We see people all the time using tricky ways to show above legitimate websites in the search results. Google’s spam specialist, Matt Cutts, educates us on the tricks these spammers are using and how to protect ourselves against them.

Web spammers are generally trying to generate profit from free links or trying to force some sort of propaganda onto the viewer. They use tricks like filling a page with common misspellings of search terms or repetitive keywords in white text that cannot be seen without highlighting the entire page. These tricks make the spam pages seem relevant to the search term and can position them above more relevant, legitimate sites.

Google uses a technique called PageRank to prevent against this type of spam. Rather than simply viewing the content on a page and ranking based on that content, Google looks at the back links to a site and decides the importance and relevancy of the people that link to that page. This allows them to determine the individual value of the page and whether or not the site is spam.

Matt Cutts tells us one procedure to prevent against spam attacks is to incorporate information in the email forms that proves the person filling out the form is a human being. Things like asking a simple math question or requiring a valid email address. Anything that a robot cannot fill in with fake information will help you to differentiate a legitimate customer from a spammer.

Another significant idea to note is that there are illegitimate companies in existence today that claim to sell Search Engine Optimization (SEO) services when they are simply selling spam. It is important to look into the company you are using and discover in detail the strategies utilized to improve your natural rankings. Use common sense, if they doing something that seems sneaking or too good to be true, it probably is. Nobody is going to get you to number one with a click of a button. Anyone claiming to have ‘the secret’ to the search engine algorithm is likely a fake. There are in fact capable SEO firms out there and it takes months to get the results you are looking for. Google even provides a service that allows you to register your site to be reviewed and they will alert you if your website has been hacked or if there are any other problems.

To have your website reviewed visit google.com/webmasters. Please feel free to watch Matt Cutts’ presentation in its entirety as well.

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W3C director Tim Berners-Lee, a visionary behind The Semantic Web, explains more here . . . “I have a dream for the Web [in which computers] become capable of analyzing all the data on the Web – the content, links, and transactions between people and computers. A ‘Semantic Web’, which should make this possible, has yet to emerge, but when it does, the day-to-day mechanisms of trade, bureaucracy and our daily lives will be handled by machines talking to machines. The ‘intelligent agents’ people have touted for ages will finally materialize.”

So what changes need to be made to make this possible? The major requirement is a markup language more data oriented than the current convention of HTML. While HTML uses “meta tags” to provide a way for computers to categorize content on web pages, the semantic web will require documents to be published in the data specific language RDF, or Resource Description Framework. This RDF format is what will allow human perception to be understood by computers so that data is better filed and handled. While HTML describes documents and links between them, RDF describes arbitrary things such as people, meetings, or events.

While there defiantly are some clear benefits to the semantic web, there are draw backs as well. Is the idea all together unrealistic? The idea of a semantic web isn’t new. Berners-Lee’s 2001 article in Scientific American discussed the topic and we have yet to see implementation. Censorship and privacy also becomes an issue. The semantic web would make is much easier for governments to control the viewing and creation of online information. One last major concern is the amount of time it would take to publish content in this new format. Not only are we creating a document for the human reader, but an additional format for the computer. However, this problem is being addressed through the possible use of web aps creating a machine-readable format upon the publishing of data or the request of a machine for such data.

It will definitely be interesting to see what the future has to offer.

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Chrysler recently rolled out their new car buying incentive Let’s Refuel America. The idea behind the plan is to guarantee a $2.99 price per gallon to all those who buy their vehicles. There are a few conditions that apply (such as car model, type of fuel, and annual fuel limits), but overall it seems like a plan that would turn some heads, especially in a time where the cost of oil continually hits new highs (the price is at $124 a barrel as of 5/08/08).

The Let’s Refuel America campaign is not only covered by traditional media outlets, but also generating a lot of buzz around the blogosphere and online in general.

A Google search for “lets refuel America” yields over 744,000 results and Chrysler even has a PPC campaign setup targeting specific key words.

1 Step Further With Placement Targetting

Where their PPC campaign can potentially capitalize even more is through utilizing Google’s Placement Targeting (formerly known as Site Targeting). Placement Targeting is where advertisers can select web sites on the Google Content Network where they would like to advertise on, such as GasBuddy.com and LosAngelesGasPrices.com.

With proper keyword research, placement targeting and compelling ad text, Chrysler can drive even more gas saving fanatics to their web site. While Google’s Placement Targetting is not always perfect, it’s potential should not be overlooked, especially with larger budget campaigns.

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What exactly is the content network? Google’s content network is comprised of hundreds of thousands of sites that allow Google to show targeted AdWords ads on them. This is called “AdSense” from the website publisher’s perspective. Google’s system “contextually” targets these ads by scanning each web page displaying AdSense and then displaying ads relevant to the content present on the page. So, a web page dedicated to golf might show ads relating to golf clubs, balls or vacations.

This allows advertisers to reach potential customers by advertising on websites that they visit on a regular basis, rather than simply advertising in the search results of Google.

Google’s content network is great, and can be a valuable component of a search engine marketing campaign. The problem I have is twofold:

1. The value of clicks from the content network is less than from the search network; a user on a golfing website who clicks your ad for golf clubs is less likely to purchase than a user on Google who searches for “buy golf clubs”
2. Google automatically opts advertisers into the completely “optional” content network, without any explanation of what it is, or a disclaimer about the variance in value per click.

Google’s AdWords support site states that “New keyword-targeted campaigns are automatically opted in to distribution on the Google Network, so if you want your ads to appear on search and content sites and products, then you don’t need to do a thing.”

Herein lies the problem; it is not doing me a favor to opt me automatically into the content network. In fact, there is no way to opt out of the content network while creating the campaign; even if the seemingly “optional” CPC content bid field is left blank, I am still opted in to the content network.

I can see this being a source of confusion for many AdWords users, as leaving an optional field blank typically means you are choosing not to opt in, but that is not how it is interpreted here. In order to turn off the content network, you have to go back into the campaign settings after the campaign is activated and turn it off from there.

I don’t know about you, but I think this is extremely deceptive, especially for a company whose mantra is “do no evil”. I create campaigns like it’s my job (it is!) and even I occasionally forget to go into the campaign settings immediately after to turn it off.

I cannot fathom the amount of inadvertent money spent (much of it wasted) by advertisers who have no idea that their money is being spread across the content network. If I am a new advertiser signing up to “advertise on Google”, it is a fair assumption that on Google is where my ads will appear.

Apparently, I am not alone; a few weeks ago Kabateck Brown Kellner, LLP, filed a lawsuit against Google for this very gripe. The suit was filed on behalf of David Almeida and claims that Google is deceiving AdWords users into spending money on advertising they did not explicitly request; automatically being opted in to the content network when the CPC content bid field is left blank is the basis for the suit. The lawsuit states that, “By redefining the universally understood meaning of an input form left blank, and then intentionally concealing this redefinition, Google has fraudulently taken millions of dollars from Plaintiff and the members of the class.” Kabateck has previously taken part in multi-million dollar click fraud settlements against both Google and Yahoo; maybe this is just who we need to put a stop to these deceptive tactics. In the meantime, keep an eye on those content settings!

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The troublesome thing is that after doing extensive research Professor Duffy found out that he was correct. He discovered a constitutional flaw in the appointment process of the judges who decide cases dealing with patent appeals and disputes, stating that the appointment process is unconstitutional. Since 2000, patent judges have been appointed by a government official who has neither the authority nor the constitutional power to appoint patent judges. The problem Professor Duffy identified at least arguably invalidates every decision the patent court has made since March 2000.

Photo credit Bhtmfan

Are you kidding me? All court cases involving patents in an 8-year span?! These findings could affect thousand of patent decisions affecting billions of dollars. Can you imagine the effect it could potentially have on our country if the Supreme Court decides that these cases should be appealed and retried? Quite honestly I can’t, but it does pose many questions. Who all will this affect? What companies? How many people’s personal lives will be turned upside down? The final ramifications could be astounding.

Cases such as the Translogic case (where $86 million is at stake) are already being taken to the Supreme Court on the basis that “an improperly constituted tribunal should not be deciding the case, so we will have to go back and have the decision made by a properly constituted panel.” Personally I can’t wait to see how this all turns out. As it stands now the justice department is not disputing Duffy’s findings and is already desperately looking for a solution. What solution will they find? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

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It was 15 years ago that the web became free thanks to the visionary leadership of computer guru and web-inventor, Sir Tim Berners-Lee.  The open-source technical documents, that he and other developers posted, liberated web tech from obscure compsci labs and released it out into the open. 8.5 Billion pages later, the World Wide Web continues to grow both in size and in its integration into our daily lives.

Interesting Web Statistics

•    Number of years each took to reach 50 million users
Radio - 38 years
TV - 13 years
Cable - 10 years
Internet - 5 years
•    The average person each month usually visits 59 domains, views 1,050 pages averaging 45 seconds for each page and spend about 25 hours a month doing this! Each surfing session lasts approximately 51 minutes
•    The estimated number of Internet users in the world for March 31, 2008 is 1,355,110,631 – 1/5 of World Population
•    Affiliate Marketing is expected to grow to over $ 230 Billion in 2008.
•    In 2007 More than 281 Exabytes of data was created, captured or replicated. (It would take more than 280 Billion iPod Shuffles to store all that data.)
•    The compound annual growth rate is expected to be almost 60 percent.

Here is what the web visionaries had to say to the bbc about the Web, and what we might expect in the next 15 years.

“The future is always in the past and for the web particularly. In a hundred years, 15 years will seem to be just the infancy of the web, when the semantic web wasn’t even completely deployed… What’s exciting is that people are building new social systems, new systems of review, new systems of governance. My hope is that those will produce… new ways of working together effectively and fairly which we can use globally to manage ourselves as a planet. “ - Sir Tim Berners-Lee

“We mustn’t forget we chose the name WWW before there was even one line of code written. We could do that because the internet as an infrastructure was already there.
Either we were going to fall on our faces or we would have something that would be truly worldwide. There was nothing in between. In much less than 15 years I think we need to figure out what the social impact is going to be of the Semantic web. I am not sure this is a good thing. I don’t know who is controlling it. And because it works by ontologies, who decides on what basis I am going to see things? “
- Robert Cailliau worked on the development of the web with Sir Tim Berners-Lee at Cern.

“What we are really building is a global brand where all the computers in the world are connected, where all the devices in the world are connected, sometimes intermittently off and on, and all the people are connected. This is going to be a very different thing. It’s ironic that back in the 70s there was all this talk about global consciousness, ‘blah blah blah’, and it really is going to happen. Except it’s going to happen mediated by computers. We are connected now to this network of devices and computers and they augment our intelligence and our ability to share, to communicate, and we as a culture are changing as a result. It’s the most profound change since the advent of literacy. And it’s bigger than the industrial revolution. We are on the front of a new renaissance; and that doesn’t mean all good things, there could be a lot of bad things there too.”
-Tim O’Reilly

“The estimate is that 80% of all content now generated on our databases in our computers is user generated and only 20% is enterprise. So how are we going to manage that tsunami, that overwhelming avalanche of information? …The future is the Semantic web, or web 3.0. Rather than at the moment what you have to do is do some smart searching, and integrate through a lot of documents that are offered up to you, Web 3.0 will be able to do a lot of that information brokering for you.”
-    Nigel Shadbolt

“But the reason it is exciting is that it makes these connections so much easier. Some of them are educational, some of them are entertainment but they are the things that make human life worth living. In 15 years the web will be everywhere; in ways we don’t know”
-    Mitchell Baker

“It’s is going to become a very refined electronic community and a set of communities that will operate at many different levels; individual interests as well as broad social efforts. You’ve seen a lot of that take place in the American elections that are gong to be taking place later this year. All the candidates have become very effective at being able to use the web as a way to both communicate and connect with their communities.”
- Mark Bernstein

“Everything is moving so fast. If you look at what I am doing with my cell phone now, transmitting live video around the world, that’s really different from just five months ago.
It’s even going on with Twitter. There is a new tweet coming into my account every 15 seconds and 15 years from now what’s that going to feel like? You are going to be able to do a lot more than 140 character messages. I will be Twittered out by then but there will be something new that comes along that will let me communicate with other people and that is what the web is all about ultimately. “
- Robert Scoble

Sounds good to me! Time to celebrate by playing Mario Kart online while I simultaneously “twitter” with my cellphone, watch The Office on my PC, and stream music on my Macbook. Whew!

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[Ed. note: This article originally set to post on 4/28]

Google and Yahoo sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G…well, that possibility could be a reality in the near future. Let it be known that Yahoo is currently seeking a business partnership with Google.

As of April 28, 2008, Google and Yahoo are in the middle of a two-week alpha test. This test is primarily composed of both Search Engines combining and “testing” specific search functionalities to improve Yahoo’s Online search and advertising platform. Simply put, Yahoo Is using Google’s search query and selected algorithmic components to generate and display ads to Yahoo users based upon their searches.

For those that are not familiar with Search Engine market share break down; Google controls roughly 60% of the U.S. Web search market and Yahoo owns roughly 20%. The remaining percentages are comprised of lonely MSN with about 10% market share and the remaining numbers being divided amongst smaller search engines such as Ask.com and aol.com.

The coalition of these two search engines, Google and Yahoo, could dramatically change the world of online search and advertising. In theory, this merger could eliminate all competition within this industry. Why would any business or online surfer want to use a different channel? Google and Yahoo already utilize the most advanced algorithms within the industry and retain the highest levels of user loyalty.

Due to this potential merger, the “Google/Yahoo” test is under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department and other competition regulators for possibly violating antitrust implications. Nothing of note or credible importance has yet to be quoted or released pertaining to this investigation.

I believe Yahoo is taking the right approach to test Google’s applications, strategies and brand name to improve upon their current search operations. Also, this is a slap in the face to MSN as Yahoo recently rejected their (MSN) $44 billion buy out offer. By rejecting MSN and now “working” with Google, I feel that Yahoo is moving in the right direction to improve their search functionality. If this merger happens, I believe this will be a win-win for the Google and Yahoo, but a major lose for all competing search engines.

One step at a time though, lets see what type of reports and feedback are released once the test is complete and their data is viewable. I am very interested to see what their “test” findings show and what the next steps are, if any.

Addendum:

Generally, my addenda are long and make several sub points on what I write about. However this addendum is quite the opposite. I wanted to point out that I am biased towards Google. My tone in writing this blog may not show it, but I respect Google too much and want them to succeeded and fully control this market. Google is simply a great brand with a great product, which I want to see get better. By Google helping/working with Yahoo I only see future benefits and improvement in this youthful world of Search Engine Marketing. In my eyes, I see Google as the older brother, helping his younger sibling, Yahoo.

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Google TV Ads works for both advertisers with existing commercials and ones without. For those without ads Google has setup an Ad Creation Marketplace (ACM) where advertisers can send in project bids to industry professionals to take care of the entire Ad creation process. To sweeten this deal, for a limited time Google is offering to cover up to $2,000 of the ad creation cost made through their ACM.

Ad Pricing

Ad pricing is based on the maximum cost-per-thousand impressions users are willing to pay to have their ads run and advertisers only pay when the ad airs.

Ad Targetting

Google is letting users target ads to run on specific TV programs, but also has advanced features to hone in on program descriptions, cast, genre, titles, and more.

The Small Business Gap

While it’s unlikely that large companies like Nike or McDonalds will ever set foot into Google’s ACM, ACM provides a great starting point for small and local businesses looking to advertise on TV. By offering traditional mediums of advertising together with online advertising, Google has closed the loop and essentially created a one-stop for business advertising needs.

Google Now Offers:

• Text Ads
• Image Ads
• Local Business Ads
• Mobile Ads
• Radio/Audio Ads
• Newspaper/Print Ads
• TV Ads

Will their next step be into magazines, podcasting or billboards? Or are park benches and bus stops more likely?

Only time will tell, and we can only hope ads that come out of the ACM will be as funny as this one.

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Image search results are currently determined through basic image tagging. This definitely hinders the results as it relies on webmaster’s content and alt-image tags, and we all know people aren’t perfect. So when you search one thing, you may end up with something completely different, especially when you turn filtering off. But you already knew that didn’t you?

As it stands now Google uses employees to rank the images that they store. There is a team of 150 employees who are using the most popular searches to find images and rank them accordingly. The Google staff estimates that 83% of the results are less relevant images.

With the release of this technology, Image search may become as highly prized as the organic results. So not only will Google require better content for higher ranking websites, but better image relevance and quality too. Better upgrade that 2 megapixel cam to a 12 Mp SLR!

A Google Prototype for a Precision Image Search

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On April 8^th Forbes posted an article titled “America’s Most Miserable Sports Cities.” I know what you are thinking, “Forbes is writing sports articles?” I guess they justify it by explaining that professional sport teams are really money-making corporations. This is true; however, most of their sport articles have nothing to do with any type of financial aspect. Anyway, that’s another blog for another time.

This article created a list based on authors Tom Van Riper’s and Andrew Farrell’s criteria and opinions. Regardless of the fact that the list is opinion based, it is the worst list ever created. The 10 Commandments led to the rationalization of George W. Bush and, as Rage Against the Machine would put it, “killing in the name of”. Yet, Forbes’ list has managed to outdo the chaos that followed the Commandments. In a nutshell the list has Atlanta at the top and Philadelphia and Cleveland low on the list. Being from Cleveland, I, like many others, take pride in being the most miserable loser in the U.S. Naturally, I wanted to blast back at Forbes and its fools, so I went down to the bottom of the online article and clicked the comment button…

And that’s where they got me!

To be able to post a comment one must provide a valid email address. Steamed and ready to unload a bus of hell bound vocabulary, I signed up and typed something which soon faded into a mass of shadows cast by such an awful article. (To view my comment click here.) The article received many comments from miserable people from miserable towns. All negative.

So is it coincidence that not one person agreed with this article? Maybe. It could be that the one who agrees, may not feel as passionately as the person who feels slighted, ergo, no comment. The more likely scenario is that this article was written to anger people. The article makes people fanatical: they sign up, comment, feel used afterwards, get depressed, get fired from their job, start drinking, get a divorce, lose custody of their children, do some things they aren’t proud of for money (things they only did as experiments in college), eventually get help, start a new life, and then blog about it. More or less.

The whole signing into the website to view the entire article and comment idea is a great way to sucker people into giving an email address. Nothing is for free. We pay to comment. The fee is our email address, which can be turned into a sizable profit if properly solicited.

Thank you for the comment. Enjoy the spam.

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