WebProNews

Did Google Use Poor Timing for Updates?

The Guardian newspaper have today written an article titled Is Google a Grinch or a good guy?, which asks many UK SEO's (myself included) for their views on the recent Google paid link debate.

PubCon - Unjust Link Buying Worries

So Worried that You Forgot to Compete While on the link buying panel at WebmasterWorld's Pubcon a few people were pushing that you might need to consider how Google will view your current link buys 5 years down the road, and that they may hurt you then for what you do now. Upon hearing that I said something like "less than 5 years ago I bought spammy links and if I did not I probably wouldn't be speaking here right now". That got a cheer from the crowd. Who wants to be worried about what Google thinks or does 5 years from now? That is no way to innovate or take marketshare from current market leaders.

Online Shoppers Want Quality Recommendations

Online retailers that recommend products that consumers are not interested in perform worse than those that make no recommendations, according to the 2007 ChoiceStream Personalization Survey.

Are Paid Links Subverting Search Quality?

Search engines, especially Google, say don't do 'em. But some search marketers say paid links work. Are paid links subverting search quality? Or are they simply a fact of life, here to stay? Moderator: Chris Boggs, Manager, Search Engine Optimization, eMergent Marketing/BRULANT, Inc. Speakers: William Leake, Founder and CEO, Apogee Search, Eric Ward, CEO, EricWard.com, Brian Boland, Director-adCenter, Microsoft Corporation.

The Danger of Aggressive Ad Placement

When I did a recent Q&A thread one of the recurring themes with sites that were struggling was AdSense ads positioned above their content. Many websites are never given the chance to grow because they monetize too aggressively and look to spammy to enjoy the benefits of organic growth and community building.

Google and BizRate.com Break Up

Google Checkout Makes Shopping Sites Undesirable As Google Checkout ramps up, many thin arbitrage / shopping aggregator sites are going to see a significant love loss from Google. In September Andrew Goodman wrote a piece on how paid search and organic search quality criteria may play off each other, after coming across a post on Inside AdWords where Google stated that some types of sites are likely to merit a low quality score:

AdWords Quality Score Keyword Analysis Service

Inside AdWords introduces the Quality Score Keyword Analysis Service which will help advertisers provide more information about the Quality Score for their keywords.

Google Helps With Keyword Analysis

The vagaries of keyword Quality Scores for AdWords have caused advertisers to ask for more information from Google.

Social Media Marketing Strategies

A WebProNews reporting team covered the SMX Social Media in New York City this week and delivered lots of unique video interviews and session reports.

YouTube Now On Google Earth

Google Earth has added a new feature that allows YouTube videos to be embedded at geographical locations. Users can now view videos of famous tourist attractions or other places they may want to visit.