Archive: February, 2007

Much to the annoyance of friends, family and pretty much everyone else on the other side of the mountains, it is now officially springtime on the south-west coast of Canada. The cherry blossems are out and the temperature is ranging into the double-digits (celcius) more often than not.

This has relatively nothing to do with search marketing, SEO or technology but I thought I would mention it. I know my family is reading with fratricidical interest. By the way, I scored 34 on a 9-hole course on Sunday. Chip away at that Dad.

Late last week, Google introduced personalized search results for all Google account holders. Whenever they are logged into a Google service, sites that they find popular are weaved into organic search results. While Google users might not notice effects immediately, over time the contents of their personal Google Search History files and Google Bookmarks will be used to determine search rankings based on each users unique profile. As those files start to fill up, individual users will increasingly see search results tailored to their personal tastes.

The primary goal of any search engine is to present results that are as relevant as possible. That seems simple enough but, of course it isn’t. Information, like the people who use it, is complex and ever evolving. Over the years, the goal line has shifted with the evolution of technology.

At one time, the word, as found on page, in links and in the title and source-code of a document was the major determinant of relevancy. As the Internet grew, location became a determining factor, along with the importance of the word. Today, personal data is used to instruct Google what is and is not relevant to individual users.

Pixsys read Metamend and you gotta believe it. I saw it I saw it with my own two eyes yeah.

On Friday, I posted part of an email exchange between myself and Metamend CEO Todd Hooge about MTV’s demand that Google and YouTube remove nearly 100,000  clips  of “unauthorized” content from their system.

That short converstation attracted an email from Pixsy.com VP of Corporate Communications Lauren Karp who showed me a SuperBowl related video search portal their techs had built in a few short hours.
I quickly jumped at the opportunity to speak with Pixsy CEO Chase Norlin and called Lauren to arrange an interview. We spoke early Friday evening and I posted the results of that interview over at the SiteProNews Blog Saturday afternoon. “Instant SuperBowl Vertical Video Search Shows Pixsy’s Powerful Backend”

Pixsy draws video references from hundreds of sources, displaying them as search results in thumbnail format. It also provides a custom vertical video search engine design and development service.

Thanks for the interview Chase and Lauren.

Google has introduced personalization to the search results of account holders. When logged into their accounts, Google users will see search listings that have favoured listings injected into results for search queries they commonly run.

Danny Sullivan at Search Engine Land posted an excellent overview of personalized Google results on Friday evening, “Google Ramps Up Personalized Search“. It is essential reading for everyone in the search marketing industry.

I have just finished writing a long feature article for SiteProNews.com on Google Personalizaton and SEO that should be published in the coming days. I don’t have the finger-power to write many more sentences on the subject tonight but wanted to push out a few clips:

For the SEO industry, the implications of personalization are both stark and subtle. While the trend towards regionalization has limited clear standards for judging overall Google rankings for the past few years, the advent of personalized results makes the standard website ranking report somewhat useless.

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Optimization techniques for personalized search results will include expertise in site usability, visitor retention, traffic funneling, bookmarking and social tagging, all of which entered the unwritten book of SEO best practices over the past few years. It will also involve a stronger dedication to content creation, document upkeep and overall resourcefulness.