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'Emanuel Update': Google will penalize sites repeatedly accused of copyright infringement

Search Engine Land :: Has someone filed a large number of DMCA “takedown” requests against your site? If so, look out. That’s the latest penalty that may cause you to rank lower in Google’s search results. It joins other penalties such as “Panda” and “Penguin.” We’re dubbing it the “Emanuel Update” in honor of Hollywood mogul Ari Emanuel, who helped prompt it.

Emanuel Update explained - A report by Danny Sullivan, searchengineland.com

If you like to understand which sites will be affected, visit Google's Transparency Report  to browse the list of copyright removal requests, specified domains here:

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SEO implications of Google’s third party commenting system

Search Engine Watch :: One bit of Google gossip that has largely flown under the radar thus far, should the rumors turn out to be true about Google working on a third party commenting system, could have a large impact on organic rankings.

Continue to read Adam Dorfman, searchenginewatch.com

SEO: TypePad blogs get more relevant with Zemanta recommendations

This blog is hosted by Typepad and I have started to evaluate its new Zemanta feature a couple of days ago. The links below have been automatically suggested and manually added by one click using Zemanta. It's easy to use. Time will see how and if it has impact on traffic as well.

ReadWriteWeb :: Life just got a little easier for bloggers who use TypePad. The hosted blogging platform announced that it is integrating Zemanta’s content recommendation tools into its service, which suggests links to related stories from across the Web. Zemanta also generates in-text links to related information. For instance, if you mention Mark Zuckerberg in a post, the platform will suggest linking to his Wikipedia entry. If it's about a movie, the IMBD and Rotten Tomatoes pages will be pulled in automatically.

Continue to read John Paul Titlow, www.readwriteweb.com

The reality of mixing the social graph with search engines: It doesn't work

Search Engine Land :: I’m having a bad day. Aside from my desktop crashing, we get another spate of “let’s blame SEO” to start my morning off. Robert Scoble uses that theme as a launching pad for a series of videos on how Facebook potentially could be a killer search engine — regardless of the fact he seems to have no clue that “social graph” or social networking mixing has been tried and abandoned with search. Having watched his videos, which have sparked much discussion, I’ll do some debunking, some educating for those who want more history of what’s been done in the area, plus I’ll swing around to that New York Times article today that ascribes super-ranking powers to SEO.

Continue to read Danny Sullivan, searchengineland.com

Too much focus on Google+? Google's crappy search results

Search Engine Land :: The debate about what should — and shouldn’t — show in a Google search result for “santorum” has been well-documented, at this point. But I’d like to use this now famous search to illustrate something else: how it appears Google is taking its eye off the ball of being a search engine.

[Danny Sullivan:] Dear Google: Crappy results like (my search for Santorum) don't give the impression you care about search.

Continue to read Danny Sullivan, searchengineland.com

2011: The year Google & Bing took away from SEOs & Publishers

Search Engine Land :: Increasingly over the years, search engines — Google in particular — have given more and more support to SEOs and publishers. But 2011 marked the first significant reversal that I can recall, with both linking and keyword data being withheld. Here’s what happened, why it matters and how publishers can push back if Google and Bing don’t change things.

Continue to read Danny Sullivan, searchengineland.com

"author:" command no longer available on Google News - how to highlight journalists?

SERoundtable.com :: Google has dropped a feature on Google News to help you locate articles by authors. The feature was the author command and worked where you typed in the Google News search box, [author:firstname lastname]. Now when you search using that command, nothing is returned.

[Erik S. member of the Google News Team:] The author: search operator is no longer available. For author-specific Google News content, I would recommend use of the Authorship capabilities in Google News, introduced last month (see link below). Integration with Google+ circles means easier following and engagement between authors and readers.

Details - continue to read www.seroundtable.com

Highlighting journalists on Google - continue Google Help, googlenewsblog.blogspot.com

Google "Freshness" update affects 35% of searches: winners & losers

If you've heard about Google Caffeine and Panda lately but still are sure what it means and how it impacts your journalistic work, this article by Jon Mitchell might help. SEO visibility is a term to describe the visibility of a site if you conduct a keyword search. Which position will your site have on Search Result Pages (SERP), if you type in term A?

ReadWriteWeb :: Searchmetrics has measured the impact of the "freshness" updates to Google's search ranking algorithm, which affected around 35% of all searches. By measuring SEO visibility, Searchmetrics found that a clear category of sites gained prominence as a result of the update, while the few sites that lost are all over the map.

Sites that benefited from the update tend to be content sites and brand sites with frequent updates.

Continue to read Jon Mitchell, www.readwriteweb.com

Is Google still as good as it used to be at finding what we're looking for?

I personally like Google's instant search. It helps me to faster finetune my search terms in order to find what I'm really looking for. Jon Mitchell's piece is interesting because he focuses on the impact of Google+ on search results, which helps to focus your efforts if you are in charge of your personal blog or any kind of news site.

ReadWriteWeb :: Google.com is still one of the cleanest, calmest sites on the Web. At least, it is before you start typing. At this point, you don't even have to hit enter before the page starts filling up with noise. Google has been hard at work on its core product this year. The changes have affected search quality in uneven ways.

This year, Google's Panda updates seemed careful and prudent, punishing sites who game the system for better page rank. This was also the year of social SEO, in which the +1 button began to affect search results. Google is also moving away from historical results and toward real-time search. Is Google still as good as it used to be at finding what we're looking for?

Continue to read Jon Mitchell, www.readwriteweb.com

Do you know Google's official stance on mobile search & SEO?

People are increasingly reading and consuming their news on their mobile devices. For sure it is not a bad idea to have a closer look at how Google deals with mobile content - in this case with the help of Bryson Meunier, Seach Engine Land. Good news first: mobile content is not dublicated content! And what about mobile access via smartphones?

Search Engine Land :: Earlier this month Google announced Go Mo, clearly labeled as “a Google Initiative”, as though it represents the official Google position on the value of mobile content and mobile sites. But what is the official Google stance on mobile sites, search and SEO? Will having mobile content help in search results?

Continue to read Bryson Meunier, searchengineland.com