [Interflora]. As you can […]
Once in every five times that someone clicks a search result, it goes to one of five websites: Facebook, YouTube, Yahoo, Wikipedia or Amazon. That leaves about 80 percent of search clicks for the rest of us. Going further, the top 500 websites received almost 50 percent of all clicks from search results, and the […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: How Account Quality Score Can Guide AdWords Optimization Last month, I covered four ways to use AdWords Scripts to improve AdWords account management. I didn’t share any actual code for fear […]
Bing announced, on its Bing Webmaster Blog, a new feature that helps webmasters create two types of XML Sitemaps. Bing created a server-side application that works on both IIS and Apache servers that helps you create a comprehensive Sitemap and, also, a recently updated Sitemap. The binaries can be downloaded at the Microsoft download site. […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: No, Google Hasn’t Released Unannounced Penguin UpdatesThe last time Google has confirmed a refresh or update to the Penguin algorithm was back in October 2012 with the 3rd Penguin update. The […]
Is Google pushing Penguin Updates without announcing them? A recent Google video might give that suggestion, but the Google tells us this is not the case. Confusion Over Penguin Refreshes The last time Google has confirmed a refresh or update to the Penguin anti-spam filter was back in October 2012, with Penguin Update 3. That was […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: ChaCha Defeats Google, Bing And Siri In “Answers Quality” StudyA study published today by Indiana-based Butler University compared the performance of a range of search engines and Q&A sites on mobile […]
A study published today by Indiana-based Butler University compared the performance of a range of search engines and Q&A sites on mobile devices. It found that “ChaCha delivered the highest quality responses consistently across the largest group of categories and question types.” The study was sponsored by ChaCha. However, ChaCha CEO Scott Jones told me via email […]
Laurie Mann has been promoted to run Yahoo Search. Mann, who is a man, has been senior vice president of engineering operations at Yahoo since 2002. Prior to that Mann spent a number of years at Oracle in various engineering roles. The news was first reported late last night by AllThingsD. Mann fills the position that was […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: Search Engines More Trusted Than Social Media For News & Information [Study] When it comes to getting general news and information, consumers worldwide put as much trust in search engines as […]
Toward the end of 2012, I read an interesting article theorizing that Google will be crawling APIs instead of mobile websites in the future. API means Application Programming Interface which allows software, including websites and mobile apps, to provide direct integration based on functions permitted by the API. Websites and mobile apps use APIs predominantly to share content […]
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 Ads Sticks With Improved Reporting Interface Bing Ads announced that the new reporting user interface released in October is now the default. Users will no longer see the option to […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: 6 Advanced Strategies For Optimizing PLA Campaigns In January, Marin Software released a study on Google’s 2012 transition from Google Product Search to the commercial, “pay-to-play” model built on Product Listing […]
Google’s Matt Cutts shared some new statistics in a recent video about the types of notifications Google sends out via Google Webmaster Tools. Google sends approximately “hundreds of thousands” of messages each month to webmasters. The categories of those messages break down as follows: 90% of those messages are black hat related 4% are notifications […]