Search Engine Optimization, SEO, & Other Online Marketing Strategies » Search Engines http://www.seomoves.org/blog SEO Moves News and Information Tue, 11 Oct 2011 14:30:11 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 Update-Google PageRank Server Change http://www.seomoves.org/blog/google/update-google-pagerank-server-change-2530/ http://www.seomoves.org/blog/google/update-google-pagerank-server-change-2530/#comments Tue, 11 Oct 2011 14:30:11 +0000 john http://www.seomoves.org/blog/?p=2530 Stay calm it’s still working … This from Phil Leahy I normally check every site that I visit to see their Google page rank and alexa page rank. I noticed from Thursday 6th of October it was not showing up on my Alexa toolbar or SeoQuake toolbar. I did some research via twitter to see [...]]]> Stay calm it’s still working …

This from Phil Leahy

I normally check every site that I visit to see their Google page rank and alexa page rank. I noticed from Thursday 6th of October it was not showing up on my Alexa toolbar or SeoQuake toolbar. I did some research via twitter to see what was going; on only to see people saying Google has just stopped its PR feature!
As a result I visited Google and do some research & see what is happening. The problem isn’t with Google stopping its pagerank feature or that there was another update, the problem had to do with something else.
The Recent Google PR Server Change
The reason for the recent changes in Google PR is due to the fact that Google just changed its PR server and as a result also changed its query URL.
The old query URL is:
http://toolbarqueries.google.com/search?client=navclient-auto&features=Rank&ch=8f3b58e04&q=info:[URLHERE]
The new query URL is:
http://toolbarqueries.google.com/tbr?client=navclient-auto&features=Rank&ch=8f3b58e04&q=info:[URLHERE]
What that means is that any software addon such as Alexa or Seoquake, website or PR tool trying to use the old server to check PR won’t be working again.
So nothing has happened to your pagerank, and your site won’t be affected. The only thing happening is a recent change in the Google PageRank query URL which will soon be fixed in a lot of SEO tools and websites, and as a result you will soon be able to check your Google Pagerank again via your chosen tool.
If you want to check your Google pagerank now (to ensure everything is okay) you can easily install the new Google Toolbar on your Mozilla Firefox (version 4 or under) or Internet Explorer browser and you will be able to check it. To change the settings in SeoQuake: Open preferences, Click on “Parameters Tab”, Double click “Google Pagerank”  Replace: http://toolbarqueries.google.com/search?client with http://toolbarqueries.google.com/tbr?client.
]]> http://www.seomoves.org/blog/google/update-google-pagerank-server-change-2530/feed/ 0 Google SERP’s New Brand Site Links Format http://www.seomoves.org/blog/google/google-serps-new-brand-site-links-format-2507/ http://www.seomoves.org/blog/google/google-serps-new-brand-site-links-format-2507/#comments Tue, 16 Aug 2011 16:48:43 +0000 john http://www.seomoves.org/blog/?p=2507 Google New Sitelinks FormatPretty Nice Bonus to Brands within natural search results today, the sitelinks are now going VERY wide across many valuable pages within your domain. Check this out:                                 I think this is a GREAT move by Google, as in most [...]]]> Pretty Nice Bonus to Brands within natural search results today, the sitelinks are now going VERY wide across many valuable pages within your domain.

Check this out:

Google New Sitelinks Format

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think this is a GREAT move by Google, as in most cases it will eliminate people from marketing themselves around someone else’s brand. Clearly will help provide someone looking for a particular brand a better user experience.

 

 

 

]]> http://www.seomoves.org/blog/google/google-serps-new-brand-site-links-format-2507/feed/ 0 Google Webmaster Tools Instant Preview http://www.seomoves.org/blog/news/google-webmaster-tools-instant-preview-2448/ http://www.seomoves.org/blog/news/google-webmaster-tools-instant-preview-2448/#comments Thu, 19 May 2011 15:21:54 +0000 john http://www.seomoves.org/blog/?p=2448 Google Webmaster Tools Instant PreviewsJust noticed something new in Google webmaster tools called “Google instant preview” it appears to be something they have tied to the fetch as Googlebot. It appears to be somewhat flawed, and does not crawl or display flash (makes our website look bad). Although it is yet another way to keep an eye on your [...]]]> Just noticed something new in Google webmaster tools called “Google instant preview” it appears to be something they have tied to the fetch as Googlebot. It appears to be somewhat flawed, and does not crawl or display flash (makes our website look bad). Although it is yet another way to keep an eye on your website for errors and crawl-ability. I think this is fairly heavily tied to the “load time” of your website, as it appears to only provide Googlebot with a limited amount of time to grab a snap-shot of your website.

Google Webmaster Tools Instant Previews

 

It showed us as having 26 errors on this page, seems like a lot considering our website is fairly tight (not as tight as our clients websites).

One last interesting note, our page actually appears rock solid in the Google Search Preview, yet not in this instant preview….hmmmm…..

 

]]> http://www.seomoves.org/blog/news/google-webmaster-tools-instant-preview-2448/feed/ 3 Google Shopping Expands to Australia, Italy and more http://www.seomoves.org/blog/news/google-shopping-expands-to-australia-italy-and-more-2424/ http://www.seomoves.org/blog/news/google-shopping-expands-to-australia-italy-and-more-2424/#comments Thu, 05 May 2011 19:48:54 +0000 julie http://www.seomoves.org/blog/?p=2424 Google announced the launch of Google Shopping in four new countries this week: Australia, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands. Google Shopping is a comparison shopping engine delivering product results already in US and many other countries.  Google includes products delivered to them via data feed. Product results in US are shown directly on page one [...]]]> Google announced the launch of Google Shopping in four new countries this week: Australia, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands. Google Shopping is a comparison shopping engine delivering product results already in US and many other countries.  Google includes products delivered to them via data feed.

Product results in US are shown directly on page one of standard search, with images, pricing, and customer ratings.  This high visibility can be a large traffic force for any ecommerce business.  But thus far the shopping results in the new countries are not displaying in the main results. The user must click the Shopping tab on the left to use the retail search engine, but we expect in due time Google will integrate products into page one as they have elsewhere.

This is basically free traffic and advertising, so any business shipping to these countries needs to take some action. If you already provide your data feed to Google, you just need to create a new feed and choose that country from the drop down.  If you are not set up with Google Shopping yet in any country, visit the Merchant Center to open an account and set up your product feed.

With our strong presence in the Australian market, we are most excited to see this launch! We have been prepping our clients for this and ready to get them included immediately.

Also note that this makes it more important to use the hreview microformat for your customer reviews as we discussed last week.

]]> http://www.seomoves.org/blog/news/google-shopping-expands-to-australia-italy-and-more-2424/feed/ 1 Google testing new URL location change in Australia search results http://www.seomoves.org/blog/google/google-testing-new-url-location-change-in-australia-search-results-2406/ http://www.seomoves.org/blog/google/google-testing-new-url-location-change-in-australia-search-results-2406/#comments Sat, 23 Apr 2011 15:36:58 +0000 john http://www.seomoves.org/blog/?p=2406 Google Moves URL Location in SearchInteresting discovery today, a search on www.google.com.au showed some different looking serps. I noticed Google has moved the location of the URL to the upper left hand side just below the title tag of the website before the description tag. It used to be below the description tag on the lower left hand side. It [...]]]> Interesting discovery today, a search on www.google.com.au showed some different looking serps. I noticed Google has moved the location of the URL to the upper left hand side just below the title tag of the website before the description tag.

Google Moves URL Location in Search

It used to be below the description tag on the lower left hand side.

Google Moves URL Location in Search Old

It is quite interesting how different the SERP look by simply moving the placement of the URL. Not exactly sure why they would be making this move, but it is clear that having sitelinks, becomes more important that ever.

It appears about a year ago people at Webmasterworld had seen this within adwords. http://www.webmasterworld.com/google_adwords/4142468.htm

]]> http://www.seomoves.org/blog/google/google-testing-new-url-location-change-in-australia-search-results-2406/feed/ 2 Baidu Wants to Expand, Worried About Tencent http://www.seomoves.org/blog/social-media-marketing/baidu-wants-to-expand-worried-about-tencent-2397/ http://www.seomoves.org/blog/social-media-marketing/baidu-wants-to-expand-worried-about-tencent-2397/#comments Fri, 11 Mar 2011 12:12:56 +0000 john http://www.seomoves.org/blog/?p=2397 Baidu, a “local Chinese Google”, who leads the search engine market with over 75% share (Google only has 19 percent), is also one of the biggest and popular websites in the world. Alexa currently ranks it as the 6th popular in the world, just above Wikipedia and below Live. As do most big players in [...]]]> Baidu, a “local Chinese Google”, who leads the search engine market with over 75% share (Google only has 19 percent), is also one of the biggest and popular websites in the world. Alexa currently ranks it as the 6th popular in the world, just above Wikipedia and below Live. As do most big players in the SE industry, Baidu offers various services – such as video and image storage, website building platform, online encyclopedia, discussion forums, and more.

However, in today’s dynamic world, standing still and cherishing your achievements will very quickly lead to dethronement, at the very least. That’s why Baidu is looking to expand even further, especially when the number two Chinese website, Tencent, is also gaining ground, entering Alexa’s “world’s top 10″ this month, after surpassing Twitter.

Tencent is largest internet company in China, and, with Facebook being unavailable to users, it is trying to utilize the social networking niche to compete with Baidu. The “satellite” services that are being offered by Tencent are very similar to the stated above Baidu products, making the clash between the two a “hot” battle for dominance. Baidu’s response, according to Robin Li, the CEO of the company, lies within expanding its own network of users and making it more “social”. In addition of fighting Tencent, this should also serve as additional income channel for the Chinese market leader.

]]> http://www.seomoves.org/blog/social-media-marketing/baidu-wants-to-expand-worried-about-tencent-2397/feed/ 0 Recent Tweet Links Are Now Part of SERP’s http://www.seomoves.org/blog/grow/recent-tweet-links-are-now-part-of-serps-2393/ http://www.seomoves.org/blog/grow/recent-tweet-links-are-now-part-of-serps-2393/#comments Thu, 10 Mar 2011 09:18:45 +0000 john http://www.seomoves.org/blog/?p=2393 In addition to bringing you the most relevant results, search engines are many times fighting over presenting the most up-to-date pages to the searcher. That’s why Google has those time-related filters in the left, just below the “type” filters. Although recent content might be well of importance only to news-seekers, Google thinks otherwise. Long before [...]]]> In addition to bringing you the most relevant results, search engines are many times fighting over presenting the most up-to-date pages to the searcher. That’s why Google has those time-related filters in the left, just below the “type” filters. Although recent content might be well of importance only to news-seekers, Google thinks otherwise. Long before the recent “Panda” update to its indexing algorithm that is being talked about all over the world in during last week, Google has made numerous adjustments to its ranking rationale, with frequently updated websites getting “bonuses” in SE placements.

Yet another step in the same direction was done several days ago, although no official announcement has been made. It seems, Twitter is getting more credit within Google, which has decided to present recent tweets in the search results. In addition, the results also show user’s picture. But more important is the fact that the link is the tweet is included in the SERP’s, making it a valuable inbound link for the featured website.

It has to be noted, that the above only applies to recently posted tweets (the exact amount of time could not be determined, but from my testing it is probably several hours, and after that the results return to the usual “join twitter to follow”. If you want to see those results, by the way, it is very advisable to include the word “Twitter” in your search query.

Google shows a tweet

]]> http://www.seomoves.org/blog/grow/recent-tweet-links-are-now-part-of-serps-2393/feed/ 2 Want to Know More? Ask TrueKnowledge.com http://www.seomoves.org/blog/tools/want-to-know-more-ask-trueknowledge-com-2390/ http://www.seomoves.org/blog/tools/want-to-know-more-ask-trueknowledge-com-2390/#comments Wed, 09 Mar 2011 09:20:23 +0000 john http://www.seomoves.org/blog/?p=2390 One of the challenges in the recent Man vs Machine Jeopardy game, which was easily won by the computer, Watson, was coping with contextual questions. I was not only about facts, but understanding what the question is about. Another fact is that people searches become more and more specific. Once, people would just type “cheese”. [...]]]> One of the challenges in the recent Man vs Machine Jeopardy game, which was easily won by the computer, Watson, was coping with contextual questions. I was not only about facts, but understanding what the question is about.

Another fact is that people searches become more and more specific. Once, people would just type “cheese”. Today, as the number of webpages is immense, the search has to be more specific, stating what exactly you would like to know:  “cheese vs cholesterol”, “where to buy cheese”, “how was the cheese invented” etc.

William Tunstall-Pedoe, co-founder of Trueknowledge.com, claims that his website is the future of search – at least for those who want to get answers to specific questions. Instead of typing search terms, you may just enter a question (“what is cheese”) and get a brief paragraph with an answer. Additionally, you will have some useful facts about the product and further at the page you could see related links (“external answers”) . There is also a possibility to add you answer, if you think you know better and want to contribute. To the right, you will see other sections, such as “other ways this question is asked” and related questions that are waiting to be answered (“Can you answer these questions?”).

My personal hope is that since Trueknowledge.com has been founded by scientists, it should present a viable alternative to the popular Wikipedia, which, unfortunately, has numerous incorrect facts in its articles…

]]> http://www.seomoves.org/blog/tools/want-to-know-more-ask-trueknowledge-com-2390/feed/ 0 Bing&KAYAK vs Google&ITA http://www.seomoves.org/blog/news/bingkayak-vs-googleita-2387/ http://www.seomoves.org/blog/news/bingkayak-vs-googleita-2387/#comments Tue, 08 Mar 2011 09:48:11 +0000 john http://www.seomoves.org/blog/?p=2387 While several companies established a Fairsearch.org group in order to try and prevent the Google-ITA deal, claiming that it is a yet another step of monopoly (by Google that is) of the airline ticket market, Bing has decided not to complain, but to fight. In addition to purchasing a predictive engine for flight costs, the [...]]]> While several companies established a Fairsearch.org group in order to try and prevent the Google-ITA deal, claiming that it is a yet another step of monopoly (by Google that is) of the airline ticket market, Bing has decided not to complain, but to fight. In addition to purchasing a predictive engine for flight costs, the Farecast, about a year ago, they now team up with one of the popular travel search engines, the KAYAK. It seems that the deal is beneficial for both sides – after all, KAYAK is probably also worried about Google acquiring ITA, despite their talks about “welcoming Google as a competitor”.

It their announcement, Bing flatters KAYAK, calling its new partner “a leading innovator in travel search”, and talks about “more comprehensive travel search experience”. The deal should benefit those people who want to plan and book via Bing. Although this looks like trying to stop people from leaving Bing, the move is actually a counter-step to Google entering the travel search. Of course, although “Google is not wining every niche it enters” as said KAYAK CTO and co-founder Paul English, it can affect the market heavily.

So, there is nothing left but to wish good luck to both Bing and KAYAK in their struggle.

]]> http://www.seomoves.org/blog/news/bingkayak-vs-googleita-2387/feed/ 1 What is a Content Farm? http://www.seomoves.org/blog/tools/what-is-a-content-farm-2377/ http://www.seomoves.org/blog/tools/what-is-a-content-farm-2377/#comments Thu, 03 Mar 2011 10:27:26 +0000 john http://www.seomoves.org/blog/?p=2377 With the recent Goolge’s algorithm update (which was quickly called “Farmer’s Update”, as it seriously affects the so-called “content farms”) and Blekko’s removal of twenty famous websites from its results, it seems that fighting spam is the hottest issue in the search engine market. Indeed, when we face certain enemy, it is very advisable to [...]]]> With the recent Goolge’s algorithm update (which was quickly called “Farmer’s Update”, as it seriously affects the so-called “content farms”) and Blekko’s removal of twenty famous websites from its results, it seems that fighting spam is the hottest issue in the search engine market.

Indeed, when we face certain enemy, it is very advisable to know about him as much as you can. So, what is this “spam”? The answer is clear – something annoying and useless. The first occurrence of spam is said to happen in the 19th century, when many honorable English gentlemen received an urgent telegram with an advertising content.

When we are talking about search results, however, spam is not easily defined. Usually, it means irrelevant pages that happen to have a keyword in them. But this has been handled a while ago. The search algorithms are far more advanced than 10 years ago, when one could fill the page with meaningless phrases and get a high SE ranking.

The problem has switched to using a good-written content (grammatically that is), which provides little useful information. It keeps repeating the same things again and again, so while looking “normal article” for the bot/spider, for the human being it is simply a waste of time. That’s what “content farm” means – a website that has constantly generated and frequently updated content, which has little value in it. That’s what Blekko and Google are fighting. The problem is that technically it is very hard to distinguish between “useful” and “useless” content – even for a human, let alone an indexing bot…

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