Google has quietly gotten rid of PageRank in Webmaster Tools. Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Roundtable points to a thread featuring an explanation from Google Webmaster Trends Analyst Susan Moskwa.
Now that Google is putting Google Profiles in search results, you might want to consider getting verified. You have to go through a process to do this however.
"Should you get a verified name? Right now, it doesn’t influence whether your profile will rank better in profile results," says Danny Sullivan at Search Engine Land. "But if you’re trying to convince people to trust that the page is really controlled by you, it probably makes sense."
Barry Schwartz recently shared an interesting story about his brother-in-law showing up at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Florida on Google Latitude, although he was in Newwark Airport in New Jersey. The interesting part is that he was getting ready to go to the Florida airport.
Google Latitude is a feature in Google Maps for mobile and iGoogle that allows you to share your location with your family and friends in real time.
I initially intended to piece together a retrospective article about the happenings in the search industry and SEO from throughout the year, based on our coverage of it., much like what I did with online video and online music. I quickly realized this would be a monumental task given that something like 90% of what we cover is search or SEO related.
Marketers everywhere face problems including mute buttons, ad-blocking software, and steep prices. Advertising that folks actually like and spread on their own is pretty special, then, and so Barry Schwartz recently discussed Blendtec's "Will It Blend?" campaign in the context of viral marketing.
There is no such thing as a free link. No matter what the person who is selling you it tells you. And the web will always adapt to make it so. Even if its hard work.
Barry Schwartz posted Get A Free Link From Wired today on an SEO blog, noting that:
Danny Sullivan's Search Engine Land will debut a half-day conference format, SphinnCon, in Jerusalem, Israel on February 5th.
Either the Google PageRank in your toolbar is officially meaningless, or Google just sent another message to link sellers. Once again, Google isn't talking and we're left to speculate.
Our next mobile search interview is with Barry Schwartz better known as Rusty Brick. One of the industry voices for Search, barry has put together one of the leading forums called Search Engine Roundtable. Thank you barry for the interview.