Weekly Rap-up of Search Engine Industry News – 1/22 – 1/26

A summary of search related news items that occurred this week including Wikipedia adds NOFOLLOW attribute to all outbound links, SEMPO launches a series of online training courses, Google releases new version of Google Groups, Google announces future plans for recently acquired YouTube, and finally if there was not enough Google items already, they announce an algorithm change designed to combat Googlebombing.

Monday

• Wikipedia Adds NOFOLLOW Attribute To Outbound Links - Carsten Cumbrowski from Search Engine Journal has notice that Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, has added the NOFOLLOW attribute to all outbound links apparently in a move to help fight the spamming of its pages. Many SEOs and search marketers droll over the thought of gaining a link from what is considered one of the top authority sites on the Internet. Will this help cut down the spamming of their pages? Li Evans thinks so but reminds us that a link on a Wikipedia page may still drive valuable traffic to sites simply due to their authority and large user base.

Tuesday

• SEMPO Launches Online SEM Training - The new SEMPO Institute has developed a comprehensive curriculum to provide both entry level learning and truly advanced professional SEM training. The courses will allow you to learn at your own pace and will include challenging quizzes and tests for each lesson in the course. The first class is called “Fundamentals of Search Marketing” and will cover the basics of search marketing. Cost is $499 with up to 30% discount offered to SEMPO members. Enroll at www.sempo.org/learning_center/institute. More advanced courses are to follow.

Wednesday

• New Version of Google Groups Released – Google Groups now offers new options for custom, private web pages that take groups beyond message board type of format. Changes include the ability to create and contribute to shared web pages with simple drag, drops, cuts, pastes, and clicks, a customized look and feel where you can select pictures, colors, and styles to express your group’s style, see who else is in the group and read their profiles as well as the ability to personalize your own profile with a photo and other details, file sharing with the ability to post documents that anyone in the group can access, and finally, easier reading of group discussions.

Thursday

• Google Begins The Integration of YouTube – Google provided a glimpse today of its future plans for YouTube of which they completed acquisition of last November. Starting today, YouTube video results will appear in the Google Video search index. As users click on YouTube thumbnails, they will be taken to YouTube.com to experience the videos. Over time, Google Video will become even more comprehensive as it evolves into a service where you can search for the world’s online video content, irrespective of where it may be hosted. Google will support YouTube by providing access to search and monetization platforms but will continue to operate YouTube as an independent subsidiary of Google.

Friday

• Google Defuses Googlebombs – You’ve no doubt heard of them, one of the most famous being “miserable failure” – where a search for this phrase would bring up President George W. Bush’s bio page at the White House web site. Today, Google announces efforts to defuse Googlebombing by improving their analysis of the link structure of the web. Now they look to return commentary, discussions, and articles about the Googlebombs instead linking to the actual site being targeted. This move has many discussing how it might impact link building efforts using anchor text to rank for specific words of phrases. Discussions can be found at WebmasterWorld, Cre8asite Forums, and Threadwatch.