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Google Treats Punycode Domains As Unicode (Japanese Domains)

On January 26, 2010, In SEO, by rustybrick

A Google Webmaster Help thread has discussion around Japanese domains and how Google may treat them. Honestly, I know very little about this topic, so I hope I do justice to this thread.

Example of Punycode domains versus Unicode:

  • Unicode – http://アアアアア.com
  • Punycode – http://xn--cckg5dfdwc.com

Google said, for “domain names in Punycode are equivalent to their Unicode versions.” There may be an issue with PageRank being displayed in the Punycode version in the Google Toolbar, but Google assures us that there is PageRank, the equivalent to the Unicode version. JohnMu said in the thread that he would “pass that on to check out” why it isn’t working properly in the toolbar.

So which should you use? Google said, they generally use the “Punycode versions since this is more likely to work across all browsers.”

Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.


A Google Webmaster Help thread has discussion around Japanese domains and how Google may treat them. Honestly, I know very little about this topic, so I hope I do justice to this thread.

Example of Punycode domains versus Unicode:

  • Unicode – http://アアアアア.com
  • Punycode – http://xn--cckg5dfdwc.com

Google said, for “domain names in Punycode are equivalent to their Unicode versions.” There may be an issue with PageRank being displayed in the Punycode version in the Google Toolbar, but Google assures us that there is PageRank, the equivalent to the Unicode version. JohnMu said in the thread that he would “pass that on to check out” why it isn’t working properly in the toolbar.

So which should you use? Google said, they generally use the “Punycode versions since this is more likely to work across all browsers.”

Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.



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Google Treats Punycode Domains As Unicode (Japanese Domains)

On January 26, 2010, In SEO, by rustybrick

A Google Webmaster Help thread has discussion around Japanese domains and how Google may treat them. Honestly, I know very little about this topic, so I hope I do justice to this thread.

Example of Punycode domains versus Unicode:

  • Unicode – http://アアアアア.com
  • Punycode – http://xn--cckg5dfdwc.com

Google said, for “domain names in Punycode are equivalent to their Unicode versions.” There may be an issue with PageRank being displayed in the Punycode version in the Google Toolbar, but Google assures us that there is PageRank, the equivalent to the Unicode version. JohnMu said in the thread that he would “pass that on to check out” why it isn’t working properly in the toolbar.

So which should you use? Google said, they generally use the “Punycode versions since this is more likely to work across all browsers.”

Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.



A Google Webmaster Help thread has discussion around Japanese domains and how Google may treat them. Honestly, I know very little about this topic, so I hope I do justice to this thread.

Example of Punycode domains versus Unicode:

  • Unicode – http://アアアアア.com
  • Punycode – http://xn--cckg5dfdwc.com

Google said, for “domain names in Punycode are equivalent to their Unicode versions.” There may be an issue with PageRank being displayed in the Punycode version in the Google Toolbar, but Google assures us that there is PageRank, the equivalent to the Unicode version. JohnMu said in the thread that he would “pass that on to check out” why it isn’t working properly in the toolbar.

So which should you use? Google said, they generally use the “Punycode versions since this is more likely to work across all browsers.”

Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.



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January 2010 Google Webmaster Report

On January 5, 2010, In SEO, by rustybrick

Every month we do a recap of the past month of Google changes based on an ongoing WebmasterWorld thread. To see last month’s report, see the December 2009 Google webmaster report.

The thread doesn’t really have many changes being reported. Most people are on the look out for the Caffeine index going live across all or more data centers. However, we have not really seen that happent yet. Maybe it will later this month, but as of now, there are not signs that Caffeine is live on a larger scale than the single data center. There are some discussions of normal flux and changes in the SERPs, that coincided with the New Years PageRank update, but not are all on the same page about that.

In any event, here are the key changes over the past month at Google, since our last report:

Google SEO/Webmaster Related:

Google User Interface/SERP Related:

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.


Every month we do a recap of the past month of Google changes based on an ongoing WebmasterWorld thread. To see last month’s report, see the December 2009 Google webmaster report.

The thread doesn’t really have many changes being reported. Most people are on the look out for the Caffeine index going live across all or more data centers. However, we have not really seen that happent yet. Maybe it will later this month, but as of now, there are not signs that Caffeine is live on a larger scale than the single data center. There are some discussions of normal flux and changes in the SERPs, that coincided with the New Years PageRank update, but not are all on the same page about that.

In any event, here are the key changes over the past month at Google, since our last report:

Google SEO/Webmaster Related:

Google User Interface/SERP Related:

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.



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Video Recap of Weekly Search Buzz :: New Years Day 2010

On December 31, 2009, In SEO, by rustybrick

itunes-subscribe-video.pngIn our New Years day video recap, I covered the last week of 2009 in search at the Search Engine Roundtable. I first showed off the various logos for New Years by Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask.com and many others. Google also had a PageRank update on New Years eve. Google uses ccTLDs over server location. Google slapped SEOs by dropping them and web designers from the local pack. Bing’s MSNBot is up to no good again, crawling fake file names. Google AdWords advertisers feel paralyzed. Increase your click through rate with women in thongs in your Google ads. Google launched the advertising professional search feature. Google had a weird bug related to the September 11 attacks. Finally, Google’s porn filter had some issues this week. That was the last week of 2009 in search at the Search Engine Roundtable! Happy & Healthy 2010!

FYI – Sorry for the volume, you will have to crank it up to hear me.

Make sure to subscribe to our video feed or subscribe directly on iTunes to be notified of these updates and download the video in the background. Here is the YouTube version of the feed:

For the original iTunes version, click here or to see the YouTube version in higher quality, click play & hit “HD.”

Search Topics of Discussion:
New Years:

Google SEO:

Bing SEO:

Google AdWords:

Google Issues:

Please do subscribe via iTunes or on your favorite RSS reader. Don’t forget to comment below with the right answer and good luck!


itunes-subscribe-video.pngIn our New Years day video recap, I covered the last week of 2009 in search at the Search Engine Roundtable. I first showed off the various logos for New Years by Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask.com and many others. Google also had a PageRank update on New Years eve. Google uses ccTLDs over server location. Google slapped SEOs by dropping them and web designers from the local pack. Bing’s MSNBot is up to no good again, crawling fake file names. Google AdWords advertisers feel paralyzed. Increase your click through rate with women in thongs in your Google ads. Google launched the advertising professional search feature. Google had a weird bug related to the September 11 attacks. Finally, Google’s porn filter had some issues this week. That was the last week of 2009 in search at the Search Engine Roundtable! Happy & Healthy 2010!

FYI – Sorry for the volume, you will have to crank it up to hear me.

Make sure to subscribe to our video feed or subscribe directly on iTunes to be notified of these updates and download the video in the background. Here is the YouTube version of the feed:


For the original iTunes version, click here or to see the YouTube version in higher quality, click play & hit “HD.”

Search Topics of Discussion:
New Years:

Google SEO:

Bing SEO:

Google AdWords:

Google Issues:

Please do subscribe via iTunes or on your favorite RSS reader. Don’t forget to comment below with the right answer and good luck!



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Google Toolbar PageRank Update (New Years 2010)

On December 31, 2009, In SEO, by rustybrick

Almost exactly like last year, Google is pushing out a New Years PageRank Update now. Mid-December we reported PageRank shifts or penalties and today, there are wide spread reports of a PageRank update in the Google Toolbar.

It is a bit funny, because last New Years, we reported in mid-December a PR shuffle and then on December 31, 2008 we reported an official PageRank update in the toolbar. It is almost exactly the same way this year. Today, December 31, 2009, we are reporting the 2010 New Years PageRank update.

The last toolbar PageRank update before today was in October. Like I always say, Toolbar PageRank is not of great use to SEOs. It is often months out of date and does not determine a rank of a web page. So please do not obsess over Toolbar PageRank.

For those who saw their toolbar PageRank go up, congrats on the ‘badge’ and here is to an even higher PR in 2010!

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld, Google Webmaster Help, Search Engine Watch Forums and DigitalPoint Forums.


Almost exactly like last year, Google is pushing out a New Years PageRank Update now. Mid-December we reported PageRank shifts or penalties and today, there are wide spread reports of a PageRank update in the Google Toolbar.

It is a bit funny, because last New Years, we reported in mid-December a PR shuffle and then on December 31, 2008 we reported an official PageRank update in the toolbar. It is almost exactly the same way this year. Today, December 31, 2009, we are reporting the 2010 New Years PageRank update.

The last toolbar PageRank update before today was in October. Like I always say, Toolbar PageRank is not of great use to SEOs. It is often months out of date and does not determine a rank of a web page. So please do not obsess over Toolbar PageRank.

For those who saw their toolbar PageRank go up, congrats on the ‘badge’ and here is to an even higher PR in 2010!

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld, Google Webmaster Help, Search Engine Watch Forums and DigitalPoint Forums.



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Will You Use the Google URL Shortener Goo.gl?

On December 20, 2009, In SEO, by Nick Stamoulis

I’m not quite sure what to make of this, but Google has launched its own URL shortener service called Goo.gl. Obviously, there are some pros and cons to this type of service.

One drawback that I see is that the service is only available through the Google Toolbar and Feedburner. I can’t shorten an URL directly [...]

I’m not quite sure what to make of this, but Google has launched its own URL shortener service called Goo.gl. Obviously, there are some pros and cons to this type of service.

One drawback that I see is that the service is only available through the Google Toolbar and Feedburner. I can’t shorten an URL directly like I can with other services like Tinyurl and Bit.ly. Secondly, Bit.ly offers tracking of your short URLs; Goo.gl does not (that I see). It would be fantastic if Goo.gl was integrated into Google Analytics and provided nice robust tracking for links shortened and used on social site such as Twitter and Facebook. Also, it would be great if these types of shortened links generated by Goo.gl also showed up as non re-direct links in Google webmaster tools. Just imagine, that many more shortened links showing up to help your inbound link building efforts.

An obvious benefit is that it is owned by Google. That means the service likely won’t go away. There is some stability there. But this can also be seen as a drawback. Will Google at some point decide to force all webmasters to use the URL shortening service? Good question from Andy Beal.

And another drawback, how many non-core services does Google offer that actually go somewhere? Over the years Google has had some great services offered to customers (all in beta of course!) and many of them quietly lasted and even more of them shut down and are no longer available.

Another potential issue that comes to mind is that there are already a ton of URL shorteners on the market right now. What does Goo.gl offer that the others don’t? Besides direct shortening from its toolbar and Feedburner? And besides it displays and uses the Google brand? Gee, I’m counting more drawbacks than benefits. Have you done the math on Goo.gl? Time will really tell on this one if Goo.gl will have long term staying power and user acceptance.

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Microsoft Might Add Bing Page Score to MSN Toolbar

On December 17, 2009, In SEO, by rustybrick

Brett Yount from the Bing Webmaster Team dropped a hint in the Bing Forums that they may add the Bing Page Score (similar to Google’s PageRank) to the MSN Toolbar.

Bing has what they call Bing Page Score when you login to their Bing Webmaster Center. Someone asked in the thread, “is it possible to enable page rank in bing toolbar?”

Soon after, Brett Yount from Bing responded saying:

We might once we complete the rework of that tool, which will be Fall earliest. Good news is, there are some changes in the works due in May/June to many things important to the webmasters frequenting these forums.

So there are two things here:

(1) Bing’s Page Score may come to their Toolbar.
(2) They will be reworking “that tool,” which I believe is talking about Page Score specifically.

Forum discussion at Bing Forums.


Brett Yount from the Bing Webmaster Team dropped a hint in the Bing Forums that they may add the Bing Page Score (similar to Google’s PageRank) to the MSN Toolbar.

Bing has what they call Bing Page Score when you login to their Bing Webmaster Center. Someone asked in the thread, “is it possible to enable page rank in bing toolbar?”

Soon after, Brett Yount from Bing responded saying:

We might once we complete the rework of that tool, which will be Fall earliest. Good news is, there are some changes in the works due in May/June to many things important to the webmasters frequenting these forums.

So there are two things here:

(1) Bing’s Page Score may come to their Toolbar.
(2) They will be reworking “that tool,” which I believe is talking about Page Score specifically.

Forum discussion at Bing Forums.



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Google Does URL Shortening: goo.gl

On December 15, 2009, In SEO, by rustybrick

The big Google shock from last night was that they are launching a URL shortener using goo.gl. Currently, it only works by using the Google Toolbar or within FeedBurner. You cannot simply create a short URL by going to goo.gl, you need to do so via the Google Toolbar or FeedBurner.

Why is Google doing this? They want to make it easier to share within the Toolbar and FeedBurner. Why not use Bit.ly or Tiny URL? Google said they have an infrastructure that they trust is stable, secure and speedy.

I see why SEOs are a bit skeptical. But flip it around. SEOs have been recommending that we build our own URL shorteners ourselves. Heck, I did for RustyBrick, for example we use rb.tc, so rb.tc/barry goes to www.rustybrick.com/barry.

Google hasn’t yet opened it up for use outside of the Toolbar or FeedBurner, but trust me, it will be used plenty that way and shared tremendously. Google said, “if the service proves useful, we may eventually make it available for a wider audience in the future.” So, how long do you give it? A month, two?

Many just feel bad for the url shortening services out there.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld & DigitalPoint Forums.


The big Google shock from last night was that they are launching a URL shortener using goo.gl. Currently, it only works by using the Google Toolbar or within FeedBurner. You cannot simply create a short URL by going to goo.gl, you need to do so via the Google Toolbar or FeedBurner.

Why is Google doing this? They want to make it easier to share within the Toolbar and FeedBurner. Why not use Bit.ly or Tiny URL? Google said they have an infrastructure that they trust is stable, secure and speedy.

I see why SEOs are a bit skeptical. But flip it around. SEOs have been recommending that we build our own URL shorteners ourselves. Heck, I did for RustyBrick, for example we use rb.tc, so rb.tc/barry goes to www.rustybrick.com/barry.

Google hasn’t yet opened it up for use outside of the Toolbar or FeedBurner, but trust me, it will be used plenty that way and shared tremendously. Google said, “if the service proves useful, we may eventually make it available for a wider audience in the future.” So, how long do you give it? A month, two?

Many just feel bad for the url shortening services out there.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld & DigitalPoint Forums.



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Mass Google Toolbar PageRank Penalty of December 2009???

On December 14, 2009, In SEO, by rustybrick

Let me start off by saying that I used not only one question mark in the title, but three to express how confident I am about this title. There is almost a 100 posts in a single weekend DigitalPoint Forums thread with people reporting their Google Toolbar PageRank has dropped.

A long time ago, Google had batch Toolbar PageRank penalties for sites that sold or bought links. The first batch was in November 2007, then in January 2008 and then in February 2008. Since then, the PageRank penalties continued but it seemed to not be so “batch” related. By that I mean, you wouldn’t see hundreds of webmasters report a drop in their Toolbar PageRank on the same day.

This DigitalPoint Forums, although doesn’t have hundreds of complaints, it has a significant number of complaints, mostly about a drop in Toolbar PageRank. Some were reports of new sites receiving PageRank for the first time.

So is this a mass Google Toolbar PageRank penalty hit or something less?

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums.


Let me start off by saying that I used not only one question mark in the title, but three to express how confident I am about this title. There is almost a 100 posts in a single weekend DigitalPoint Forums thread with people reporting their Google Toolbar PageRank has dropped.

A long time ago, Google had batch Toolbar PageRank penalties for sites that sold or bought links. The first batch was in November 2007, then in January 2008 and then in February 2008. Since then, the PageRank penalties continued but it seemed to not be so “batch” related. By that I mean, you wouldn’t see hundreds of webmasters report a drop in their Toolbar PageRank on the same day.

This DigitalPoint Forums, although doesn’t have hundreds of complaints, it has a significant number of complaints, mostly about a drop in Toolbar PageRank. Some were reports of new sites receiving PageRank for the first time.

So is this a mass Google Toolbar PageRank penalty hit or something less?

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums.



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