June 2, 2006
Search Headlines & Links: June 2, 2006
Below, a recap of stories posted today to the Search Engine Watch Blog, along with other items we've spotted but not blogged separately:
From The SEW Blog...
- Daily SearchCast, June 2, 2006: NoFollow Changes Linking, Reputation Management, DOJ Wants Records, Microsoft's Planned Investment and much & More!
Today's search podcast covers how the "psychology of linking" has changed, handling bad behavior with reputation management and the DOJ wanting to prosecute so Internet companies need to store those records! Plus Microsoft's planned investment that totals $6.2 billion and much more! Tune-in by listening to this MP3 file, listening via WebmasterRadio at 11:30am Eastern and repeated at 2pm Eastern Tuesday through Friday, via our Odeo channel or through iTunes via this link (or use alternative iTunes instructions explained here) or though our Yahoo Podcasts channel. Need more help tuning in live or finding the chat room? See the Daily... - 55 Ways To Have Fun With Google
Interested in playing games? Want to learn a few other trick things you can do with Google? Google Blogoscoped author Phillip Lenssen has written a book titled: 55 Ways to Have Fun With Google. Learn about playing the classic Snake game among others, and using Google calculator utilities etc. According to the description, there's no programming skills needed. I haven't read the book, but knowing Phillip's blog, it sounds like it could be very interesting reading.... - AdSense Calendar
If you're an AdSense publisher, then you have a Google Account with access to Google Calendar and other services. As announced on their blog, you can now populate your Google Calendar with events by the AdSense team. Instructions for doing so are in the blog entry. It enables you to view and keep track of system maintenance, blog entries and upcoming events.... - Microsoft's Investment In The Coming Year
The open source phenomenon presented a challenge to Microsoft some years back, and it took the company a few years to learn to deal with it. The advent of Google has presented them with a new challenge that a transformation is "not optional" according to Steve Ballmer. While Google exemplifies the type of company success that ad supported software services can yield, Microsoft's model to date has been entirely different. The investment Microsoft plans for the coming year includes $6.2 billion, $2 billion more than previously budgeted. This investment will go towards building success in ad supported software which includes... - DOJ Asks Microsoft, AOL And Google To Keep Records
Last week during meetings with executives, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales asked several Internet companies to retain records for aiding in their prosecution efforts of terrorists and child predators. They requested lists of emails sent and received and web search information be kept for a reasonable length of time. The content of emails aren't part of this request, since the proper legal channels through which such information can be sought is by subpoena only.... - NoFollow Changes Linking Behavior
Jeremy Zawodny posts his commentary on the NoFollow tag after finding an interesting blog entry on how the NoFollow attribute has changed linking behavior. NoFollow was introduced by Google over a year ago to combat prevalent comment spam as blogs became extremely popular. Ever since, NoFollow has had mixed responses from Webmasters, and Jeremy nicely puts it all in perspective. NoFollow has done very little to actually thwart comment spam, and its other effect is to dissuade some from entering legitimate comments. Without a reciprocal link, what motivates readers from commenting on someone else's website? Jeremy notes the "psychology of... - Reputation Management: How To Handle Saboteurs
The [failure] GoogleBomb had become well-known enough to have seen Marrissa Mayer post a response on the Google company blog last September. I first heard the phrase "Reputation Management" as applied to search from Heather Lloyd-Martin during a private conversation a long time before this. It was obvious Heather was on to something because we've all seen search results that produce unexpected listings. David Dalka recently posted his frustration that Googling his name could confuse searchers into thinking he is a millionaire. This may be a personal example, but what if you have a bona-fide saboteur?...
Other Things We Read, Didn't Blog But You Might Want To Read...
- Google News inventor defends aggregator site, Online Press Gazette
- Learning To Surf The Web From China, Marketwatch.
Posted by Detlev Johnson on June 2, 2006, 9:20 PM | Permalink
French Used "Email" Term All Along
Does anybody remember when the French government decided to ban use of the word "e-mail," hoping to cleanse the language of English impurities? Well, it turns out it was a French word all along (sorta).
Here's how I discovered this: There's a calendar in my kitchen featuring 19th century French ad posters. Today I flipped it to June (not bad for me -- usually I wait till mid month) and noticed the word "email" in an ad for a paint brand called L'astrolin. The full text: "L'astrolin peinture email donne brilliant parfait inalterable." I won't do a parfait translation, but it means something like L'astrolin paint gives you brilliant, perfect color that doesn't fade, or change, something along those lines.
And that pesky "email" term? I've gathered from looking at a couple translation sites that it's like a stain or the kind or thing that's applied to ceramics before they're baked. Maybe like enamel? (I'm sure I'm off on this and my above translation, so if anyone wants to clarify, please comment!)
Of course, our "e-mail" isn't derived from theirs, but I thought this was kind of an ironic tidbit anyway.
Posted by Kate Kaye on June 2, 2006, 3:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Daily SearchCast, June 2, 2006: NoFollow Changes Linking, Reputation Management, DOJ Wants Records, Microsoft's Planned Investment and much & More!
Today's search podcast covers how the "psychology of linking" has changed, handling bad behavior with reputation management and the DOJ wanting to prosecute so Internet companies need to store those records! Plus Microsoft's planned investment that totals $6.2 billion and much more!
Tune-in by listening to this MP3 file, listening via WebmasterRadio at 11:30am Eastern and repeated at 2pm Eastern Tuesday through Friday, via our Odeo channel or through iTunes via this link (or use alternative iTunes instructions explained here) or though our Yahoo Podcasts channel. Need more help tuning in live or finding the chat room? See the Daily SearchCast FAQ.
Below are links to items discussed:
- Reputation Management: How To Handle Saboteurs
The [failure] GoogleBomb had become well-known enough to have seen Marrissa Mayer post a response on the Google company blog last September. I first heard the phrase "Reputation Management" as applied to search from Heather Lloyd-Martin during a private conversation a long time before this. It was obvious Heather was on to something because we've all seen search results that produce unexpected listings. David Dalka recently posted his frustration that Googling his name could confuse searchers into thinking he is a millionaire. This may be a personal example, but what if you have a bona-fide saboteur?... - NoFollow Changes Linking Behavior
Jeremy Zawodny posts his commentary on the NoFollow tag after finding an interesting blog entry on how the NoFollow attribute has changed linking behavior. NoFollow was introduced by Google over a year ago to combat prevalent comment spam as blogs became extremely popular. Ever since, NoFollow has had mixed responses from Webmasters, and Jeremy nicely puts it all in perspective. NoFollow has done very little to actually thwart comment spam, and its other effect is to dissuade some from entering legitimate comments. Without a reciprocal link, what motivates readers from commenting on someone else's website? Jeremy notes the "psychology of... - DOJ Asks Microsoft, AOL And Google To Keep records
Last week during meetings with executives, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales asked several Internet companies to retain records for aiding in their prosecution efforts of terrorists and child predators. They requested lists of emails sent and received and web search information be kept for a reasonable length of time. The content of emails aren't part of this request, since the proper legal channels through which such information can be sought is by subpoena only.... - Microsoft's Investment In The Coming Year
The open source phenomenon presented a challenge to Microsoft some years back, and it took the company a few years to learn to deal with it. The advent of Google has presented them with a new challenge that a transformation is "not optional" according to Steve Ballmer. While Google exemplifies the type of company success that ad supported software services can yield, Microsoft's model to date has been entirely different. The investment Microsoft plans for the coming year includes $6.2 billion, $2 billion more than previously budgeted. This investment will go towards building success in ad supported software which includes... - SideStep Adds Travel Guides Beta, Names SVP of Engineering
The battle of features in travel search continues with SideStep launching Travel Guides Beta. Most of the content is licensed from Frommer's with additional information courtesy of hotel partners. This launch by SideStep comes just about a month after the company announced its activities search.... - AdSense Calendar
If you're an AdSense publisher, then you have a Google Account with access to Google Calendar and other services. As announced on their blog, you can now populate your Google Calendar with events by the AdSense team. Instructions for doing so are in the blog entry. It enables you to view and keep track of system maintenance, blog entries and upcoming events.... - 55 Ways To Have Fun With Google
Interested in playing games? Want to learn a few other trick things you can do with Google? Google Blogoscoped author Phillip Lenssen has written a book titled: 55 Ways to Have Fun With Google. Learn about playing the classic Snake game among others, and using Google calculator utilities etc. According to the description, there's no programming skills needed. I haven't read the book, but knowing Phillip's blog, it sounds like it could be very interesting reading....
Posted by Detlev Johnson on June 2, 2006, 12:48 PM | Permalink
55 Ways To Have Fun With Google
Interested in playing games? Want to learn a few other trick things you can do with Google? Google Blogoscoped author Phillip Lenssen has written a book titled: 55 Ways to Have Fun With Google. Learn about playing the classic Snake game among others, and using Google calculator utilities etc. According to the description, there's no programming skills needed. I haven't read the book, but knowing Phillip's blog, it sounds like it could be very interesting reading.
Posted by Detlev Johnson on June 2, 2006, 9:18 AM | Permalink
Add The AdSense Calendar To Your Google Calendar
If you're an AdSense publisher, then you have a Google Account with access to Google Calendar and other services. As announced on the Google AdSense blog, you can now populate your Google Calendar with events from the AdSense team. Instructions for doing so are in the blog entry. It enables you to view and keep track of system maintenance, blog entries, scheduled monthly payments, upcoming events and more
Posted by Detlev Johnson on June 2, 2006, 9:09 AM | Permalink
Microsoft Ups R&D Budget To $6.2 Billion Over The Next Year
Speaking at a business conference, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said that his company would spend $6.2 billion over the next year, $2 billion more than previously budgeted. Most of this investment will go towards further developing Microsoft's online businesses.
Ballmer also spoke about how the open source phenomenon presented a challenge to Microsoft some years back, and it took the company a few years to learn to deal with it. The advent of Google has presented them with a new challenge that a transformation is "not optional." While Google exemplifies the type of company success that ad supported software services can yield, Microsoft's model to date has been entirely different.
Regarding the Google Dell distribution deal, Ballmer stated:
The cost of online customer acquisition is going up. Everybody has got to decide at what level they want to pay to play. So that was bravo. We know very well that people will change their defaults, people will change their search. They will go look, if they think something is worth looking for, and our job is to create that value. This is a case where you could say we decided that the return to our shareholders was not there in the business deal that could be done.
With Microsoft's plans for transformation, they rightly need to exercise patience and allow their company enough space time to adapt to a new model of business, and learn to compete in an area they are not currently leading.
Posted by Detlev Johnson on June 2, 2006, 8:52 AM | Permalink
DOJ Asks Microsoft, AOL And Google To Keep Records
Last week during meetings with executives, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales asked several Internet companies to retain records for aiding in their prosecution efforts of terrorists and child predators. They requested lists of emails sent and received and web search information be kept for a reasonable length of time. The content of emails aren't part of this request, since the proper legal channels through which such information can be sought is by subpoena only.
Posted by Detlev Johnson on June 2, 2006, 8:44 AM | Permalink
NoFollow Changes Linking Behavior
Jeremy Zawodny posts his commentary on the NoFollow tag after finding an interesting blog entry on how the NoFollow attribute has changed linking behavior. NoFollow was introduced by Google over a year ago to combat prevalent comment spam as blogs became extremely popular. Ever since, NoFollow has had mixed responses from Webmasters, and Jeremy nicely puts it all in perspective.
NoFollow has done very little to actually thwart comment spam, and its other effect is to dissuade some from entering legitimate comments. Without a reciprocal link, what motivates readers from commenting on someone else's website? Jeremy notes the "psychology of linking" has changed, and people now ration their linking. It should really be up to the search engines to sort out linking and its prominence in the algorithm for ranking sites.
Jeremy's advice is try not to over-think the issue; link and be linked to! Life's too short.
Posted by Detlev Johnson on June 2, 2006, 8:25 AM | Permalink
Search Forums Roundup: June 2, 2006
Today's SearchDay, Search Engine Forums Spotlight, features our weekly links to this week's hot topics from search engine forums across the web: AdWords To Begin Crawling Landing Pages - Full Coverage Recap - SEW Live! - Expired Domains With Good Links - How Do We Fight Back Against The Google Monster? - Ask Now With Blog and Feed Search, and more.
Posted by Chris Sherman on June 2, 2006, 5:56 AM | Permalink
Reputation Management: How To Handle Saboteurs
The [failure] GoogleBomb had become well-known enough to have seen Marrissa Mayer post a response on the Google company blog last September. I first heard the phrase "Reputation Management" as applied to search from Heather Lloyd-Martin during a private conversation a long time before this. It was obvious Heather was on to something because we've all seen search results that produce unexpected listings. David Dalka recently posted his frustration that Googling his name could confuse searchers into thinking he is a millionaire. This may be a personal example, but what if you have a bona-fide saboteur?
Heather recently related to me her experience with a client where a saboteur took the client company name, mixed it with adult content, and auto-generated unsavory posts published across the Web in numerous blogs and forums. Needless to say, search results for that company started looking really bad, and at times, the whole set of results was flooded with what looked like adult listings.
Heather now regularly points out examples of big brands that could use reputation management as regards their search listings. She presents screen shots at conferences showing Google queries for uhaul and victorias secret having results at number 3 and number 2 respectively that read: "UHaul made my move a miserable and stressful experience" and "Victoria's Dirty Secret."
The dirty secret site has an image with an "angel" holding a chain saw. The site makes it sound as if whole forests are regularly depleted because the cataloger lacks environmental awareness. What can you do when this happens?
You certainly have little control over the natural rankings of saboteurs unless they spam. You can easily choose to hand spammers that polute your rankings over to search engine quality assurance teams when they use tactics that would have them removed. In the case of the dirty secret site, it appears the other extreme is occurring. The campaign for environmental change at Victorias Secret may be working. Perhaps Victorias Secret will establish more earth friendly contracts with their suppliers.
Other things you can do is publish pages telling your side of the story in the hopes to get natural rankings that counteract the negative spin. You needn't wait for natural rankings to appear either, you can purchase sponsored listings to drive users to the new pages straight away. At least in the meantime your presence can be felt on those most troubling queries should they begin to affect your image in search results.
Postscript: David's personal example caused him some grief. Consider the amount of grief an "eBay Avenger" causes the young fellow who it looks like fell victim to an angry buyer that decided to make an example of him. Even if the allegations later prove to be false, and although the eBay avenger has publicly offered to take down the site, SERPs for his name will likely be damaged for a long time to come, (Google, Microsoft and Ask too).
Posted by Detlev Johnson on June 2, 2006, 4:44 AM | Permalink
