Matt Kluemper.com

It looks like there was a PageRank update that happened over the past couple of days. Some of the sites that were penalized for selling links appear to have received their (toolbar) PageRank back.

Many people are assuming - and have been for awhile - that this was just a warning shot to people that were going to sell links. However, I'm thinking that Google is figuring out who is selling links, and that they will be retro-actively penalizing such sites - sellers and buyers, alike.

Well it didn't take long to ditch the blogger 'website.' It was good while it lasted, but it was time to go our separate ways. I set aside a couple hours to build a Drupal site. After much deliberation, I decided to install Drupal 6. Since Drupal 6 is still fairly new, not all the modules have been built by the open source developers. So, the site is not yet how I want it (not even close), but it is better than blogger :). It shouldn't be long before some of the core modules are completed for Drupal 6, and I will be able to add way more functionality to the mattkluemper.com web site.

A little surprised to see this one, but I was glad to see that it happened, and think it is definitely the right choice. Google has decided to sell the search engine marketing business they acquired with the purchase of DoubleClick: Performics Search Marketing.

From the Official Google Blog:

...we plan to sell the Performics search marketing business to a third party. We believe this will allow us to maintain objectivity and the search marketing business to continue to grow and innovate and serve its customers.

From Matt Cutts' post:

So apparently the Kansas City SEO club has a contest going on about who can say Napkin Pirates the most - or rank for it or something like that. :) I suppose I can join in on the fun - but might have to wait until later on in March to climb my way to the top real quick for napkin pirates that you find at restaurants. Culinary schools are always looking for quality students that can turn into high quality chefs.

I'm a huge fan of pirates, and liked Pirates of the Caribbean (even though the makeup thing kind of freaks me out). But napkins? I would much rather use paper towels than napkins any day...

One person that could definitely use a handful of napkins is David Hasselhoff... he gets messy sometimes, I hear...

When people think SEO, I'm not sure they think about Kansas. However, in the Kansas City area, SEO is as prevalent as tornadoes and flat land ------ OK, maybe not that prevalent.

Looks like Google has made a pretty substantial change with their search results by adding in additional local listings.

I'm sure Google assumes returning these results will render more 'legit' businesses that are verified into the SERPs, and can make a big difference to other 'portal'-like sites.

I've only been playing with it for a little bit, but it looks like [city variable] [business type] returns these listings. If Google Maps listings are going to be more prominent in the SERPs, I think this tells me I need to become even more involved in Google Maps.