There’s one specific aspect of this topic that many experts have been questioning, and it’s whether or not Google is being hypocritical in regards to their latest algorithm changes penalizing sites with too many ads above the fold.

Danny Sullivan, of Searchengineland, went in-depth into this and looked at a couple of results pages which featured a good amount of ads above the fold. I thought his analysis was very interesting,

The blue box surrounds the content, the search listings that lead you to actual merchants selling trash cans, in this example. Some may argue that the Google shopping results box is further pushing down the “real content” of listings that lead out of Google. But the shopping results themselves do lead you to external merchants, so I consider them to be content.

According to Danny, Google also released a statement in regards to the criticisms they received involving their own ads…

This is a site-based algorithm that looks at all the pages across an entire site in aggregate. Although it’s possible to find a few searches on Google that trigger many ads, it’s vastly more common to have no ads or few ads on a page.

Again, this algorithm change is designed to demote sites that make it difficult for a user to get to the content and offer a bad user experience.

Having an ad above-the-fold doesn’t imply that you’re affected by this change. It’s that excessive behavior that we’re working to avoid for our users.

Many of the users on WebProWorld had interesting input regarding the subject.

One of our users provided this image, asking the question – So, I fully expect Google to penalize itself now. *chuckle*

Many responses have been in support of Google. Jeff Dishman, a Google employee said this of the ads presented on results pages, in a conversation involving the subject on Sullivan’s Google+ post.

when the post says “sites that don’t have much content “above-the-fold” can be affected by this change”, you can consider the ads at the top of a Google search to be “content”. It all comes down to relevancy; if someone is searching for credit cards, those ads at the top are likely to be something they are interested in. Also, the fact that this change will affect less than 1% of searches means that it’s targeted at sites that blatantly throw a ton of ads (where they are not relevant at all) at you in a way that will drive people away.

I know this probably won’t do anything to change the way you feel about this, but thought it was worth saying. *Disclaimer* – these are my views, and are not necessarily the views of my employer.

Another interesting aspect of this is how Google Adsense tells users that ads above the fold tend to do better. Providing users a chart of “hotter” areas to place ads.

To be fair, they also say Adsense users should place visitors first when determining ad placement and quantity.

Another WebProWorld user had an interesting take on the battle between Google’s ad network and improving their results page:

I nearly found myself in total despair of finding the correct word that describes googles arm wresting with itself. (left hand battling the right)

The right word may possibly a derivation of the word dyslexic
(dys·lex·i·a (d s-l k s – ). n. A learning disorder marked by impairment of the ability to recognize and comprehend written words.)

I like – dysgooglic (dys-goog-lic. A self inflicted disorder marked by a total impairment of any understanding of things it already understands.

or ‘Dysglooglic’ – biting your own balls syndrome.

It seems the consensus is that Google isn’t necessarily doing anything wrong with their algorithm update, in fact it’s a benefit to users. However, the lack of details regarding the changes along with their strategies given to Adsense users certainly provides plenty of questions.

We’ve seen Google’s answer to the problem of clogging ads above the fold; by way of an algorithm update. The two words that site owners and SEO experts dread like the Ghost of Christmas Future.

As with many algorithm updates, the problem rests with the general and arbitrary information shared to everyone regarding it. Looking at the original blog post regarding the update, I could paraphrase it as such: “We’re rolling out an algorithm update which will penalize websites with too many ads above the fold, it should affect 1% of searches globally”

If you’re a user then you’re probably clapping and cheering Google for this update. If you’re an SEO expert, or an owner who’s sole income comes from a website or group of websites then depending on how neurotic you are, you’re either slightly concerned or freaking out.

The reason for the concern is so much of a site’s success is dependent on key points of data, and many times specific numbers, ratios, and trends involving this data. When generalities are used, it’s hard to gauge what is needed in order to be successful.

Which is why so many owners and experts become concerned when they encounter an update such as this one. Questions like this instinctively arise:

- How many ads are too many? Is there a specific number?

- Is Google only targeting Adwords, or is there a collective database of ad networks they’re targeting? Is there a shared element in various ad codes where they’re able to determine what is or isn’t an ad?

Depending on your level of concern, these questions feature an assortment of capital letters and other colorful words. Let’s do a quick visual exercise to dig deeper into this update.

First, where do intersticial ads and pop-ups come into play regarding this update? Really, they’re the Men-in-Black of ads when talking about layout, as they work outside the system. However, they can be just as intrusive if not more so than banners and other page ads.

Which would be considered worse in Google’s update?

This, IGN’s front page which has a single ad that expands to take up nearly half the page (based on where the fold is on my screen) …

Or, Rottentomatoe’s front page which has a banner, video ad, and a background ad? In terms of “being above the fold”, the content/ad ratio isn’t technically as bad.

You then have Forbe’s strategy which loads a timed intersticial, an ad that gets its very own page. How is Google viewing this in their new update?

The matter of intersticial and pop-ups brings a whole new element into the mix. Is Google penalizing sites on ad/content ratio averages, or are they targeting specific pages? Certainly, if they’re only targeting specific pages when they’re penalizing then having interstitials and pop-ups seems like it would be more beneficial to a site than relying on trying to gauge how many ads above the fold is too many.

In conclusion, after all the questioning and worrying, the mantra of Google still rings true – try to create the greatest user experience possible. There is definitely a common sense element at play, but we still don’t know where the line is and if a site is even crossing it.

Oh that Microsoft.

First things first, one small but head scratching change looks to be a switch in controls for looking up game details and ejecting a disc. What was once “X” to eject and “Y” to look at details is now switched in the latest update. One upset 360 user couldn’t have summed it up any better.

While the change above is something noticeable and will affect a large amount of people, the second change is something which will go unnoticed by many but is actually pretty scary. In order to download the update, you must accept a new Terms of Service (ToS) agreement. Usually, ToS’s are ignored by everyone because who wants to read through a bunch of law jargon, when they just want to play Gears of War?

However, in the latest ToS, Microsoft added this nifty little clause which is very eye-opening. If you don’t want to read all of it, I’ll summarize afterwards:

IF YOU LIVE IN THE UNITED STATES, YOU AND MICROSOFT AGREE THAT IF YOU AND MICROSOFT DO NOT RESOLVE ANY DISPUTE BY INFORMAL NEGOTIATION UNDER SECTION 18.1.2 ABOVE, ANY EFFORT TO RESOLVE THE DISPUTE WILL BE CONDUCTED EXCLUSIVELY BY BINDING ARBITRATION IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE ARBITRATION PROCEDURES IN SECTION 18.1.7 BELOW. YOU UNDERSTAND AND ACKNOWLEDGE THAT BY AGREEING TO BINDING ARBITRATION, YOU ARE GIVING UP THE RIGHT TO LITIGATE (OR PARTICIPATE IN AS A PARTY OR CLASS MEMBER) ALL DISPUTES IN COURT BEFORE A JUDGE OR JURY. INSTEAD, YOU UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT ALL DISPUTES WILL BE RESOLVED BEFORE A NEUTRAL ARBITRATOR, WHOSE AWARD (DECISION) WILL BE BINDING AND FINAL, EXCEPT FOR A LIMITED RIGHT OF APPEAL UNDER THE FEDERAL ARBITRATION ACT. ANY COURT WITH JURISDICTION OVER THE PARTIES MAY ENFORCE THE ARBITRATOR’S AWARD.

THE ONLY DISPUTES NOT COVERED BY THE AGREEMENT IN SECTION 18.1 TO NEGOTIATE INFORMALLY AND ARBITRATE ARE DISPUTES ENFORCING, PROTECTING, OR CONCERNING THE VALIDITY OF ANY OF YOUR OR MICROSOFT’S (OR ANY OF YOUR OR MICROSOFT’S LICENSORS’) INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS.

and…

18.1.6. CLASS ACTION WAIVER. YOU AND MICROSOFT AGREE THAT ANY PROCEED­INGS TO RESOLVE OR LITIGATE ANY DISPUTE, WHETHER IN ARBITRATION, IN COURT, OR OTHERWISE, WILL BE CONDUCTED SOLELY ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS, AND THAT NEITHER YOU NOR MICROSOFT WILL SEEK TO HAVE ANY DISPUTE HEARD AS A CLASS ACTION, A REPRESENTATIVE ACTION, A COLLECTIVE ACTION, A PRIVATE ATTORNEY-GENERAL ACTION, OR IN ANY PROCEEDING IN WHICH YOU OR MICROSOFT ACTS OR PROPOSES TO ACT IN A REPRESENTATIVE CAPACITY. YOU AND MICROSOFT FURTHER AGREE THAT NO ARBITRATION OR PROCEEDING WILL BE JOINED, CONSOLIDATED, OR COMBINED WITH ANOTHER ARBITRATION OR PROCEEDING WITHOUT THE PRIOR WRITTEN CONSENT OF YOU, MICROSOFT, AND ALL PARTIES TO ANY SUCH ARBITRATION OR PROECCEDING.

Basically, both of those clauses protect Microsoft from being sued should you desire to take them to court over Xbox Live or your Xbox 360 console. Instead of going to court, any dispute will be handled by private arbitration. These arbitrations keep these disputes out of the public eye, which really only benefits Microsoft.

There are many states which provide citizens’ rights to always be allowed legal action, so you might want to check your state before accepting Microsoft’s ToS.

This is certainly not what you wanted to hear before starting your Xbox 360 dashboard download. Just don’t shoot the messenger.

SEOMoz’s Rand Fishkin, is the only responder I’ve seen who’s released a video concerning the update. He discussed the changes with Mike King of @iPullRank. One of the most important takeaways from the video is how they believe timestamps, specifically in the XML sitemaps could see a boost in terms of importance. A trend you’ll notice as you read more reactions.

Gianluca Fiorelli, of I Love SEO calls the update, “Caffeine 2.0″ and shared some interesting thoughts about how this change was brought about by advertising needs. Claiming that Google is driven by ad space, and needed to make changes to reflect this:

“Google is an substantially an editor (even it will never recognize it) that sells ad spaces, and Search is still its main product to sell toward the advertiser. So Google needs to have the best product to continue selling ad space. That product was ironically endangered by Caffeine. With Panda Google tries to solve the content issue and with the Social Signals linked inextricably to the Authors and Publishers tries to solve the obsolescence of the Link Graph.”

Ben Will, an author over at Marketing Pilgrim, has already devised strategies to succeed from the Google Fresh changes. He makes note that having correct and up-to-date time-stamps is of utmost importance, like Fishkin and King stated above. However, one of his strategies struck me as interesting. Adding forums.

Forums…the original social network. The benefits are the fluid conversations that happen. The downsides are that forums require a fair amount of work to be managed. Choose this option carefully.

One aspect of this change which I saw go unnoticed by most is how it will impact paid search. Jeff Allen, of PPCHero, believes the changes will have an important impact.

“Google didn’t specify if this change would have an impact on paid search. However, their trend has been towards narrowing the gap between organic and PPC. Because of this, I would venture to guess it will have some impact in the future. Time will tell, but my guess is that advertisers in verticals affected by these changes (such as eCommerce sites selling SLR cameras) will want to keep their content fresh.”

As I’ve read reactions, it seems to me that this could potentially be the most subtle algorithm update Google has released. Most of the strategies I’ve read in reaction to Google Fresh, are ones most have been trying to follow for quite some time. It’s always been about producing relevant content, and doing so on a consistent basis. If your site is based around a topic which doesn’t require timely updates, then this change probably won’t have an effect. That is if Google’s claim concerning recency only affecting certain topics holds true. On the flip side, if your site relies on current events or timely topics, you’re probably giddy about this update.

Have you noticed any changes in your results, since the Google Fresh update went live? Do you see vast potential for your site from Google placing more relevance on freshness?

Update: There have been more reactions to the algorithm update. There seems to be a divide over whether or not Google putting relevance on freshness will indeed provide better quality for readers. Most of the skepticism comes from those are unsure whether or not Google will know when recency should truly be important.

A user from WebMasterWorld had an interesting reaction to the update, “So you think the pro staffed sites have been at an advantage before? How about now? On the surface, this looks like the dagger for a lot of folks. Hope I’m wrong. A small enterprise of a few cannot compete with freshness of hundreds of staffers. I haven’t dug into this, but certainly this adds to the already pile of BS that a lot of us have been dealing with and now it’s another heaping truck full on my door step.

With all the changes, Google results must really have sucked. Guess it was a fluke to gain that market share on a system that so broke that it needs to be gutted. In real terms, there is something fundamentally wrong with ADD characteristics of a company that has 97% of mobile search and what 80%+ or regular search.”

Could the update lead to certain businesses creating blogs, simply for the aspect of showing up as a fresher result?

According to Google, nearly 35% of searches will be impacted by this update. It’s building upon their Caffeine system, which they touted as a better way to crawl and index more quickly and on a larger scale. They provided the keyword “olympics” as an example.

“If I search for [olympics], I probably want information about next summer’s upcoming Olympics, not the 1900 Summer Olympics (the only time my favorite sport, cricket, was played). Google Search uses a freshness algorithm, designed to give you the most up-to-date results, so even when I just type [olympics] without specifying 2012, I still find what I’m looking for.”

There are three key features being highlighted in the update:

Recent events or hot topics. For recent events or hot topics that begin trending on the web, you want to find the latest information immediately. Now when you search for current events like [occupy oakland protest], or for the latest news about the [nba lockout], you’ll see more high-quality pages that might only be minutes old.

Regularly recurring events. Some events take place on a regularly recurring basis, such as annual conferences like [ICALP] or an event like the [presidential election]. Without specifying with your keywords, it’s implied that you expect to see the most recent event, and not one from 50 years ago. There are also things that recur more frequently, so now when you’re searching for the latest [NFL scores], [dancing with the stars] results or [exxon earnings], you’ll see the latest information.

Frequent updates. There are also searches for information that changes often, but isn’t really a hot topic or a recurring event. For example, if you’re researching the [best slr cameras], or you’re in the market for a new car and want [subaru impreza reviews], you probably want the most up to date information.

As with all algorithm updates, there are some problems with the changes. The first is structuring it in such a way that it recognizes when results need to be fresh, and when being current isn’t a requirement. They assure users that the improvement is being designed to know when freshness is an important factor.

As with all algorithm updates, we’ll all be sitting in anticipation to see how this will impact both webmasters and users.

First, the same experience will be nearly universal across various platforms and clients. If you’ve ever been frustrated at the version of your app being different than your friend’s, then you’ll enjoy these new versions. HTML5 will also make updating Bing apps much easier on Microsoft. Instead of worrying about different clients and languages, they can simply change the app and have it reflected across the board.

Not only will updating be simplified, but it will also enhance many features already present. Instead of relying simply on the app itself, HTML5 will allow it to gather information and conduct tasks from outside sources. The apps will also be able to utilize features on particular hardwares, including voice search and Bing Vision, which will

Stefan Weitz, senior director of Bing, said this of the upgrade, “We think it’s an interesting model to think about how to expose the things you can do with a product or service in ways that engines like Bing can consume them, so we can do a better job”

“That’s the idea, how can we begin to unlock the power of these applications so engines like Bing can use them to fulfill a request.”

Microsoft’s investment in HTML5 is a huge push towards the markup language upgrade becoming more universally accepted. If you’d like to learn more about the capabilities of HTML5, you can do so here.

The latest official update posted to the PlayStation blog takes the form of a Q&A, much of it mirroring questions outlined yesterday in an offical Sony FAQ page that was linked to from the blog.  Here’s what now-very-widely-known Director of Corporate Communications Patrick Seybold has to say:

First off, we want to again thank you for your patience. We know that the PlayStation Network and Qriocity outage has been frustrating for you. We know you are upset, and so we are taking steps to make our services safer and more secure than ever before. We sincerely regret any inconvenience or concern this outage has caused, and rest assured that we’re going to get the services back online as quickly as we can.

We received a number of questions and comments yesterday and early today relating to the criminal intrusion into our network. We’d like to address some of the most common questions today.

We are also going to continue to post updates to this blog with any additional information and insight that we can over the next few days.

We are reading your comments. We are listening to your suggestions. Please keep them coming.

It’s good to see that Sony is at least feigning a dialogue with users.  Besides the obvious frustration of not being able to play your games online, PS3 owners have been the most frustrated with that lack of transparency regarding the “external intrusion.”  Users were not notified until a week after the initial outage that their personal information had been compromised. 

The latest update from Sony reminds users that although no evidence is yet available that their credit info was stolen, users should brace for that likely possibility.  One bit of good news – even if the credit card numbers and expiration dates were stolen, the CVC security code from the back of your card were not obtained because the PSN and Qriocity does not ask for it.

The real news from this latest blog post is that there is a very soft time-frame for when the PSN will be restored.  I repeat, WoW Gold Guide, very soft:

Our employees have been working day and night to restore operations as quickly as possible, and we expect to have some services up and running within a week from yesterday. However, we want to be very clear that we will only restore operations when we are confident that the network is secure.

The Oxford English Dictionary, which is approaching 130 years old, contains over 600,000 words, definitions and pronunciations.  As the premier authority on the English language, they like to update their word lists quite frequently.  This month, this means the inclusion of some text-speak classics.

The OED has posted an overview of their latest update which went into effect late yesterday.  Out of the 45,437 new words and meanings and over 285,000 revisions, a select few have filled internet tech lovers with joy, amusement and most likely a little shame.  LOL (laughing out loud), FYI (for your information) and OMG (oh my god) have been added alongside their buddies IMHO (in my humble opinion), TMI (too much information) and BFF (best friends forever) in the newest edition of the OED.

SMH.

Graeme Diamond of the OED explains:

Of course in such a context initialisms are quicker to type than the full forms, and (in the case of text messages, or Twitter, for example) they help to say more in media where there is a limit to a number of characters one may use in a single message. OMG and LOL are found outside of electronic contexts, however; in print, and even in spoken use (see, for example, the 2003 quotation for LOL int.), where there often seems to be a bit more than simple abbreviation going on. The intention is usually to signal an informal, gossipy mode of expression, and perhaps parody the level of unreflective enthusiasm or overstatement that can sometimes appear in online discourse, while at the same time marking oneself as an ‘insider’ au fait with the forms of expression associated with the latest technology.

Basically, the OED feels as though many of these “initialisms” have permeated our society in such a way that three simple letters can suggest excitement, parody and sarcasm.  And let’s be honest, if you ever saw anyone write “laughing out loud” instead of  “LOL” you would punch them in the face.  Be honest.

Diamond also provides us with a tidbit of which I was unaware:

As such usage indicates, many people would consider these recent coinages, from the last 10 or 20 years, and associate them with a younger generation conversant with all forms of digital communications. As is often the case, OED’s research has revealed some unexpected historical perspectives: our first quotation for OMG is from a personal letter from 1917; the letters LOL had a previous life, starting in 1960, denoting an elderly woman (or ‘little old lady’; see LOL n./1); and the entry for FYI [FYI phr., adj., and n.], for example, shows it originated in the language of memoranda in 1941.

Along with the initialisms, the first emoticon was also added to the database.  The word “heart” was already established as a verb in some case, as in “I heart pizza,” but the OED has added a sense of the verb “heart” with “<3.”  As Diamond explains, “in this update may be the first English usage to develop via the medium of T-shirts and bumper-stickers.”

And 13 year old girls.

On Monday, we told you how the AP stylebook was staying current with the swapping of “e-mail” for “email” and the addition of “cellphone” and “smartphone” into their list of proper usage.  The update from the OED is just another example of the universal impact of technology in our current culture.  So among the Shakespearean words of linsey-woolsey and lubberly goes LOL.  Even with this development, I’m not holding my breath to see ROFLcopter in the OED any time soon.

When Facebook announced the beta Questions in June 2010, they made it clear that it was meant to become a giant database that was full of questions and answers from the entirety of Facebook that could be browsed by keywords.  They even wrote a disclaimer warning just how public the Questions content was going to be:

Keep in mind that all questions and answers posted using the Questions application are public and visible to everyone on the Internet. If you only want to ask a question to your friends or a specific group of people, you can still pose it as a status update on your profile targeted to those people.

The new Questions is based around your friends, and possibly your friend’s friends.  Look at the difference between the blog post above and what was said today about the feature:

Friends are often the best source of advice when you’re trying new things: Where should I go to dinner? How do I go buy a car? What new music should I check out? Friends know your tastes, and you have confidence in their opinions…for more unusual questions, you can get advice from a broader group of people, but to keep it most relevant we filter the answers to show you first what your friends think. You can see more responses by clicking “others” within the question.

Sounds better.

The new Questions allows you to pose questions of your friends that can be either answered in long-format or you can provide a multiple choice answer box – or both.  The multiple choice option ends up working like a poll that keeps track of how many votes each answer has received and who voted for them.  They will then organically appear in your news feed.  As you can see below, there is the opportunity to answer both useless and though provoking questions in the same breath.

If you want to comment or simply see other people’s comments about the question, you are directed to a little pop-up.  You can filter what comments you see by friends or everyone.

It appears that Facebook wants questions to truly become as much a part of the service as status updates or photo uploading, as it has added the option among the top of your feed.

I’m not sure how many times I’ll have to be asked who my favorite Backstreet Boy was before I get angry and throw my monitor, but the new format could prove to be helpful in finding a good restaurant in a new city or in deciding which movie to see over the weekend.

On the official Google AdSense blog, they report that tests they ran showed AdSense was adding an average of 12% to the load times of various web pages. To fix this problem, the folks at Google developed a new ad delivery technique:

“We’ve now developed a new ads delivery technique to improve the speed of websites that display AdSense ads, so that it doesn’t slow down your page content. We’re very happy to announce that we’ve eliminated this slowdown for the majority of websites and for a number of browsers”

So far, Google says some pages they test load up to one second faster than before the update. Browsers able to notice the changes include Chrome, IE8 and Firefox, with more in the pipeline. Also, developers don’t need to do anything to reap the benefits:

“The best part is, you don’t need to make any changes to your code or account – the faster load time has kicked into gear for everyone automatically, so your visitors will experience a noticeable improvement in the speed of your web pages.”

Google has recently released updates to both mobile Gmail and Google docs, as well as AdSense mobile.