Warmest Greetings,
:: Friday, January 10, 2003 ::
And if that isn't enough for ya...
Click on >>> "After reading Google's response to the SK lawsuit, I'm confirmed in my belief that Google is a threat to the World Wide Web."
:: posted by Kimberly Krause on 1/10/2003 09:29:08 AM
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It's My Opinion That Counts and That's Final?
Now that the legal papers on the SearchKing vs Google are available to read (for a mere $20, mind you), some people are taking another look at Bob Massa's claims. Chris Ridings, who gained fame by unlocking the mysteries of Google PageRank, took another look and this caught my eye because it echos what others have been thinking or feeling.
"For Google no longer represent the idealised statements in their research project or on their site. They are no longer making measurements or assessing the opinion of a whole. They are beginning to be about their opinions, them, what they think and this becomes the (whether legal or moral) argument for being able to do whatever they like. Court case or not, whether they win or not, that is worrying and something that must be fundamentally changed or they will go the same as Altavista."
This fits with my own hunch that the once idealistic, Linux farm Google is going the way of other dotcoms that realized they had bills to pay. Google IS losing favor among many webmasters due to the threat of site/page penalization and low PageRank scores that appear suspiciously like censorship. Warranted or not, the very idea of what a search engine is has come under scrutiny. Search engines stopped being objective when pay for inclusion/rank dominated search results. With the possibility that Google PageRank, on an engine that doesn't charge for inclusion, is more closely related to an opinion than an actual formula-based metric, the ability to search without bias, or submit pages without fear, may be gone forever.
Click on >>> SupportForums.org Entry for January 10 to read more of Chris's ponderings on the court case.
:: posted by Kimberly Krause on 1/10/2003 09:14:23 AM
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:: Thursday, January 09, 2003 ::
Get Real. Make It Usable.
It's always amazed me, even before I became a usability fanatic, how many software development companies completely ignore their customers. They THINK their bases are covered because someone in marketing is telling them so, but Marketing isn't doing usability testing. They don't know how the thing works. They just sell it. In one case, after spending $150,000 for a webdesign firm to redesign a website, I sat down one of the big bosses and asked him to find the one thing most users come to the website to find. He couldn't find it. He couldn't figure out how to find it. He was shocked. I made my point, but the frustrating thing was that I, and others, had been trying to make this point all along. Nobody listened to us. The whole project went back to the drawing board, $150,000 went down the drain and more money was invested to do the job right.
If you still don't believe in usability, and knowing just EXACTLY what users do on a website or that how they operate Internet software is critical to the success of the product, and the failure of dotcoms hasn't convinced you, then perhaps the data in this article will put some sense into your head. Of course, that would mean someone with power actually reads this Blog.
Not! (So I'll just arm you all with ammunition.)
Click on >>> Return on Investment for Usability
"Summary: Development projects should spend 10% of their budget on usability. Following a usability redesign, websites increase usability by 135% on average; intranets improve slightly less."
:: posted by Kimberly Krause on 1/9/2003 11:06:00 AM
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:: Wednesday, January 08, 2003 ::
Toodles Mystery Continues...
So. Is it a PR0 because it's a page in birth, or penalized because we pee'd on the party, or part of the normal gestational period of a page in "that popular search engine"..?
Here's another take on the subject. Click on >>> SupportForums.com "Keeping An Open Mind"
More fun reading about conspiracy theories here >>> CounterPunch.org "Searching for Daniel Brandt"
"I got kicked off of one of the webmaster (www.webmasterworld.com) forums for being too anti-Google."
This, alas, could be the least of our worries...
:: posted by Kimberly Krause on 1/8/2003 09:48:19 AM
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:: Tuesday, January 07, 2003 ::
Pandia Awards Give A Nod to Cre8asiteForums.com
Pandia.com has just announced their awards and WebMasterWorld has won for Best Search Engine Discussion Forum. But, (insert Rebel Yell here), the Forum I started with a group of SEO/Webdev friends, Cre8asiteForums.com has been mentioned as well as a forum to "Look out for."
We're thrilled! Congratulations to ihelpu Forums too, and Danny Sullivan's SearchEngineWatch.com who were also noted or honored by Pandia. WebmasterWorld has had a banner year. Congratulations to them as well. To the members of Cre8asiteForum, we couldn't accomplish anything without your participation, so thank you!
Special thanks to Robert Clough of SearchEngineGuide.com for interrupting me from working to tell me the great news...
Click here for >>> Pandia Awards 2002
:: posted by Kimberly Krause on 1/7/2003 12:25:43 PM
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Toodles Censorship or Paranoia?
Are you one of the poor folks discovering that a certain search engine, which I'll refer to as "Toodles", has PR0'd any page on your site that says anything negative about it?
The entire December archive of this Blog just got penalized. It's not alone. Click on >>> (Name Deleted) Gets Sinister!
:: posted by Kimberly Krause on 1/7/2003 09:28:40 AM
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:: Monday, January 06, 2003 ::
To Zeus or not to Zeus?
Cyber-Robotics owner, David Notestine, is always defending Zeus, the linking software tool that's helped many webmasters find compatible websites to link with. But, with Google penalizing links pages and throwing doubt on what's "safe" to use, webmasters are growing nervous and reluctant to take risks. Cre8asiteForums invited David to talk about Zeus and address these concerns, which he kindly did in a detailed written response. (Click below.)
Some snips:
"'Link Popularity' is a term mostly used by search engine marketers and though Zeus does enhance it, It's not what Zeus is about."
"In August of this year, I gave the presentation on 'Link Building Tools' at Internet.com and Danny Sullivan's Search Engine Strategies Conference
in San Jose, CA.
While there, I talked to Matt Cutts of Google about Zeus (one of many
times), after his presentation, to the attendees of SES. He stated that
Google is happy with the quality and theme tightness of Zeus directories.
He said that Google did not have ANY problems with Zeus directories,
as long as the Zeusmaster did not misuse the Zeus software product with
bad intent."
Free download to try, click on >>> Download Zeus
To read David's response at length, click on >>> Zeus and Googe, David Notestine Responds
:: posted by Kimberly Krause on 1/6/2003 03:37:54 PM
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Make It User Friendly
"Did you know that nearly 20 percent of all Web users have some form of disability? "
Robin Nobles writes a good article that hits some basics to remember...Issues for SEO's: Making Pages Friendly to People with Disabilities
Contains links to resources, including this gem: Accessibility
Also, did you here this? Click on >>> Bush signs new act with benefits for web accessibility.
:: posted by Kimberly Krause on 1/6/2003 09:55:08 AM
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