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MC Hammer to Release “Can’t Touch This” Search Engine

You couldn’t make this up, and why would you want to; MC Hammer taking on Google, whatever next! The “Cant Touch This” rapper announced WireDoo at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco. He explained that the “Deep Search Engine” would go beyond Google’s ability to deliver “deep” results based on the relationship between keywords and searches.

Hammer explained that a search for a car is about more than just a car, but also about the model, the mileage, the specifications and the location of the dealer. Similarly, a search for a home is related to the surrounding community, shops, schools, crime, etc. “It’s about relationships beyond just the keywords,” Hammer said on stage.

With the tagline, “Search once and see what’s related, “ Hammer didn’t elaborate too much further on WireDoo, only saying that it could search vertically on multiple levels. WireDoo is still in Beta but you can sign up here WireDoo. Read more

25/10/2011/by Ash Mehta

A Nerd Fight Breaks Out As Google Accuse Bing of Copying Search Results

No doubt by now you will have heard about the nerd fight going on between Google and Bing. Popcorn has been thrown back and forward all week as each side responds in a war of words that represents something like, “My dad can beat up your dad”.

Google accused Bing of copying search results after suspecting unethical practice and setting up fake search results to see if they were copied. It seems they were and the sting operation was successful.

Matt Cutts and crew went around pointing algorithms at the Microsoft engineers laughing like schoolboys who’d just
seen a friend kissing a girl, only to be shocked when Bing claimed that the results showed little more than a lesson in how to commit “click fraud”. Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft’s Senior VP of Online Services, determined to have the last word, spat back at Google like a viper:

“We do not copy results from any of our competitors. Period. Full stop. We have some of the best minds in the world at work on search quality and relevance, and for a competitor to accuse any one of these people of such activity is just insulting. Google engaged in a “honeypot” attack to trick Bing. In simple terms, Google’s “experiment” was rigged to manipulate Bing search results through a type of attack also known as “click fraud.” That’s right, the same type of attack employed by spammers on the web to trick consumers and produce bogus search results. What does all this cloak and dagger click fraud prove? Nothing anyone in the industry doesn’t already know. As we have said before and again in this post, we use click stream optionally provided by consumers in an anonymous fashion as one of 1,000 signals to try and determine whether a site might make sense to be in our index.”

As the school kids fight it out, one thing is clear, Bing have come off well out of this. Why? Because many people who know nothing much of search outside of Google now know Google has a major competitor. Mark my words, Bing searches will escalate in the wake of this argument. The other side of the coin is that Google have made it obvious that they fear Bing. I mean if they didn’t then why would they invest time in trying to smear Bing’s reputation, or are they simply exposing unethical practice?

In truth this proves nothing, because Bing readily admit their users’ activity in Google affects their search results, but then so do a thousand other factors. Bing claim that if you do a search for a term that makes no real sense in English, and Google has created a fake search result for that term, Bing is likely to give you those fake results, too.

I fear that Google have made a huge unfounded accusation based on a manipulated test that is speculative at best, and anyway who cares if Bing copied a few search results, we all know Google is the definitive search platform so why wouldn’t a competitor replicate their practice.

25/10/2011/by Ash Mehta

Content Management System, Domain Names

Is It Worth Upgrading To WordPress 3.0

With 28,000 downloads everyday and over 11.4 million active installations, WordPress is a force to be reckoned with. The release of WordPress 3.0 in June this year had Joomla and Drupal shaking in their boots again. But what difference will this new version make to the CMS world and website promotion and optimisation.

Multi User Integration

The biggest change with 3.0 is its ability to integrate with the previously separate WordPress MU (Multi-User) variation. Multiple blogs can now be managed under a common domain name within one installation of WordPress.

Themes

There is some change in the standard theme mode. The new custom Theme “Twenty Ten” is more customisable than its predecessor making it easier for newbies to jump straight on board. Take care though if you are upgrading to 3.0 from a lesser version, complete success depends on how customised your content is and the amount of static content your site.

Plugins

There is a bulk plug-ins upgrade feature which allows plugins to be updated en masse from both the plug-ins page and the renamed “WordPress Updates” page, which doubles up to list available theme upgrades as well.

Custom Post Types and Tags

3.0 also allows for the creation of custom menus as opposed to having to code HTML on previous versions. Where blogging is concerned the dashboard is sleeker but essentially no major changes have taken place. For advanced users there is the ability to create custom post types and tags. It’s now possible to create a database entry that represents for example, a film, with metadata that specifies the actors, director and release date etc.

Website Promotion and Optimisation

Where SEO is concerned there are no major changes, and to be honest its hard to see where there could be. And, to be honest, with the amount of independent developers developing SEO tools for WordPress they needn’t bother about building any website promotion and optimisation tools into the interface anyway.

In Conclusion

To the untrained eye WordPress 3.0 hasn’t evolved much, and that might be the case for the average blogger. But what WordPress have done is created a deeper side to the software in a solid attempt to attract those who prefer the complexities of say Drupal for example. Custom post types and multisite blog networks are versatile assets that can give experienced administrators the tools they need to realize their visions.

25/10/2011/by Ash Mehta

Content Management System, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Why WordPress Could Be The Best CMS for Your Business – But Only If You Consider The Help of a Developer and Search Engine Optimization Consultant

There is a reason why WordPress was voted Overall Best Open Source CMS in the 2009 Open Source CMS Awards. With thousands of themes and plugins that do just about everything any other website can do, what started out as a solution for bloggers ended up being the world’s favourite open source CMS. To say it is the best would be to overlook some serious competition from Joomla, Drupal and Modx, and as mentioned in a previous posting, CMS is all about the requirements of the user. But let’s look at this from a modern perspective. When you need a stable, secure, user friendly, one-click solution WordPress is undoubtedly a leader in this field.

Customisability

WordPress is primarily blogging software, but its customisability makes it a potentially great ecommerce or general information site. Starting with a pre-programmed basic theme you can customise your site to be unique from any other WordPress user. Depending on how deep you want to go, you may need to enlist the help of a developer, especially if you require static content or manipulation of the CSS (Cascading Style Sheet). As with all CMS, there are limits if your knowledge is limited.

Community

The WordPress community houses a plugin for everything you could want to do with a website. Support is never-ending with threads providing step-by-step guides on every aspect of building a WordPress site. When it comes to CMS, WordPress offers pure freedom. When you post a question on the WordPress forum, you can guarantee a reply within 12-24 hours – this community is a loving and sharing one.

Stability

I have never seen a WordPress dashboard crash, neither have I seen work lost – other than through stupidity. You can run WordPress both from your desktop and via a server, meaning that a full back up can be kept at all times.

Security

When it comes to ecommerce you need security, yet nobody can guarantee you unhackable software – WordPress however, comes close to the mark. WordPress is very secure and offers a number of security features as default and through plugin software.

Free

Best of all WordPress is free. You can have a fully functional website up and running within the hour for zilch dollars. It doesn’t take long to familiarise yourself with the dashboard and from there its plain sailing.

SEO

WordPress is SEO friendly, but as mentioned in the customisation section, if your knowledge is limited so will be your optimisation without a search engine optimization consultant. Therefore my advice is this; enlist the help of a developer to tweak your site exactly how you envision it to be, from there you can manage the back end (admin dashboard) without needing to constantly pay a developer for changes (the beauty of CMS). Similarly, pay out for search engine optimization consultant to help give the site a kick start and to learn some valuable tips from an expert.

24/10/2011/by Ash Mehta

Content Management System, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Joomla or Drupal? My Opinion as a Search Engine Optimisation Service

If you are thinking about a Content Management System (CMS) then both Joomla and Drupal will have crossed your mind as choices. It’s a difficult question considering that users of both platforms always claim their system works better for them, and that makes perfect sense, because the reason you choose a CMS should be based on your needs.

Although it is a difficult choice there are some clear advantages for both platforms depending on your requirements.

Drupal is generally rated higher than Joomla for its support of social networking, multimedia, SSL and blogging and document management. Drupal is also rated highly for ease of external integration and developing large, complex websites. However, Drupal themes aren’t widely rated, yet most Drupal users tend to customise the templates or code a new design.

On the other hand, Joomla is considered more suitable for non-technical persons. The CMS interface is relatively easy to get to grips with and carrying out maintenance and upgrades is fairly straight forward. Joomla is cited as being “user friendly” and the best choice for newbies looking to get a site up very quickly.

Comparing these two CMS platforms is a bit like comparing BMW and Mercedes, or apples and oranges. It really does depend on the client’s needs, experience and time available to dedicate to learning. To provide a general answer to the title of this post, as a search engine optimisation service provider I would say that Drupal is great for those with some developing experience or those who don’t mind a slightly steeper learning curve. Joomla on the flip side is good for beginners who want to tackle managing their own website and content without too much learning and site customisation.

When it comes to SEO Drupal is said to be more equipped (for those who know what they are doing) whilst Joomla takes a little more tweaking time, yet essentially both provide a high level of SEO competence. SEO is largely down to skill and knowing the tricks of the trade, in fact all CMS platforms provide pretty much the same SEO capabilities it’s just a case of knowing how to optimise your site. No matter what CMS you use it is always advisable to seek the advice of a search engine optimisation service.

24/10/2011/by Ash Mehta

Content Management System, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Search Engine Optimisation Help – Manipulate Your Title Tags in WordPress and Broaden Your Appeal.

WordPress is a Content Management System (CMS) that allows people to get lazy, it doesn’t really offer search engine optimisation help unless you ask for it. This is because many aspects of WordPress are set to default and already fairly SEO friendly. Unless you physically change specific aspects of your blog/website then you will not be running at optimum SEO level. Your WordPress site might look like its singing and dancing but in reality it is SEO shy.

Considering title tags are one of the most important aspects of SEO, it is a surprise that so many people run along with default tags on their posts. Don’t allow your title tags to be auto generated in WordPress because seldom are the permalinks SEO friendly. Manipulate your title tags and get the most out of your blog posts.

Optimise your post title or category name by using synonyms and multiple verb tenses. For example, a post titled, “Search Engine Optimisation Marketing” is neat and to the point, but doesn’t exploit keywords or carry mass appeal. This title could be changed to, “Search Engine Optimisation Marketing Tips – Optimise Your Site and Rank Higher In Google”. A title like this has a broader appeal and will attract more attention if you place the article on Digg, Scribd or social bookmarking sites.

There is a great search engine optimisation help plugin to manipulate title tags in WordPress called SEO Title Tag. This plugin allows for mass or individual edits across all the pages of your blog/site. If you don’t use this plugin or a similar plugin, you should at the very minimum hand code the title tag on the home page, and then on the rest of the blog place the blog name at the end of the title tag rather than at the beginning. By doing this you will create more uniquely focused title tags.

22/10/2011/by Ash Mehta

Blogging, Internet/Online Marketing, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Security & Privacy, Social Media Marketing (SMM), Social Media Optimisation (SMO)

How Much Does Google Know About You

Last week I wrote about the full launch of Google’s Social Search facility and the positives and negatives of ‘results from your social circle’. Not long after publishing that post I was contacted directly by a few of you voicing concerns about just how far Google intends on going in terms of violating a persons right to online privacy. This got me thinking, and it is only really when you take time out to think about Google that you realise they know a hell of a lot about us. Perhaps our online privacy has been completely lost, but in all honesty it’s a little too late for us to bolt the stable door.

On one hand we love the Internet for its freedom, and whether the latest leaked document on U.S. operations by Wikileaks or the exposure of a celebrity involved in a nude act, the fact is Read more

22/10/2011/by Ash Mehta

Internet/Online Marketing

Google CEO Starts to Lose His Marbles Over Internet Privacy

Internet Marketing Services Rub Palms As ‘No Anonymity’ Policy is Prophesized

If you don’t want you private life shared on the internet then you clearly have something to hide, either that or you are doing something illegal that the government should know about. That is, according to Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who when speaking with Maria Bartiromo on CNBC recently, explained:

“People who have something to hide shouldn’t be doing things online that might potentially expose them if law enforcement seeks access to their search histories. If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place”.

Google has already run into rocky ground in Europe where such big brother information harbouring and sharing with government authorities is viewed by most a violation of civil rights. In the US, Google hides behind the patriot act and its duty to supply the government with information on any person who poses a potential threat to society. The definition of “potential” remains loosely defined. The fact that most of us simply don’t want internet marketing services getting hold of our details and plaguing us with emails, mail-shots and pop up adverts doesn’t seem to cross Mr Schmidt’s mind.

Speaking yesterday at the “Techonomy” conference in Lake Tahoe, California, Schmidt went one step further with his controversial remarks and explained just how easy gathering intelligence on people is:

“If I look at enough of your messaging and your location, and use Artificial Intelligence,” Schmidt said, “we can predict where you are going to go. Show us 14 photos of yourself and we can identify who you are. You think you don’t have 14 photos of yourself on the internet? You’ve got Facebook photos! People will find it’s very useful to have devices that remember what you want to do, because you forgot…But society isn’t ready for questions that will be raised as result of user-generated content”.

“The only way to manage this is true transparency and no anonymity. In a world of asynchronous threats, it is too dangerous for there not to be some way to identify you. We need a verified name service for people. Governments will demand it.”

Internet marketing services will be rubbing their hands together after hearing the search engine master speak his prophecy of ‘no anonymity’. Consumer transparency enables better targeted advertising.

Evidently Schmidt is losing a grip on reality. In his world everyone might view the internet as ‘real life’ and the saviour of humanity, but for many it serves as big brother’s obeying little brother and is nothing more than a controlling force in a world monopolised by power hungry organisations. Some people like their privacy; they have nothing to hide yet nothing significant to share. Privacy is an individual choice and individuality is what makes the world special. Perhaps retirement is looming for a man who has spent the majority of his life in a digital bubble.

22/10/2011/by Ash Mehta

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

The Tied Goes Out On Google Wave

The internet has once again proved to be the true liberator of choice. Users have rejected Google Wave and sent it back with the tide whence it came. Two years in development for little return, surely someone must have been wrapped on the knuckles for this giant failure.

Google were majorly excited a little over a year ago when beat version invites were selling for £55 on eBay. At the time they were quoted as saying:

“After months holed up in a conference room in the Sydney office, our five-person “startup” team emerged with a prototype. And now, after more than two years of expanding our ideas, our team, and technology, we’re very eager to return and see what the world might think. Today we’re giving developers an early preview of Google Wave.

A “wave” is equal parts conversation and document, where people can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more”.

CEO Eric Schmidt insists the development work has not been a waste of time, stating, “We liked the user interface and we liked a lot of the new features in it but it didn’t get enough traction, so we are taking those technologies and applying them to new technologies that are not announced, we’ll get the benefit of Google Wave but it won’t be as a separate product.”

As previously discussed in other posts on this blog, the one stop shop isn’t necessarily something internet users want. The enjoyment of the internet is freedom to choose and place loyalty in different corners of the web, rather than being bullied into using one service for all aspects of internet life. Complexity is also a consideration, although we are an internet savvy generation, many people are easily stressed by technology and Google Wave was, at a first, daunting to say the least. Google has its roots firmly set in SEO, search engine marketing and advertising. Therefore, aside from Google mail everyone associates Google with search which is perhaps another reason Wave was ignored.

Whatever the reasons, Google Wave is to be developed no further. Google confirmed this with the following statement.

“We were equally jazzed about Google Wave internally, even though we weren’t quite sure how users would respond to this radically different kind of communication. The use cases we’ve seen show the power of this technology: sharing images and other media in real time; improving spell-checking by understanding not just an individual word, but also the context of each word; and enabling third-party developers to build new tools like consumer gadgets for travel, or robots to check code. But despite these wins, and numerous loyal fans, Wave has not seen the user adoption we would have liked. We don’t plan to continue developing Wave as a standalone product, but we will maintain the site at least through the end of the year and extend the technology for use in other Google projects”.

With a few billion in the bank, I am sure Google will get over this hiccup and get back to SEO, search engine marketing and advertising, yet when you have that much money it isn’t always about the money. In the case of Google Wave both pride and image have been dented, for now at least.

22/10/2011/by Ash Mehta

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

Facebook Questions Ignores Google and Blocks All Search Engines

Last week we explored the new Facebook Questions application which is newly built in to the wall of your user account. I received a few emails after the post asking me whether Facebook Questions would be searchable in Google. Understandably clients wanted to know how effective this would be for website business marketing. Naturally I presumed the facility would be searchable, but surprisingly it isn’t.

A Facebook spokesperson made the following statement:

“Currently, search engines cannot access questions and answers through our Questions product. That may be something we consider for the future but have no current plans to allow it”.

This comes as a surprise and a small blow for website business marketing, yet it seems strange that Facebook would want to ignore all this traffic. Facebook is currently avoiding the search engines by only allowing logged in users to access questions and answers. Perhaps Facebook is concerned with not allowing the facility to become simply a base for web site promotions.

I did a quick search of a site:facebook.com/questions/ within Google and only a few results came up, none of which linked straight into any questions or answers. See the results below:

Considering that 62% of Yahoo Answers upstream traffic comes from Google there must be a tactical reason Facebook are ignoring this traffic stream initially. Don’t be surprised if this policy changes suddenly in the near future.

It’s not all bad for web site promotions though; you still have 500m users to target which should keep you very busy.

21/10/2011/by Ash Mehta