“All a user has to do to turn off personalized search is to add &pws=0 to the URL of a search query” Matt Cutts - SMX Advanced 2007

As easy as that was to repeat for every search, it looks like Google is finally listening to users, who would like to be able to know that their results are being altered from what others see, and would like an easy way to disable that.

Even though many experienced search marketers shun the use of tools, I guess I’m still a rookie because I really enjoy them. No matter how efficient I think I can be, there’s always a better way to do something when you introduce a certain level of automation.

Inside Google Webmaster tools there was apparently a recent addition back in February but I just noticed, and it’s really pretty slick.

When we first set up this blog, we applied for an AdSense account, but for whatever reason, we decided not to add the AdSense code to this blog, so I never did. The account is there, and I’ve even got the code in a widget (I think), but I never made it go live.

Now, this past week, we received this e-mail from the AdSense team:

Dear Scott Orth (ed. - SEMpdx Treasurer)

I don’t really see how it could be true, but I found an interesting topic in our forum where Tom Hale, a local Portland PPC expert and SEMpdx member said this -

“…I have a hunch best practices for Page Rank may have a relationship to best practices for Quality Score…”

and I’ve got to say I’d be surprised. Tom also first points out that Google’s answer would be “no” and that was my initial answer too, but I’m really not so sure… Read the thread

Google is offering us experimental views for their search results and I urge you to participate. You and I can shape the future, by participating in the process that will define how we search in the future.

Why are they doing this?
While some of us may prefer Google classic, there are millions upon millions of webpages are being added every single week to the Internet.

Google’s Toolbar 5 has an interesting feature guaranteed to draw the ire of the domaining community.

From the features page:

Address Bar Browse by Name
Browse by Name helps you find a site even when you don’t know its URL. Just type the site name into your browser address bar, and Toolbar will take you there automatically. For instance, try typing “oxford” into the address bar to go directly to the university’s home page at www.ox.ac.uk.

The lack of AdSense access from my regular Google Account (IGoogle) page never did make sense to me, but it was something I didn’t use often, so didn’t really care.

Well I’m not sure when it happened, but Google has finally allowed me to combine the two, enabling me to access all my Google services from one place, which I think is a big improvement.

Yesterday, Google announced a new option for supporting sitemaps for video, and maps can be submitted right alongside your other sitemap from inside Webmaster Tools.

In my opinion, early adopters of the video sitemaps will gain a huge advantage over the competition, and Google will be placing extra effort into indexing and displaying those results.

Others are just beginning to talk about it, with lots of comments and opinions today already, so you read up on exactly how to do it f you’re marketing with videos.

Hey Matt,

I enjoyed meeting you and chatting with you at Pubcon. You’re a great guy and I truly believe that nobody could possibly do a better job of webmaster outreach than you and I admire that you willingly journey into strongholds of folks that aren’t particularly happy with Google & Google’s policies. You did tell me to post my Google feedback that I gave to you personally…so here it is…but first an opinion.

Seth Godin, author and Change Agent, was recently named Most Important Marketing Guru by leading marketing executives. A few months ago, I asked if he’d keynote at SEMpdx SearchFest 08. While he wasn’t able to speak at SearchFest, he agreed to participate in a SEMpdx Webinar on January 15^th, where he will be giving a free copy of his book to the first 300 registrants. Recently, I was able to get a few minutes of his time for an interview to discuss the release of his 11^th book, Meatball Sundae, available in stores on December 27^th.