Search Engine Roundtable

Daily Search Forum Recap: September 7, 2010

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

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Google Changes Coming Tomorrow: AJAX Results, 30 Results Per Page, Streaming Results & More?

We know Google is having a big search event tomorrow and we suspect that is why Google is showing the Google Balls logo today. Google told me "today's doodle is not related to a birthday but is fast, fun and interactive, just the way we think search should be."

So what will Google be announcing tomorrow? Well, based on that comment and what I have been seeing some people report, let me venture some guesses.

(1) AJAX powered search results. Yes, I believe Google will go forward with the AJAX powered search results tomorrow. Yesterday, I and others began noticing 30 results per page, but when I look deeper, it is driven by the AJAX like results. I can search, the URL doesn't really change, it just adds on parameters, which makes me believe that it is done for analytics software. Why? This is something Google tested in February 2009 and stopped when complaints about referrer data not being sent using these AJAX results. Is it time for Google to go full force now with the AJAX results? It is "faster" for the user, which is a clue from the line above.

(2) 30 results per page is something I personally see myself and so do others. People are reporting it at WebmasterWorldand Google Web Search Help. It does make the results a bit more in your face, giving you more room to scroll. I am not sure if that makes things all that faster, but I guess it does. Is it more "fun," I don't know.

(3) Streaming Results As You Type. We know Google has been testing updating results as you type for the past few weeks. Many more are now seeing it, which is even more of a sign that this is coming soon. We have new reports of it at Google Blogoscoped Forums and WebmasterWorld. It does make the search results more "interactive" and a bit "faster." More useful, I am not sure.

Bottom line, I really think tomorrow we will see Google's AJAX power search results be launched fully to the public. It will mean AJAX results, showing more results on a single page as opposed to just 10, and it will mean the results updating as you type a query. I am sure I am missing some changes, but we will find out tomorrow.

But as the Google Balls logo represents, it is about an HTML 5 revolution.

Later today, Google tweeted yet another hint:

Boisterous doodle today. Maybe it's excited about the week ahead...less than a minute ago via Tap11A Googler
google

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September 2010 Google Webmaster Report

This is our ongoing monthly summary of the changes that took place at Google from a webmaster/SEO perspective. You can read the August 2010 report from last month.

The comments from SEOs and Webmasters in the WebmasterWorld include:

Fresh pages of content getting a ranking boost,
Sites impacted by MayDay seeing a little reversal
Google liking academic results more
Site operator failing for past 24 hours
and much more.

Here are the most important Google related topics we covered from the past month:

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

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Today Is Not Google's Birthday, September 27th Is Google 12th Birthday

There are many rumors about today's Google Balls logo, but we know it is not birthday related. Google in the past have celebrated their birthday on September 7th but not anymore. Danny has good history on Google's Birthday over here.

Google celebrated their 11th birthday on the 27th, the 10th also, 9th, 8th but the 7th and 6th birthday logos were on the 7th.

This year, you can expect the 12th birthday logo to be live on the 27th at google.com/logos/12th_birthday.gif. In fact, when it goes live, you will see the logo below:

So you have 20 more days to wait for it. Until then, enjoy the Google Balls logo.

Forum discussion at Google Blogoscoped Forums.

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eBay Not Spending $26 Million Monthly With Google AdWords

A very revealing leaked Google document was published, in part, at adAge yesterday. The report uncovers Google AdWords customer spending for the first half of 2010. Google seemed to collect or bill $574 million in the first half of 2010. The document reveals Google's top advertisers and distribution of ad spend for customers spending over $10,000 per month with Google.

The data is very interesting, but one thing I find historically interesting is eBay's number. eBay reportedly spent only $4.25 million in June 2010. Only? Yes, well, if you see reports back in 2007, 3 years ago, some estimated eBay's AdWords spend was closer to $26 million. I highly doubt eBay is spending that much less than it did 3 years ago! But maybe I am wrong. We suspect that over the years CPC prices have increased and eBay is advertising more than in the past, but who knows - maybe they are more efficient now?

So who are Google's top advertisers in June 2010?

AT&T, Phoenix University ads, Expedia, Amazon, eBay, BP, Hotels.com, and so on. Here is a chart from adAge:

Apple, compared to AT&T, spent just under $1 million on search during the month.

How about the distribution of advertisers, how much do they spend per month? Here is the breakdown:

Note, the top advertisers individually accounted for "less than 1% of Google's U.S. revenue in June." The top 10 advertisers in the document collectively accounted for just 5% of Google's U.S. revenue during the month. That might be the most revealing information right there.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and DigitalPoint Forums.

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Google Balls Logo

Today if you visit Google you will see a Google logo made up of crazy balls. The logo moves around based on your mouse cursor, similar to the buckyballs doodle from a few days ago. But this one is really all over the place.

Here is a video I made of the logo:

Here is a static picture of the balls forming the Google logo:

I personally find this logo very nice. I asked Google why? I asked was it birthday related, as some suspect. They said no. Google told me, "Today’s doodle is not related to a birthday but is fast, fun and interactive, just the way we think search should be." Maybe this is a prelude to the big Google Search Event that takes place tomorrow? I don't know. I suspect they will clue us in at that event.

Many searchers are upset. There is thread after thread with complaints in the Google Web Search Help forum. And most people in the US aren't up and on their computers yet.

Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help, Google Blogoscoped Forums & Google Webmaster Help.

Update: Here are my thoughts on why Google is so secretive of this logo and what we can expect Google to announce in conjunction with the explanation of this logo tomorrow.

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Daily Search Forum Recap: September 6, 2010

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

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Accepting Speaker Pitches for SphinnCon Israel

About 25 days ago I announced the next Israel SEO/SEM conference. SphinnCon Israel is coming back in 2011, it will be taking place on Sunday, January 9, 2011.

I wanted to let you know that we are now accepting speaker proposals and pitches. You can submit your pitch over here. If you or you know anyone who wants to speak, please fill out the form. I do want the speaker him/herself to fill out the form.

Tickets are selling nicely and we have a nice number of sponsors now. If you have not yet registered, I strongly recommend you register now by clicking here.

Our current sponsors include Answers.com, Majestic SEO, Analytics Ninja, Jerusalem Inabl Hotel and a few others who are not 100% confirmed yet.

I am personally organizing the event with the immense help of Olivier Amar (@olivier_amar) of WhiteWeb, Ophir Cohen (@ophirco) of Compucall, Eli Feldblum (@Feldbum) of RankAbove, Roi Hildesheimer of Tens Technology, Charlie Kalech (@charliekalech)of J Town, Mayer Reich (@mayerreich) of RankAbove, Branko Rihtman (@neyne) of WhiteWeb, and Gilad Sasson (@algoholic) of Nekuda.

This year the main difference is the venue and hours of the show. We are holding a full day event, as opposed to half day event, at the Inbal, as opposed to the Jerusalem College of Technology. We should be able to fit at least twice as many attendees, so this year we hope to not lock out as many people as the previous years.

We do expect to have well-known global speakers as well as local speakers to talk specifically about their experience in offering SEO/SEM services and strategies in the Israeli market or servicing aboard. We also hope to have representatives from the major search engines. As I said before, I hope to have the agenda completed some time in October.

If you want to speak, please complete the speaker form. If you want to sponsor, let me know. If you don't want to be locked out and want to get the best price of only $75, register now. Prices do go up soon!

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Google Now Indexing SVG, SEOs Don't Care

Last week, Google announced they are now indexing SVG, Scalable Vector Graphics.

As a searcher, you can now find SVG documents in the Google index. Google said they will index it as a standalone file or embedded directly in HTML. If you don't want them indexed, you should use the x-robots exclusion feature.

SEOs don't seem to excited about this new indexing capability of Google. Tedster said in a WebmasterWorldthread:

My take - indexing the svg format won't mean anything for ordinary search traffic for a long time, just as indexing swf format has meant very little. But for now, it's good to know that you can find things with the filetype: operator.

Do you agree?

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

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Google Showing 20+ Results Despite Search Setting

Ever since the weekend, when I do a search at Google, Google is returning 20 or more (I am seeing 30 results) search results on the page. I checked my Google search setting preference and it was set to show 10 per page. I even resaved the result, but it still shows me more than 20 results on a page.

I am not alone. Andy Beard also noticed this (he is seeing 20 results) and broke down detailed screen shots. I have posted one at Flickr if you want to see it.

This happens to me in Chrome for Mac version 6x. Not on any other browser I tested here. Andy told me his came up using Firefox.

I am not sure if this is an "experiment" or a bug. Thing is, I have a preference set at 10 results, I went back there and re-saved that preference. It didn't help. Google's experiments shouldn't override my settings like that. So I suspect it might be a bug.

I posted a thread at Google Web Search Help to see if I can get a response out of Google.

Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help.

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Google AdWords "Try Also" Suggesting "Breasts"

Many by now have seen the "try also" section under some of the AdWords results on a Google search. Google started testing them in March and went forward with them months ago.

A new Google Web Search Help thread has one searcher complaining that the "try also" section is showing an "inappropriate result." The result comes up for a search on [victoria police, which is his company's name.

The result that comes up with [victoria police breasts], which kind of makes sense with the brand Victoria Secret. But he isn't happy and he wants to know if there is a way to remove it.

I am not sure, but he did report it in a thread.

Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help.

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Labor Day 2010 Search Engine Logos Lacking (Google & Ask.com)

Compared to the years before the Labor Day logos are lacking this year. Ask.com is the most dressed up for the day. Google has a small flag, which fades in, which is more than what they normally have. Cre8asite Forums has a logo, but we don't (our designer is off for her wedding). Bing and Yahoo have done nothing on the logo/theme front as well.

Google Labor Day 2010:

Ask.com Labor Day 2010 Theme:

Cre8asite Labor Day 2010 Logo:

For the past year's Labor Day logos and themes, see 2009, 2008, 2007, 2005 and 2004.

Forum discussion at Google Blogoscoped Forums and Google Web Search Help.

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Daily Search Forum Recap: September 3, 2010

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

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Video Recap of Weekly Search Buzz :: September 3, 2010

This week's video is a bit longer than most, but that is okay, next week there won't be a video recap. Bing seemed to update their search ranking algorithm this week. Google may have tweaked their MayDay algorithm? Google added better rich snippet error reporting and is now allowing markup for the breadcrumb URLs. Is MSNBot cloaking again? Google says using Google Translate to auto-translate your content is spam. Google added a new way to find subject specific blogs, it works well. Google continues to rank legally seized web sites. Yahoo began the paid search migration to Microsoft adCenter this week. Sending $65,000 on a web site should mean Google will like the site. How does Google rank which point of interest labels make it on Google Maps? Sphinn dropped voting, is that the end of the community? Inc magazine said Google cost a web site owner four-million dollars, but in reality, it was a link broker. SEO is more than what you read on blogs and forums, just know that. That was this past week at the Search Engine Roundtable.

Make sure to subscribe to our video feed or subscribe directly on iTunes to be notified of these updates and download the video in the background. You can also watch this live and ask questions during the show, typically Friday mornings around 9:30 (EST) at seroundtable.com/live, follow @rustybrick to be notified when we air. Here is the YouTube version of the feed:

For the original iTunes version, click here.

Search Topics of Discussion:

Please do subscribe via iTunes or on your favorite RSS reader. Don't forget to comment below with the right answer and good luck!

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Google Buckyball Logo / Doodle

If you visit Google New Zealand today, you will see a special animated logo. The logo is a buckyball or fullerence. A fullerene is any molecule composed entirely of carbon, in the form of a hollow sphere, ellipsoid, or tube.

It might show up on other Google properties as the clock strikes midnight there. But right now, it seems to be live only New Zealand and Australia, where it is already Saturday.

The logo is unique for a Google logo in that you can twist and turn the ball with your mouse. Here is a video:

Give it a try on Google New Zealand or tomorrow for many places.

Forum discussion at Google Blogoscoped Forums.

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