Learn how to change your AdSense payee name. Geographic target in Google Webmaster Tools doesn't seem to work well. Video ad support is now in the AdWords API. Landing page load time is coming to AdWords quality score soon. Does SEO have a future? Are header tags important? Do multiple link penalties exist? Yahoo bought Inquisitor. Search in Pictures is out.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Getting Married: How To Change Your Google AdSense Payee Name
2. Does Setting Your Geographic Target In Google Webmaster Tools Work?
3. Video Ad Support Comes To Google AdWords API Sandbox
4. Google's AdWord Quality Score To Add Landing Page Load Time In June
5. Big Debate: Does Search Engine Optimization Have Long Term Viability?
6. How Important are Header Tags?
7. Does the Multiple Link Penalty Really Exist?

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. Google AdWords Adds Landing Page Load Time Metric To Reports & Launching Mid-June
2. Yahoo Buys My Favorite Search Browser Plugin, Inquisitor For Apple Safari
3. Search In Pictures: Cinco De Mayo At Yahoo, Google Lego Monster & Yahoo's Soccer Team

Daily Link Finds:

This is the May 9th, issue of a daily post that will contain links to commentary of the posts over at the Search Engine Roundtable. All links I find throughout the day that ad some commentary to the posts written over at the Search Engine Roundtable, will be in the Daily Link Finds. The purpose is two fold: (1) To help people find discussion around our articles and (2) To thank people for linking to us. How do I find these links? Only one way, via a Google Blog Search link command, so make sure that (1) you are in Google Blog Search and (2) link to us.

Daily Link Finds for May 9th, 2008:

• SearchCap: The Day In Search, May 8, 2008, Search Engine Land
• Classifica Seo Blog aggiornata secondo i feed subscriber di FeedBurner, Esperto Seo Blog
• Follow oder NoFollow, das ist hier die Frage, The Web2.0 Experiment
• Google AdWords and Google AdSense Problems still Persistent, even after 24 Hours!, PageTraffic SEO Blog
• Implementing a Successful Internet Marketing Strategy, Carl-Johan Hunefalk
• Linky Goodness, May 8, Marketing Pilgrim

I only added the icons under the entries, and only on the individual entry pages. I.e. you should not see the large buttons on the home page, category pages, or date pages. You should see them when you view the specific article at the article URL.

For example, check out one of my latest articles on Getting Married: How To Change Your Google AdSense Payee Name. If you scroll down to the bottom of the article, you should see these icons:

Clicking on them should submit and/or vote the story up at the respective social news sites. So give them a try. I think Yahoo Buzz might be a bit buggy on my end, so if you notice issues, please let me know.

Oh, why didn't I add Digg? Well, (1) I have it in the text links where it says "Stumble It! • Digg This! • Add to del.icio.us". (2) Digg traffic isn't something I am looking for right now.

Technically, it started last night - since Jewish dates start at stars up and go through sundown or so. As HebCal says, Yom HaAtzma'ut or Israel's Independence Day, is today. Ask.com says it was yesterday, which can be right - kind of.

Remember when I wished Israel a happy 59th, that was on April 23, 2007 and some guy left a comment there...

It normally falls out on the 5th day of the month of Iyar. But this year that falls out on the Jewish Shabbath, Saturday, so they moved it forward. So this year it is on the 3rd day of Iyar.

For more on the day, I guess see Wikipedia. Also, here is an article from the AFP on the day...

Israel is marking its 60th Independence Day, which began at sundown Wednesday, with a great sense of pride but also uncertainty about its future and doubts about prospects for peace with the Palestinians. Six decades after rising from the ashes of the Holocaust, the Jewish state is still plagued by existential threats from abroad and an identity crisis at home.

AdSense reporting still broken? Do you report spam in Google? That pesky Safe Search filter at Google. Are internal links the same as external links? Google helps Myanmar. Do keyword research offline. Yahoo glues the web. Jennifer Convertibles is based in Croatia according to Google.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Google Says They Fixed AdSense Reporting Bug But Publishers Not Convinced
2. Poll: Do You Report Your Competitors as Spam in Google?
3. How Do You Get Your Images Out Of Google's SafeSearch Filter?
4. Are Internal Links Weighted the Same as External Links by Google?
5. Google Strives to Help Myanmar Cyclone Victims
6. Performing Keyword Research Without a Computer
7. Yahoo Launches Glue Pages ("Universal Search")

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. Yahoo Glue Pages Launches In India
2. Convertibles & Croatia: Google Thinks They Go Together

Daily Link Finds:

This is the May 8th, issue of a daily post that will contain links to commentary of the posts over at the Search Engine Roundtable. All links I find throughout the day that ad some commentary to the posts written over at the Search Engine Roundtable, will be in the Daily Link Finds. The purpose is two fold: (1) To help people find discussion around our articles and (2) To thank people for linking to us. How do I find these links? Only one way, via a Google Blog Search link command, so make sure that (1) you are in Google Blog Search and (2) link to us.

Daily Link Finds for May 8th, 2008:

• Google AdSense in Comic Sans Font, SearchNewz
• PageRank Update for April 2008, gInside
• Search Featured: Barry Schwartz from Search Engine Roundtable, Search Feature
• SearchCap: The Day In Search, May 7, 2008, Search Engine Land
• What the B2B Marketers are Reading, demandblog
• Google Adsense en Comic Sans MS, webilus.com
• AdSense Trauma, S-O-S SEO Blog
• Convertibles & Croatia: Google Thinks They Go Together, Search Engine Land
• Let Google know you're in the UK, Webmaster Roadmap
• New Google Adsense Four Square Ads inside One Large Rectangle Ad unit, My Blog Posts
• Screen Shots of New Google AdSense Font, Comic Sans - Google Blogoscoped Forum, Google Blogoscoped
• Techmeme: Yahoo Glue Pages Launches In India (Barry Schwartz/Search Engine Land), Techmeme

This morning, I went to use the bathroom in my office building. Yes, I use the bathroom. :) When I walked in, I heard someone talking in Russian. I then looked around and noticed the voice was coming from a person in a stall, talking to someone on his cell phone.

I know people talk on their phone while in their personal bathroom. As you can see from the image above, many hotels have a phone in the bathroom for that reason. Personally, I find it weird to talk on the phone while taking care of your most personal and private business. But yes, many people do talk on the phone while doing that. It just isn't for me.

I think you take it to a whole new level when you bring your phone conversations into a public bathroom. It makes me uncomfortable to hear someone talking on their phone while in a public bathroom. Standing by the sink and talking is one thing, but...

Again, I have nothing against bathroom phone talkers. Just another personal blog post on my personal preferences.

The concept of pre-screening references. Most businesses need to give their prospects a list of clients they can call as a reference. Typically, business owners will give the names and numbers of clients who are in love with you. But how do you really know those clients love you? They may be very nice to you in person and over the phone - but when you send them the bill - they may dislike you for it. :)

Do companies pre-screen their references by having friends call to find out what the client might say? This also works with resume references when you are looking for a job. Why not have a friend call your references on your resume to validate that they have good things to say about you? Did any of my former employees do the pre-screening on me? I certainly have not pre-screened any of my client references. But should I?

The process would be simple. In the client references case, just have a friend call and say he is interested in RustyBrick and that I listed you (the client) as a reference. Then have the friend go through a check list of questions and report the answers back to you.

Is that unethical? Is it done in business? Is it smart business practices?

FYI, this might be something that is a no-brainer to some people. I honestly never thought or heard about this concept ever. I was in the shower last night (too much information), thinking about a prospect who recently called my references. I wondered if they had good things to say about me. Then it stuck me, what is to stop me from having a friend find out what they have to say about me.

So what do you think?

You can take a look at the Weather Pollen Report for my area and see this chart:

Or you can use a more scientific approach and look at the hood of my car, as of yesterday afternoon.

All those green smudges on my black car is what we call tree pollen. In fact, I left the moon roof tilted upwards yesterday and I found pollen bits inside my car.

It is the season where cars turn green here.

The Google ads have this hidden pixel for DoubleClick tracking purposes. It is a 1x1 pixel. The 1x1 pixel, 3 out of 8 times, messes up the ad layout. What do I mean? Well, when the Google ad is displayed in 3 of the 8 sections, the 1x1 pixel seems to push the other ads down.

Let me illustrate... X marks the spot of the ad location where the 1x1 pixel messes up the other ads. O marks the spots where the 1x1 pixel does NOT mess up the other ads.

X O
X O
X O
O O

If the Google ad is displayed in any of the X positions, then it messes up the other ads. I tried adding display none and absolute to fix the issue, but it did not work.

Any thoughts out there?

Otherwise, I need to have Google send me a different tracking technique - which is doable.

What is with the title? Not sure. I kept thinking... "Messy Pixel" and it reminded me of Trix for some reason.

Yahoo asks McAfee for protection. Storybids does user generated product placement. AdSense slows to a halt. Google, I am from the UK, well, maybe not. AdSense tests new design. Link farms according to Google. Monday is payday.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Yahoo and McAfee Partner to Give Users SearchScan
2. Storybids Launched to Pair Creatives with Product Advertisers
3. Google AdSense & AdWords Reporting Still Showing Incorrect Data After Over 24 Hours
4. How Do You Tell Google that You're a UK Site?
5. Google AdSense Test Four Text Ads In Large Rectangle Unit
6. The Link Farm: How Does Google Define a Link Farm?
7. Monday: The Biggest Pay Day For Google AdSense Publishers

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. Just Postscripts & Research Today

Daily Link Finds:

This is the May 7th, issue of a daily post that will contain links to commentary of the posts over at the Search Engine Roundtable. All links I find throughout the day that ad some commentary to the posts written over at the Search Engine Roundtable, will be in the Daily Link Finds. The purpose is two fold: (1) To help people find discussion around our articles and (2) To thank people for linking to us. How do I find these links? Only one way, via a Google Blog Search link command, so make sure that (1) you are in Google Blog Search and (2) link to us.

Daily Link Finds for May 7th, 2008:

• Comic Sans To Invade Your AdSense Ads? (Say It Ain't So!), freddie.dot.see.eh? two.point.oh
• Google AdSense Anzeigen in Comic Sans?, Internetmarketing-News.de
• Google AdSense in Comic Sans Font, Google Blogoscoped
• SearchCap: The Day In Search, May 6, 2008, Search Engine Land
• Affiliate Summer im Regen, seoFM
• Comic Sans f AdSense-Anzeigen???, Interessante Zeiten
• De nouvelles polices pour les annonces de Google AdSense ?, Actualites SEO
• eMetrics San Francisco Coverage Schedule, BruceClay.com
• Google Search Update - May 2008, Denial Design
• Google sperimenta annunci AdSense con il font Comic Sans, Motoricerca News
• Techmeme: Neil Young Announces Collected Work With Dynamic Updates from the Web (Marshall Kirkpatrick/ReadWriteWeb), Techmeme
• Top 5 Non-SEO Ways to Increase Your Search Rankings, Search Engine Watch

In short, the emails tells AT&T employees to not take vacation between June 15th and July 12th in anticipation for "an exciting product launch." Everyone and his dog are buzzing that this "exciting product launch" has to do with the 3G iPhone coming out.

Will I get it? I certainly will, unless something comes up where I can't. I did buy my iPhone on July 11th, so it would be just under a year from when I first got it. It honestly feels like I got my iPhone a few months ago, but not, it has almost been a year. I've written about the iPhone dozens and dozens of times. I honestly have no regrets in the iPhone purchase. I will also likely be one of the first to order the 3G iPhone, pending on my schedule of availability.

Note, the Apple Developer Conference ends on June 13th, two days prior to the June 15th announcement. Now, I fully expect the SDK to go live then, but everyone else thinks it will also be the 3G iPhone.

In this case, I track via RSS the revisions to the Search Engine Roundtable's Wikipedia article.

At 18:54 today, some guy from the IP address of 199.20.26.98 made a change to the page. In short, he felt that the Search Engine Roundtable "is by far tha gayest site i have ever seen wikipedia sucks!"

I did a reverse IP address lookup on this user and it turns out he/she goes to Bishop State Community College, or at least made the revision from a college computer. The change was reverted by Philip Trueman, who seems to specialize in killing Wiki vandalism.

So either this Bishop State guy things the Search Engine Roundtable is spam or he hates the article on Wikipedia about the Search Engine Roundtable OR he just is bored in class and needs to keep his time occupied.

Caller: Hi, may I speak with your safety inspector or head of safety.
Me: We don't have a safety inspector.
Caller: Don't you lay bricks? Aren't you a bricklayer company?
Me: We sit behind computers all day.
Caller: Oh, I am sorry.

A bricklayer according to the current Wikipedia page says:

A bricklayer or mason is a tradesman who lays bricks to construct brickwork. The term also refers to personnel who use blocks to construct blockwork walls and other forms of masonry. In British and Australian English, a bricklayer is colloquially known as a "brickie".

On a deeper, more philosophical level, we are a type of bricklayer. We lay the building blocks of your web site and web business. ;-)

The first release will contain years 1963-1972, and will be available on 10 Blu-ray Disc set available this fall from Reprise/Warner Bros. The content will include Young's music, movies, videos, personal archives, memorabilia, photographs, letters, handwritten manuscripts and more.

You can preview some of this at neilyoung.com/archives. Also, here is the Java page:

Rock legend Neil Young is bringing you the most comprehensive, dynamic and interactive career archive ever released with the help of Java technology. His amazing archive, releasing on Blu-ray Disc, is like a time capsule of his career in high definition. With seamless Java powered navigation, you can browse through photos, articles, video clips, and memorabilia, and even have Internet connectivity, all while listening to his legendary music delivered in 192 Khz, 24-bit PCM—for the best possible audio experience. The first 10 Blu-ray Disc set covering Young's career from 1963-1972 will be available from Warner Music this fall. Neil Young and Java: bringing a legend's career and achievements to life for you.

AdSense publishers with AdWords are being punished? Comic Sans font on AdSense? Yahoo auctioning out the product submit prices? Check out the Google Floating Four. Are long URLs spammy? Google Reader adds note taking. Google AdSense adds search. Google tests product images in web search. Google News gets related search. Live Search has a new home page.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Google Fishing Out AdSense Arbitrageurs Through AdWords Accounts?
2. Screen Shots of New Google AdSense Font, Comic Sans
3. Yahoo Changing Product Submit Fee Structure to Auction Model?
4. The Floating Four At Google: Google's Position Four Seems Funky?
5. Are Long URLs Spammy?
6. Google Reader Adds "Share With Note" Feature
7. Google AdSense Adds "AdSense for Search"

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. Google Testing Showing Google Product Images In Search Results?
2. Related Searches Comes To Google News
3. Live Search's New Design Goes Live

Daily Link Finds:

This is the May 6th, issue of a daily post that will contain links to commentary of the posts over at the Search Engine Roundtable. All links I find throughout the day that ad some commentary to the posts written over at the Search Engine Roundtable, will be in the Daily Link Finds. The purpose is two fold: (1) To help people find discussion around our articles and (2) To thank people for linking to us. How do I find these links? Only one way, via a Google Blog Search link command, so make sure that (1) you are in Google Blog Search and (2) link to us.

Daily Link Finds for May 6th, 2008:

• Exploring The Google Penalty Box, WebProNews
• Google Leaks AdWords Quality Score, Portent Interactive
• Pandia Weekend Wrap-up, Pandia
• SearchCap: The Day In Search, May 5, 2008, Search Engine Land
• 5 Must Have Sites of Social Marketing, Aloha Digital Marketing Interactive Blog
• 99 Creative and Memorable Profile Avatars, Get Elastic
• Forums Are Social: But We Need Stuff, Eric Martindale
• Google's Minus 60 Penalty, WebProNews
• How to Get Ideas (for Blog Posts), Alibi Productions
• I Believe In the Google -60 Penalty, Sphinn
• Is Google out with a Confession for its Minus 60 Penalty?, PageTraffic SEO Blog
• Is it Time to Break Up With Your Avatar?, Get Elastic
• Techmeme: AdSense for search now powered by Custom Search (Sandra Tsui/Inside AdSense), Techmeme

Even though I write a ton all over the web, when it comes to talking - I don't do much of it. Yes, I do speak at conferences and seminars. But when it comes to group conversations, I normally take the back seat. I often enjoy listening, and then speaking when I have something good to say.

I used to love listening to speakers who would say so much in just a single line. You know the type. There are those that will repeat the same message over and over again in a 30 minute speech. And there are those that will say 30 messages in a single speech. I much prefer listening to the speaker who says 30 messages in a single speech then listening to a speaker who gives one message in a single speech.

There was one speaker I remember specifically. Every single line was a message in itself. He said a line, and that alone could have been a 30 minute discussion. But he stopped there and then moved on to his next line. Yes, the next line could have been a 30 minute discussion.

Back to being quiet. There is this concept in Judaism (I can be wrong, if so, Israel Brother, please comment).... I think it goes... We are only given so many words in our life time. The more you talk, the less time you got. I don't think it is literal. But there is 100% value in that statement. I think it has to do with the value of listening what others are saying and then only speaking afterwards.

I am being distracted left and right from this post, so I am cutting it short. Which is kinda fitting, i.e. less words. ;-)

Update: I should clarify. I have nothing against loud people, I am just explaining that I am not loud. That is just not my personality. Nothing is wrong with loud people.