I-Search #037: BMW Penalty Lifted

-----------------------------------------------------------------
                    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.
-----------------------------------------------------------------