Comments on: Google Game Changers | December 09

By: J. Davis

J. Davis — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 08:55:52 +0000

I also can see personalization increasingly polarizing an already overpolarized political nation. We already get TV news, papers, magazines, and radio customized to our political leanings. At least Google used to conveniently broaden our political minds a bit when, from the comfort of our chairs, we typed in a search on a political topic and got blogs from both left and right leaning people. Now we might just get pushed to blogs that we have recently read if, for example, we type in “president speech” or something like that; less chance to hear both sides of the story.

By: Scott

Scott — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 05:20:50 +0000

Well, the strikethrough text was my own fault. I jumped to conclusions, and that Ebay thing was a piece pf Adware – clever and insidious, but not sent by Google

The images though, coming from product search, and yeah, that’s another big change, from before late last month – a November Game Changer. Expect to see that more and more, i’ll bet…

By: J. Davis

J. Davis — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 19:14:48 +0000

This move towards personalization is very disturbing to me as a web user as well as an SEO. To me it seems like now that Google is a huge mega corporation they have no problem helping the other big companies out more than they deserve. Google has forgotten their roots. Or maybe Google is so focused on fighting spam that they are throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Thank goodness we still have Yahoo and Bing.

As for Goggles, Google has the problem that most technologists have in that they can’t always see the dark side of their inventions. I see cyber-stalking possibly taking on a whole new creepy level with this new tool. And reputation management will extend out into your shopping trip at the mall, not just to worrying about what your new and former acquaintances and nosy neighbors are doing when they Google your name.

By: Zander Chance

Zander Chance — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 18:14:10 +0000

So what happened with the “Compare on eBay” example that caused you to cross it out? That’s pretty huge if they’re working on an exclusive deal with eBay or something.

Maybe I’m late to the game, but when did Adwords start allowing pictures in their ads? I did a search on Dog Food, and 3 ads to the right had pictures of dog food!

By: Scott

Scott — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 15:29:54 +0000

Yep, and smarter marketers have been working with clients for a while now, to enhance the visitor experience and improve conversion rates – Unfortunately, many clients don’t see the forest through the trees, and they still think rankings are the most important thing.

By: cory huff

cory huff — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 14:36:42 +0000

Scott,

I’ve been reading all the hand-wringing that many people in our industry have been doing, but I, for one, have been pleased with the results for my own searches.

I feel as though my SERP results are full of content from people that I know and trust. When that’s not the case, as with a big story, I like reading what people are saying.

I’m not a huge fan of the embedded Tweets, but I think the filter will get better with time.

From a professional standpoint, however, I can see this going in an ominous direction, and that’s the issue. If I like my search results, Google probably knows that many people like their results – which makes SEO & other online marketing even harder as Google puts a stranglehold on the Web.

and we all go gently into that good night…