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robwatts
No worries Lyndon, Leonard Cohen is good, message me when you awake :D
I'm sure I'm not alone when I venture to suggest that healthy dissent is a good thing.
The whole search engine - webmaster - user - advertiser relationship has always been a carefully measured stepped affair of concillatory moves and tacit acceptances that some things are just a quid pro quo aspect of doing business on the web. People like Danny and Jill and Brett and other Industry well knowns helped bridge those debates and gave a platform for all parties to get in there and express their views. Heck, who was it who bigged up Google in the early days? Who were the adopters, who were the people going out and spreading the word with their badges and search boxes and general love to the Goog. Us! That's who, yet now if we happen to take a route that doesnt abide by some imposed view that helps an already powerful goliath become that little bit moreso, then we'll find ourselves crushed and bereft of any of the collective love that the google index bestows. Cos lets face it, without the websites that it indexes it is nothing.
I cant help but feel that the uneasy truce has been somewhat breached and we are into different territory here.Lines are drawn and erased and repositioned practically at will, that can't be healthy.Where is the voice of we the stakeholders? Aren't we entitled to express a view and be heard? What can we do about it? Blah blah blah etc etc
Story: The Big Paid Link Roundup
What Seth said:
http://www.yackyack.co.uk/google/google-penalizes-for-paid-links-and-promoting-yourself/
Story: How to find a paid link?
I liked the article, I liked the PLD too, did you know that it also looks in your bank account too and can spot brown envelopes stuffed with cash...;)
I think if you make such a thing then you can expect all the fun that comes with it. Linkbait idea of the week methinks !
I want to say that everyone is great, even the nasty bastards! if we were always sweetness and light then we'd all be stuck in some iterative self referencing loop going nowhere very fast.
Yay, to the contrarians! :D
Story: Link Baiters - Shut It!
In a sea of noise you have to get heard. Sometimes you have to shout a little or distinguish your voice from the rest.
That said, there is little point in geting a click through to something that is a pile of s***. Play that card once too often and your credibility will plummet like a stone.
p.s I liked the title link baiters - shut it! It got me to click through, I didn't get annoyed, but I was a little disappointed! I was expecting a huge big meaty rant. Oh well :(
Neil's point about kissing arse is well made.
Being told that you suck and why, is far more valuable than being told how wonderful you are. You knew that already, right?
I'm tempted to say Yay Matt! But I ...blast what the hell, Yay Matt!
David's fortunate, not everyone gets a look in like that.
Trust me I know..sob sob sniffle wail..
Its very tempting to go over board sometimes, especially if you haven't followed the curve for years and years maybe this is one of the reasons why he appears to be getting a favourable look in, that and the fact perhaps that he has a great blog and is a genuinely nice chap who does his best to help out and stimulate debate.
John Chow are you watching? ;)
"when ReviewMe and PayPerPost articles appear as frequently as your regular content, then your blog has caught a bad case of pneumonetization"
If you see any of the signs Matt points out in his post, then you could be in trouble, check out Matts fun look at blogging.
oops - sorry justin wantede to give you a plus vote on that comment! Finger slipped
I'm gonna break with tradition and say that every now and then google make an example of someone and say nothing.
Johnchow.com being a recent example.
Story: Sphinn Wishlist
Email notification to participated threads would be handy.
Ajaxified comment submittal would be good.
Widgets, oops already mentioned, but yeah widgets could be a great addition. Take whats already out there and do it better, I'm sure the collective nous could come up with something kickassified
Like the idea about having to comment on thumbs down. Comments should be forced to be > > 12 chars, just to prevent 'cos its lame type' reasons.
How funny, I honestly can't recall whether I have or not (thumbsed down) . I think ones time is best spent thumbs upping :D Anyone for a lift? ;)
The message from Google is clear; do it our way or die in our serps.
You'd like to think that they had a better way of filtering the power of text links but...evidently not.
It's a shame really because it's sure creating a lot of negative karma.
David is a nice chap who shares his knowledge freely and might have overstepped the mark by pointing to some on topic resources...but really, is that such a terrible sin? Who died I wonder. As for his promo piece.. jesus, whatever is wrong with creating a little buzz and energy around a topic? So what if he asked people to link back to him in a certain way! Christ, his worst 'crime' is that he followed the examples and tactics of many another marketer and maybe got a little too vocal perhaps, is that so worthy of the kiss of death?
And besides, is the algo really so fragile that it can't detect a little burst of targetted keyword activity and if needs must, negate the power of those new acquisitions.
Jees, if anything shouldn't a search engineer be gleeful about such things and use them as lessons for greater fine tuning and improvement.
Where is the value ( FUD aside) in stressing people out to the nines and making their lives miserable. someone tell me please, what isn't evil about that?
If a guy in the street makes an error and bumps into me and shows me a bit of aggression, at best I laugh and move on, at worst I kick his arse a little, but I never kill him, that just isn't nice or necessary.
Google is a great tool, but for me at times it seems like its locked in some kind of trench warfare-seek-and-destroy-mindset that to watch, is not particularly pleasant.
Good luck David, assuming it is a hand job, I hope it works out.
@ prowebpromo - Forgive me if I sound a little pedantical, but a link that goes through an internal 302 redirect isn't necessarily the same as a vanilla html dofollow, so I wouldn't draw any firm conclusions from that.
If there were a perception that some types of directory existed to manipulate link pop and you wanted to send a message that participation within them wasn't the healthiest or most productive spend of your money what would you do?
Does Google need these directories? If the answer is no then should they allow them the power to influence their results?
Don't get me wrong, there are good, there are ok, and there are bad dir's. Some do the whole thing really well, but a lot don't.Web 2 has raised the bar, the tools are there, people have got to really earn the right to be in SERP that they target.
A good reason why we need that vote down button sooner rather than later. :)
That said, some BR posts are actually quite interesting and informative. It certainly warrants discussion how JR has managed to create such buzz. A few of us could all learn a thing or two from the experience.
I think its pretty amazing how for some, BR has gone from hero to zero in about as much time as it takes to grow mustard cress in a darkened cupboard.
It's great being neutral.:)
I once wrote a slightly anti directory piece and got slated for it. The people who went ape only got as far as the headline. Had they read what I wrote and took a deep breath or two, they might have had a different perspective.
I like Rand he talks a lot of sense, sometimes he talks a lot of old bollocks too; but thats life we all do on occassions.
As for the post, couldnt we all do with a 'tongue in cheek' section or an 'Im being a little controversial today' section, heck controversy marketing is a great tool, some even call it linkbait ;)
That drivl place is pretty funny actually, laughed out loud at the areola post, witty funny stuff!
Ok, on with the show guys please (grabs popcorn) :D
>here's my prediction, Maki will be number one within 14 days.
having some time off then geezer? ;)
Funnily enough, I blogged on a related item here
http://sphinn.com/SocialMedia/Brand-Building---How-social-media-sites-help-build-your-brand---Yack-Yack-SEO/
I like Sphinn too. Little noise and lots of interesting friendly people with real things to say.
Well done to all at Sphinn and well done Shana for starting the kind of discussion that many of us no doubt think, but don't get around to saying.
Cheers all :)
Quality link building certainly requires a little more effort than it used to, I think that this is in large part related to the fact that an increasing number of people recognise the commercial value that they bring and as a result ask a 2nd question or 2. The days of the "ooh i like ur site here is my link if you like mine" have long gone.
OTOH, asking for links shouldnt really be a 'will you link to me' type of question, in fact the question itself should be silent, the content itself should just speak out by itself and say 'you WILL link to me, cos Im good and you want to be associated with me anyway'.
As cliched as it sounds the old maxim of content is king still rings true. The rise of social network tools and sites, SMO'ers, linkbaiters etc should if anything, make the process of link acquisition easier, not harder.
Story: Does Google Have Anything to Fear from the Blogosphere?