Calendar
Network
Feeds
shansen11
Good luck Jordan. All you have worked so hard for seems to be paying off. Your comments as always are direct and insightful.
Take care, Hansen
Story: SEO Plagiarism
I believe that "cyberspace" provides an interesting perspective by many that they are somehow sheltered by some star trek type cloaking device. The reality that there are many writers, bloggers, specialists, SEO supposed gurus and may others posting from basement aparments, cyber cafes, rented offices or just swiping bandwidth going down the road. It is not uncommon then to see many without any original thoughts or ideas gleening from those that actually do.
Your comments reinforce the reality that there is an increasing need for some level of "governing body" in our industry to provide some level of oversight to an industry that will only get worse with the number of participants increasing everyday.
Thanks for addressing the issue.
Story: We Do Need SEO Standards
Absolute agreement on some methodology to standardize our industry, protect the industry and then educate as necessary. This from a post written a few weeks ago that also puts the problem into perspective.
Enter At Your Own Risk
Any unregulated industry usually has severe growth pains that come with a steep price tag, a price usually paid by an unsuspecting or uneducated busines owner. I would encourage any dialogue that somehow builds a governing body in the SEM industry with the primary charge to educate the masses and penalize or expose the poor operators or rip-off artists.
The psychology of the sale is always a tricky one. Your thoughts are right on and unless the realities can be conveyed properly to the client they will do what is comfortable, which is nothing, or they may give in and install a blog only to leave it alone and unattended too and therefore worthless.
Look forward to the rest of the series.
The 95 Billion is a loss of market cap not market share. The equation is the number of shares issued to investors X the dollar value of the stock per share. Google is still the top search engine but that position is weakening quarter over quarter because of a number of factors, thus the reason for the share price fall.
Unless you have been the CEO of a public company with analysts, lawyers, auditors, accountants and board of directors under pressure all around you, it is difficult to understand the mentality. Bread and butter issues can change and change quickly, case in point the recent issues with Bear Sterns.
Interesting comments on this article. Allow me remind everyone of one statement "...Let me preface any of my comments by saying that this scenario is only hypothetical, my thoughts and what ifs, are based solely on my understanding of the equity markets and the extraordinary pressure placed on CEO’s and Board of Directors..."
From an investment perspective Google has been the biggest home run in history. Which is why they have been given a greater market valuation than both General Electric, Goodyear and AT & T combined. Unfortunately as the world changes so does investor confidence. In the latest quarter Google's growth rate has slowed, their revenue's have also decreased year over year and they are absorbing a number of acquisitions that have not yet contributed significantly to their bottom line.
This not only costs shareholders a bunch in case they have ridden it down, Google is also impacted based on their ability to acquire other companies using their stock as currency. More stock has to be issued because of the depressed valuations. There are many "Board Room" discussions that none of us are aware of. All of the business analysts, attorneys and finance guys who are now part of the Google culture are not techs and certainly not hired to counsel on Algo issues. They are there to protect the franchise, so their suggestions and ideas will come a different perspective.
Hopefully the founders will indeed protect what got them in this position in the first place. In regards to the mining comment, I am certain that they are already hedged with mining positions in Gold since it is trading at an all time high at over $1,000 an ounce. Coal not so much I imagine.
Thanks Gamermk your comments are appreciated. Unfortunately in a hypothetical scenario all you have is hypothetical solutions and observations. I will however detail some of my thoughts.
Here are the financial results for Google reported January 31, 2008
Q4 Financial Summary - Google reported revenues of $4.83 billion for the quarter ended December 31, 2007, an increase of 51% compared to the fourth quarter of 2006 and an increase of 14% compared to the third quarter of 2007.
1. These are great numbers for any company. Unfortunately not as robust and explosive as they have been in the past thus the share price erosion.
2. The SEO work that my team has done for any of our 600 clients contributed nothing to either the Google top or bottom line. Our PPC clients represent part of the solution but any organic listing does not.
3. I believe that creative ways to expand sponsored placement could be a major discussion
4. Identifying threshold buyers (companies that pay over a certain $$ threshold could be given preferencial treatment)
5. With the addition of their blended search it is very possible to expand that just a bit further and blend other results
6. Top sponsors and banners could push organic results further down the page to give perceived "top priority" to the companies funding them by the minute.
You get the idea but there are many ways to expand the relationships with current large paying clients and those using Google to manage branding for their products, names or services. As further evidence of Google's commitment to the financial community is their regular participation in investment banking conferences. They have no option but to participate in the financial conferences of all of the major money managers which drive some of the financial markets and have great influence over the investment population as well as their acquisition future, Evidenced by Google's participation in the recent Bear Sterns and Morgan Stanley conferences.
Final analysis is that Google is run by some very smart and savvy players. They understand the curent risks and have a vision of the future. They also will do all they are able to balance their search options. At the end of the day however, if the user experience is not a good one, it appears to be biased or manipulated in some fashion they run the risk of that user going to another engine. A risk that far outweighs most other pressing issues they are dealing with in the financial markets. There could however be some wiggle room to push the envelope a bit in a way that does not compromise the search but still creates new revenue lines.
@Gamermk: As fun as this is to banter back and forth with you. I have a number of companies to run. Good luck!
At the first Keynote from D. Sullivan at SMX West, I looked for my SEO director only to find that he apparently was introduced to the A-list club the night before doing shooters in the bar with some of the top names. He was sick and missed the first 2 hours. He did however develop a much improved respect for the older guys and how they can handle themselves. Way to prove that age and experience do count, big time!
This should be a mandatory read before anyone is allowed entrance to a conference!
Nice to have some very light hearted Sphinns for a change. Everything doesn't need to stretch brain cells!
Way to go
Refreshing candor in your detailed presentation and strategy. Thanks for the input and creative ways to make things happen on a tight budget. Nice job!
In any effective busness model there is always the inevitable funding issue to make the deal work. The trick is finding the correct balance between the contract obligations to sponsors and to the real purpose of the conference which should be to get answers, information, creative approaches, best practices and connection with others doing what they do well.
Thanks for the open discussion good and bad about the way things are. It is usually the beginning of change.
I was there also with my entire SEO team and Danny was the best Keynote of the 3 days. Very informative, delivered in a believable fashion and received well by a large audience.
Nice Sphinn!
The changes occuring on the local search level are amazing. Local.com seams to have a great headstart. Your posting of the dynamics and changes in this arena are timely. What are your thoughts regarding the traditional SEO processes and the integration of local and mobile search into that model?
Firefox certainly seems to be the browser of choice and seem to be making all of the right moves to continue ramping up usage. Your comments on the add ons available are great. Thanks for the valuable information on the tools that I have never used but certainly will start.
Thanks
« previous1 next »
Story: Online SEO Tools - the Ultimate Collection