Google CEO Eric Schmidt on click fraud:

“Believe me, as a computer scientist, we have the ability to detect the invalid clicks before they reach advertisers,” says Schmidt, who has a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley. “The attacks on us are easily detected.”

Schmidt declines to say how pervasive the click scams are or how, exactly, his company combats them. Doing so would help the fraudsters, he says. Schmidt says shareholders shouldn’t worry: Google monitors every click and refunds advertisers for many of the phony ones. (highlights are mine)

If only the world was that perfect :)

Via DenverPost.com.

Inspired by Rob Sullivan’s How to beat the Google Sandbox post, I’ve decided to conduct my own experiment. Rob’s hypothesis which we want to test is this: Google AdSense can get a site out of the Google Sandbox.
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Rob Sullivan over at the TextLinkBrokers.com blog has somehow found a link between AdSense and escaping the Sandbox.

…I have another site that I started over a year ago, and have been dutifully building content and links, yet I can’t get it out of the sandbox. In fact, the current Google cache is of pages that no longer exist, and haven’t for months.

My explanation, however out there it seems to be is that somehow the Google Ads have allowed the site to bypass the sandbox and move into the index almost immediately.

The first Google organic referral came last week, just two short weeks after the site was tagged with the Google Adsense code. Since then, both sites have received a handful of Google organic referrals.

Based on this very small and somewhat limited test case, my gut is telling me that one way out of the sandbox and into the SERPs is to apply for and install Google AdSense onto your site.

I’m not convinced. Some of his examples are circumstantial at best. Definitely not something I’d stake my site’s SEO on. The good thing about it is, I’m so not convinced I’ve decided to do a scientific study on his hypothesis myself. Stay tuned for more details.

Previous Ask Marc sessions have shown that one of the most common pimp my site question relates to niche selection: what niche should I go into? Normally, I’d go into the wherever-you’re-most-comfortable tirade but 9 out of 10 people who ask me equate good niches with profitable niches.

I won’t point you to the exact niches that pay unlike Andy who seems to get a kick out of dropping profitable niches in public, but I will tell you the 3 signs to look out for:
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The AdSense Publisher Support team has just released an ad placement/targeting guide for bloggers.

Image from adsense.blogspot.com

Good luck. You’ll probably get 2% CTR with that ad placement scheme.
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In part 1 of the DrToy Story, we looked at some of the site’s basic search engine profile. This time around, we tackle keyword research.

Every serious SEO campaign should start with a thorough keyword selection process. Oftentimes client perceive this phase as just another high traffic keyword hunt in Overture, Keyword Discovery and Wordtracker. In a saturated and extremely competitive market like toys, keyword research actually means discovering profitable keyword niches your competition hasn’t discovered or exploited to the fullest.
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I’ve seen 336×280 ad units carrying 3 or 4 ads again. Others are seeing it too. I reported earlier that eCPM got a boost by showing less ads so on whether this development is good or bad for publishers, a big fat “I don’t know yet”.
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Having conquered contextual advertising, Google is now testing rich media ads on a select group of publishers. According to Jensense this looks to be a strategic move for Google to isolate competitors in the rich media ad format space.
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I’m not sure how this action by the Blogger News Network will affect Google’s decision to censor seach results in China.

“In response to the decision of Google to gain access to the Chinese market by censoring its search content, Blogger News Network has reached the difficult decision to discontinue running Google’s ads on our service. As a news organization with aspirations to earning public trust, BNN must act ethically in its financial dealings. (…)”

So far, I only see 2 people heeding BNN’s call and that doesn’t even include Dan Kramer. This movement may attract bloggers who don’t really earn that much from AdSense and are looking for a few links. I just don’t see see any of the probloggers giving up on AdSense this century.

Last piece of advice: if you’re going to SES China, be sure to tone down the pro-democracy rhetoric :)

Via Blogoscoped.

Steve Pavlina that’s who, the next problogger on the block according to Darren. Before you resign from your God forsaken job and start seeing problogging stars, read the fineprint straight from Darren. His point? it’s not for 98% of the blogging population.
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