----------------------------------------------------------------- SearchReturn Discussion List "Understanding Internet Search Technology" ----------------------------------------------------------------- Moderator: Published by: Disa Johnson SearchReturn http://www.searchreturn.com ----------------------------------------------------------------- February 09, 2005 Issue #037 ----------------------------------------------------------------- SEND POSTS: ----------------------------------------------------------------- Refer a friend: http://www.searchreturn.com/subscribe.shtml ----------------------------------------------------------------- .....IN THIS DIGEST..... // -- FEATURED POST -- // "Big Brand Spam" ~ Ward Tongen // -- CONTINUING DISCUSSION -- // "BMW Penalty Lifted" ~ SearchReturn // -- ESSENTIAL NEWS -- // "Vertical Search Survival" "Dell Adds Google Widgets" "Google Sitemaps Update" ----------------------------------------------------------------- // -- FEATURED POST -- // ----------------------------------------------------------------- ==> TOPIC: BIG BRAND SPAM "This story will help search marketing professionals that are white hat provide a real case where a major brand was severely punished for spam." From: Ward Tongen This is interesting. However, in this particular case BMW is getting lots of notoriety due to the press on this. A creative spin might even put it to their advantage, but I don't expect so. Apparently none of the other BMW web properties were affected by this. However, I wonder if they were considered in the penalty Google leveled. This may represent a significant risk to the corporate governance that larger companies have (or don't have) over all of their various web properties. What if one rogue web site pushing the envelope too far resulted in *all* of a large company's web sites getting de-listed in Google? Makes you think. Ward Tongen Senior Online Marketing Analyst Medtronic ----------------------------------------------------------------- // -- CONTINUING DISCUSSION -- // ----------------------------------------------------------------- ==> TOPIC: BMW PENALTY LIFTED "Even a short drop in search traffic can mean huge financial damage. It is also true that reinclusion does not mean springing back to previously held positions." Hello everyone, BMW is back in Google. After only three days being delisted, the team at Google saw fit to actually converse with BMW to help them get back in. The reinclusion process generally works. Smaller firms could never hope to get such red carpet treatment. It's the silent part that makes it difficult sometimes for normal webmasters to have a clue what to do. BMW had no such problem. Their spam was spelled out in Matt's blog, clear as day, and they had a chance to chat with the Google team besides. Stay Tuned, -SearchReturn ----------------------------------------------------------------- // -- ESSENTIAL NEWS -- // ----------------------------------------------------------------- ==> Vertical Search Survival http://www.netb2b.com/article.cms?articleId=26837 Essentials: Vertical search engines sometimes provide better results for their audience than popular search engines can. This is especially true with content provided through distribution deals that can give specialty search engines the advantage. Spooked and amazed, they must look for ways to attract their audience away from using popular but general engines. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ==> Dell Adds Google Widgets http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4692078.stm Essentials: Dell is to distribute as many as 100 million new computers with a co-branded Google homepage and Google software. Desktop Search and the Google Toolbar will come preinstalled. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ==> Google Sitemaps Update http://sitemaps.blogspot.com/2006/02/unexpected-common-words.html Essentials: Google Sitemaps now displays words used on your site pages, and words used in inbound links. It also displays the page with the most pagerank in a historical view by month as pagerank changes over time. Robots Exclusion and limited query stats are also available as part of the service. To access these stats, you must publish a token-named file that proves you control the site. A custom 404 error page will mess up the verification process. We use Apache, and the .htaccess ErrorDocument directive actually responds 302, forwarding you to the page you reference with it. Even though we used PHP to respond 404 with the final destination page, Google did not like the original 302. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Got feedback?: http://www.searchreturn.com/feedback.shtml Archives: http://www.searchreturn.com/digest-archive.shtml Alternate formats: http://www.searchreturn.com/info-formats.shtml Manage Subscriptions: http://www.searchreturn.com/help/manage-subs.shtml Problems unsubscribing? Contact the postmaster: mailto:postmaster@searchreturn.com Information on how to sponsor this publication: http://www.searchreturn.com/help/advertise.shtml Published by SearchReturn http://www.searchreturn.com Website Membership: http://www.searchreturn.com/register.shtml The contents of the digest do not necessarily reflect the opinions of SearchReturn or Disa Johnson. SearchReturn and Disa Johnson make no warranties, either expressed or implied, about the truth or accuracy of the contents of the SearchReturn Digest. Copyright 2006 Disa Johnson. All Rights Reserved. -----------------------------------------------------------------