january 2008

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Really, what can I say, laughter is often the best medicine.... after my post earlier I thought this would be fun to give some more play ... ( nice find Dosh :0)Watch This (http://www.cracked.com/article_15825_internet-party-what-happens-when-googles-parents-leave-town-for-weekend.html)

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Jeremy, Danny and the 95% AffairOk, I generally stay away from the latest industry dramas from the days of Calacanis and Pasternack through the more recent paid link and Shoemoney affairs. Why? Because they are mostly done to death in search marketing circles and I am generally not moved by such fantastical whimsies. I also find that my small but fanatic readership are either marketers not interested in the drama, or business owners that had no idea such things were going on. Let’s make an Exception – The Shoemoney affair…. (the post that started it all (http://www.shoemoney.com/2008/01/16/why-i-do-not-like-95-of-seo-experts/))The Radio Show; the broadcast on Jeremy's site (http://www.shoemoney.com/2008/01/23/seo-discussion-with-danny-sullivan-now-available/)Danny asked for some insight; on Sphinn (http://sphinn.com/story/24728#c28160)For starters, this is not a debate… it is a conversation from a few industry heavyweights and we get to be the fly on the wall. Also, as written elsewhere, Danny seems to be taking up...

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.... An adventure with Gabriel GoldenbergDave - Ok peeps, today I have brought in a ringer in the form of a fellow Canuck by the name of Gabriel Goldenberg (more on him later) who had some pretty good ideas lying around that he felt like sharing. …. I was tempted just to keep them for myself, but who has time left in the day? Not I…. So enjoy! If you’ve known me for any period of time, you’ll know that I produce ideas about a mile a minute. And frequently enough, I like the idea enough that I’ll go purchase a domain, write out a plan for it and sit on it until I have some time (I’ve learnt my lesson about spreading myself thin).To wit: I currently own;Motocyclette.ca (motorcycle in French)USBSticks.caCanadianSEO.caLinkbuilding.caFeedreader.caNewCarDealership.ca (check out the Overture on that - hah!) … and over a dozen more. Many...

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.... An adventure with Gabriel GoldenbergDave - Ok peeps, today I have brought in a ringer in the form of a fellow Canuck by the name of Gabriel Goldenberg (more on him later) who had some pretty good ideas lying around that he felt like sharing. …. I was tempted just to keep them for myself, but who has time left in the day? Not I…. So enjoy! If you’ve known me for any period of time, you’ll know that I produce ideas about a mile a minute. And frequently enough, I like the idea enough that I’ll go purchase a domain, write out a plan for it and sit on it until I have some time (I’ve learnt my lesson about spreading myself thin).To wit: I currently own;Motocyclette.ca (motorcycle in French)USBSticks.caCanadianSEO.caLinkbuilding.caFeedreader.caNewCarDealership.ca (check out the Overture on that - hah!) … and over a dozen more. Many...

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Hello Dave..... what are we searching for this evening?Imagine if you could yell at your search results? Ok, I mean you probably have done that, but what if it actually had an effect? Or what if I was pleased with a set of search results and the search engine used my contentment as a ranking signal for further search refinement? What a cool deal that would be… Sure, it’s late at night and I have an unhealthy addiction with personalization and user engagement signals, but hear me out. Among the endless haystacks in my feed feeder I happened upon an interesting needle relating to a patent that Microsoft has been said to have filed (http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article3193480.ece) and could be granted within a year. It is said to be a big brother style software that can remotely monitor galvanic responses. Which could include;heart rate body temperature movement facial expression blood pressure. While...

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Say hello to Yahoo's Personalized PageRank Well I can’t say that I had envisioned myself talking about a PageRank Patent… FROM YAHOO!…. at least not anytime soon. The last time I looked at a PageRank filing (/search-engines/algorithm-matters/tale-of-the-two-pagerank-patents.html) it was from you know who, not Yahoo… But it would seem that’s exactly what we have on the menu today; For your dining pleasure; User Sensitive PageRank (http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=/netahtml/PTO/search-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=20080010281.PGNR.&OS=DN/20080010281RS=DN/20080010281)My original curiosity was helped out to no end when everyone’s favourite technical search guru (http://www.seobythesea.com/?p=977)informed me that one of the authors ( Pavel Berkhin ) had also worked on; A Survey on PageRank Computing (2005 - PDF (http://www.internetmathematics.org/volumes/2/1/Berkhin.pdf)) and Link Spam Detection on Mass Estimation (2006 - PDF (http://infolab.stanford.edu/~zoltan/publications/gyongyi2006link.pdf)) .User Segmented Personalized PageRankAt first read, it seemed as though they were looking to integrate user performance metrics as a layer onto the ever popular probabilistic/nodal modelling of PageRank. Of course I had to...

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They say every person has a price. What’s yours? I ask because from time to time I get emails from people that are interested in having me review some product, service or website here on the ol trail. As long time trail riders know it is more about the therapy (/personal/family-life/the-ramblings-of-a-mad-man.html) and the passion (/personal/family-life/all-about-the-passion-baby.html) not about the $$$. Now let’s not get crazy though (that’s what the therapy is for right?) I do certainly find cash to be more than just a little handy from time to time. I have just never had to use this blog as a revenue platform… just a place to hang out.Enter the Soul ReaperI was approached by a company looking to promote their service and asked how much it would cost for me to review it. I answered that I really had no set price, but if they wanted to tell me some...

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It is always nice when some one links to your site or says something nice about you and showing some love back is always a good idea. From time to time I have done some thank you posts but always wanted more time to acknowledge them… I think I have found an interesting way to go about it; MyBuzzMonitor (http://www.mybuzzmonitor.com/)Added to my blog home page is a widget in the left hand column titled, ‘ FireHorse Friends’ which will monitor the Blog-o-shpere and list links to posts that are showing some love. Of course there is much more you could do with the system, so let’s have a quick look The ‘MyBuzzMonitor’ service is a free widget (no registration required) that can be used to track the buzz on specified domains or keywords. So you need not be limited to using it as I have to show a little link...

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It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. Aristotle - Greek critic, philosopher, physicist, zoologist (384 BC - 322 BC) I was looking at that little adventurous prose tonight and simply had to relate it to the ongoing experience unto paths unknown in my world of search. While I tend to run in circles around my office like a child that has just had their favourite candy usurped when I am excited about a given post in the Blog-o-sphere, I do temper it where possible. I know I reside in a world of link bait that often seeks eye balls over personalities and that I can deal with. I understand that what I believe others may not. I realize that I am wrong in many things I believe today as experience has been my greatest teacher… but I...

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Google Bookmarks the new ranking signal?We all know Google is all about the links right? Really, what is a search engine but a collection of bookmarks that is stored in a database that is searchable and ranked for consumption? It then stands to reason that using related data from your bookmarks as a ranking signal would be a great way to try and further deliver more relevant search results. Right? Well that’s what some fine folks at Google seem to be thinking with a recent patent filing relating to the Google ToolBar and BookMarks; Bookmarks and Ranking (http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=/netahtml/PTO/search-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=20080010252.PGNR.&OS=DN/20080010252RS=DN/20080010252)(filed in Sept. 2006/ granted Jan 2008). I don't know too many people that even use the Bookmark feature, so maybe some new ideas can bring the masses in.... or maybe not. Google Bookmarks for Personalized SERPsThe main idea here is that user’s bookmarks can be seen as a ranking signal to...

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As I was mentioning, this year a slant towards analytics and conversions may not at all be a bad idea for SEO enthusiasts if you haven’t already. To get that trail started I figured I would dedicate this weeks Beer Break to a few tidbits from the world of analytics and conversions… I hope they spark some new thoughts for 2008Behavioural Targeting Bedfellows – this is an interesting supposition linking Amazon and Toys R Us in a behavioural data sharing arrangement that is nearly creepy. I haven’t had time to experiment with it myself, so I can’t confirm anything from Amazon and Toys R Us Sharing Visitor Data (http://webanalysis.blogspot.com/2008/01/amazon-and-toysrus-sharing-visitor.html)?The Path to Purchase - overat ComScore ther are details of an interesting study they worked on with Google ob guage the search habits along the path to purchase with; the Importance of Seach Engines in the Path to Purchase (http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=1991)Social Media...

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Hey there… just a quick note to post a guide I put together based on the recent series here on Google Personalized Search. For those of you that weren’t along for the ride it should make for good reading and if you made the journey, then simply file it away for some light reading as a refresher course. This free download is 18 pages packed with everything you need to know about Google's Personalized Search Optimization. Inspired by last year’s Google Magazine (/business-development/internet-business/google-looking-at-diy-magazine-publishing.html) concepts, the 4 posts have been put together with some minor editing in a neat little package that takes you from the reasons why Google personalized search will be so much more important in 2008 SEO, along the trail to dissecting how it works and how you can leverage Personalized Search Optimization tactics in your efforts. I hope you find it useful, if not at least thought provoking or entertaining.CLICK HERE (/Fire-Horse-Guide-to-Google-Personalized-Search.pdf) to download the PDF file

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Something occurred to me today when I was losing my mind and slowly slipping into the reality that may be my ignorance. The most devious and dastardly little voice crept into my mind’s eye and whispered unto my being. Could it be, maybe just a little, somewhere deep in the recess of the game that is my industry, a sense of hypocrisy exists that isn’t immediately self evident? Is Google really alone in leading the sheep?Bear with me along this trail for a few moments. Nothing bothers me more than misinformation and the often seemingly chaotic appearance that SEO can have. Once upon a time as a forum hound it would bother me too no end; put out one fire and 3 more pop up in its place. Finally I gave up and decided to write more here instead and hopefully pass sensibility when I can. But there was that voice today that was looking at the entire mess from a more objective view point and it asked;Is Google the only one that should stand accused of creating FUD? And I ain’t talking about Rocket Science peeps….so don’t go there… I mean really, look around you folks. There is no lack of people screaming about ‘New Ranking changes’ and the fairness of said illusionary instances. Others are talking about a minus this penalty or minus that penalty (how many have we had now?). I passed by freaking DP looking for a quote and found that the natives are so freaked by all the Paid Link and PageRank fiasco that they can’t even tell the difference between ToolBar PageRank and actual PageRank (not sure they ever did grasp that one). And this list could go on and on. … where in all of this lies our responsibility?

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In other news today it seems there is a new mystery penalty in town (http://sphinn.com/story/20971). According to some folks in the industry including Aaron Wall, they seem to feel it is a ‘phrase based’ or ‘performance metric’ based issue. While I am personally not inclined to see how that might work in practice, it sure is nice to see folks talking about 2 of my favourite topics. The skinny;Google Ranking #6 Penalty/Filter (http://www.seobook.com/google-ranking-6-penalty-filter) – SEO Book | Sphinn action on the post (http://sphinn.com/story/20971) | WebMaster World Conversations (http://www.webmasterworld.com/google/3535274-1-10.htm) Now, while I do not subscribe to any set ‘minus whatever’ penalties, I have long been a proponent of phrased based methodologies and more recently the inclusion of user performance metrics in search results (be they personalized or otherwise). As any reader here would also know I also hasten to add that the dials (thresholds) are constantly tweaked across a wide variety of ranking factors and there is generally no all ' of a sudden' algorithmic additions. Much like my earlier post (/news/latest/big-algo-change-at-google---the-hype-and-the-help.html) about 'the New Google Algo', I believe there is smoke but no fire here. We shouldn’t be looking for specific random acts that a mere dozen or so people sort of corroborate. While algorithms based on these methods may be responsible, I don’t believe there is a catch-all adjustment that would cause such a phenomenon to occur. For any of you so inclined to go back along the journey see;The Phrase Based Optimization Guide (/search-engines/algorithm-matters/phrase-based-optimization-resources.html) and Google is watching you (/search-engines/algorithm-matters/beware:-google-is-watching-you.html) or even my recent series on Personalized Search (/search-engines/search-engine-optimization/the-art-of-personalized-search-optimization.html) for more on these issues.I will be watching if you’d like to pipe in on this one…hit the comments Until next time, stay tuned. (http://feeds.feedburner.com/theGypsy)

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Ok enough is enough. Over the last 24hrs no less than 3 major websites, (and many smaller ones) have been ranting about Google ranking new content (http://searchengineland.com/080102-082903.php) over older index entries. Am I the only person that finds this BIG NEWS less than exciting? I mean I have understood through most of last year that there were temporal effects that had newer entries/content additions ranking early but slowly fading over time if new links aren’t flowing in or the content reasonably updated. We have been watching this for some time now. This is another great illustration of how ‘the masses’ seem to think that there is a single algorithm at work. The folks at Mashable are talking about the ‘PageRank’ algorithm being broken which is just so far from reality it nearly nauseating. This has very little to do with PageRank and more to do with a variety of layered algos and a temporal parameter to the weighting system. To be calling them ‘artificially inflated’ is simply ignorant. WTF is so freaking artificial? Why do people seem to keep assuming that all things lead to PageRank? I have covered so many patents over the last few years that in whole, or in part, bring a wide variety of potential ranking factors, (signals) into the mix beyond PR, so why the confusion? I personally believe, that a heavily skewed PR world of ranking left us way back in early 2006. There is simply nothing new here for anyone that is in the trenches ranking sites 24/7. This phenomenon has been in play for quite a while.Let’s have a closer look at this so-called SERP evidence; January 1 tcp/ip (http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=January+1+tcp%2Fip) I am sorry, but this is not really much evidence of anything but how some bandwagon jumpers can board a no-name search...