Google

Why Google Thinks SPYW is a Good Idea and You Probably Don’t

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In a recent statement Larry Page said if you don’t get SPYW then maybe you shouldn’t work at Google. To understand why he thinks this is such a good idea–and why the rest of the world thinks it isn’t–we need to revisit the concept of filter bubbles and why they are such a bad idea.

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Why Google Wants to be in Your Wallet and Drive Your Car

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When I talk with people who aren’t involved with internet marketing about Google, I’m surprised by the amount of trust they put in Google and how they feel Google is making the world a better place … for truly altruistic reasons. It’s not until I point out how Google will gladly provide all the services [...]

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Is Having a High Exit Rate Bad

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Is having a high exit rate bad? In pursuit determining whether Google is using analytics data to ranks SERPS, many marketers put undue focus and weight on factors like bounce rate and exit rate instead of taking a more holistic look at the statistics in relation to one another and what they really mean.

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Is a High Bounce Rate Bad?

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Is having a high bounce rate bad? It depends. In this post, we will be looking at bounce rate in association with other factors to help you spot a bad high bounce rate from a high bounce rate you don’t need to be worried about.

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Why You Can Almost Guarantee Google is Using Your Analytics Data

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While many webmasters and publishers use Google analytics without a second thought, smart publishers, marketers, and SEOs are left to speculate… Is Google using this data? What might they use it for? And am I doing myself more harm than good using it?

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Google Throws Publishers Under Bus with Prerendering of Pages

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Google recently announced they will start to pre-render pages in Chrome to “improve the user experience.” IMHO this represents nothing more than the latest effort by Google to throw publishers under the bus to gain market share for one of their products and ultimately give them more data about their users to better target their [...]

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Google Traffic – Confusing Love and Money

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I recently came across an article that was bemoaning the fact that the travel blogging space has become overrun with low level search intended writing, and the actual feet on the ground, first hand, personal travel experiences are disappearing from the web. IMHO this author has confused love and money, a common complaint in the web publishing world.

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Why Google’s +1 Needs an On Page Component

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Last week Google announced a new addition to the search engine results page: the +1 button. While there was a huge amount of press surrounding the launch, after playing with it for a few days, I don’t think it’s going to work unless it has an on page component … soon.

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The Need For Better Communication From Google

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As a company, Google tends to favor automation, whether it’s in Adwords, organic algorithm updates, or dealing with the public in general. This automation makes them efficient and profitable, but it also makes it very hard when doing any sort of customer service interaction. Have a problem with feedburner? You are more likely to see Big Foot [...]

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Serendipity … It’s What’s Missing From Personalized Search

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I’ve spoken in the past about my concerns with Google’s personalized search. Last week I came across an article in Mashable that summed up my problem: It’s the lack of serendipity.

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Google the Answer Engine

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One of the topics that emerged from Pubcon was “Should SEO’s Focus on Where Google is Heading”, and I’m going to agree with Aaron that focusing on short term algorithmic holes isn’t a smart thing for most people (churn and burn folks–you keep on keeping on). I agree that most publishers should focus on where Google is [...]

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The Google Holiday Update Conspiracy Theory

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For the past few years, right before the prime 4th quarter holiday selling period, Google pushes out an update that causes an upheaval in the organic SERP’s. This has lead to talk of there being a Google Holiday Update Conspiracy, with the goals of making SEO look bad to drive up Adwords spending. Is there [...]

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I Wish We Had Google Understand Not Google Instant Search

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Earlier this week Google launched the latest iteration of the SERP’s, Google Instant. While I, like everyone else, had fun playing and finding some of the holes in it, it’s really not a product that I think will succeed. To Google’s credit, I can’t ever say that I’ve heard people complain that Google takes too long to [...]

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Personalized Google News – Will That be on the Test

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For a moment, I’d like you to think back to high school. Remember how there was always that one kid who would raise their hand and ask the question “Will that be on the test?” Now, thanks to Personalized Google News, we have the answer.

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Google is Scarier than Facebook on Privacy

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In the past few weeks Facebook has been publicly criticized over privacy policies; however, when Google invades people’s privacy, the offenses don’t receive the same level of scrutiny or public outrage.

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When Google Local Gets it Wrong

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Now, don’t get me wrong. Google Local and Google Maps are extremely valuable tools that I use a few times every week. But every so often they get something wrong–so wrong, in fact, that I’m not sure where the wires got crossed.

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Google Local Suggest Nearly Broken and Mostly Useless

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Chances are you’ve seen me complain about Google local suggest throwing local results in for queries that shouldn’t be local. IMHO unless I specify a local parameter you shouldn’t be suggesting one. I understand that might be personal preference. Recently, however, I’ve seen queries with local results that contradict the one included in the search term. IMHO [...]

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Is Google Playing Monkey Games With Real Time Search

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Last week Google launched real time SERP’s, which included the possibility for twitter and facebook updates to appear in searches for popular information, news, or for someone’s name. The potential for libel and potential for spam has already been discussed. What hasn’t been addressed is the problems it can create for reputation management. Specificall, how [...]

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Google Suggest – Broken and Filled with Porn and Children

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In recent weeks Google has been launching a higher than usual amount of new products. Many will say they are moving in the wrong direction. Many of these products appear to have been launched without fully considering the weaknesses they will have to spam. Instead of rushing “shiny new cat toys” out the door that [...]

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Eric Schmidt, The Wall Street Journal and Personalized Search

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Early Friday morning the Wall Street Journal published an op-ed piece from Eric Schmidt on how Google can help the dying newspaper industry. Later that same afternoon Google announced they were “turning on” personalized search for everyone. While these two events were connected because the occurred on the same date, they are also a clear signal of [...]

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