Matt Cutts has a useful clarification on his blog regarding all the talk of Google consolidating subdomains in search results. Turns out things are not nearly as bad as previously assumed; rather than consolidating all subdomains into single groups, Google’s algorithm has just gotten smarter and can now tell between subdomains used for seperate sites and those used for navigational purposes.
What does this mean? It means that, if the algo works as intended, a price comparison site that changed the subdomain for every category o product would probably be subject to “host crowding”, with all the subdomains considered one single site, while a blog site (like this one) that uses subdomains to denote almost completely seperate blogs would continue to be treated like seperate sites.
Matt also clarifies that this change has been live for a while now. So, if your site isn’t already subject to host crowding, it probably won’t be. Check it out. If you are worried, do a better job differentiating between your subdomains, like changin the titles and other template-wide details.
December 18th, 2007
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Search Optimization |
2 comments
Google Video’s homepage got another re-design:
Now, I like Google Video, and I like the new features on the homepage. Still, for all we know Google will close the service next week or next month, and they seem to have no idea what to do with it at the moment, so why does the band keep playing?
You know what they say:
Amateurs built the ark. Professionals built the Titanic.
Wait, did I take my Titanic metaphors one step too far? Sorry.
(via Ionut)
December 18th, 2007
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Google Video, Services, Humor |
2 comments
Newsknife has compiled a list of the top ranked sites on Google News over the last year, and The New York Times took the top spot after finishing second last year. 2006’s winner, ABC News, fell to fifth, and the Guardian fell completely out of the top 12. The top news sources of 2007:
- New York Times
- Voice of America
- Reuters
- Washington Post
- ABC News
- Houston Chronicle
- Forbes
- Times Online, UK
- Bloomberg
- CNN
- Los Angeles Times
- Associated Press
Most interesting of all is the inclusion of the Associated Press at #12. The AP became a source in late August when Google made a content publishing deal with them. Thusly, AP stories are printed by Google itself, and other newspapers that would have gotten onto the home page are left out (thanks to a new duplication removal algorithm). That combined to, in just three months, put the AP in the top 12. Expect it to place in the top 5 in 2008, possibly even at #1.
November 2006:
1 Guardian Unlimited, UK
2 International Herald Tribune, France
3 Forbes
4 Houston Chronicle
5 BBC News, UK
6 Reuters
November 2007:
1 The Associated Press
2 Reuters
3 New York Times
4 BBC News, UK
5 AFP
6 Voice of America
(via Search Engine Watch)
December 18th, 2007
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Google News, Search |
no comments
