From: google.com

Via Google Map Maker, heres details of an interesting competition - Help Google improve their maps and you can win. Details From December 15, 2009 to January 31, 2010, you can have a chance at becoming a local hero. Your mapping efforts can win $50,000 benefiting UNICEFs work empowering young people through technology in your homeland. Learn more and register for this competition. see also http://www.google.com/mapmaker



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Tag: Google Map Maker



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Read Original: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/searchnewzlatestnews/~3/crBYcbweQxs/sn-4-20091217CrowdSourceandWinGoogleMapMakerCompetitions.html

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From: google.com

Friday, Google announced new Universal Search features for Google Suggest. The query-finishing prompter used to only suggest completed or related queries as you typed:



The new Google Suggest has way more than just words to offer. Google announce ten new Universal Search shortcuts available right in Google Suggest.



Just start typing in a query that falls into one of these categories, and youll get the answer to your question before you can even click.



Many of the suggestions also feature more universally features including weather icons and links in addition to the answers. These suggestions are available for weather, flight status, local time, area codes, package tracking, answers (like -what is the capital of Belgium-), definitions, calculator, currency and unit conversions.



Extra results have long shown up in Google Suggest, especially with ads.



In the same blog post Friday, Google announced an extension to Chrome to help you find snippets from SERPs on the resulting page.



What do you think? Will these suggestions change the way people interact with Google (eventually)? Will they change the time spent on site?



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Tag: Google Suggest



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Read Original: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/searchnewzlatestnews/~3/RtDFhpmjmts/sn-4-20091215GoogleSuggestonSteroids.html

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From: google.com

For the first four weeks of November, Google fielded 71.57% of all online searches in the US, according to Hitwise reports today. Theyre up a percentage point over their October 2009 numbers"but theyre the only one doing so well.



Yahoo, still #2 in searches served, fell three quarters of a percentage point"and when your share is down to 15.39%, that tiny change represents a drop off of nearly 5%. Bing, meanwhile, also fell in November, but only 2% (a quarter of a percentage point). Ask, that big winner, saw a 1% increase over October"but considering thats a shift of 0.03 percentage points, maybe its not something that should go on their resume. The 52 other search engines Hitwise monitors accounted for 1% of searches.



Perhaps most interesting in this release is the look at Bings boost for verticals. While Google continues to send the most traffic to sites in the automotive, travel, and shopping categories, Bing has made double digit (percent) improvements over Lives position last year for sending downstream traffic:



Percentage of U.S. upstream traffic from search engines among verticals



Note: Data is based on monthly upstream traffic from the Hitwise sample of 10 million U.S. Internet users and does not include news searches.



*This includes executed searches on Bing.com, Live.com and MSN Search but does not include searches on Club.Live.com.



Source: Experian Hitwise



What do you think? Could vertical search be the big thing for Bing, or is that too specialized for a would-be Google competitor?



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Tag: Google Hitwise



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Read Original: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/searchnewzlatestnews/~3/IAyQhhSUSYo/sn-4-20091211HitwiseGoogleGets71ofSearches.html

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From: google.com

In the Finally! department, Google is taking legal action against advertisers who used Googles name and logos to promote their get-rich-quick scams. The Make Money on Google ads were rampant in both search and display advertising in the first half of this year. Google cracked down on the search ads in July, but naturally, the scams and the sites continued to flourish.



Google, like a good trademark holder, has finally come to its senses and is now suing the scammers for using its name in vain. Theyve filed suit (PDF) against Pacific WebWorks and other unnamed defendants for a number of counts, including trademark infringement, trademark dilution, cyberpiracy and unfair competition.



The scams worked by advertising that buyers could make money from Google. The buyers purchased a free kit to teach them how to do this, paying a nominal fee and S&H;. However, Google contends in the suit, buyers received nothing of value and were subjected to high recurring charges on their cards. Some buyers even contacted Google for refunds or to stop the recurring fees"another reason why Google feels compelled to sue now.



Pacific WebWorks was slapped with a class action suit last month in Illinois, but the suit sought no injunction to stop their advertising. Googles, filed in Utah, naturally does petition for an injunction to stop the false advertising until the trial can ascertain whether the claims are true.



The unnamed defendants (listed as Does 1-50 in the complaint) are kind of like placeholder defendants. Google admits in the complaint that they dont know everyone whos running this scam, but that they will amend the complaint once they do. Upon information and belief, Google says that the other defendants are materially connected with Pacific WebWorks, though they appear to operate as separate companies. The separate entities use the same website templates, testimonials and other information to purvey their scams.



What do you think? Will Google win? And what took them so long?



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Tag: Google Lawsuit



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Read Original: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/searchnewzlatestnews/~3/yl4WIV4Dw0s/sn-4-20091209GoogleSuesMakeMoneywithGoogleScams.html

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From: google.com

Friday brought Microsoft and Yahoo one step closer to the search deal they announced in July. The terms of the deal received final approval from two very important groups—Microsoft and Yahoo.



Although the two were supposed to have the details hammered out by late October, they took a few extra weeks to refine their agreement. This agreement still needs regulatory approval, and such agencies as the US Department of Justice are on the record as saying they will scrutinize the deal closely.



Meanwhile, the deal isnt projected to warrant much concern from the European Commission”but the DOJ is probably the bigger concern. Not only are both companies headquartered in the US, but also scrutiny from the Department of Justice"and threats of anti-trust action"ultimately killed a search ad deal between Yahoo and Google last year"will the Bingahoo deal suffer the same fate?



Should the DOJ treat Microsoft and Yahoo differently since theyre not the dominant search engine, or would that be unfair? Is the Yahoo-Microsoft deal the lesser of two evils, and the only chance to unseat Google in the near future? Or does the deal merit more scrutiny from the DoJ?



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Tag: Yahoo Microsoft Merger



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Read Original: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/searchnewzlatestnews/~3/WOLIjiR2RF4/sn-4-20091208MicrosoftandYahooSealtheDeal.html

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From: google.com

Thats right --Twitter is integrating more with yet another popular search engine. Yeah, it wasnt enough to promise quasi-real-time results from Twitter in Google results, now Google has convinced Twitter to join Friend Connect. Now your Twitter login will work on any Google Friend Connect site.



Its been a year since Twitter joined Friend Connect, but that initial membership meant only that site followers could use their Twitter profiles and avatars on GFC sites they joined. Now, however, the integration is more complete, integrating Twitter into websites more fully.



For site owners, the integration works both ways—you can promote your site easily on Twitter and your Twitter profile on your site and among your Friend Connect Followers. You can invite your Twitter followers to visit and join your site, and you can invite your Friend Connect Followers to follow you on Twitter. Friend Connect Followers can also promote your site on Twitter, either posts, pages or comments on the site—and those tweets are broadcast to your followers, too.



Perhaps best of all, if youre already using Google Friend Connect, you dont have to do anything to enable the new Twitter features—as Google says in their explanatory video, It just works. Overall, it does seem like an easy way to integrate Twitter into your site and make sure your tweeting users can participate and integrate that into the discussion. That alone is a pretty attractive feature.



What do you think? Would you add Google Friend Connect for the Twitter integration? How do you integrate Twitter into your site or blog?



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Tag: Google, Twitter, Friend Connect



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Read Original: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/searchnewzlatestnews/~3/jqLYTWpiF-4/sn-4-20091207TwitterIntegratesintoGoogleFriendConnect.html

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From: google.com

Two years ago, Microsoft bought a 1.6% share of Facebook for $240M. In exchange, Microsoft Live (and now Bing) provided web search for the most popular social network...

...in the world. Two months ago, the two companies entered another deal with Bing to integrate public updates on the social network into Bing search results on real time searches.



Okay, this time, its not really that big a deal, but Bing and Facebook are here yet again, reminding us all how buddy-buddy they are (and thus how cool Bing is, really, guys, can I play now?).



As part of their continuing $100M marketing blitz, Bing is running a contest with Facebook. The theme is hometown pride. (Ive got this great picture of my son. . . .) and the winning image will be featured as the Bing background on January 6.



This is similar to a contest run this summer. Maybe this time they can break 100,000 Facebook fans.



What do you think? Will Bings efforts net them more popularity?



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Tag: Bing



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Read Original: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/searchnewzlatestnews/~3/XVpNljF0k_Q/sn-4-20091204BingWantsInwiththeInCrowd.html

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From: google.com

I love a good search engine “smackdown” - even if I have to orchestrate it myself!



While Bing.com is making sure everyone knows that its homepage is not the boring, bland, search box that youve become accustomed to, Google is heading even further in the opposite direction.



Announcing its new “fade in” homepage, Google takes a shot across the bow of Bing:


the “fade in” is an elegant solution that provides options to those who want them, but removes distractions for the user intent on searching.



Hmm, distractions like bloody great big sharks?





Now, lets compare Bings homepage with Googles new design:



“Opposite” meet “contrast.”

Which do you prefer?



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Tag: Google vs Bing

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Read Original: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/searchnewzlatestnews/~3/DBFdVWX7A_g/sn-4-20091203GoogleRemovesDistractionsfromHomepage.html

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From: searchenginewatch.com

Google has launched a beta search platform for those certified by the company as professionals who can help manage Adwords campaigns. People can look up by location and amount they want to spend on a weekly basis. and find people who have passed the Google Adwords Professional certification.

Once you go through the initial search you can add other services you may need such as online display advertising, search engine optimization, traditional advertising (print, TV), web design, website analytics, affiliate programs, new media (mobile & social networks), creative and design services, call recording and tracking, auto-optimization tools and marketing consultancy.

I was one of the first 100 who got certified when it was first launched but have not done the recurring tests that Google requires to keep their seal of approval on my site. But with this listing service I guess I will have to.

This directory of professionals may have many individuals and agencies scurrying to get certified and listed and paying the $50 every 18 months. While it is commendable that Google has this program - the fact that it costs money to get listed and requires taking a Google generated test only to pass seems a bit unfair. One wonders what the limitations will be for people taking tests under various names to get listed in major cities. Does this unfairly help agencies over small shops or individuals who can get listed in multiple cities?

Obviously people who manage large spends will get an advantage, but even small shops do get their money back in bonuses that can be used with new clients that are offered to those managed a MCC account.

The Learning Center is thorough and well worth the time of anyone who works with Adwords - even the best of us can learn some things.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Update your skills - take the Google Advertising Fundamentals exam (adwords.blogspot.com)

Read Original: http://feeds.searchenginewatch.com/~r/sewblog/~3/PbCDbqz6Z5U/091228-230733

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From: sitepronews.com

Instant article writing templates such as those found at StartWritingArticlesFaster.com can help you overcome writer’s block. In many cases, with the right article templates, you can write your articles in 30 minutes or less.
Notice the keywords there — “with the right article templates.”
If you do a Google search for “instant article writing templates”, “instant article [...]

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

Instant Article Templates — 3 Reasons Why MOST Article Templates Do Not Help You Write Articles Fast

Read Original: http://www.sitepronews.com/2009/12/28/instant-article-templates-â€"-3-reasons-why-most-article-templates-do-not-help-you-write-articles-fast/

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From: sitepronews.com

Instant article writing templates such as those found at StartWritingArticlesFaster.com can help you overcome writer’s block. In many cases, with the right article templates, you can write your articles in 30 minutes or less.
Notice the keywords there — “with the right article templates.”
If you do a Google search for “instant article writing templates”, “instant article [...]

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

Instant Article Templates — 3 Reasons Why MOST Article Templates Do Not Help You Write Articles Fast

Read Original: http://www.sitepronews.com/2009/12/28/instant-article-templates-â€"-3-reasons-why-most-article-templates-do-not-help-you-write-articles-fast/

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From: searchenginewatch.com

eBay is seeing a big payoff for getting into the mobile game early. Their iPhone app has been downloaded by 6 million users and they see 175,000 visits a day via mobile apps.

This year, half a billion dollars of transactions were made on eBay via mobile. And it’s not just “safe” inexpensive items as people are trying out the apps. Mobile eBay purchases included designer handbags and a $75,000 1966 Chevrolet Corvette.

“Mobile is changing the way people shop this holiday season,” said Lorrie Norrington, president of eBay marketplaces. “We see consumers taking advantage of that freedom to find great holiday gifts and deals without sitting at their computer or being stuck at the mall.”

This holiday, 1.5 million items were bought on eBay via mobile. That’s an item every 2 seconds. Users from 165 countries visited eBay through an app or the mobile web.

“eBay buyers and sellers have rapidly embraced mobile commerce this year, and this holiday season has been a mobile commerce tipping point. Shopping will never be the same again,” concluded Norrington.

Read Original: http://feeds.searchenginewatch.com/~r/sewblog/~3/uvQERxbR5Vo/091228-133101

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From: searchenginewatch.com

Used car retailer CarMax has released the most searched for vehicles on their website for 2009. Honda Accord tops the list for the fourth year in a row, while Jeep Wrangler and Chevy Silverado were new to the list.

“This year’s list shows the variety of makes and models our customers are considering when shopping online for a quality used car. Every car in our inventory can be found on carmax.com and it will show the same no-haggle price you’ll see at your local CarMax store,” said Ann Yauger, director of carmax.com.

1. Honda Accord
2. Ford F-150
3. Chevrolet Tahoe
4. Ford Mustang
5. Toyota Camry
6. Honda Civic
7. Jeep Wrangler
8. Toyota Tacoma
9. Nissan Altima
10. Chevrolet Silverado 1500

CarMax averaged 5.5 million unique visitors per month in 2009, so the list is a good look at the pulse of American car buying - especially in a rocky economy.

Not only does CarMax track these trends, but they’re also good at incorporating what they’ve learned through their on-site search to create a better experience.

“Carmax.com continues to evolve and expand search capabilities based on consumer feedback,” concluded Yauger.

One example is when CarMax introduced a Miles Per Gallon search feature in August 2008. Gas prices had been especially high that summer and providing that feature met consumer demand.

On-site search doesn’t just provide a better experience, it gives valuable insight to what consumers are looking for.

Read Original: http://feeds.searchenginewatch.com/~r/sewblog/~3/L5t_QPQ2Oqk/091228-130035

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From: google.com

Posted by Danny Dover

 As SEOmoz has matured as a company, our SEO team has shifted away from treating SEO purely as an art and more toward treating it as a science. There is certainly the necessity for both perspectives but I believe we are now much more centered.



As a result of this shift, we have been running more tests and analyzing more data. Before I get into the topic of our latest test results, let me provide some important points to establish context.

1. There is overwhelming evidence that from a “ROI on time spent working” perspective, there is much more value in link building and creating content that is link-worthy than obsessing over search engine algorithm fluctuations like PageRank sculpting. Link building is human oriented and thus more inline with the long term goals of the search engines. Links also have the added bonus of being easy to measure and thus easier to prioritize.
   
2. We can’t directly measure how PageRank flows so we can only infer results. This needs to be acknowledged when interpreting test results. That said, we also can’t directly measure objects outside our solar system and this solution of inference has become the basis for modern Astronomy. (If it is good enough for NASA, it is good enough for SEOmoz ;-p)

The Experiment



We chose the following five PageRank sculpting methods to test:



Rel=‘nofollow’ - The standard mechanism for nofollowing a link. <a href=’http://www.example.com’ rel=‘nofollow’>example</a>



Link Consolidation - Consolidating low priority pages. You can read more about link consolidation here.



Iframe - Include a standard link in an iframe that is blocked via robots.txt or meta robots so engines can’t follow it.



Javascript - An external Javascript file (blocked from robots) that inserts links into divs when the page renders.



Control Case - Null test with standard links.



Page Setup



We then built five standardized websites that used these different methods (one used iframes for its test links, another one used Javascript for its test links, etc..) and included one normal link with the anchor text of a phrase that was completely unique on the Internet.



Each website in the experiment used the same template. Each keyword phrase was targeted in the same place on each page and each page had the same amount of images, text and links.



The variables were:

• links (based on experiment type)
• colors
• photos (although alt text was standardized)
• text (randomized text based on proper English grammar using a standardized word-set)

We then did everything we could to make sure that all of these pages received the same amount of link juice from external sources.



The null result would be a random assortment of experiment types ranking in the SERPs.

The alt result would be one experiment type outranking all of the others.



Redundancy



We then duplicated this experiment eight times in parallel. This meant 40 different domains, 40 different IP addresses, 8 different WHOIS records, 8 different hosting providers and 8 different payment methods. (We then went outside and drank)



We ran this test for 2 months.



The Results

PageRank Sculpting Method	Average Rank in Google
Nofollow	2.4
Link Consolidation	3.0
Iframe	3.1
Javascript	3.2
Control Case	3.2

As you can see, the nofollow method ranked an average of 1 place higher (0.7) in the SERPs than the control result. This is significant when you realize the total is out of 5.



It appears that the iframe method and link consolidation were slightly effective but the margin was so small that they could be contributed to error.



As expected the Javascript method did not work at all. (Since the external scripts were blocked, the engines never saw the links)



The Bottom Line



Despite what the search engine representatives say, nofollow is still an effective way for sculpting PageRank. If you have nofollow sculpting already installed, don’t remove it. If you don’t have it installed, implementing it probably won’t make a drastic change but we encourage you to test this when it is responsible to do so.

---

I invite you to share your interpretation of these results in the comments below. As with any experiment, these results are not valid unless they can be reproduced and stand up to the critique of others. What should we do differently in future experiments?

Do you like this post? Yes No

Read Original: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/seomoz/~3/OGyKIKRix_k/pagerank-sculpting-with-nofollow-still-works

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From: google.com

Posted by Danny Dover

 As SEOmoz has matured as a company, our SEO team has shifted away from treating SEO purely as an art and more toward treating it as a science. There is certainly the necessity for both perspectives but I believe we are now much more centered.



As a result of this shift, we have been running more tests and analyzing more data. Before I get into the topic of our latest test results, let me provide some important points to establish context.

1. There is overwhelming evidence that from a “ROI on time spent working” perspective, there is much more value in link building and creating content that is link-worthy than obsessing over search engine algorithm fluctuations like PageRank sculpting. Link building is human oriented and thus more inline with the long term goals of the search engines. Links also have the added bonus of being easy to measure and thus easier to prioritize.
   
2. We can’t directly measure how PageRank flows so we can only infer results. This needs to be acknowledged when interpreting test results. That said, we also can’t directly measure objects outside our solar system and this solution of inference has become the basis for modern Astronomy. (If it is good enough for NASA, it is good enough for SEOmoz ;-p)

The Experiment



We chose the following five PageRank sculpting methods to test:



Rel=‘nofollow’ - The standard mechanism for nofollowing a link. <a href=’http://www.example.com’ rel=‘nofollow’>example</a>



Link Consolidation - Consolidating low priority pages. You can read more about link consolidation here.



Iframe - Include a standard link in an iframe that is blocked via robots.txt or meta robots so engines can’t follow it.



Javascript - An external Javascript file (blocked from robots) that inserts links into divs when the page renders.



Control Case - Null test with standard links.



Page Setup



We then built five standardized websites that used these different methods (one used iframes for its test links, another one used Javascript for its test links, etc..) and included one normal link with the anchor text of a phrase that was completely unique on the Internet.



Each website in the experiment used the same template. Each keyword phrase was targeted in the same place on each page and each page had the same amount of images, text and links.



The variables were:

• links (based on experiment type)
• colors
• photos (although alt text was standardized)
• text (randomized text based on proper English grammar using a standardized word-set)

We then did everything we could to make sure that all of these pages received the same amount of link juice from external sources.



The null result would be a random assortment of experiment types ranking in the SERPs.

The alt result would be one experiment type outranking all of the others.



Redundancy



We then duplicated this experiment eight times in parallel. This meant 40 different domains, 40 different IP addresses, 8 different WHOIS records, 8 different hosting providers and 8 different payment methods. (We then went outside and drank)



We ran this test for 2 months.



The Results

PageRank Sculpting Method	Average Rank in Google
Nofollow	2.4
Link Consolidation	3.0
Iframe	3.1
Javascript	3.2
Control Case	3.2

As you can see, the nofollow method ranked an average of 1 place higher (0.7) in the SERPs than the control result. This is significant when you realize the total is out of 5.



It appears that the iframe method and link consolidation were slightly effective but the margin was so small that they could be contributed to error.



As expected the Javascript method did not work at all. (Since the external scripts were blocked, the engines never saw the links)



The Bottom Line



Despite what the search engine representatives say, nofollow is still an effective way for sculpting PageRank. If you have nofollow sculpting already installed, don’t remove it. If you don’t have it installed, implementing it probably won’t make a drastic change but we encourage you to test this when it is responsible to do so.

---

I invite you to share your interpretation of these results in the comments below. As with any experiment, these results are not valid unless they can be reproduced and stand up to the critique of others. What should we do differently in future experiments?

Do you like this post? Yes No

Read Original: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/seomoz/~3/OGyKIKRix_k/pagerank-sculpting-with-nofollow-still-works

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