Google Using ToolBar Data To Find New Sites
I’ve read a lot recently that Google is relying more and more on ToolBar data for determining SERPS, site quality, etc - as a matter of fact, Jeremy Shoemaker mentioned it just the other day in his post titled SEO Has No Future. So far though, the theory that Google is using this data is just that - theory. It makes sense. Why else would Google pay $1 for Firefox with Google Toolbar conversions? But as usual with Google, nobody knows for sure (until now?)
Proof That Google Is Using ToolBar Data:
Maybe this is already known by others, but it’s new to me so I’m writing about it because I think you can use it to your advantage - Especially if you create a lot of new sites and you want Google to get them indexed quickly.
A week or so ago, Mubin Ahmed was having trouble with his server. I offered to help and created an account for him on my dedicated server and imported his WordPress blog. He ended up getting another server so his account was only active on my box for a few hours. The only two people that knew the custom URL to the test-blog were Mubin and myself. I don’t think Mubin even visited the test-site, but I visited it several times using Firefox with the ToolBar installed. Once we got Mubin up and running on his own server, I deleted his test blog from my server and deleted the account - remember - total time online only a few hours.
Today while perusing my server logs I noticed something very odd: Several attempted hits to unique URLs that belonged to Mubin’s test-blog. All of those hits were from the Google Bot. The only way that Google could have known that those unique URLs existed is if they were captured while I was visiting those pages. This test-blog had no links from anywhere, and it was only online for a short time. To me this is proof that Google used the data collected via the Toolbar when I visited those pages to add them to the index.
So if you want your new sites found and indexed quickly, it looks like all you have to do is visit it a few times with your toolbar installed - getting a few of your friends to do the same thing might help too.
No biggie - but I thought I would share.
Firefox Referral Tracking Issue Confirmed As “Bug”
This is a follow-up to the post I made March 21, Firefox Referrals A Waste Of Space?
The last response I received from Adsense Support was “I’ve escalated your issue to one of our account pecialists for further investigation. We’ll get back to you shortly.” That was on Monday, and I still have not heard back from them.
However, a few days after the issue with Firefox Referral tracking first appeared on March 19th, I sent an email to my “inside” contact at Google. To protect his identity, I will refer to him as “Mr. G”. I was beginning to think that Mr. G would not respond to my message, but to my surprise, his reply popped-up on my iPhone this morning just before lunch. In part, he said:
I was told that there does seem to be a bug which is currently being addressed. I’ll forward you any response I get about the solution they implement.
So based on this exclusive information from “Mr. G” - Google is aware of this issue, it is a “bug” and it is not caused by “invalid clicks” as I was originally led to believe in my first response from Adsense Support.
So the good news is that it is a bug, which means the good people at the GooglePlex should have it worked-out soon. The bad news is that it is a bug, and it will be a while before it gets fixed - meaning many publisher’s income will continue to suffer until then.
UPDATE: Within days of this post, Adsense fixed whatever the issue was, and Firefox conversions and earnings are now back to normal. This has been confirmed by many other webmasters at the DP Forums. Google never made any announcement about the problem.
Google PR Bitch-Slap
After months of waiting for the big PR export, tonight it happened. Did I finally get that PR-6 that I was expecting? After all, with thousands of good back links and ever-increasing SERPS, I deserve it right?
Apparently not.
Tonight Google rewarded GrownUpGeek.com by dropping it from a PR5, to a PR4.
Since I don’t sell links on the site and because traffic, Adsense and Kontera earnings are all on the increase I guess a lower PageRank only affects my ego.
Is PageRank dead? Please post a comment and let us know how important you think PageRank is or is not..
Adwords Is A Very Evil Place
This guest post is from Clint Dixon:
Do No Evil - Google’s mantra as we all know, however they do not practice such a concept and here is why;
I am a internet advertising professional. Over the years I have always said that advertising with Google Adwords using their content network was a sure and painful way to drain your bank account quickly and make Sergy Larry & Jack much much richer.
Now while many think (keyword) Google is a great company, I have problems with any organization trying to pass it’s self off as an advertising auction retailer, that cannot make the most simplistic decisions and choices that are in the best interest of the Advertiser.
In this case the Advertiser is me. I have several domains I have parked and earning cash and as such decided I wanted to see if I could drive incremental traffic to one of my parked domains with Google Adwords Content Network of websites.
Now one would think Google being as large as they are would have some websites in the Content Network that would be related to Real Estate.
So I started a new campaign recently for a domain in the Real Estate category and under the niche of ‘flipping houses’. This is where someone buys an old house renovates it and sells at a nice profit. Currently a growing category within the Read more
