Tag: Google

Posted on

Google Should Look to the Microsoft Model

Remember when Microsoft owned the Web and for that matter computers as well as the Internet? Remember when there was only Internet Explorer and no Firefox? Remember when the only computing platform was Microsoft Office? Not so long ago was it, but now things are very different. Firefox has a distinct growing percentage of the browsing market, Macs are more common place, Open Office and Cloud computing are starting to become mainstream.

Now take a look at Google. Google used to, and for that matter is for right now, the dominant search engine and pay per click platform, but that will change. You have to look no farther than the model of Microsoft’s dominance and what is happening now in the news to know that Google is losing it’s grip on owning the world of search.

Some of Google’s thorns are Facebook, Bing, and the lack of true innovation within its own kingdom. When was the last time you saw one of Google’s new products hit the market make a big splash and be widely embraced? It’s been a while! Remember the flops: Friend Connect, Orkut, Google Wave, Google Buzz? Their last big hit was GMail and they drove traffic there by requiring everyone to set up a GMail account to use any Google products including AdWords when it first came out thereby pushing up initial membership.

Now let’s look at Microsoft. As this giant has aged, it has mellowed. It has grudgingly embraced, but embraced never the less, change. It has adapted and ended up creating better products with greater inclusion and transparency. Google is in a stat of flux, right now it is trying to grasp on to its glory days but may want to look at the Microsoft model to see how it may be able to stay vital yet play more as a partner and not as a desperate bully.

Posted on

Google Accuses Bing of Stealing Search Results

The search engine wars just started up again this past week as Google accused Bing of stealing its search results. So let’s dig into this and see if that was really the case.

First, I want to say that I feel that Google is running scared. There was the quick switch of Google CEOs recently and not just to any person but to one of the original Google founders. Then there was the bad news of Facebook overtaking Google in terms of popularity. Right on the coat tails of all of this news Google stated that they had inserted code into their search results and had found their bait in the Bing results.

Bing responded with a resounding “NO” and the conflict ramped up considerably between the two search engines with key engineers appearing on the Web in videos discussing the situation and the blogosphere dissecting both responses.

What happened in a nutshell is that Google inserted in their results a set of characters (that don’t even spell a word) and then found that same set of characters in Bing results. I don’t think this admits Bing is stealing Google’s results, as Bing states that their search results reflect a historical pattern of searchers use and click through rates as well a their own patented algorithm, but Google just does not see it this way.

With Google losing placement and retention of its stranglehold on popularity brace yourself for more paranoid statements and litigation as the two search engines start to reveal exactly what information they are collecting on us and how they integrate this information into their search results.

Posted on

Move Over Keyword Density – Readable Content is King

Being in the industry for 10 years this year has allowed me to see SEO strategies come and go. For many of you who have longevity in the industry, you will understand many of my references and have most likely will have used them at some time or another for your clients’ benefits.

Remember when to get organic search placement we did:

  1. Keyword stuffing – loading keywords into image alt tags?
  2. How about when we loaded keywords into HTML comment tags?
  3. Or used the meta keyword tag to drive search traffic?

Keyword density is another tactic that is becoming passé as well. I still believe that good keyword density on a home page is still, at this point in time, a way to get organic traffic, but making the content readable is becoming much more important both for visitors and for search engines.

I don’t believe that search engines drop sites with strong keyword density at this time, but that day is coming. Just look at my list above of the things we used to do that really got good organic placement. 7% keyword density on web pages will soon be added to that list.

What I feel is now more important is that the overall site have Web authority, be content and information-rich, and be updated regularly. The new world of SEO is less about tricks and more about content and inbound marketing strategies.

Posted on

Google Explains the Name HotPot

Google sent me a note on Twitter when I tweeted about Google HotPot recently when I had blogged about it last week. Turns out there actually is a story behind this queer name they chose for their terrific new online review interface.

“Hot pot, the dish, is about community. You and your friends huddle together and add ingredients to a pot of boiling broth, creating a delicious soup to be enjoyed by all. Sometimes you take your own food from the pot, and sometimes you taste what your friends have added. This shared experience of gathering around a fire to cook and eat communally is a fundamental illustration of how we’ve come together to enjoy food from the earliest days of humanity.” Read the full article on the HotPot blog.

So it appears that the Google HotPot team is watching Twitter which that in itself is an interesting note. Okay I’m not sure I buy into the HotPot thing for food, who wants people double dipping into food you actually will eat, but the concept of sharing information on reviews, restaurants, businesses, hair salons, all makes perfect sense.

I like Google HotPot, it is similar to Four Square, but I like HotPot better as I can be at my computer updating Facebook and jot a note in HotPot. I don’t have to be on my mobile phone to write a review like you do with Four Square. The sharing aspect is cool and I am personally using it to write reviews for the local businesses that I use.

Even more interesting for me is that HotPot is integrated with Google.com and Google Places. So anyone who is in my HotPot group has their reviews shown on my Google.com searches and all HotPot reviews appear on Google Places. I think Google has a winner with HotPot, but here are a few names that I ask them to consider while they are at it: Stew Pot, Add to My Stew, Fondue It, Tell Me More, Crazy Spot. What weird and wonderful names can you think of? Just put them in comments below. Google appears to be listening.