Comments on: Google is destroying the web! http://blog.merjis.com/2007/07/30/google-is-destroying-the-web/ Effective Internet Marketing Strategy and Technique Through Experiments, Measurement and Audit Thu, 28 Aug 2008 04:50:08 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.12-alpha by: Anatomy of a Web Spam Attack | Merjis Internet Marketing Blog http://blog.merjis.com/2007/07/30/google-is-destroying-the-web/#comment-16638 Sun, 09 Sep 2007 11:00:16 +0000 http://blog.merjis.com/2007/07/30/google-is-destroying-the-web/#comment-16638 [...] What this means, I think, is that pure citation based models face an end-game… But I’ve already blogged endlessly about that. It means that organic indexes will become increasingly dominated by sites put there by increasingly complex software and humans from low cost economies, rather than a consequence of human judgement. At least, until the SE’s work out how to compensate for this rather insidious mechanism. [...] […] What this means, I think, is that pure citation based models face an end-game… But I’ve already blogged endlessly about that. It means that organic indexes will become increasingly dominated by sites put there by increasingly complex software and humans from low cost economies, rather than a consequence of human judgement. At least, until the SE’s work out how to compensate for this rather insidious mechanism. […]

]]> by: Jeremy Chatfield http://blog.merjis.com/2007/07/30/google-is-destroying-the-web/#comment-13219 Wed, 01 Aug 2007 09:04:37 +0000 http://blog.merjis.com/2007/07/30/google-is-destroying-the-web/#comment-13219 Bob - At the moment, I take a completely different tack. For a jurisdiction to offer security to its members, which includes financial security, you need identity assurance; you can still have anonymity, but you need to know that you are dealing with an entity capable of the transaction you are trying to conduct. You need some other things, too, like standardised time, and stable currency... The internet is odd, because it crosses current jurisdictional boundaries. This blog is more heavily read in the US than in the UK, for example. I believe that the consequence of thinking about the transactional web, is that there will or should be <a href="http://lambda-the-ultimate.org/node/2368#comment-35337" rel="nofollow">more emphasis on identity</a>. When I know that I'm dealing with you, I extend more trust than dealing with a random stranger, who may turn out to be a bot masquerading as human. It should be possible to derive rankings based on trust delegation. Eventually. And this will tie in with economic models as well as search. Carl - I haven't done an SEO analysis, but I did take a quick look at your site. You have stuff like AdBrite offering adverts for, IIRC, mortgages and credit cards, tied to pretty irrelevant words in the text. I suspect that this will trigger some kind of negative quality scoring metric. Just take a moment to review the Google Webmaster Guidelines, and remember Google's mantra (which their Maximisers/strategy advisers *do* use in their advice to advertisers) - "what would the user want?". You are spot on that Google's editorial policies define your site design parameters. Google's policies lead design in one direction - but this may not be in the ultimate interests of users. Evolution finds local optima, not global optimisation. My article is targeting an area where I think Google's origins as a citation based system with an informational bias, is not giving users content that users would find completely acceptable, and that this has happened as a consequence of the way that the web has matured. The web of 2007 is a very different place from the web of 1997. In 1997 you had difficulty finding the best information. In 2007 you have the new difficulty of finding the best place to buy. Search is not adequately addressing this unarticulated need. Bob - At the moment, I take a completely different tack. For a jurisdiction to offer security to its members, which includes financial security, you need identity assurance; you can still have anonymity, but you need to know that you are dealing with an entity capable of the transaction you are trying to conduct. You need some other things, too, like standardised time, and stable currency… The internet is odd, because it crosses current jurisdictional boundaries. This blog is more heavily read in the US than in the UK, for example.

I believe that the consequence of thinking about the transactional web, is that there will or should be more emphasis on identity. When I know that I’m dealing with you, I extend more trust than dealing with a random stranger, who may turn out to be a bot masquerading as human. It should be possible to derive rankings based on trust delegation. Eventually. And this will tie in with economic models as well as search.

Carl - I haven’t done an SEO analysis, but I did take a quick look at your site. You have stuff like AdBrite offering adverts for, IIRC, mortgages and credit cards, tied to pretty irrelevant words in the text. I suspect that this will trigger some kind of negative quality scoring metric. Just take a moment to review the Google Webmaster Guidelines, and remember Google’s mantra (which their Maximisers/strategy advisers *do* use in their advice to advertisers) - “what would the user want?”.

You are spot on that Google’s editorial policies define your site design parameters. Google’s policies lead design in one direction - but this may not be in the ultimate interests of users. Evolution finds local optima, not global optimisation.

My article is targeting an area where I think Google’s origins as a citation based system with an informational bias, is not giving users content that users would find completely acceptable, and that this has happened as a consequence of the way that the web has matured. The web of 2007 is a very different place from the web of 1997. In 1997 you had difficulty finding the best information. In 2007 you have the new difficulty of finding the best place to buy. Search is not adequately addressing this unarticulated need.

]]> by: Carl Strohmeyer http://blog.merjis.com/2007/07/30/google-is-destroying-the-web/#comment-13080 Tue, 31 Jul 2007 01:39:38 +0000 http://blog.merjis.com/2007/07/30/google-is-destroying-the-web/#comment-13080 I think Google is destroying the web but from a different angle, more sinister. I have an Aquarium Information site ( http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Aquarium_Information.html ) That also had Adwords for key words. This site in all modesty does not deal in the same anecdotal BS that most Aquarium information sites due and I publish many resources to back this up. Well I suddenly noticed that my Adwords costs had tripled, so I checked my organic search and low and behold, Google had pushed me way back despite continued hyperlink growth (one way too). I found out that Google had devalued ezines and similar publishers of my articles, and forum posts (that were in context were also of little value). So what is left? The snake oil peddling sites that can afford to by links (as despite what many SEO pundits say no one gives you back links in the aquarium business even and more so if you have good content as they do not want to look bad) So now the many who know of this site pay Adwords to find me (yes they should bookmark it, but many just do not do this). At least MSN and Yahoo respects good content and values content driven forum posts I think Google is destroying the web but from a different angle, more sinister.

I have an Aquarium Information site ( http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Aquarium_Information.html )
That also had Adwords for key words. This site in all modesty does not deal in the same anecdotal BS that most Aquarium information sites due and I publish many resources to back this up. Well I suddenly noticed that my Adwords costs had tripled, so I checked my organic search and low and behold, Google had pushed me way back despite continued hyperlink growth (one way too).

I found out that Google had devalued ezines and similar publishers of my articles, and forum posts (that were in context were also of little value).
So what is left? The snake oil peddling sites that can afford to by links (as despite what many SEO pundits say no one gives you back links in the aquarium business even and more so if you have good content as they do not want to look bad)

So now the many who know of this site pay Adwords to find me (yes they should bookmark it, but many just do not do this).
At least MSN and Yahoo respects good content and values content driven forum posts

]]> by: Bob R. http://blog.merjis.com/2007/07/30/google-is-destroying-the-web/#comment-13059 Mon, 30 Jul 2007 20:25:38 +0000 http://blog.merjis.com/2007/07/30/google-is-destroying-the-web/#comment-13059 Interesting discussion. How website will come to establish if a website is rich in relevant material to signify it as well ranked place for "economic significance" is the hard answer. One thing I'd like to see them do for a typical ecommerce website is establish if they have incorporated any true "Web 2.0" features, such as customer reviews. Given your line of thinking, a website that is rich in economic significance would produce more than a good price and shipping details. It would have "open" customer ratings about their service and trusted reviews of actual usage. Interesting discussion. How website will come to establish if a website is rich in relevant material to signify it as well ranked place for “economic significance” is the hard answer. One thing I’d like to see them do for a typical ecommerce website is establish if they have incorporated any true “Web 2.0″ features, such as customer reviews. Given your line of thinking, a website that is rich in economic significance would produce more than a good price and shipping details. It would have “open” customer ratings about their service and trusted reviews of actual usage.

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