Saturday, November 15, 2003
Russell Beattie Notebook
Russell Beattie Notebook: " Google AdSense has serious problems with its Terms And Conditions and it's transparency. "
SEM Adwords Customers rage at Google tweak
Customers rage at Google tweak | CNET News.com: "Sponsored ads also drove more sales than did ordinary search links, according to the research. About 1.4 percent of the people who clicked on sponsored listings became customers of the advertisers. In comparison, about 0.6 percent of the people who clicked on ordinary search results made a purchase"
"In mid-October, Google expanded broad match so that it now automatically matches keywords to a wider set of terms, including synonyms and misspellings. Advertisers might now see their ads appear in results for search queries that don't use their keyword at all. For example, an ad tied to the keyword 'hotel' might show up in searches on related terms, such as 'vacations' or 'car rentals.'"
Customers rage at Google tweak | CNET News.com: "In addition, Google changed a key measure it uses to determine an ad's placement, known as the 'minimum click-through threshold.' Although Google has not disclosed the new threshold, the company now disables any ad that has a click-through rate lower than 0.5 percent. Also, ads must now show a higher click-through rate than they did previously, in order to appear within a certain broad match phrase."
"In mid-October, Google expanded broad match so that it now automatically matches keywords to a wider set of terms, including synonyms and misspellings. Advertisers might now see their ads appear in results for search queries that don't use their keyword at all. For example, an ad tied to the keyword 'hotel' might show up in searches on related terms, such as 'vacations' or 'car rentals.'"
Customers rage at Google tweak | CNET News.com: "In addition, Google changed a key measure it uses to determine an ad's placement, known as the 'minimum click-through threshold.' Although Google has not disclosed the new threshold, the company now disables any ad that has a click-through rate lower than 0.5 percent. Also, ads must now show a higher click-through rate than they did previously, in order to appear within a certain broad match phrase."
Friday, November 14, 2003
WEBMASTRY
WEBMASTRY: "Google often 'energizes' its word-of-mouth marketing by getting to information gatekeepers like journalists, teachers, key members of a company, etc. and demonstrating (or as Mary Ellen Bates puts it, politely 'getting in their faces') about what their service offers. Again, doing this costs only time."
Protect Your Domain Name From Cybertheft
Protect Your Domain Name From Cybertheft: "Protect Your Domain Name From Cybertheft "
Wednesday, November 12, 2003
More local search:
Internet Marketing E-mail Tip of the Week: "While Google's local search (called 'Search by Location') is set up similarly, they have also partnered with MapQuest in order to be able to show local matches on a map. If you're looking to get in a golf game around the Queenstown, MD area, a Google location search for 'golf' and 'Queenstown, MD' yields 326 results and maps 10 of them. Here are the Google Local Search results.
Google's Search by Location reveals tidbits of how it generates its results, which include site content with zip codes, town names, and addresses. Notice the second listing on the above search resulst page is for a bed & breakfast. It 'made the cut' because its site content aligned with the parameters of the search. If you are a local business that would benefit from these kinds of related searches, it seems it would behoove you to include keyword content not just related to your specific business.
Optimizing Your Site For Local Search
Along with basic search engine optimization (SEO), if you have a geographically-specific business you should be looking at localized SEO as well. Things may change in how the search engines eventually refine their local search technology, but it can't hurt to do a few simple things...and get a jump on your local competition.
1) Add your address in a prominent place on your web pages. Many sites use the very bottom of their pages for their address listings. Address location didn't use to matter. Localized search may change all that, so consider including all or part of your address nearer to the top of your page.
2) Add city and state information to your meta and title tags.
3) Add local information to your site's content. As demonstrated in our local golf search example, links to and information on other businesses and attractions in your town may end up helping to promote your own site.
The Kelsey Group which surveyed search and directory executives, the top four perceived obstacles cited were:
1) Most small businesses lack a web site so won't show up in local search results
2) Small businesses won't be able to bid for keywords against national chains
3) Pricing models for localized search may be too complex for small businesses to grasp (versus Yellow Pages)
4) Local search may be too labor intensive, like today's normal search results. Do small business owners have the time to keep up with localized SEO?
It may take a while for Google, Overture and the others to get their localized search solutions polished and refined, but you can bet that it's going to happen, and probably sooner than you're ready for. If you're not thinking about it now, get prepared.
"
Internet Marketing E-mail Tip of the Week: "While Google's local search (called 'Search by Location') is set up similarly, they have also partnered with MapQuest in order to be able to show local matches on a map. If you're looking to get in a golf game around the Queenstown, MD area, a Google location search for 'golf' and 'Queenstown, MD' yields 326 results and maps 10 of them. Here are the Google Local Search results.
Google's Search by Location reveals tidbits of how it generates its results, which include site content with zip codes, town names, and addresses. Notice the second listing on the above search resulst page is for a bed & breakfast. It 'made the cut' because its site content aligned with the parameters of the search. If you are a local business that would benefit from these kinds of related searches, it seems it would behoove you to include keyword content not just related to your specific business.
Optimizing Your Site For Local Search
Along with basic search engine optimization (SEO), if you have a geographically-specific business you should be looking at localized SEO as well. Things may change in how the search engines eventually refine their local search technology, but it can't hurt to do a few simple things...and get a jump on your local competition.
1) Add your address in a prominent place on your web pages. Many sites use the very bottom of their pages for their address listings. Address location didn't use to matter. Localized search may change all that, so consider including all or part of your address nearer to the top of your page.
2) Add city and state information to your meta and title tags.
3) Add local information to your site's content. As demonstrated in our local golf search example, links to and information on other businesses and attractions in your town may end up helping to promote your own site.
The Kelsey Group which surveyed search and directory executives, the top four perceived obstacles cited were:
1) Most small businesses lack a web site so won't show up in local search results
2) Small businesses won't be able to bid for keywords against national chains
3) Pricing models for localized search may be too complex for small businesses to grasp (versus Yellow Pages)
4) Local search may be too labor intensive, like today's normal search results. Do small business owners have the time to keep up with localized SEO?
It may take a while for Google, Overture and the others to get their localized search solutions polished and refined, but you can bet that it's going to happen, and probably sooner than you're ready for. If you're not thinking about it now, get prepared.
"
The Art of Advanced Link Building: "Daniel Dulitz, a software engineer at Google, spoke candidly about PageRank and technical issues currently surrounding the use of the Google Toolbar, saying '0/10 is inaccurate at many times, and because data isn't on a consistent update schedule, it is unreliable, and a poor measure of content value.'
Of the Google toolbar, Greg Boser strongly says 'uninstall it!' Even though the toolbar offers a basic gauge of PageRank (and therefore link popularity), it's simply not worth the obsession if rankings are holding fairly steady and traffic has not dropped off.
When evaluating the weight of a link, Google wants to know as much as it can about it. Complicated issues such as Javascript, bad coding, image map links, and CSS hurt the process because these make Googlebot work too hard, which can lead to mistakes while spidering webpages. Link text puts sites into context, said Dulitz, and that's critical for determining places of importance related to a subject, even if a link doesn't contain the exact phrases associated with the web page it points to.
Google emphasizes that by placing a link on a site, you are associating your site with another, thereby lending credibility to the quality of content. However, certain linking situations can come with unwanted baggage, such as linking to trademark names while making false claims about the company or holder of the trademark.
But if it's fair comparison, it might not be illegal - so check with a lawyer. One trademark owner in the audience said you can take advantage of sites that mention your trademark or brand name fairly, and require a link to the official website in exchange.
When in doubt, it pays to follow Danny Sullivan's golden rules of link building"
Of the Google toolbar, Greg Boser strongly says 'uninstall it!' Even though the toolbar offers a basic gauge of PageRank (and therefore link popularity), it's simply not worth the obsession if rankings are holding fairly steady and traffic has not dropped off.
When evaluating the weight of a link, Google wants to know as much as it can about it. Complicated issues such as Javascript, bad coding, image map links, and CSS hurt the process because these make Googlebot work too hard, which can lead to mistakes while spidering webpages. Link text puts sites into context, said Dulitz, and that's critical for determining places of importance related to a subject, even if a link doesn't contain the exact phrases associated with the web page it points to.
Google emphasizes that by placing a link on a site, you are associating your site with another, thereby lending credibility to the quality of content. However, certain linking situations can come with unwanted baggage, such as linking to trademark names while making false claims about the company or holder of the trademark.
But if it's fair comparison, it might not be illegal - so check with a lawyer. One trademark owner in the audience said you can take advantage of sites that mention your trademark or brand name fairly, and require a link to the official website in exchange.
When in doubt, it pays to follow Danny Sullivan's golden rules of link building"
A hub is what totaltravel will become...DMOZ & Googleshould be sorted, just Yahoo to pay...I recommend for each home page at the least
Rich Get Richer - Why Yahoo, DMOZ, Google and PageRank are Important: "Albert-Lazlo Barabasi's book, Linked, points out that 'power laws mathematically formulate the fact that in most real networks the majority of nodes have only a few links and that these numerous tiny nodes coexist with a few big hubs.'
The Rich Get Richer concept helps explain why Yahoo, DMOZ, and Google are at the center of the web and why Google PageRank plays a large role in determining which web sites become hubs.
Scientists over at Google understand Pareto's Law and they know that 80 percent of links on the web point to only 15 percent of web pages. This 15 percent of web pages are the hubs that guide us to the other 85 percent of the web...
"A Link from DMOZ or the Yahoo directory alone can give a site a PageRank of 4, which is an important number. Only web pages with a PageRank of 4 or higher are displayed in Google's backward links feature. Why? Google probably displays the 15 percent of web pages that are the hubs of the web.
Rich Get Richer - Why Yahoo, DMOZ, Google and PageRank are Important: "Albert-Lazlo Barabasi's book, Linked, points out that 'power laws mathematically formulate the fact that in most real networks the majority of nodes have only a few links and that these numerous tiny nodes coexist with a few big hubs.'
The Rich Get Richer concept helps explain why Yahoo, DMOZ, and Google are at the center of the web and why Google PageRank plays a large role in determining which web sites become hubs.
Scientists over at Google understand Pareto's Law and they know that 80 percent of links on the web point to only 15 percent of web pages. This 15 percent of web pages are the hubs that guide us to the other 85 percent of the web...
"A Link from DMOZ or the Yahoo directory alone can give a site a PageRank of 4, which is an important number. Only web pages with a PageRank of 4 or higher are displayed in Google's backward links feature. Why? Google probably displays the 15 percent of web pages that are the hubs of the web.
Tuesday, November 11, 2003
Where To Report This? -> High Rankings Search Engine Optimization Forum: "try spamreport@google.com"
Google's future looking good / Bulked-up search firm beats up rivals: "Many small Web sites also have issues with Google. All of the owners want their sites to be at the top of certain searches to increase their visibility to potential customers, but some of them complain about being relegated to relative obscurity.
To avoid this, some companies hire firms that specialize in getting Web sites higher placement on search engines by trying to game the formulas they use for rankings. In fact, one such firm, SearchKing, in Oklahoma City, filed a lawsuit in federal court last year when Google fought back by penalizing it and its clients with lower search results.
SearchKing lost the case in May, based on Google's argument that it has First Amendment rights to present search results in any order it wants. But the case underscores the importance of the issue in the minds of many Web site owners.
'There needs to be some way for people to argue and defend themselves when Google makes decisions that can affect your business,' said Bob Massa, chief executive of SearchKing. "
To avoid this, some companies hire firms that specialize in getting Web sites higher placement on search engines by trying to game the formulas they use for rankings. In fact, one such firm, SearchKing, in Oklahoma City, filed a lawsuit in federal court last year when Google fought back by penalizing it and its clients with lower search results.
SearchKing lost the case in May, based on Google's argument that it has First Amendment rights to present search results in any order it wants. But the case underscores the importance of the issue in the minds of many Web site owners.
'There needs to be some way for people to argue and defend themselves when Google makes decisions that can affect your business,' said Bob Massa, chief executive of SearchKing. "
Monday, November 10, 2003
Other possibilities
WOAI: SAN ANTONIO//NEWS: "Has Google Disappeared?
LAST UPDATE: 10/7/2003 7:31:30 AM"
Shut Up and Serve Ads (Google Weblog): "Google's terms of service requires that you not publicly discuss AdSense"
PageRank is Sick... Is Google Broken?: "Google has tried to deal with this issue for almost a year now but has not succeeded in preventing spam from reaching the top of its rankings...
Google seems to be focusing a lot of well-educated mental bandwidth on providing a personalized base for paid-advertisments through its highly profitable AdWords and Froogle features."
Will we see eventual seperation of any commercial sites from non-commercial in Google SERPS?
WOAI: SAN ANTONIO//NEWS: "Has Google Disappeared?
LAST UPDATE: 10/7/2003 7:31:30 AM"
Shut Up and Serve Ads (Google Weblog): "Google's terms of service requires that you not publicly discuss AdSense"
PageRank is Sick... Is Google Broken?: "Google has tried to deal with this issue for almost a year now but has not succeeded in preventing spam from reaching the top of its rankings...
Google seems to be focusing a lot of well-educated mental bandwidth on providing a personalized base for paid-advertisments through its highly profitable AdWords and Froogle features."
Will we see eventual seperation of any commercial sites from non-commercial in Google SERPS?
The Register: "On Sunday Google admitted to the Washington Post that it was working on a bug it had found which was withholding thousands of legitimate search results from its users. The bug was in response to another bug: Google's susceptibility to being gamed by spammers who set up 'link farms' to tripwire its PageRank� algorithm. 'Is Google starting to show signs of strain against spammers and Web scammers?', asked the Post"
Google Cache Redirected - Bad Guy Spammers Or Not? -> High Rankings Search Engine Optimization Forum:
Our site is experiencing some apparently random days of very low traffic from Google which is causing concern. We are looking at all sorts of possibilities, one of which is competitors sites pushing ours down the results but there seem to be a whole load of new spammy listings for some of our key phrases which previously delivered traffic.
A member of our team in Australia sent me a message saying "Check out the result with the blue stars! How do they do that???"
Now, I got no blue stars but there are some really rancid looking things going on with results that appear totally different at first read but all pointing to the same site & if I try to view the google cache they manage to redirect from the usual cache page with highlighted words to their home page quite quickly.
A check on their backward links & similar sites shows a network of "sex tourism" sites & gambling sites most of which employ similar redirects for their cached results.
Search string:
Accommodation Southern Highlands Australia
google search result
Australia are not at work at the moment but I guess that the results he meant include this one:
★ Accommodation in Southern Highlands Australia ★
Search: Accommodation in Southern Highlands Australia, Date: This
Month. Found ... Accommodation in Southern Highlands,Australia. Link ...
accommodation-in.gofuzion.com/Australia/Accommodation%20in%20Southern%20Highlands%20Australia/ - 101k - Cached - Similar pages
If I repeat the search with our company name the top 2 results are:
★ Accommodation in Southern Highlands Australia ★
... southern highlands hotels Found by: Teoma | NEW www.totaltravel.com/localguides/sou...ighlands/hotels 62 ... Accommodation in Southern Highlands. ...
accommodation-in.gofuzion.com/Australia/Accommodation%20in%20Southern%20Highlands%20Australia/ - 101k - Cached - Similar pages
★ Hotels in Southern Highlands Australia ★
... Found by: Teoma | NEW www.totaltravel.com/localguides ... coast (NSW) southern
highlands (NSW) sydney ... accommodation deals in Australia - covering the next ...
www.clevelandpd.net/Hotels%20in%20Southern%20Highlands%20Australia/ - 93k - Cached - Similar pages
Does anyone have any idea how & why our url appears in the results?
Is it worth reporting the cache redirects?
"The 'cloaking' is actually just a JavaScript redirect.
Disabling JavaScript, you can see that the cached page is a SERP for 'Accommodation in Southern Highlands Australia'. This SERP appears to have been generated by a human or robot using a meta-search engine (Copernic looks likely). Totaltravel is listed as follows:"
Our site is experiencing some apparently random days of very low traffic from Google which is causing concern. We are looking at all sorts of possibilities, one of which is competitors sites pushing ours down the results but there seem to be a whole load of new spammy listings for some of our key phrases which previously delivered traffic.
A member of our team in Australia sent me a message saying "Check out the result with the blue stars! How do they do that???"
Now, I got no blue stars but there are some really rancid looking things going on with results that appear totally different at first read but all pointing to the same site & if I try to view the google cache they manage to redirect from the usual cache page with highlighted words to their home page quite quickly.
A check on their backward links & similar sites shows a network of "sex tourism" sites & gambling sites most of which employ similar redirects for their cached results.
Search string:
Accommodation Southern Highlands Australia
google search result
Australia are not at work at the moment but I guess that the results he meant include this one:
★ Accommodation in Southern Highlands Australia ★
Search: Accommodation in Southern Highlands Australia, Date: This
Month. Found ... Accommodation in Southern Highlands,Australia. Link ...
accommodation-in.gofuzion.com/Australia/Accommodation%20in%20Southern%20Highlands%20Australia/ - 101k - Cached - Similar pages
If I repeat the search with our company name the top 2 results are:
★ Accommodation in Southern Highlands Australia ★
... southern highlands hotels Found by: Teoma | NEW www.totaltravel.com/localguides/sou...ighlands/hotels 62 ... Accommodation in Southern Highlands. ...
accommodation-in.gofuzion.com/Australia/Accommodation%20in%20Southern%20Highlands%20Australia/ - 101k - Cached - Similar pages
★ Hotels in Southern Highlands Australia ★
... Found by: Teoma | NEW www.totaltravel.com/localguides ... coast (NSW) southern
highlands (NSW) sydney ... accommodation deals in Australia - covering the next ...
www.clevelandpd.net/Hotels%20in%20Southern%20Highlands%20Australia/ - 93k - Cached - Similar pages
Does anyone have any idea how & why our url appears in the results?
Is it worth reporting the cache redirects?
"The 'cloaking' is actually just a JavaScript redirect.
Disabling JavaScript, you can see that the cached page is a SERP for 'Accommodation in Southern Highlands Australia'. This SERP appears to have been generated by a human or robot using a meta-search engine (Copernic looks likely). Totaltravel is listed as follows:"
Where To Report This? -> High Rankings Search Engine Optimization Forum: "keep your site well optimized with good ethical techniques one day you will be on top of the SERPs for your keywords. What ever you are seeing is not a permanent solution to rank a site. The spammer knows this and some point of time these results will be totally removed from the SERPs,
Initially I used to jump around when I see a spammer do this to the results but after going through forums like WMW i just cooled myself. This is just part of SEO and the competation can be anything which we should be ready to face. "
Initially I used to jump around when I see a spammer do this to the results but after going through forums like WMW i just cooled myself. This is just part of SEO and the competation can be anything which we should be ready to face. "
Sunday, November 09, 2003
Google Search: google-nack: "Infothought: infothought Archives
... I believe I've uncovered the cause of the 'Google NACK', a problem where Google
is returning no or very few results for certain combinations of search terms. ...
www.sethf.com/infothought/blog/ archives/cat_infothought.html - 101k - Cached - Similar pages
Google Spam Filtering Gone Bad
... The absence of expected search results was dubbed the 'Google NACK'
, from 'NACK' meaning 'negative acknowledgement' (ie no results). ...
www.sethf.com/anticensorware/general/google-spam.php - 16k - 8 Nov 2003 - Cached - Similar pages
[ More results from www.sethf.com ]
Whither the PageRank? : Gadgetopia
... The opinion Jeremy states, along with the GoogleNACK, the AdSense PR mess and the
apparently arbitrary approvals for the service, have really knocked Google ...
www.gadgetopia.com/2003/10/16/WhitherThePageRank.html - 10k - Cached - Similar pages "
Google Inconsistencies: "Google Inconsistencies
Last updated Oct. 11, 2003.
by Greg R. Notess.
Google does not always behave as advertised nor deliver the results expected. This page aims to document both ongoing and short-lived inconsistent search behavior on Google. Contact Greg Notess. with reports of any inconsistencies you observe. For more details about how Google works, see the full Google Review."
Watching Google Like A Hawk - Google News Watch Site: "
Business Scene - News - Rumors - Press Releases"
... I believe I've uncovered the cause of the 'Google NACK', a problem where Google
is returning no or very few results for certain combinations of search terms. ...
www.sethf.com/infothought/blog/ archives/cat_infothought.html - 101k - Cached - Similar pages
Google Spam Filtering Gone Bad
... The absence of expected search results was dubbed the 'Google NACK'
, from 'NACK' meaning 'negative acknowledgement' (ie no results). ...
www.sethf.com/anticensorware/general/google-spam.php - 16k - 8 Nov 2003 - Cached - Similar pages
[ More results from www.sethf.com ]
Whither the PageRank? : Gadgetopia
... The opinion Jeremy states, along with the GoogleNACK, the AdSense PR mess and the
apparently arbitrary approvals for the service, have really knocked Google ...
www.gadgetopia.com/2003/10/16/WhitherThePageRank.html - 10k - Cached - Similar pages "
Google Inconsistencies: "Google Inconsistencies
Last updated Oct. 11, 2003.
by Greg R. Notess.
Google does not always behave as advertised nor deliver the results expected. This page aims to document both ongoing and short-lived inconsistent search behavior on Google. Contact Greg Notess. with reports of any inconsistencies you observe. For more details about how Google works, see the full Google Review."
Watching Google Like A Hawk - Google News Watch Site: "
Business Scene - News - Rumors - Press Releases"
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