answers

As you may know, Google's Matt Cutts frequently answers questions from Google users on the Google Webmaster Central YouTube channel. There are a couple recent ones in which he addresses questions about directories and how they contribute to a site's rankings. The first question is: Will Google consider Yahoo! Directory and BOTW (Best of the Web) as sources of paid links? If no, why is this different from another site that sells links?

Ask.com has released a database of 300 million Q&A pairs available to users in the US and the UK. "Delivering the best answers though innovations in semantic search technology is the direction in which the search industry is headed, and Ask is best-placed to lead the industry in this regard given our database of hundreds of millions of questions, and our core search technologies," said Scott Kim, Ask.com’s EVP of Technology. 

Two weeks ago, readers of the official Yahoo blog (creatively titled Yodel Anecdotal) were asked to submit questions for Carol Bartz, the company's still-newish CEO, to answer.  Those answers came back today, and they include several interesting tidbits.

Google's Matt Cutts continues to post helpful videos at Google's Webmaster Central YouTube channel, in which he answers user questions. The latest question he tackles comes from a guy in Chicago who asks: Does the new canonicalization tag make it safe to add tracking arguments to some of my internal links without fear that Google will split the quality signals between the two addresses?

A new way of searching is on the way, and will come under the label Wolfram Alpha. This is a "knowledge engine" built by Stephen Wolfram, which allows users to ask questions and receive a single definitive answer rather than a page of results pointing to pages that may or may not have the answers they are looking for.

January marked the first operational month for video search engine OVGuide as a profit-making entity. Now it has received $5 million in funding from Baroda Ventures.

Have you heard of Wikianswers? No, not Wiki Answers, Wikianswers. Yes it's a little confusing, but I'm not just babbling incoherently. Wikianswers is a recently (re)launched site from Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales.

Google clarifies misconceptions about bounce rate, showing its importance and factors influencing it for website owners and digital marketers.