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I’m not alone in moaning about the uk serps

Take a look at a few of these posts http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/020175.html and http://www.ppcblog.co.uk/google/big-geo-problems-still-exist-in-google-uk-serps plus many others..

Well.. Just now google have changed the UI on google.co.uk serps …

WARNING THIS IS NOT GOOD IF YOU FROM THE UK

So the serps are bad already.. yes we agree on the … but google are testing a new UI in chrome only “so far”..

Google have removed the 2 radio buttons with the options  ”the web” and “pages from the UK”

Here is a screen shot from firefox which seems not to be affected:

Here is the google.co.uk chrome home page:

Ok you might not think it “to bad” but one major thing is the serps..

As the radio button has gone google have replace it with “Show only results for United Kingdom” text link… This in a way take up more space and “could” help the uk serps out BUT not all serps have ”Show only results for United Kingdom” at the top..

The screen shot below shows the ”Show only results for United Kingdom” link at the bottom of a google.co.uk serp!

I really hope this doesn’t  stick as its seems to assume you looking for a no UK result well above a uk result and with the way the serps are already this isn’t going to help us in the UK!!

So most people around the world have heard about the snow in the uk that has shut down london this monday. Well we expect more tomorrow!

I love SNOW!! 

We don’t get much snow in the uk :( 

Thought I’d have a looky at google trends for the uk with the term “snow”.. 

check it out click here

One odd thing is google doesn’t pick up snow uk news of which is all the news we have really had this week.

One interesting thing is that Wales come no1 for snow searches when it has fewer people and hasn’t been hit that hard vs the over populated south of the UK… 

screen shot here:

Ok haven’t blogged for an age here… So now that I have a tiny amount of time I thought I’d blog a little now and again.. 

So google hates Wales… 

Well i’ve been away snowboarding for a week as per norm this time of year and brought the snow back to the UK with me … 

So today I thought I’d raise my PPC budget after dropping for the time i’m away.. “as per norm” .. 

Pretty simple.. I raise the daily cap.. done.. 

Me been being bored this am I have a looky at google “Campaign Optimiser” Which states :

Your campaign’s recent performance shows that some targeted locations perform better for you than others. We recommend that you focus on those regions that have higher Click-through rates than your current average.

The Sad/funny thing is I target the UK only with this campaign thus select uk.. Simple yes ? 

Well. Google thinks Wales is just no good for me..  Google suggest removing wales from my geo-targetting which would increase my CTR.. 

wired thing is it will increase CTR and result in less imp’s and clicks.. Odd.. 

Here is the map of the proposed locations: 

This is why removing wales is better :

The bbc seem to think google has started phoographing area in the UK including london see quote:

Street View has already been launched in the US and includes photos of streets in major American cities. Photographing of areas in the UK, including London, is believed to have started this week.

The bbc go on to question about the UK privacy laws for using images and faces with consent..

You can read the full article here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7488524.stm

But the real big question is has anymore seen the google van taking photos ???

I have seen any blogs about a google van as yet but will keep a look out and might pop to london if one is knocking about : )

google are ending adsense Referrals

I did ok with them but hey good things can come to a end..

Thank you for participating in the AdSense Referrals program. We’re writing to let you know that we will be retiring the AdSense Referrals program during the last week of August

Google are now launching

www.google.com/ads/affiliatenetwork.

FOR the USA only

adsense Refferals did have uk affiliates but according to the email its only for the usa

Ah well..

http://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/topic.py?topic=14882

I’ve just checked out a post on SER forum to see if it was a copy a paste job .. you know the sort when someone pastes the same thing about a subject on a load of forums.

Anyway.. The point is that the query return zero results but below showed the results without the quotes..

Brand new for me ..

Here is the screen shots:

Close up:

Here is the query:

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=%22The+inspection+of+searches+will+turn+as+a+helping+hand+for+you+to+find+the+appropriate+

If you haven’t heard of Mr site is a massive cheap cms .. basically a website in a box..

I know loads of people who use it to try selling on the web as it cheap and a pretty good cms for newbies.

Over the weekend and notice went out as follows:

Due to continual problems with Trojan Viruses on the Mr Site servers we would recommend you do not update or republish your site until Mr Site has emailed all users to confirm that this has been rectified.

Mr site has removed its support forum a while back but a unoffical site was setup here: http://www.mrsitemembers.proboards79.com/ 

I hope this guys get it sorted as I know of many unhappy customers who can’t change/update their sites.

This may have a major effect on the UK serps if google block/warn searchers about this…

Mr site, site is down too.. http://www.mrsite.com/   some crazy s**t going on here..

I’m getting 1.4 million indexed pages on google see this link: http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=%22created+at+www.mrsite.com 

I guessing maybe 100,000’s of sites are effect as many of these sites are tiny e.g. 3 pages etc..

I’ve assume this was sort of happening anyway without it be public but yesterday I and all adsense publishers got a email anoucing it!

We’ve recently enabled the Google content network to accept display ads served from qualified third-party vendors. At this time, only ads in English are eligible.

If you’re currently opted in to image ads, you’re already able to receive third-party ads. If you’ve disabled image ads, no third-party ads will be served on your site. (Learn how to enable or disable image ads at

 

https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=9741.)

I run picture/txt ads on to of a forum I run with 10k+ page views a day which has oftern had high end adverts e.g. DHL targeting the site. I’ve assumed this targeting was NOT directly applied but via some agreement / 3rd party..

I hope my $ are going to go up

I look forward to the results.

Today in 1920 Florence nightingale was born!

Today in 2008 google.co.uk give respest to her on the google.co.uk homepage with a new google logo link to http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=florence+nightingale%27s+birthday&hl=en

With the query “florence nightingale’s birthday”

This isn’t showing on the google.com homepage for me “yet” .. UK thing

Here is the logo:

Here is a bit of info about who she was and what she did.. taken from : http://www.netwrx1.com/CherryAmes/nightingale.html

• Florence Nightingale studied nursing in Alexandria, Egypt, and at the Institute for Protestant Deaconesses in Kaiserswerth, Germany.
• She became superintendent of London’s Hospital for Invalid Gentlewomen in 1850.
• She went to Scutari with thirty-eight nurses early in the Crimean War to direct nursing operations; her efforts resulted in greatly reducing mortality rates among the sick and wounded.
• She founded the Nightingale School and Home for Nurses at St. Thomas Hospital in London in 1860, marking the beginning of professional nursing education.
• In 1907, she received the British Order of Merit; she was the first woman to be so honored.

On the uk homepage of google today we have a funky logo from the artist Jeff koons promoting the igoogle theme homepage on the uk public.

Who is jeff Koons?

American artist Jeff Koons burst onto the international art scene in the 1980s. He creates iconic work such as Michael Jackson and Bubbles, Rabbit, and Puppy. He is exhibited throughout the world.

 

here the logo:

Find out more here: http://www.google.co.uk/help/ig/art/