Google Webmaster Help Group: Version 2
Today, Google relaunched several of their help forums, moving them from Google Groups to a new help-specific platform. The English and Polish Google Webmaster Help group have made the move to this new format, with the other languages soon to follow.
Below, more details about how this change will benefit site owners and a bit of history about the start and evolution of the Google Webmaster Help group.
Dec 5, 2008 at 12:35am ET 
By Vanessa Fox Jump To Story & Comments
See Related Stories In Google: Webmaster Central
Yahoo Upgrades Flickr Mobile; Google Upgrades Picasa
Photo search took a couple steps forward today with announcements from both Yahoo and Google. The news from Yahoo is a mobile makeover of its Flickr photo sharing site, while Google announced a variety of improvements to its Picasa photo service.
Here’s a look at the two announcements:
Dec 4, 2008 at 7:36pm ET By Matt McGee Jump To Story & Comments
See Related Stories In Google: Picasa, Search Engines: Photo & Image Search, Yahoo: Flickr
Dr. Qi Lu Named To Run Microsoft’s Online Services Group; McAndrews Departs
The rumor becomes reality. Microsoft has named Dr. Qi Lu, formerly of Yahoo, to run its Online Services Group. And Brian McAndrews, as AllThingsD highlights, is leaving Microsoft. More details in the release below:
Dec 4, 2008 at 5:26pm ET By Danny Sullivan Jump To Story & Comments
See Related Stories In Microsoft: Business Issues, Microsoft: Employees, Top News, Yahoo: Employees
SearchCap: The Day In Search, December 4, 2008
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Dec 4, 2008 at 4:55pm ET By Barry Schwartz Jump To Story & Comments
See Related Stories In SearchCap
Google Blog Search: Now With Full-Text Post Indexing
It’s been about two months since Google Blog Search was relaunched with a new front page that summarizes stories. I talked with Google more about some of the inner workings at the end of October and finally am getting around to posting this, spurred by one of the planned changes becoming official. Google Blog Search now uses the full-text of posts (in most cases), rather than using whatever was in a blog’s feed (which could often be only part of a post).
Dec 4, 2008 at 4:27pm ET By Danny Sullivan Jump To Story & Comments
See Related Stories In Google: Blog Search, How To: SEO, Top News
2008 Video Search Year In Review
2008 has had a number of notable milestones in the arena of video search. Here are six landmark events that that have particularly stood out, demonstrating that video search has finally “arrived” as a crucial area for search marketers:
Dec 4, 2008 at 3:42pm ET By Eric Papczun Jump To Story & Comments
See Related Stories In Video Search
Search Biz: Yahoo Wants A New CEO, And Fast; Qi Lu To MSFT; DOJ Was This Close To Suing Google
Will Yahoo have a new CEO by the end of the month? That’s the word from sources talking to AllThingsD today. The report says Yahoo has put together an informal search committee to help executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles find a new CEO. There’s reportedly a list of six criteria the new Yahoo CEO should meet. And throwing more confusion into the mix is the ongoing talks about a merger/sale with AOL, and the internal uncertainty whether that’s the right way forward for Yahoo. As AllThingsD points out, this might be too much to sort out within the next four weeks.
Dec 4, 2008 at 2:19pm ET By Matt McGee Jump To Story & Comments
See Related Stories In Search Biz
Why Usability and SEO Go Hand-in-hand
Many years ago, when Danny Sullivan was still part of Search Engine Watch and the Search Engine strategies conferences, a few of us approached him on having a session on usability. Surprisingly, he dismissed the suggestion saying that while usability was a great topic, it wasn’t really a search marketing issue.
Thankfully, Danny did eventually see the connection between SEO and usability as evidenced by SMX East and West sessions covering the topic. There have been numerous articles by Shari Thurow, Kim Krause Berg and others here at Search Engine Land that provide lots of usability details. I’m not well-versed in all aspects of usability like Shari and Kim are, but I have understood how much it is intertwined with organic SEO for a long time. I’ve believed in the connection so strongly that I’ve been providing our SEO clients with Kim’s usability reports since 2004. They always add value as well as corroborate the SEO recommendations we make.
Dec 4, 2008 at 2:04pm ET By Jill Whalen Jump To Story & Comments
See Related Stories In 100% Organic, Columns
“You Could Go To Google,” Says Yahoo — But Why Not Stay Here?
Yahoo has changed the way they handle a query for a competing search engine. Now, if you search at Yahoo for google, live or ask.com, Yahoo will tell you, “You could go to [Search Engine Name Goes Here]. Or you could stay here and get straight to your answers.”
Dec 4, 2008 at 1:20pm ET By Barry Schwartz Jump To Story & Comments
See Related Stories In Yahoo: Search
Has Microsoft Live Search Detected Malware On Your Site?
Recently, Microsoft Live Search added malware warnings to their search results. If a searcher clicks a result that Microsoft has detected contains malware, a popup warns then not to proceed to the site. As Matt noted yesterday, Google and Yahoo! also provide malware warnings to searchers.
How can you find out if Microsoft has flagged your site for malware and how can you let them know you’ve fixed the problem? As part of this update, Microsoft Live Search also launched an update to their Webmaster Center that added alerts about malware. You can generate a report of all pages on your site that have malware on them, see if you link to any external pages that contain malware, and submit a review request once you’ve fixed any issues.
Dec 4, 2008 at 12:59pm ET By Vanessa Fox Jump To Story & Comments
See Related Stories In Microsoft: Live Search, Microsoft: Live Search SEO, Search Features: Safety
Register For SMX West Today And Save
The pre-agenda rate for Search Marketing Expo - SMX West ends at the close of business Friday, December 5. You save as much as $600 on an All Access ticket by registering now!
SMX West will be held February 10-12, 2009 at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara California.
Dec 4, 2008 at 12:46pm ET By Search Engine Land Jump To Story & Comments
See Related Stories In SEM Industry: Conferences, SMX & SMN Alerts
Small Businesses, Get Into the Spirit of Giving!
“‘Tis better to give than to receive.” It’s a favorite refrain this time of year. Cynics might call it a clever advertising ploy cooked up by retailers to encourage consumer spending, but in general it holds true that making someone else happy makes us feel good.
When it comes to the World Wide Web, generosity can mean real benefits for your business–even better than higher levels of dopamine! The spirit of giving can lead to:
- links to your website
- higher search engine rankings
- positive associations for your company
- and most importantly, more business!
Dec 4, 2008 at 12:00pm ET By David Mihm Jump To Story & Comments
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Google Adds Search Box To YouTube Videos & Adds HD Embed
A week ago, YouTube changed the format of their videos to wide screen and HD format. My main issue back then was that the embed options did not give people a way to embed the wide screen format, easily. That has changed. YouTube now allows you to embed a wide screen format and they also added a search box at the top of those embedded videos.
In addition, Google added a search box to the top of the search frame of an image search. Let me explain this below.
Dec 4, 2008 at 9:05am ET By Barry Schwartz Jump To Story & Comments
See Related Stories In Google: Images, Google: YouTube & Video
Techmeme Now Deploys Human Editing Of News
Gabe Rivera, has informed us that “automated news doesn’t quite work.” He explains that due to the issues Techmeme’s algorithms have with speed, grouping stories and primary source - Techmeme will be adding in a layer of human editing to the news aggregation.
Gabe explained that now a human editor will “explicitly” mix of headlines on Techmeme, as opposed to implicitly changing the home page. Gabe said this will result in the news on Techmeme getting “faster and more interesting.” This will first be noticed on Techmeme.com, and then slowly be migrated over to the other meme properties they run.
Dec 3, 2008 at 5:41pm ET By Barry Schwartz Jump To Story & Comments
See Related Stories In Search Engines: Blog Search Engines, Search Engines: News Search Engines
SearchCap: The Day In Search, December 3, 2008
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Dec 3, 2008 at 5:02pm ET By Barry Schwartz Jump To Story & Comments
See Related Stories In SearchCap
Using Search to Analyze Brand Recognition Growth
What is your company’s brand awareness? Measuring brand awareness is important for understanding the impact of offline and online marketing strategies. Because brand awareness is affected by so many different marketing strategies, quantifying brand awareness is not always straightforward.
One way to gauge interest in your company’s brand is to analyze keyword search patterns. Your analytics team may gain valuable insight by monitoring changes in search patterns for your company’s brand.
Dec 3, 2008 at 3:44pm ET By Andrea Harris Jump To Story & Comments
See Related Stories In How To: SEM, In House
SearchBiz: The Economy Takes Its Toll On Google & Why Twitter Rejected Facebook’s Acquisition Overtures
The buzz today comes from the Wall Street Journal article, which you’ve probably already seen, called “Google Gears Down for Tougher Times.” In a related post, Silicon Alley Insider summarizes the piece with more than a hint of schadenfreude.
The thrust of the WSJ story is that Google is trying to cut costs and reduce spending, which means getting rid of contractors, curtailing 20 percent time projects, shuttering services without traction (e.g., Lively, Google Page Creator) and reducing perks.
Dec 3, 2008 at 3:40pm ET By Greg Sterling Jump To Story & Comments
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Search Engines Release Most Popular Search Trends of 2008
As 2008 comes to a close, the annual tradition of gathering up the most popular search trends continues. Breaking down billions of search queries into concise Top 10 lists isn’t an easy task but among the major search engines. Still, obvious trends emerge nearly every year, and typically revolve around international news stories, major events, celebrity news, gossip and natural disasters. (Quite often, those last few can be grouped together).
Natural curiosity about political leaders, well known entertainers and amazing athletes typically fuel the daily buzz on every search engine, but major events like the 2008 Olympics and US Election always add extra fuel to the search frenzy. This year’s lists collect the best of the best, and the best of the worst.
What’s Hot, Where & Why
- Google 2008 Year-End Zeitgeist; Fastest Rising Searches
- Yahoo’s 2008 Year End Round-Up of Buzzworthy Searches
- Ask.com: Top Search Trends of 2008
- AOL 2008 Year in Review: The Hottest Search Trends
- Online Holiday Shopping Stats & Most Searched Gifts (includes top shopping searches on Google)
Microsoft Live Search has not yet released the data for most popular searches in 2008, but it will be posted here when it become available.
Dec 3, 2008 at 1:59pm ET By Elisabeth Osmeloski Jump To Story & Comments
See Related Stories In Search Engines, Stats, Stats: Popularity, Stats: Search Behavior, Top News
Yahoo Launches Search Assist For Image Search
Yahoo has rolled out the Search Assist feature to Image Search. For example, a search for images on barack obama will return images within the actual Search Assist bar. Here is a screen capture:
Dec 3, 2008 at 12:00pm ET By Barry Schwartz Jump To Story & Comments
See Related Stories In Search Features: Query Refinement, Yahoo: Search
14 Questions On Google You Might Not Want To Know The Answers To
FaberNovel created a slide show titled, “Everything you always wanted to know about Google…But were afraid to ask.” The questions include:
Dec 3, 2008 at 8:46am ET By Barry Schwartz Jump To Story & Comments
See Related Stories In Google: Business Issues
Other Recent Articles
- Online Holiday Shopping Stats & Most Searched Gifts
- Ask.com: Top Search Trends of 2008
- Google 2008 Year-End Zeitgeist; Fastest Rising Searches
- Yahoo’s 2008 Year End Round-Up of Buzzworthy Searches
- AOL 2008 Year in Review: The Hottest Search Trends
- Live Search Adds Malware Warnings To Search Results
- Search Month: November 2008 Search News, In Review
- November 2008: Search Engine Land’s Most Popular Stories
- Proximic (”Don’t Call It A Newsreader”) Moves Into Mobile Search
- SearchCap: The Day In Search, December 2, 2008
- Search Biz: Yahoo Soap Opera Update; Google’s Mobile Plans; Ask.com’s Creepy Commercials & More
- Link Building In A Global Economy
- Report: Former AOL CEO, Miller, Raising Funds To Buy Yahoo
- Santa Tracker 2008: Google & NORAD Team Up Again
- Search Pictures With Pictures At Live Search
- SEMPO Rings NASDAQ’s Bell
- The Impact Of Call Tracking For Smart Marketers & Agencies
- SearchCap: The Day In Search, December 1, 2008
- SearchBiz: Google’s Balancing Act, Mr. Schmidt Goes To Washington (?), Yahoo’s Next CEO, Autonomy Jumps The Highway, Black Friday Mixed & The Gift Of Smut-Free Free Internet Access
- Live Search Launches Instant Cashback For eBay Purchases
- Microsoft’s Live Search Cashback Goes Dark On Black Friday
- Paid Search – Tips On Closing The Loop
- SEO & The CMO: Why Analytics & Communication Is Crucial To Success
- Google Image Search Now Trying Text Ads Instead Of Image Ads
- SEMPO Wants Your Input
- Good News: SMX West Agenda Up December 6. Bad News: Pre-agenda Price Expires December 5.
- Baidu’s Search Ad Revenue Drops 10-15% After Paid Ad Scandal
- The Biggest Web Site Usability Mistakes You Can Make
- Happy Thanksgiving & Programming Note
- Measuring The Effectiveness of B2B SEO
- Q&A With Paul O’Brien, Vice President of Marketing at Zvents.com
- SearchCap: The Day In Search, November 26, 2008
- SearchBiz: MSFT’s Online Struggles; More on Yahoo-AOL; Cuts At Technorati
- Crappy MP3 Sites, Comment Spamming & Enough Already
- Yahoo Launches “Vertical Lens” Search Through BOSS
- comScore: Yahoo Still Major Player In Japan
- Meet Pegman: Google Makes StreetView Bigger, Easier To Use
- SearchCap: The Day In Search, November 25, 2008
- SEMPO To Ring NASDAQ’s Bell
- Three Ways to Kick Up Your Local Marketing In Time for Black Friday & Cyber Mondays!
- SearchBiz: MSN Staff Shuffles; GOOG Gains; eMarketer On 2009 Ad Spending
- Cyberchondria: When Web Search Makes You Sick(er)
- Why Social Media May Not Be Right For You
- MapQuest: “We’ve Come Out Of Hibernation”
- Nielsen: UK Mobile Web Growing “8x Faster” Than PC Internet
- Now Is The Winter of Linking’s Discontent
- YouTube Defaults Videos In HD Format: But Forgets Embed Feature
- Q&A With Google On SearchWiki (Don’t Expect An Opt-Out Soon)
- SearchBiz: Facebook-Twitter Talks Fail; Yahoo Loses On Kelkoo; Google To ‘Take Over TV’ & More
- SearchCap: The Day In Search, November 24, 2008
