SEO/SEM News

For Vorgermilten, assuming the contest is for real, and this SEO contest ends on December 31, 2006, I should be receiving $600 and an iPod if the rankings do not change on Google and Yahoo which seem to appear stable.

But taking a look at Ituloy AngSulong, for the past week, this is what I have been seeing:

• Google: Results are stable. So stable, I do not see any changes happening. Maybe it is also due to the fact that everyone is busy with their holiday celebrations and no one is working on their websites. I barely see any changes in positions.
• Yahoo: The number 1 position dances all the time and makes big jumps too. My site jumps from 1 to 14, to 1 to 22 and back to 1 and some place else. I do not know why, but I think the results that slowly inch their way up have better chances of staying there, than those that jump up and down large steps.
• MSN: Double entries coming out. I can’t remember who was the first one that told me, but I think it is Alfredo Palconit was the first that sent me an IM about it. Then when I found out it was happening with my site too, I showed my officemate who runs free online flash games and was also showing double entries on MSN. Like they appear both on page 1 and page 2 with the exact same URL.

Google decides to end Google Answers on December 31, 2006. Although if you visit the Google Answers page, it is already saying it is no longer accepting questions. Although on the page it is not saying why the service ended, some people speculate that Yahoo! Answers was able to build a bigger and better community for this type of question and answer portal. But in my opinion, if Google really wanted to head to head with Yahoo! in this type of service, I think Google has the resources and technical knowledge to do so. I believe it has something to do with some other reason. Maybe maintaining this site will lose focus on other sites?

Another service that ended is the Google Search SOAP API silently starting December 5, 2006 and is pushing to use the Google Search AJAX API instead. Now there are tons of applications out there using the SOAP version, does it mean applications will just collapse? Actually not, they will still run but they are no longer issuing new API keys for the SOAP search. The reason behind it, I really do not know. Maybe the AJAX search was proven to be better based on whatever test they made, but they can’t just shut everyone off that used the SOAP version. Thus they still keep the SOAP versions running for whoever still has it.

My mom, my sister, my wife thinks my room is a mess. My workspace is full or disorganized junk everywhere. But maybe I am just building my creative thinking? Look at an employee at Google…

Photo: Eros Hoagland/Redux - TIME
Check the rest of the photos at Time Magazines Photo Essay. Life in the Googleplex.