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Today I’m not going to focus on the common question, “Is the data accurate?” It’s a good question but one which is likely, “Yes if you know how to read it.” It includes the search network so i you read it as “number of searches on Google.com” you’re wrong but if you read it as “accessing Google’s search results” you’re right. Nonetheless, that isn’t what I’m going to cover today – my issue today is what they’re displaying and what they’re not.
When one uses Google’s keyword tool one expects that the resulting data shouldn’t be tainted by Google’s personal bias towards products and/or services. But alas – it appears that either the results are biased or people’s search patterns are very different than what I would expect them to be and given that I’ve been working as an SEO for ten years – it’s doubtful that the search patterns are THAT different. Here’s an example of what I’m referring to so you can run your searches on this tool understanding that you might not see an accurate view of the world around you.
Top 20 results reported for “iphone developer” (I’ve trimmed some of the columns to make it fit this page):
Keywords related to term(s) entered Keywords – Monthly iphone developer – 74,000
Really? One of their top phrases is ipone developer and the are no additional searches at all that include the keywords iphone and developer? Oh wait – if I search “iphone app developer” it shows 3,600 estimated monthly searches so why didn’t it appear in the above search?
Now let’s look at the results for “android developer”. In this case we don’t even have to look at the “Additional keywords to consider” – there are plenty of results. They are:
android developer – 12,100 android development – 12,100 android developers – 3,600 android application development – 2,400 android developer challenge – 2,400 guide to android development – 1,900 android developer phone – 1,600 the busy coder’s guide to android development – 1,600 professional android application development – 1,300 google android development – 480 android developer g1 – 390 android development phone – 390 android software development – 390 android game development – 320 android development download – 260 development for android – 260 android developer challenge ii – 210 android developer forum – 210 android developer forum – 210 android mobile development – 210
And the list goes on from there. Wow – the android sure is popular compared to the iPhone.
Another “curiosity” here is that the numbers noted above are broad match. If we go to Exact for “iphone developer” the number drops from 74,000 to 14,800. So there definitely are other searches in there – they’re just not being displayed. Hmmmmmmm.
I’ll leave the reasoning there for others to work out.
Now onto Personalization …
As many of you have noticed, Google is tracking you with cookies and providing personalized results – even when you’re not logged in. I’ve got to commend Google on this one. From a user standpoint it’s another slam dunk in that they’re providing a better search experience however from and SEO’s standpoint – it’s a nightmare as we’re always searching and augmenting our results and so we often don’t see what other do. To avoid this you can block cookies from Google but you’ll have issues with Google services such as Blogger and every their keywords tool.
I got an interesting email from the developers of a Firefox extension called Google Camo that stops personalized results but seems to allow other cookies so Google’s various services work. I’m using it right now and the machine is working great so thanks to the developers. You can read more about it and download the add on at http://www.iexposure.com/googlecamo.
Today I’m not going to focus on the common question, “Is the data accurate?” It’s a good question but one which is likely, “Yes if you know how to read it.” It includes the search network so i you read it as “number of searches on Google.com” you’re wrong but if you read it as “accessing Google’s search results” you’re right. Nonetheless, that isn’t what I’m going to cover today – my issue today is what they’re displaying and what they’re not.
When one uses Google’s keyword tool one expects that the resulting data shouldn’t be tainted by Google’s personal bias towards products and/or services. But alas – it appears that either the results are biased or people’s search patterns are very different than what I would expect them to be and given that I’ve been working as an SEO for ten years – it’s doubtful that the search patterns are THAT different. Here’s an example of what I’m referring to so you can run your searches on this tool understanding that you might not see an accurate view of the world around you.
Top 20 results reported for “iphone developer” (I’ve trimmed some of the columns to make it fit this page):
Keywords related to term(s) entered Keywords – Monthly iphone developer – 74,000
Really? One of their top phrases is ipone developer and the are no additional searches at all that include the keywords iphone and developer? Oh wait – if I search “iphone app developer” it shows 3,600 estimated monthly searches so why didn’t it appear in the above search?
Now let’s look at the results for “android developer”. In this case we don’t even have to look at the “Additional keywords to consider” – there are plenty of results. They are:
android developer – 12,100 android development – 12,100 android developers – 3,600 android application development – 2,400 android developer challenge – 2,400 guide to android development – 1,900 android developer phone – 1,600 the busy coder’s guide to android development – 1,600 professional android application development – 1,300 google android development – 480 android developer g1 – 390 android development phone – 390 android software development – 390 android game development – 320 android development download – 260 development for android – 260 android developer challenge ii – 210 android developer forum – 210 android developer forum – 210 android mobile development – 210
And the list goes on from there. Wow – the android sure is popular compared to the iPhone.
Another “curiosity” here is that the numbers noted above are broad match. If we go to Exact for “iphone developer” the number drops from 74,000 to 14,800. So there definitely are other searches in there – they’re just not being displayed. Hmmmmmmm.
I’ll leave the reasoning there for others to work out.
Now onto Personalization …
As many of you have noticed, Google is tracking you with cookies and providing personalized results – even when you’re not logged in. I’ve got to commend Google on this one. From a user standpoint it’s another slam dunk in that they’re providing a better search experience however from and SEO’s standpoint – it’s a nightmare as we’re always searching and augmenting our results and so we often don’t see what other do. To avoid this you can block cookies from Google but you’ll have issues with Google services such as Blogger and every their keywords tool.
I got an interesting email from the developers of a Firefox extension called Google Camo that stops personalized results but seems to allow other cookies so Google’s various services work. I’m using it right now and the machine is working great so thanks to the developers. You can read more about it and download the add on at http://www.iexposure.com/googlecamo.
Matt Cutts did a great interview with Mike MacDonald from WebPronews. The discussed Google in 2009 and answered a lot of questions that I know I’ve heard from a number of clients and confirmed a few things I believed to be true (mainly Matt’s comments on sub-domains near the end).
The video covers personalization (will it kill search results and SEO). The future of SEO and how we need to expand into other areas including usability and conversion optimization, Flash and video ranking and sub-domain and how they can be used and black hat SEO. Matt answers the often-asked question: do sub-domains work better than files in a site and when?
I won’t repeat everything from the video – that would be redundant. It’s a 10 minute video and worth every minute of your time. Enjoy …
Well here we are, days later and no posts. I still have dozens of emails sitting in my Inbox waiting to be answered from my week in Chicago (last) but I felt the need to post today. I’m not going to get a chance to get into great detail on the personalization session in Chicago which I was really hoping to but that will take far more time than I have (hours) and so all I will say on that tangent is that I recommend visiting www.seobythesea.com. Great info on patents. You’ll also want to review my past article on the subject here.
Alright, now on to other news. Let’s begin with today’s radio show on Webmaster Radio. Jim and I discussed the Net Neutrality issues that Roger’s (a Canadian ISP). Rogers is injecting their own content into pages (such as usage warnings) and was caught doing so on the Google homepage. The content they injected mentions Yahoo! Here’s how it looks:
Image found with a story on he subject on Wired.com here.
Not cool. Now, who owns the content? Is it Rogers for allowing the data to pass to the user or is it Google for creating the content to begin with? I have a hunch we’ll soon find out.
Jim and I also went on to discuss Google DoubleClick and some of their more recent issues. Ahhhhh, will it never end (I hope not – it gives me something to chat about on the radio).
One of the points of interest is the filing by liberal consumer parties objecting to Deborah Majoras (Chair of FTC) being involved with the voting on the issue given that her husband (John Majoras) works for the Jones Day law firm which represents Google/Doubleclick.
While the defense of this would be that John is no part of the deal (perhaps but would likely having influence nonetheless) and that Jones Day only appeared before the EU in that battle and that they have nothing to do with the FTC. That could be but I’m not sure why their site would read that Jones Day is representing Google/DoubleClick on, “international and US antitrust and competition law aspects.”
Now all this said, I think it’s all silly. Google has every right to the acquisition in my opinion. The reason competition laws were made was to protect the consumer. Google product is free so really, what are we being protected from. Yes yes, if Google has too large a hold on the marketshare they will control the advertising and then they can charge advertisers what they want right? Wrong. Advertisers will pay whatever it takes as long as the money made is higher than the cost paid to provide a product or service. Whether Google controls 55% of the marketshare or 80% this won’t change. They could control 100% of the market – I’m still not going to pay them more than I make to advertise my product. And have you seen what the bids are? This isn’t about cost per click, it’s about scale (they want more clicks) so the consumer won’t really be affected and the advertisers will just have more clicks to choose from which may, I would argue, lower the cost they need to pay.
But moving on …
We had Li Evans on the show to discuss social media and all that it isn’t. She was an awesome guest and a joy to chat with in Chicago as well. I couldn’t do it justice and so I’ll just direct you to read her latest article (it’s what the interview was about). You’ll find it on her site here. Great post, recommended reading.
So that was the show. I’ll give some advanced warning that I’m pretty sure we’re in for a bit of a shuffle on Google this weekend. I’m not sure if we’ll see one on Yahoo! but we likely should within the next week or two. Both engines have had updates recently and not all the effects were beneficial for the searcher (though in some cases the results improved – I’d have to say that overall they declined which means they will be corrected).
And to take us into the weekend and has nothing to do with Chicago or SES …
A hilarious video. Sung to the tune of “We Didn’t Start The Fire” it suggests that there’s a new bubble about to burst. A good way to start your weekend (unless you work as a geek I suppose in which case it’s basically poking fun at you … ummmmmm … HEY !!!)
Well big apologies for not getting a chance to blog about Chicago before now and even this post will be short. I’ll save all the details until I’m back and can put up some resources for those who attended my session.
After many delays I arrived in Chicago on Tuesday at 9:30PM and the fun began there. After a couple hours of chatting and chumming with those SEO’s that chose Chicago in December rather than Vegas (we call ourselves – the ones who weren’t thinking straight it was time for rest to be fresh for my speaking on the Personalization panel at 10:15 after which I had the opportunity to host Webcology (a radio show I co-host on Webmaster Radio) . A great show and big thanks to the WMR crew.
After that it was a Blackhawks game (big thanks to David Dalka – an expert in local and mobile search marketing than I had the good fortune of meeting in Chicago) where they were beaten by the Canucks (being from Canada I love hockey and the Canucks so it was a good night) and off for some blues with assorted SEO’s and show organizers.
Today, exhausted, I got the pleasure of speaking on the “So You Want To Be A Search Marketer” panel. It’s not a panel that’s going to drive a lot of business but it’s great to help out up-and-comers in the industry avoid some of the mistakes and hurdles we’ve gone through over the years. Goodness knows we got our share of assistance and advice from those who came before us.
And now, with only a few hours before my flight out I’m off to the Art Intitute. My only exposure to it thus far has been in watching Ferris Beuller’s Day Off (great movie BTW).
Upon my return I’ll be uploading photos, and posting some resources that will supplements my session on personalization. If not before it’ll be up by Monday so be sure to check back – there’s some interesting stuff coming.
For anyone who’s read my blog posts for a while or who saw me speak in San Jose earlier this year you’ll know that I’m particularly interested in personalization and specifically, Google’s patents on the subject. It’s because of this that the launch of 23andme yesterday was particularly interesting though I have to say, I haven’t seen anything in any of the patents on how this ties together.
For those that haven’t heard yet, 23andme is a DNA testing facility of sorts. For $999 they’ll send you a saliva kit which you mail back and a few weeks later you can logon to their site and see how your DNA looks as far as a few conditions and diseases go (heart attacks, strokes, etc.). Now the real curiosity to me is that this company is funded by Google. Why?
Well one reason could be that one of the founders is Anne Wojcicki, who has a background in health-care investing and is married to Google Inc co-founder Sergey Brin. Good reason HOWEVER Sergey can’t just hand over millions of gBucks whenever he likes so there has to be a benefit for Google.
There is the chance that the folks over at Google simply believe that this is an interesting project and lucrative in it’s own right and thought to diversify their funding sources. Of course! Advertising is sooooo yesterday. Time to move on.
Or there is some data that the gPeople are hoping to get? Is this the first step in a larger project to get our DNA. What personalization options will Google have if they know you’re going to die at 45? You’ll know you’re in trouble when funeral home ads start popping up when you’re partner is surfing the web.
It’s definitely WAY too early to come to any conclusive idea as to what the folks at Google are really hoping to accomplish but it’ll be interesting to watch them and how they use the data they collect.
The issue I find more immediately concerning is the privacy issues. While the 23andme website claims high levels of security (and I have no doubt they’re telling the truth there) the government can step in and demand the files. I’m not saying they’re going to do it, but they could. And to me, that’s a bit frightening [ i don’t know what my DNA says about me but I don’t know if I want my government and, worse yet, my insurance companies to know.
I’m sitting in my hotel room in beautiful (and incredibly warm) San Jose. I decided to take a moment away from going over my presentation on Personalization to write a quick blog post with a big thank you to all those that made the first night in San Jose a fun one.
Today’s lineup of sessions looks to be entertaining and informative. Unfortunately I won’t be attending any from the morning as I’m much more comfortable speaking on the phone, in person and on the radio and I expect that for the next few hours I’m going to feel ill in preparation for my speaking session later this afternoon. I am however looking forward to the Search Behavior session which follows after the one I’m doing and I’ll probably feel a lot more relaxed at that point.
Watch for another post later this afternoon and updates on our SES San Jose 2007 page with details on my session, some jewels from the session after and some resources to accompany my presentation (it’s hard to cover something as vast as Google personalization patents in 12 minutes).
Once again I will be off to San Jose to speak at the Search Engine Strategies Conference which runs from August 20 to 23, 2007. This time I’ll be speaking on two panels.
Personalization, User Data & Search I can tell you in advance that this is going to be my favorite session to speak at as the topic is incredibly interesting to me. I’ll be covering how user search data will be combined with the patterns of other similar users to generate the results and how to help insure your site takes advantage of this upcoming technology.
So You Want To Be A Search Marketer! In this session I’ll be helping upcoming SEO’s avoid some of the pitfalls of starting a new business on the Internet.
I’m really looking forward to the opportunity to speak at the conference once more and to meeting any of you readers who may be attending.
The most recent article by Beanstalk staff was published today. Titled, “Personalization And The Death Of SEO” it covers some of the changes that the SEO industry is about to experience, how the industry/efforts need to be adjusted and details some of the main areas indicated in the patents as critical to help you as the website owner/SEO adapt to those changes and, if done right, profit from these changes before your competitors even know they’re happening.
You can read the article on the Beanstalk website here.
I love RSS and I love the Firefox Extension RSS Ticker. Firefox is an excellent browser and combined, these two make it easy to keep updated on the latest going-on effortlessly by scrolling my favorite RSS feeds across the bottom of my browser window. And that’s how I found this latest tid-bit of info on the Marketing Pilgrim blog.
For those who have blogs through Blogger (like this one) and who have converted to the new system recently, take a look at your code. It appears that there are some *minor* issues. Actually, just one but wow – is it a doozy.
Blogger blogs, by default, include the following generic code: <$BlogMetaData$>
Well this doesn’t look so bad. It tells Blogger to insert the meta data specified for the site through the Blogger control panel, how helpful. The control panel allows you to set your blog as listed or unlisted. If it’s listed then it will be crawlable, if it’s unlisted then it will not be. Unfortunately for some unfortunates who have recently switched, this tag is producing the following:
Hmmm, looks OK, looks OK, WAIT!!! Huston, we have a problem.
So, if you’ve recently converted to the new version of Blogger, be sure to check your code. You might find something a bit, well, let’s use the word “hindering” shall we?
As an additional note, and on an unrelated topic, please accept my apologies for the lack of posts of late. I’ve been busy ransacking and preparing to write about Google Personalization which involves tearing through 6 patents (now THAT’s fun reading) and then taking the time to understand what they actually mean. SiteProNews editor Jim Hedger and I will be publishing a white paper in the next couple weeks on the subject. I will be posting some patent info in the next couple days on this blog so keep watching.
And to be fair to the source of the Blogger info, here’s your link Andy.
For anyone who’s read my blog posts for a while or who saw me speak in San Jose earlier this year you’ll know that I’m particularly interested in personalization and specifically, Google’s patents on the subject. It’s because of this that the launch of 
