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Yahoo Reveals SEM of Re-Brand
Near the end of September, Yahoo began a new branding campaign in an... -
Search + Social = Better ROI
Are you utilizing search and social media together? According to Lee... -
Marketing in the Age of Google
Former Googler Vanessa Fox has written a book entitled Marketing in...
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50 Comments
SERPs
What will remain in tact forever is the individual...
If people come to the search engine and do not get what they are looking for the people will not return to the search engine....
The engine that gives its users what they want will win...
This is a constant...
The majority, given the time will win...
Even China is a little more democratic and capitalist then before...
"Russian Communism" will rise and then fall again...
It's all cyclical... again...
I am still using SERP
I think SERP is a key factor for any site to have great exposure. Great position results in great traffic to your site. If you are not ranking for the keywords your site is modeled around, how will you be seen? I think all webmasters are still using keyword strategies for site visitors, I myself do. Currently I am using this very useful tool at http://www.getserp.com to help me with keyword targeting and position analysis. Check it out for yourself, see where your sites are ranking in the web.
Thanks for the info
Thanks for your recommendation to getserp.com. I use it and this tool is helping me finding my position faster.
Is Google becoming a Dinosaur?
Hi all.
As far as I can remember, Google has been around the year dot.
In the beginning, a Google search supplied a lot of useful information but over the years, more and more crud has crept in.
I have noticed the following:
Now what can be done about this?
On the Search Results page, I will need some sort of rating script for each entry so that I can rate pages (Site Type[porn, webfarm, blog etc], Not For ME [never show me this site again], Keyword Masquerading etc) as I go along. (I open pages returned from a search in a new tab [Firefox] or a new window [IE6] so that the results page is still available once I have finished with the page)
This way, I customize the internet as I go along and wont be shown the crud each time I do a search.
Using JavaScript this should be easy.
Maybe there is already something like this - If there is, I'll bet that the tag name is different for each search engine. What we need is a uniform tag name to hold the info and not a different one for each search engine!
This will of course be available for abuse but those abusers will be weeded out by the voting eventually.
Google, Yahoo and all the rest are not (in my opinion) keeping up.
It is the same old "mousetrap"! We still have to get rid of the mouse after it has been killed.
What we really need is a mousetrap that is self-cleaning.
That is the one I'll use!
All the best
Aubrey
The Sky is Not Falling
Maybe it's just me, but I don't see the evil Google monster eating our children here.
From what I understand users will have to log in, then do an organic search in order to find results which they can then personalize. Once they start organizing, they will still only be organizing the results that appear high on the results page anyway.
There is still going to be a need for proper SEO work on sites in order to have them ranked highly enough for a keen surfer to then start adjusting. That adjusting is only for their own uses anway, so the user will just be looking themselves for the most relevant or useful pages. Any surfers you lose on their subsequent searches because of this adjustment is a surfer you would have been ignored by anyway.
I think this is a good thing if they maintain these parameters. it improves search engines for individual surfers and downgrades black hat results for motivated individuals.
Less useful and potentially dangerous is the move towards using comments for search results. Google should know by now that 75% of the garbage on the web is the result of 5% of users. Black hat SEO and disgruntled minority users will skew results to the extreme. This is such a bad idea that I'm astounded Google is going with it. I think we'll soon see them come to their senses and remove the option to see other user's comments but only after a regrettable period of time in which they receive a lot of complaints.
Ben Lewis
Lewis Communications Corp.
Easy to exploit...
It would be easy to hijack thousands of PCs with a malware program that automatically votes up or down selected domain names anytime the users start IE. Or setup a network farm.
If Google's eventually changes their SERP results based on input to their SearchWiki, then it would certainly be possible for a blackhat to artificially rank up their sites. Or, even sell the service.
What is the point of all this?
What is the point of all this? They may aswell be a "directory" not a search engine. It seems to me that google are panicking about facebooks future and that facebook are growing so much, and are starting to move in different directions based on social search. If they do , I think google will be a dead horse, and algorithms will be less useful as they are now.
Too much TRUST placed in
Too much TRUST placed in Google.
In my experience, playing by the rules just means Google will slap you every time their algorithm updates.
It has been far too easy to get dumped in the SERPS. I've had every page of a site added to social networking sites by a user, and then watched as my traffic and SERP rank drops.
If Google were smart, they'd see that anyone can take down a site. But they're obviously not smart enough to consider all the possibilities, or it could be that Google just couldn't give a damn about the webmaster at all.
I look forward to a new alternative to Google.
And the progress to social networked google... well that will be the end for them.
Google trying to kill 2 birds with 1 stone
For me its a case of Google trying to use personalized search in order to:
1. Kill off organic SEO. After all, lets face it, no matter what Google tells us via their public relations officer Matt Cutts, they don't like SEO's attempting to manipulate their serps. Period.
2. Increase revenue from adwords. By doing this they are hoping that organic SEO will have such little impact that it will drive webmasters and site owners to resort more to the use of their money spinning ad network.
I personally think that their algo isn't as great as they make out and a lot of human intervention is required in order for them to keep up with the abuse out there from blackhats etc. I think they are finding it impossible to police the organic serps and will continue to resort to these tactics until they get TOTAL control over their results.
The product has gotten worse Period
All I can say is Google no longer returns results that are relevant.
When using long tailed searches for technical documentation (what a search engine was originally designed for) I get the same groups of sites everytime I refine my search and then a bunch of adword sites linking to those same group of sites. You have to go 100s of results down to find sites which are not heavily linking or backlinking and actually have content!
Here's an example:
Try this, find an ohio made 12 foot foam cnc machine for under $1500. The company exists and has a website and is indexed. I dare you to find it through a simple query.
But you will get 500 sites which refer to Frog3d, FoamLinx and asian source manufacturers, none of which display price, are made in ohio or do anything with foam..
.... bring back moderated subdived directories with categories.....
Check out http://ArkahdiaArts.com
NOT a big deal for most businesses. (My opinion.)
I handle both SEO and reputation management for one of my clients.
Unless I missed something I didn't see anywhere that people's personal opinions will affect the default SERPs.
So let's say someone searches for dry cleaners. They will get the standard 10 sites that everyone else will get the first time. So if you're on the ball with your SEO nothing will change.
Next, what percentage of people will actually rearrange their results?
I don't believe people are going to think, "well I might search for dry cleaners again in the future so let me take some time to clean these results up."
The one think I think some people might do is delete results that are irrelevant to them so that they have more real choices on the page while they are searching.
Am I wrong about this? Did I miss the part where my choices will affect your results?
From the article this page is about
"Google has indicated that their SearchWiki data may be included in the regular algorithm in the future, but has been somewhat vague about how companies can address falsely posted comments."
That's what is worrying people the most I think.
Personal results altering isn't the problem as such - but why would anyone really bother, unless they intend to repeatedly do the search and not add anything to their favorite bookmarks.
Also, if Google decided it would offer the option to display some sort of wiki score/last comment etc along with the search results, your rep and business could be seriously at risk.
Too big of a can of worms...
I think it's just too big of a can of worms for Google to open.
How on earth could they prevent my client's competition from searching for their service every time they were at a computer and trying to knock him down a few pegs? The wiki would become a mess and not very useful if people were using to do battle with their competitors.
SEO
It is all hype in my opinion. The more webmasters talk about them the more business they get in all areas and not just Adwords. I have been building websites for 9 yrs and yes google does change the rules often, but SEO will always be a major factor.
I realized what google was doing about 7 years ago and have been helping them ever since. Creating websites that offer relevant solutions to users. The best solution should be ranked #1. Google needs this to happen in order to deliver the best user experience and retain business.
Black hatters and spammers make this very hard for google to do. I believe that this proposed voting system will be very good news for legitimate business' and bad news for blackhatting cheaters. Seriously, the cheaters will get the most bad votes because an irritated user is much more likely to take the time to vote. I visit directies and such that have voting/rating systems. 90% of the listings in these directories never get voted on or rated at all!!!
I guess that proves it.
How many of us legit surfers ever bother to vote for sites in a directory? In my 11 years of surfing I don't think I ever have. Often it's the webmaster I think that votes (yes plural) for their site.
This isn't a controlled / policed voting process - from what I have read anyhow, where every one get a single vote either, a new vote could be cast whenever and from what ever computer terminal a voter happened to be on.
Playing the game
With all of these changes coming about regardless of whether a website gets 10 visitors a day or 10 thousand I think we just need to focus on the customer. Either way you look at it building a repoir with the customers you do have will certainly be better in the long run then worrying about a voting method. It's like buying Fine Jewelry, you can have many places to buy jewelry, and it may be pretty to look at but if your not grabbing the attention of the customers while their in your store they just walk away. So focusing on the customer service end of your visitors will be far more powerful.
Fight back
I cannot understand why the big SEO companies do not join in and get into bed with yahoo or msn or both. Google has decided they prefer the tail to wag the dog. This has never worked and never will. with so many companies out there that could assist yahoo and msn in giving the user what they want. It is time to take the fight to google. Stop being afraid and put pressure on yahoo and msn to get into the game more. Surely they could do what google does and the SEO world woulod not be at the mercy of the greedy self righteous bully.
From a retailers point of view.
As a small retailer I believe these changes will be the worst thing google could do. The main benefit for businesses online is to reach a much bigger potential customer base. In the short term the consumer who wants everything new and always uses whatever ever comes out. You know them. They are the ones who would buy something that didint work if people were discussing it. Anyway, these planks will start using the google wiki and tell everyone how amazing they are.
However, the regular joes like you and I will not want to peronalise our results as we want the best deal all the time. By this I dont mean the cheapest. I mean the world is changing. The global credit crunch is forcing this change. Google are shooting from the hip on this one. They are after confusing the SEO world so companies panic and buy adwords. Google is suffereing no matter how much they may makle out they are immune. They are only immune whilst they can move the posts to suit their own objectives. Once consumers realise that the new google doesnt really show them what they want they will change what they do. It looks like google is more focussed on stopping SEO companies taking a share of the money from business than giving the user the best experience. In my opinion this will be the biggest mistake google could ever make. Search is changing and the king is loosing his marbles. I think Google will lose their crown if they pursue their current routes. Google needs to remember the customer put them on top and can easily take the crown from them if they don't give them what they want.
re: from a retailers point of view
I happen to like Google but, I agree that I think this Wiki search is a big mistake. Maybe I'm a bit confused but this seems to go against the one thing I love about Google which is relavence in a search. That is what I want out of a search, all the sites or blogs or images that have to do with "blank". What might not be what I need the first time i search for that thing might be exactly what i need the next time i search for it. I will Never use this tool, I could be cutting my own throat.
Big G is hype
All Big G moves were hypes.
Their PR and Algo were hypes.
Their stock price were also hype.
They keep on changing rules so you will force to buy their Adword ads.
They just keep the webmasters and seo alike stupids.
You better forget about the hypes they are making and concentrate on providing good value or service to your customers.
Big G will be the thing in the past soon.
Big G is hype
Google focusses on providing internet users with a pleasant and easy to use search facility.
They will continue to improve it for users, so anyone with a website can improve too, by taking on some of Googles ideas.
If any website owners out there don't like the way Google develop things for their audience, they can advertise or promote their websites somewhere else.
As long as Google make it quick and easy for people to shop and research online, they will be around for a long time yet!
Iain - SEO Cornwall
RE: WOW
I can relate as I have had the "feel confident in what I'm doing the rules all change" attitude. It's frustrating...
Then I realized that if my websites are going to be a success...then I had better start learning and adapting to what works! Or what others are developing.
One of the biggest advantages is to watch what other are successfully doing to advance. For it seems the web will be forever changing.
And to "storage containers" I agree and sad to admit, I've been guilty at times, but we are changing for the good.
It's worrying.
I guess I pick up on two threads that are concerning.
The first thread: I am an affiliate for several hemorrhoid companies, one of those companies decides that don't want to pay commissions, but wants it all to themselves. These guys are mostly very wealthy - and some do employ black hatters to do this by the way - they trounce your site in the serps by buying links to get one of their 'review' sites above yours.
Now if voting becomes a way of beating the competition out - yes votes for them, no votes for you, well, think how easier and cheaper it is to get in front, lots cheaper than buying links.
Voting is a big baddie from this perspective. Also, it would be so easy for black hatters to then arrange for new competition to be trounced from the start. Literally, they could end up owning all top 10 serps positions.
The second thread that is worrying, is that websites are going to become even more expensive to own and run. Videos are by nature bandwidth intensive - and we webmasters pay for that bandwidth, not least the cost of the videos.
A decent hemorrhoid operation video could easily set one back several thousand dollars.
Anyway, to resume this thread - So, webmaster have a new way to disable your web site, they just get people to play all the videos on your site until they exhaust your bandwidth. In fact, just go out and buy 100 or so cheap computers, and they can get them all downloading and playing your videos every day.
Very very concerning. Legit web masters may be in for a very hard time.
Wow!
Just as I feel confident in what I'm doing the rules all change! I'm one of the little guys working my butt off just to try and make a living online and these changes always seem to crop up right about the time I say "Whew I'm on top of it!"
RE: Wow!
That's the nature of the game.
SEO clients
Timely article as I have been wondering about this quandry in terms of potential seo clients. If the results are so personalized then how to show a client that you improved his ranking if the results are not universally the same. I guess you can take a screenshot but then they might think you photoshopped it even though personally I cant use photoshop to save my life. LOL
RE: SEO Clients
It's going to present some obstacles for SEOs.
Well...
Is this really a significant problem? Google is still ranking sites in their database and to be voted off you still have to appear in the SERPs to start with. I don't see any problem there that would spell the end of SEO. Similarly, I don't see any immediate problem with their SearchWiki because it is by default user specific. According to a post by Matt Cutts he states :
"And just to dispel one more misconception that I saw a few people speculate on: if user A edits their search results, it doesn't affect the search results for user B.
There is an option for users to go check out notes left by other users, but that requires additional explicit work--by default, users don't see other users' notes. And even if you do the work to see other users' notes, other users' changes don't affect your search rankings."
Now, if Google does start to use this stuff to modify their SERPS universally then you have a problem.
RE: Well...
According to Beal, Google has indicated that SearchWiki results maybe included in the regular algorithm in the future.
One thing has not been said..
When normal people, I mean no big SEO specialists (like you), use this, some of them will probably think their own site is really on top after voting for it! (it happened to me for a second the first time!)
There is a big part of users that don't even know if they are logged in or not.. so there will be many customized PCs in homes or elswhere...The old way was easier, and it seems like what we call "Democraty" is melting away...everywhere.
Here is a little entertainment for those who can afford to forget the fight for a few minutes.
http://jaspert.free.fr/paris_contemporary_art/pages/google_logo.htm
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