Links to this week's topics from search engine forums across the web.
Patent Problems Prompting Google Changes?
JimWorld
"With that patent in existence, Google cannot IPO unless ownership of it is either explicitly and fully transferred to them, they cut a deal for profit sharing with Stanford, or until their organic search is rewritten in such a way that Google can exist separately from that patent."
Alexa Rankings... How to Bring It Down Legitimately
Webmaster World
"All you can do is increase traffic. Any ranking above about 8-10k can safely be ignored. Once into that territory, it is pretty hard to influence (believe, I've studied this in depth, and I can't see a way to influence it other than by traffic.)"
Incoming Links from Client Sites
Cre8asite Forums
"...this isn't saying we need to discard the idea of having links on client sites. Rather, we need to make the relevance more implicit. The simplest way of attaining this would be to change the way these links are worded."
Self-appointed SEO [Search Engine Optimization” Expert Has An Opinion
High Rankings Forum
"This report contains my speculation about the recent Google update. I am not responsible for what you do with it. I don't have any inside information from the Googleplex. I do have friends at Stanford who wish they worked at Google. I think I am probably right, but I am willing to be wrong."
IPO: Google Selects Bankers
Best Practices Forums
"If Google was a non-profit organization that switched tracks, only then would all this talk be relevant. Brin and Page founded Google as a company with the intention to profit. Why must they be denied the IPO route?"
Are you satisfied with your PPC Marketing?
Cre8asite Forums
"...is your site usable, and good at converting visitors into customers? Many times, a site is confusing, poorly laid out without clear calls to action. Sometimes, it isn't the PPC campaign that fails, but the site that traffic ends up on."
Can You Get TOO Usable? (Of Blinders and Peanut Jars)
Cre8asite Forums
"Is there a time or a set of circumstances when you are better served by putting a link or a button in the 'wrong' place just so the user has to look around for a minute - and maybe spot something else that they never knew was there?"
Search Engine Forums Spotlight courtesy Search Engine Guide.
SearchDay Week in Review
Local Search: The Hybrid Future
SearchDay, Jan. 8, 2004
http://www.searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3296721
Last year at this time there was really no such thing as 'local search.' Fast forward twelve months and local is one of the hottest topics in search.
2003's Most Wanted Search Terms
SearchDay, Jan. 7, 2004
http://www.searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3296341
The most popular search terms of the past year reveal as much about the interests of searchers as they do about the perceived 'personalities' of the major search engines.
Super Searchers on Madison Avenue
SearchDay, Jan. 6, 2004
http://www.searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3295391
In the high pressure world of advertising, researchers need to be both good and fast. In the most recent addition to the Super Searcher series, some of Madison Avenue's best information sleuths share their secrets.
Search Engine Milestones for December 2003
SearchDay, Jan. 5, 2004
http://www.searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3294711
Notable news and announcements from the web search world during the past month.
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