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Axandra
news archive: 13 May 2008
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| Welcome
to the latest issue of the Search
Engine Facts newsletter.
This week, we're taking a look
at a possible -60 penalty on
Google. Which websites are penalized?
How can you avoid getting penalized?
In the news: Yahoo releases "glue" result
pages, Google releases Friend
Connect, Google's Matt Cutts
reveals what Google knows about
spam and much more.
Table of contents:
We hope that
you enjoy this newsletter
and that it helps you to get
more out of your website.
Please pass this newsletter
on to your friends.
Best regards,
|
| 1.
Google's -60 penalty and how
to avoid it |
During
the last weeks, people in online
forums observed some strange Google
result changes. Rumor has it that
there is a new -60 penalty that
Google applies to websites in
which it has lost trust.
What has happened?
Some webmasters found websites
that were listed on position
61 in Google's search results
that had Google Sitelinks
below their listing.
Normally, Google only displays
Google Sitelinks for the first
search result.
Many webmasters believe that
the website that was listed
on position 61 with the Sitelinks
was the number 1 result for
that keyword but had been
penalized by Google.
What does Google say
about the -60 penalty?
In a Google Groups discussion about
showing Sitelinks for #61
results Google employee John
Mu referred to a -60 penalty discussion.
Google hasn't officially
confirmed that a -60 penalty
exists. However, Google employee
John Mu indicated in a discussion about
the -60 penalty in the official
Google groups that Google
penalizes websites if they
contain certain spam elements.
Which spam elements
trigger the -60 penalty?
It looks that Google applies
this penalty to websites that
buy links.
Many of the websites that
seem to have been penalized
had many inbound links from
websites that linked to them
from every single page of
their website (so-called site-wide
links). Sitewide links are
an indicator of paid links,
which Google sees as an unwanted
way to artificially inflate
search engine rankings.
The head of Google's anti-spam
team Matt Cutts has often
said that websites that buy
paid links will be penalized
and it looks as if Google
tries to do the job properly.
If this penalty for paid links
really exists then even websites
that follow Google's rules can
get in trouble. Your competitors
could harm your website simply
by buying links or by creating
mini-net websites with sitewide
links to your website.
 Instead
of penalizing seemingly "bad" links,
Google should simply ignore
them. That way, people could
not harm competitor websites.
If you don't want to get in
trouble with Google, you should
only use ethical
search engine optimization methods.
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to table of contents - Visit
Axandra.com
|
| 2.
Search engine news of the week |
Yahoo
releases glue result pages
Yahoo India released the
new "glue" result
pages. These pages combine
classic search results on
the left hand column with
more visual information in
the middle and right section
of the page.
For example, take a look
at the search result for football.
This might be a test that
Yahoo will extend to the main
Yahoo.com page.
Google
announces Friend Connect
"Visitors to any site
using Google Friend Connect
will be able to see, invite,
and interact with new friends,
or, using secure authorization
APIs, with existing friends
from social sites on the web,
including Facebook, Google
Talk, hi5, orkut, Plaxo, and
more."
Powerset
previews search engine seen
as threat to Google, Yahoo
"In a newly-opened online
showcase, search engine specialist
Powerset is now previewing
a contextual search engine
seen by some as a possible
threat to Google, Yahoo and
other major players through
its support for 'conversational
phrasing.'"
Search engine newslets
- Yahoo adds geography to
search ads.
- Google is a malware site
(says Yahoo).
- Cast your vote for the Doodle 4
Google competition.
- Is Google trying solid-state disks?
- Romans spotted fleeing
Google Street View cars.
- Viewzi takes visual search
to another level.
- Microsoft officially hiring Google
killers.
- Google faces human rights votes.
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to table of contents - Visit
Axandra.com |
What
Google knows about spam
"If you didn't attend
Web 2.0, you can watch [Matt
Cutts'] ten-minute keynote
about 'What Google Knows About
Spam'."
Yahoo
comes up short against Google
with a group that matters
"The reason for Yahoo's
anti-coolness, of course,
is Google. I asked how many
of the students use Google
every day. All hands shot
up. How many use Yahoo every
day? Two hands. [...]
And Microsoft? The company
once dubbed the 'evil empire'
by techies has whole new street
cred among young people, and
the reason for that isn't
Windows and it isn't Office.
It's the Xbox."
Security
flaw turns Gmail into open-relay
server
"A recently-discovered
flaw in Gmail is capable of
turning Google's e-mail service
into a highly effective spam
machine. [...] Gmail is susceptible
to a man-in-the-middle attack
that allows a spammer to send
thousands of bulk e-mails
through Google's SMTP service
without fear of detection."
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Axandra.com
|
| 5.
Price raise on June 1st - Create
a French version |
Do
you want to manage iBusinessPromoter.fr?
We're looking for a native
French speaker who wants to
create and manage iBusinessPromoter.fr.
What you should do:
- Translate all iBusinessPromoter.com
web pages to French
- Translate the order pages
to French
- Find popular SEO related
French keywords to insert
them on the iBusinessPromoter.fr
web pages
- Check the French translation
of IBP
What we offer:
- You will earn 35% of all
sales that are generated
through iBusinessPromoter.fr.
What you should know:
- You should know how to
create HTML web pages. Ideally,
you manage your own website
and you know how to manage
websites.
- You should know the French
SEO terminology.
If you're interested, please
don't hesitate to drop us
a line.
Price raise on June 1st
We will increase the IBP
price by 20% on June 1st.
Any orders placed between
now and June 1st will be honored
at the lower price.
If
you order IBP now, you
will save 20%.
There is no risk with our
unique Top 10 Google Ranking
guarantee (valid for a full
year!) and our 30 day money
back guarantee.
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Axandra.com
|
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