Comments on: Google’s Specialized Forum and Discussion Thread Search Results

By: Bill Slawski

Bill Slawski — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 16:01:06 +0000

Hi jjray7,

You’re welcome. It’s possible that an approach like this one might lead to more forum results getting traffic from visitors who might be interested in discussions on specific topics – especially if there’s a chance of participating in those discussions.

By: jjray7

jjray7 — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 16:44:55 +0000

Thanks for the tip. Time to beef up the discussion threats scattered throughout my sites as an afterthought.

By: Bill Slawski

Bill Slawski — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 17:30:35 +0000

Hi Rick,

I think that’s a good presumption. By giving potential visitors an idea that they may be visiting a discussion thread instead of an article or blog post, Google is giving searchers some indication of what they might see before they actually click through. I think it’s helpful that they do.

By: rick

rick — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 04:18:02 +0000

i think google just wants to supply as much information as they can supply the surfer with the most amount of data to see if its actually what they need or what they may be looking for.

By: Anatomy Of A Google Snippet

Anatomy Of A Google Snippet — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 18:05:27 +0000

[...] there is sometimes a gray line of text that precedes everything else. If Google determines that the site is a discussion forum, you’ll see in gray text: “[number] posts – [...]

By: Bill Slawski

Bill Slawski — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 22:39:33 +0000

Hi Michael,

I’m not so sure. Forums have been around on the Web for many years, as has social content. This particular patent filing isn’t so much about how well a thread in a forum might rank, but rather how best to display that thread as a result in search results.

Thanks.

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 10:33:44 +0000

Another interesting post that shows Google’s increasing understanding of Social Content, and also the relative merits of this content. How, exactly, this understanding is beginning to affect the placement of results in the SERPs is something that all SEOs need to have an increasing understanding of.

I’m reading this blog with a lot of curiosity, as this understanding is crucial to the company I work for, where we’re involved in a new service that we call ‘Social SEO’

Keep up the good work.

By: Bill Slawski

Bill Slawski — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 00:03:10 +0000

Hi William,

Forums can sometimes be intimidating, but I do like the idea that you know before you click a link in the search results that what you are about to see is a forum discussion.