We have today received a copy of a new ebook called the linkbuilders bible.

It looks very comprehensive and full of top quality information on link building tips, tricks and strategies.

We have been sent a review copy as IBL Builder is recommended in it.

We are currently negotiating a special IBL builder members price for it, and hope to be able to pass this on in the next few days.

It is official, Google’s “Caffeine” algo-update is coming very soon.  Described by Google as “next-generation architecture for Google’s web search,” Caffeine will be the largest update for several years.

According to Google’s Webmaster Central blog, Caffeine will be “the first step in a process that will let us push the envelope on size, indexing speed, accuracy, comprehensiveness and other dimensions.”

Sounds serious…

You may or may not know that Google has been soliciting feedback from the online community for months now, by making their Caffeine update publically available at http://www2.sandbox.google.com. However, that URL now just displays a “thank you” message.

So if you already know via checking that your site will take a nasty SERP fall, or you are unaware of how your site will react to Caffeine, then now is the time to take action and educate yourself, rather than leaving yourself open to a nasty traffic drop as a New Year present.

If you employ an SEO company, and have not heard from them about Caffeine already,  phone them and ask them what impact Caffeine may have. If they cannot tell you then I would recommend making a new years resolution to find a new SEO company!

Matt Cutt’s has now confirmed that the Caffeine update will go live “after the holidays” (not particularly clear terminology for those of of use living outside the USA, but hey Google has always been bizarrely global in audience, while at the same time failing to educate it’s spokespeople to talk in a non-USA-centric manner).

“The feedback on Caffeine has been very positive, so we’re ready to move from the developer preview to the next stage of the roll out: going live with Caffeine at one data center. This means that a small percentage of Google’s users will benefit from the technology behind Caffeine in their regular searches.

I know that webmasters can get anxious around this time of year, so I wanted to reassure site owners that the full Caffeine roll out will happen after the holidays. Caffeine will go live at one data center so that we can continue to collect data and improve the technology, but I don’t expect Caffeine to go live at additional data centers until after the holidays are over. Most searchers wouldn’t immediately notice any changes with Caffeine, but going slowly not only gives us time to collect feedback and improve, but will also minimize the stress on webmasters during the holidays.”

I found this wonderful clip on YouTube, which shows how Google can be perceived by two people.

I have to say I personally am starting to find the control Google has over the internet pretty scary. The evidence is also that they are harvesting and using a lot more info about you than you can possibly imagine.  The scariest bit from a website owners point of view has to be Googles social graph and XFN link developments.  Look them up and read – Google is starting to associate you with all sorts of people, websites and neighbourhoods through its own assumptions in many cases.  Not good.

For example did you know that Google profiles people involved in the SEO industry?  Why?  To head off paid linking which Google hates, apparently.  Matt Cutts also classifies incentivised linking as having the potential for getting closer scrutiny from Google.  Who made them the Police, and what does investigation involve?  Well a lot more than you think apparently.

Do a search for Google android phone on ebay, and read all about it.  Basically, Google gave away a load of Android phones at a conference earlier this year.  Within days they had 50K links to Android.  Now it does not take a huge amount of brain power to work out that if you give free phones to people who write online that they will talk about it and Android.  Incentivized links?  Damn right.

You try the same thing and watch your site plummet if Google finds out.

So enjoy the video, and just think, whatever you *think* Google knows about you and is using, multiply it by 10 and you will come closer to the truth.  And ten years down the line it could still be impacting on how you are treated online.

Hi

This is the email sent out to over 2200 link exchange members today.  Please check your links are in place and open a support ticket if you have any issues:

Hi IBL Builder members,

It was reported to me today that we have had to suspend 32 member zones this morning.  The reason was that the bot reported them as not displaying agreed outbound links.  It took one of my staff two hours to verify that this was the case by visually checking each site.

If you have received a suspended zone message, please act on it and help us to get your zone working for you. 

Could I ask everyone who knows they agreed an outbound link, to have a glance at their site and check the links are visible.  The reason for asking this is two-fold, firstly to make sure you don't get the hassle of a suspended zone, and secondly so we can check there is not a bigger issue here, such as the automated display option not working for example.

On a happier note, we have today launched a new feature.  If you login and visit the "settings" link, you can now enter up to 9 sub-categories into a form and submit it.  You will then be notified by email once per day displaying any new zones listed in the member directory for those sub-categories.

This means that you can jump straight in and offer/request links with new members, getting ahead of the queue!

Thanks

Jason