This is very very early and I don't have evidence of this myself, since I don't monitor rankings, but a single post at WebmasterWorld suggested there is a Bing update taking place.
textex, someone I trust at the forum, who has been a member of WebmasterWorld for almost ten years now, said:
Looks like an update....
So if there is a Bing update, there is a Yahoo update in the US and Canada.
Did you notice major changes in your Bing rankings?
Yesterday I reported Google is testing "sponsored map icons" in the US. They are basically enhanced point of interest icons using the company's logo, instead of the basic POI (point of interest) icon Google uses on the map views.
Here you can see some POI icons, also known as "labels." They include a doctor icon, a bed and breakfast icon, a synagogue icon, a lawyer office icon and them some generic squares.
Clearly, when you define your business category in Google Places, Google knows which icon to show for your business. But why are only these businesses showing? There are literally dozens of businesses near mine, which is RustyBrick. I work in an office building, so why is RustyBrick shown and not the 100 or so other businesses here?
The place labels shown on Google Maps are determined algorithmically based on a large number of factors, so there is no way to guarantee placement of your business on the map as a place label. One factor these algorithms consider is the accuracy of the business listing and the richness of the content associated with the listing, so you can improve the chances that your business will receive a place label if you claim it in Google Places.
Right, that doesn't say much, does it? But when I spoke with Google Product Manager, Matthew Leske yesterday, he dropped some hints as to how Google decides which icons to show at what level. He told me the following factors go into making this up:
Google looks at the listings:
Quantity of citations
Is there Wikipedia entry (he specifically mentioned that)
Search volume for business
and "other relevant information"
He explained it is more like a web search relevancy algorithm than anything else.
I doubt you missed the big SEO community news from yesterday. Danny Sullivan announced in a Sphinn thread that Sphinn will be going the editorial route and be removing voting. Instead, editors will decide what should be on the front page and not users.
Users can still submit content, but editors have the final say on what makes it to the front page of Sphinn. The goal is to have hand picked content that the community can discuss, as opposed to have users vote on content submitted by anyone. Read Danny's full explanation for more details.
The community, at least the ones upset with the decision, were extremely vocal about their dislike of this decision. Some are saying that the moderators will only allow their "friends" content on the front page. Some are saying that taking away voting removes the core of the Sphinn site. Some are saying that this just makes it one more discussion forum. Personally, I have no idea - but I'd like to see how this model works.
What do you think? Here is an anonymous poll:
There are many threads and blog posts about it, most linked to in the primary Sphinn thread.
Some users have recently been having difficultly removing verified users in Google Webmaster Tools. Google allows you to give multiple users access to view your Google Webmaster Tools reports and data.
Sometimes you want to revoke access to some of those users. To do that, you go "Add or remove owners" on the Webmaster Tools homepage and click "unverify."
But that was not working for the past couple days. Google admitted the bug and said it was fixed last night in a Google Webmaster Help thread. Dennis G. from Google said:
We had a bug in our server that blocked follow-up "unverify" requests, so it was impossible to remove that "Unverification pending" warning. It should be fixed now, so just click that "unverify" link one last time. Sorry for the inconvenience.
