Today’s search podcast covers a school district’s student social security
numbers getting into Google; Amazon.com going missing on Google; Google’s PayPal-like
system about to launch; Microsoft promotes adCenter with advertisements and lab
tools; new travel search engines to try; dress up Matt Cutts and more!
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Below are links to items discussed:
- Google
Blamed For Indexing Student Test Scores & Social Security Numbers
Google “hacked our website” from The Inquirer points to Blame game from the
Hickory Record, a story about how the Catawba County Schools in North Carolina
has gained a temporary injunction for “Google to remove any information
pertaining to Catawba County Schools Board of Education from its server and
index and alleges conversion and trespass against the corporation.” The school
blames Google for some how getting into a password protected area and indexing
the content. Let me make this clear, Google cannot submit forms or type in
usernames and passwords. Someone at the school must of left an opening for…
Follow-Up: School Couldn’t Reach Google Until Injunction Filed
Catawba County Schools in North Carolina obtained an injunction to remove
private material from Google because it had no luck getting action from the
search engine after trying other routes, the district tells me. The school
district also stressed that it didn’t claim that Google had somehow hacked
into its servers. Here’s what Catawba County School’s chief technology officer
Judith Ray emailed me about the situation:…
- Still No
Results Found For A Google Search on Amazon.com
John Battelle asked why Google was/is returning no results for a search on [amazon.com]
at 9am (PST, I think) yesterday. At the time, I felt it wasn’t a huge deal,
these things happen on occasion at Google, normally not for such a large
brand, but it happens, nevertheless. What is a bit surprising is that Google
is obviously aware of the issue, based on John telling us Google contacted him
with a confirmation of the issue, but Google has yet to fix the issue, almost
a day later. LeeAnn Prescott at the HitWise blog provides some value
statistical insight into…
- MSN
Talks Spam Defenses; Takes Weekends Off From Indexing
This morning I uncovered two threads at WebmasterWorld that provide
information on MSN from spam defense to when search indexes get updated. The
first is named MSN Asks Webmasters, What is Spam? where MSNdude provides some
insights into how MSN determines what is spam, what are junk pages and
determining the “hierarchy of spam.” The second is named MSN Won’t Do a Search
Index Update on Fridays, Saturdays or Sundays where we see MSNdude posting
that normally MSN will not conduct a search index update on Saturdays and
Sundays, and also they are unlikely to conduct an update on Fridays,…
- Google’s
PayPal-Rival GBuy Looks Set To Launch This Week
We’ve had rumors that Google would launch its own PayPal-like payment system
this week. Widely reported as GBuy, the Wall Street Journal has a few further
details of what looks to be coming any day now….
Microsoft Promotes adCenter In Full Page New York Times Ad
ClickZ reports that Microsoft has a full-page color ad in this morning’s New
York Times that promotes Microsoft adCenter, Microsoft’s PPC engine. The ad
has a link to msftadcenter.com/nyt that notably prompts you with a few
security warnings on the redirects to the final landing page. The ad headline
reportedly reads “She found your furniture ad on Google.” Then there is an
“image is a little girl and her dollhouse.” The ad continues by explaining the
difference between a customer and a click. The ad also touts a “2006 study by
WebSideStory shows that Microsoft adCenter converts customers at a…
Microsoft Re-Launches adCenter Labs Again
Been hearing about the “new” Microsoft adCenter Labs tools this week? That’s
because Microsoft has done another round of publicity on them after initially
launching them earlier this month. Our past recap is here and here….
Cost-Per-Keyword Drops In Q1
MediaPost reports that the cost-per-keyword has dropped from around $30 in the
first quarter of 2006 to “the yearly high of $59 last December.” The data
comes from a DoubleClick study, which also shows that the “cost-per-keyword
was nearly unchanged from the first three months of 2005 to this year’s first
quarter.” The number of clicks (up 24%) and number of keywords did rise from
the year-over-year data….
- Google
Vs. France Trademark Appeal Ruling Expected Wednesday
The International Herald Tribune reports that a Paris appeals court is
expected to issue judgment on a trademark violation appeals case this
Wednesday. Google is expected to lose this appeal once again, due to how
France has treated Google in the past. Just look at these three selected
stories we covered in the past on Jan 20, 2005, Feb 4, 2005, and Mar 16, 2005.
If Louis Vuitton wins the case, they are expected to push to block the use of
the Louis Vuitton trademarks at other Google local properties. But it is
highly unlikely that they will have as…
- Google
To Also Lobby In Europe
Pandia covers that Google is looking to hire a “senior European government
affairs and public policy leader,” to lobby in Europe. Google has hired a
lobbying firm in the states a few months back. More details on the story at
Pandia….
- France’s
Géoportail Mapping Site: La Demande C’est Fantastique!
The French answer to Google Earth, the indirectly government funded Geoportail,
launched Friday and was immediately overwhelmed with visits from eager French
citoyens (citizens) and other curious would-be users. After several visits to
the site this weekend, I was still unable to get in to see anything. Each time
I tried I encountered this message: “Vous êtes incroyablement nombreux à vous
connecter au Géoportail, portail des territoires et des citoyens depuis sa
mise en ligne.” In my broken French it roughly translates: “An incredible
number of you have connected to Geoportail, portal of the territories and the
citizens, since the…
- The SEO
Event Google Calendar
Aaron Wall posted a very useful SEO Event & Conference Calendar using the
Google Calendar platform. The conferences on this calendar include Search
Engine Strategies, WebmasterWorld’s PubCon, Ad Tech, Affiliate Summit,
Gnomedex, Search Bash, SEO Roadshow, SXSW Interactive, Webmasters in the Sun
and Web 2.0 Conference. I think I will create something similar at the Search
Engine Roundtable to give people an idea how what conferences you can expect
us to cover (I may update this post when my schedule is posted)….
- New
Players in Travel Search Threaten to Disrupt Status Quo
Travel search has improved enormously over the past several years, but serious
travellers still find themselves checking multiple web sites to make sure
they’re getting the best deal. That may change with the launch of two new
services that use historical and predictive data to not only find the best
prices for specific flights, but also to suggest the best dates on which to
purchase your tickets. Brian Smith has more about the new services in today’s
SearchDay article, New Players in Travel Search….
- Image
Database To Fight Online Child Porn
The AP reports that AOL, Yahoo, Microsoft, EarthLink, NetZero and Juno are
teaming up to fight child pornography. They are pooling together $1 million to
build a database of pornographic images of children and software to match the
image database with similar matches on their own networks. So Yahoo may scan
email attachments, Yahoo Groups images and other places in the Yahoo network
where images may be. If any of the images match an image in the database, it
can be flagged and sent to the authorities. The exact details of the software
and how it will be used have…
- Build
Your Own Matt Cutts
I reported at the Search Engine Roundtable on a funny little web site that
gives you a way to build your own Matt Cutts. To dress up Matt Cutts, go to
the Matt Cutts Doll and drag and drop clothing on top of Matt’s body. Oh, if
you ever wondered if Matt was a briefs or boxers guys, now you know. Too
funny….