Technosailor - Latest Comments in Google Can Kiss My Derriére

Re: Google Can Kiss My Derriére

daphne — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 03:09:19 -0000

i found this page by googling derriÃ¨re
that's pretty funny

Re: Google Can Kiss My Derriére

esoomllub — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 17:21:16 -0000

While I was hit with this PR retooling sporadically across sites, the one true metric for measuring the impact is revenues. I've noticed no significant changes since the PR updates, and I've not really heard any major complaints about revenues or even traffic patterns shifting from others.

I also would like to see the search volumes switch to something less monopolistic, but I fear that a groundswell of change is going to be strictly a dream for at least the next 6 months or so. To support the cause, I've personally started re-using Yahoo more. Moving to Live/MSN is too much to ask though!

Re: Google Can Kiss My Derriére

dt — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 11:14:32 -0000

Great write up and many valid points. I found this post via googling google after finding out i dropped from PR5 to PR3. I, like many before me that left comments were, shocked to find out that this is so.

But you are right, strangely my RSS has been improving and visitors numbers though small has not dropped much. My regular readers are still around and well the rest you have put it all in perspective.

Thanks.
dt.

Re: Google Can Kiss My Derriére

Rachel Clarke — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 21:21:44 -0000

They seemed to have changed again. Earlier this week my b5 blog was at PR2 and as of yesterday it is at PR5 again. The personal blog never changed.

Re: Google Can Kiss My Derriére

Kid Slimmer — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 13:52:33 -0000

What happened here was obviously a recalibration of the pageRank logic. The web changes fast and to retain quality Google will have to update their algorithms regularly.

It is clear that the pageRank system is a relative one -- with the drop of a couple major sites, a lot of minor sites must have gone up. But the majors have bigger mouths and make it seem this is all bad. If a handful of major sites are taken away their dominance in search results on certain topics, that is a good thing for the consumer. We should all hope that the online information landscape will never turn into the nightmare the offline media landscape has been for decades.

Anyways, I wouldn't take it personal. You seem to think someone at Google looked at your site personally and said "Hmmm.. I'll take this one down x points.".

According to your profile you see yourself as someone who is "often seen as an advocate for open and honest speech" but now that you see holes appearing in your revenue you start a bezerk bashing. If you are so concerned with integrity, be objective about it.

Re: Google Can Kiss My Derriére

Rick — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 15:15:36 -0000

Being highly optimized for the last 6 yrs on Google has brought in over one million dollars in business. For a small company thats *huge.

I wake up every morning and try to figure out new ways of kissing Googles ass.

I feel your pain though.

Regards
Rick

Re: Google Can Kiss My Derriére

Dao By Design — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 08:59:39 -0000

Well said Aaron. Particularly in regards to it being "our content". We all need to remember Google would be nothing without us. In my opinion they've grown a little too comfortable in their top spot and need to remember they are a service and nothing more.

Re: Google Can Kiss My Derriére

Gerard McGarry — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 11:06:53 -0000

Great post Aaron. I'd venture a step further and say that we need to start using alternative search engines and recommending that others do.

Yahoo! has perfectly good relevancy. I'd be keen to try Ask as well. Better still, the SERPs aren't totally polluted by results from large media sites like YouTube, Wikipedia, and the rest.

We also need to see which monitization platforms are a viable alternative to AdSense. Start a movement to counteract this Google monopoly and promote alternatives.

As an industry, SEOs and probloggers have given far to much weight to ranking in Google. I suggest that those influencers who read this blog should give serious thought to promoting alternatives.

Use this initiative to take action before the dust settles and we're all worrying about our Google rankings again.

Re: Google Can Kiss My Derriére

Marc — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 04:15:57 -0000

indeed idle threats trying to scare. they cant possibly outsmart the collective

Re: Google Can Kiss My Derriére

Nick Wilsdon — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 04:13:52 -0000

@Adam

A few people did try that with OpenRank (http://www.openrank.org/) but it didn't take off. To be honest though, do we really need a visible ranking bar? Success for a site should be determined by readers, subscriptions or turnover - sensible metrics for any online business.

Re: Google Can Kiss My Derriére

Jake — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 04:08:15 -0000

This hardly hurts people with the big name sites. This gets them more press, more links, and more traffic. Who this hurts is all the ones nobody is talking about.

The smaller guys who work hard day in and day out yet got stung. I got hit in a site that doesn't sell links. the only advertising is YPN, yet it took a hard hit.

Google just attacked all the people trying to put food on the table.
Is this how you reward the people who built you?

Re: Google Can Kiss My Derriére

Rose Sylvia — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 01:36:22 -0000

Google can only keep as much power as the users allow them to have. Anyone who can influence Internet users is in a position to make a difference. I'm favor of shifting support to anyone except another monopoly like Microsoft. Google may have just made a very large tactical error. Perhaps they acted now because bloggers gain more power every day and they're hoping it is not already too late?

Re: Google Can Kiss My Derriére

Douglas Karr — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 00:37:59 -0000

The real loser in this is truly the consumer who is using Google for search. I remember when Google slammed John Chow. It was a dumb move that did nothing except to hurt both Google and John Chow. If I was searching for "Making Money Online" or something similar, John's blog should be up at the top! If it's not, I lose - not Google or John.

One of the things that you touched on that I thought was key was that this IS content that Google is not compensating you for, but they are profiting from it. Seems to me that Google should have to share the revenue for paid advertising with all the unpaid links that show up on the results page. After all, if we weren't here, they wouldn't be!

Re: Google Can Kiss My Derriére

Michael Hampton — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 00:17:46 -0000

Google absolutely should make a public statement about this update, and soon, or people are going to lose confidence in their search service. And when that happens, there goes the market share.

Re: Google Can Kiss My Derriére

Aaron Brazell — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 22:57:40 -0000

Token Mahalo plug there.

Re: Google Can Kiss My Derriére

Malcolm Lambe — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 22:56:21 -0000

Yep...PageRank is bullshit. You see heaps of shitty cookie-cutter sites with PR5 when really they shouldn't be ranked at all. And the Search Engine ranking on Google? Laughable. Read this on how they rank Brad Callen's new baby on Google - Who's on First?

Re: Google Can Kiss My Derriére

Chris — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 22:48:11 -0000

If the same webmasters who supported Google when they were small, turn around and suddenly support Ask or Live and the momentum grows, Google can lose 5% or 10% marketshare. Does not sound much, but look at their revenue and then that number hurts. Give Microsoft 5% or 10% more market share and Redmond will run with it. It's too early for that, but if Google ticks off enough people and they start talking about it .....

Re: Google Can Kiss My Derriére

Jen Clark — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 22:45:10 -0000

Adam - there is actually a group of people trying to do exactly what you suggest at Mahalo.com. It's a human powered search engine. It's still in the process of being developed, so who knows what it's going to be when its fully up and running, but for now, the idea seems pretty cool.

Re: Google Can Kiss My Derriére

Vingold — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 22:33:47 -0000

Excellent post.

Here is food for thought:

You said "They should be striking up dialogue with us about how to address their concerns while protecting ours. Itâ€™s our content, Google."

What a lot of people (or large parts of the public) is missing is the fact that Google is looking to be THE primary information broker in EVERY MAJOR content areas - regardless of who owns the content or which content source is the best available.

Examples: Books, real estate listings, yellow page listings, mapping information, classified advertising, scholarly information, web based applications, video - even 411. And the list goes on and on.

They want to dominate. Not to liberate us or for some holy "do no evil" mission statement. They want to show us adsense (but don't you dare make a site only designed to show adsense!)

The more areas they extend into the more likely it is that they will push other search results down the page. And the share of the audience that they provide will diminish as well.

Webmasters, Bloggers, and Internet Marketers everywhere are going to have to learn to build their own traffic sources.

I think you hit the nail exactly on the head.

Re: Google Can Kiss My Derriére

fantomaster — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 21:10:19 -0000

Well stated and summing it up nicely.
Toolbar PR is a Disney magic wand fairy tale deployed entirely for social engineering purposes, and the more webmasters and companies realize it (and the sooner!), the better.

Re: Google Can Kiss My Derriére

Mark Evans — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 20:57:03 -0000

Aaron,
A most excellent rant but completely on the mark. To be honest, PageRank isn't something I've really worried about. As for as advertisers are concerned, the focus should be traffic and how effective a Web site does in targeting an audience.

Re: Google Can Kiss My Derriére

Kermit — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 18:50:20 -0000

I gave these matters a lot of thought before I ever started building sites and blogging. Being the relative dinosaur that I am, with values thoroughly mired in a different time, I decided up front not to care about Google, or Google's ilk. While I would not be offended by good rankings from Google, I'm not going to chase them. I try to put up quality content of one kind or another and let that speak for itself. If that doesn't work, I don't really care. I don't want to try to live with a self that expends all of its energy sucking up to a search engine.

Re: Google Can Kiss My Derriére

Adam — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 17:58:00 -0000

Nice post, well thought out.

It's funny because when Google first got going I remember all the webmasters and developer promoting it. It was new, it was cool, it was FREE. Now that the money machine is cranking it seems that Google has turned on the very people that made it popular. It's not too hard too imagine a paradigm shift, where Google used to be "cool", now the words "monopoly", "corporate", "heartless money machine" come to mind.

Page Rank is worthless. Why doesn't someone step up and make an unbiased ranking system? Not one controlled by a search engine.