SiteSell Blog

Proof That Google Has No True Googlebomb Algorithm

Ken's Blog

"Site Build It! Scam" as Case Study

The previous 3 posts of this blog reviewed the 10+ years of Googlebomb history (over a 3-part series). Two conclusions are inescapable...

• Google has systematically misled the public about the Googlebomb, including the very existence of a "Googlebomb" at the beginning (when many knew otherwise) up to today's sorry policy of manually fixing only those highly publicized bombs that risk the public's confidence in the quality of Google search.

• For those thousands of little-known or unknown bombs that don't make it to "prime-time CNN," Google ignores them. In doing so, Google puts their users at risk of bad, fraudulent results. And Google fails to defend its own "Google Guidelines," the principles upon which they claim to base Google Search (and which they insist we all live by).

Google's "Detect and Defuse" Algorithm  Today?

This is the final post of this blog until Google truly fixes the Googlebomb.

This post will be updated when a Googlebomb algorithm is truly "detecting and defusing" Googlebombs as Google claims to be doing. When that happens, expect behavior to satisfy a minimum of the requirements in the 5-Minute Bomb Algorithm, whenever it is run ("infrequently" or automatically).

We use our own 2.5 year experience as the innocent target of a Googlebomb to illustrate the dangerous user experience that results...

Click to support this and take action now. Or continue...

The History of the GoogleBomb And Google's Response To It, Part 3 of 3

Ken's Blog

Leaving the "Trivial-But-Fixed" Phase
And Entering "It's Fixed... Really"

In Part 2 of this series, we closed with Google leaving the impression of having fixed the Googlebomb with an algorithm. Algorithms should, of course, detect and defuse new bombs. This is not what happened (nor is it happening today)...

Bombs continued to appear, including the Scientology "dangerous cult" in January, 2008 and a host of political bombs that appeared pretty much "at will" as campaign season rolled into gear during April-May-June 2008.

When publicity heats up, can a "cool it down" announcement by Google be far behind? Sure enough...

The History of the GoogleBomb And Google's Response To It, Part 2 of 3

Ken's Blog

We covered the first half of the 10-year history of the Googlebomb a few days ago. What do we have to show for it, so far?...

After 5 years, Google finally admitted the existence of a Googlebomb! There was, though, no ETA for a comprehensive resolution of the problem. Then came an event that many people remember as "the day Google fixed the bomb."

Their memory of this day is wrong. "Evolving opaque transparency" reaches new heights. As we shall see...

1) Google is the master of saying one thing (i.e., "we have begun minimizing," whatever that means), while...

2) Folks take away a different meaning (i.e., "Google kills bomb").

To this day, there is no ETA for a definitive Googlebomb fix. And Google no longer denies its existence. It merely denies that it's a problem.

Today marks the pivotal turning point in this 10-Year history. Let's pick it up 15 months after Marissa Mayer's "admit and trivialize" pronouncements (5.75 years ago)...

 

4.5 Years Ago

January 25, 2007
Google "Minimizes" The Bomb (by Ryan Moulton and Kendra Carattini in Google Webmaster Central Blog)

A quick word about Googlebombs

A mere 3+ years after "miserable failure" was reported, Google reports the bomb as being "minimized"...

"By improving our analysis of the link structure of the web, Google has begun minimizing the impact of many Googlebombs."

Note that it is not "fixed." Nor has it been "minimized."

Google has merely "begun minimizing the impact."

Google communicates at 2 levels. The superficial reader takes away the meaning that s/he is supposed to have. Most read at this level. Careful "Google-parsing," though, can reveal a very different story.

TIP FOR READING GOOGLESPEAK: Google gives the impression of open, casual communication. But no word or meaning of any significance is released without careful vetting.

With that in mind, let's review their announcement (above) in detail...

The History of the GoogleBomb And Google's Response To It, Part 1 of 3

Ken's Blog

The Googlebomb has a fascinating 10+ year history to it. Google's reaction to the ones that "go public" is perhaps even more fascinating.

I think you'll find this to be a surprising look at the inner thinking of Google. What may be seem reasonable and believable at one particular moment in time turns out to be quite the opposite with the luxury of reviewing a longer sweep of history.

We tend to think of Google as an open, transparent, webmaster-friendly company.

That's what we are supposed to think. The reality, it turns out, is far from the perception.

The next 3 posts cover the 10-year history of the Googlebomb and Google's attempted explanations (AKA "coverups") to their public "bombarrassments."

Panda, Googlebombs and Google Doublespeak

Ken's Blog

This past week, Google let it be known that Panda 2.2 would be released soon. Some particular "Google doublespeak" reminded me of the same code words used when Googlebombs "detonate" publicly...

Dont Be a Facebook-Hater, Just Do the Business Math

Ken's Blog

People's feelings about Facebook ("FB") seem to run the gamut from "irrational hatred" to "unquestioning adulation." This may be true for just about any radically successful product to some degree, but I don't ever recall seeing a such a wide split in sentiment.

Everyone is, of course, entitled to their opinions. But I'm noticing more and more folks, in many forums and discussion groups, who are deciding not to use Facebook for business, due to personal reasons.

You know the old saying, "It's nothing personal, it's just business?"

Well, this sentiment sort of goes, "It's nothing business, it's just personal." ;-)

Let's explore this...

It's important to recognize that each of us has likely formed some personal opinions about Facebook... about its usefulness (or not), its privacy policies, its social benefits (or is it a waste of time?), etc. But we should not let personal feelings about Facebook muddy the waters of whether we should use it for business.

When my knowledge of Facebook was at the "theoretical level," (i.e., thinking about it, reading about it a lot, but not using it), I felt FB had no value to me at a personal level. I could see no use for it in my life.

When its Business Page option came out, that got my attention. "This," I thought, "could be something that will be of importance to SBI! owners." Naturally, in all things related to our businesses, the upside of doing something must be weighed against the downside (the time it's going to take).

We all spend a ton of time online, working on our businesses. So working on something new must be either worth 1) stealing away yet more of our "personal time" or 2) dropping some other business activity.

It's important, therefore, to make the right decision.

Facebook Has Both Personal and Business Uses

What's my personal take on Facebook?

When I want/have time to socialize, I'll do it offline, thank you. It's possible to "waste" huge amounts of time on Facebook for personal use.

Many of you feel the same (generally, um, older, like me ;-) ). Many don't.

If you do feel like me about non-business use of Facebook, this post is for you. Or...

If you "hate" Facebook for its privacy policies, for how they conduct business, for corporate morality issues, for whatever reason... this post is for you.

Here's why...

Lessons Learned From the SiteSell FB Page Fiasco

Ken's Blog

This is a follow-up posting about the Facebook fiasco, written the day after they finally restored our SiteSell Facebook page.

Some profound lessons were learned (the hard way). Let's share with you ("the smart person is the one who learns the hard lesson from the voice of experience, the easy way")...

Lesson #1: The Power of Community

Have no doubt about this... This SiteSell Facebook Page is back up because of YOU.

Cause enough pain to a company that is much bigger than you and you can change their minds. You did! ;-)

The most common words were "dumbstruck," "insanity," "unjust," "messed up," and "appalling." Spot-on, I'd say.

Lesson #2: "Site" Is the Core

Your site is your business, not Facebook or any other adjunct. You own (hence, control) your site. Everything else feeds into your site, growing its reputation and traffic and ultimately, business.

You are at the mercy of any company that has total control over your pages such as Facebook pages, free blogging, etc. You'll need their mercy, sooner or later... count on that. Don't count on ever reaching someone, though.

Lesson #3: The Bigger They Come...

The bigger the company, the less helpful they'll be.

Facebook is "too large to ignore," so we jump to the free FB pages, don't we?

They figure they can get away with horrible support. And they do.

Lesson #4: Judge-Jury-Executioner

Something is seriously wrong with a company that is willing to play judge-jury-executioner. This is especially dangerous when the company makes so many mistakes. It's even worse when they won't communicate.

Lesson #5: The Danger of Free

There's no such thing as "free."

You pay for it in many ways, including lousy (or no) support. Think how much a company worries about support if you're not paying them.

"Not much," you said? Exactly!

If you give away something, give it AWAY! Then support it as if they paid for it.

Lesson #6: Own Up

Facebook finally did admit an error...

"Upon further review, it appears that your Page was removed in error. We have now restored this content. We regret any inconvenience this may have caused."

Even after the fact, we get a "no-info" e-mail. Of course an "error" was made. Why else would it have been down?

And skip the "we regret any inconvenience this may have caused" non-apology. Just say that you're sorry for the bother than you caused.

Before they restored our page...

They could have told us that they were investigating, could have done many things better.

When an error is made, fix it. Make it right for your client and move on.

And if you ever do make a mistake, do not say...

"We regret any inconvenience this may have caused."

MAY have? Did anyone read our letters to them?

Thanks again, everyone, for all your support,

Urgent! We Need Your Help!

Ken's Blog

NOTE: This post will be updated periodically. Click here for my updates. 

Update #1

Update #2

Update #3 -- We're back up!

---

Every now and then, business throws you a curveball. That happens.

Every now and then, it throws you a beanball. That is a damaging blow to the head. This is one of those times.

Facebook has thrown a beanball at us without a word of warning. It has killed our Facebook page.

Yes, it has literally removed our SiteSell Facebook page... no warning, no details, no recourse.

Just a notification that our page had been "removed." (My e-mail reply to them appears at the end of this post.)

All that energy... the contests, the creativity, the work. You had to see the passion and excitement of the admins who make SiteSell Facebook happen. And now? They are destroyed.

In a second, 16,000 fans disappear. SBIers and SiteSell Facebook fans are not meeting, interacting, doing all the good and wonderful things that have evolved since the months that we started. A piece of SiteSell has been amputated.

I am blogging about this here to start a public debate about this Facebook policy ("execution without trial"), and to ask for your support to reverse this action.

If one of our admins has made an error, so be it. I am willing to be red-faced and say, "Sorry." But I cannot imagine what we could have done wrong, let alone anything that would remove the page of a non-repeat infringer.

You know the way we work. We just don't do that, never received a hint of a warning.

Not only is this devastating for the whole team and for the company, but it raises the major issue...

Make Your Own Lifeboat Before We Hit the Iceberg

Ken's Blog

A few days back, I posted about the tailspin that the U.S. and Europe are in. That tailspin is basically irreversible, barring a miracle. And it's not a good idea to plan one's life on the basis of miracles.

That post talked about "Shuffling the Chairs for the Best View of the Iceberg." Today, let's talk about a more positive aspect of the metaphor... lifeboats.

Don't count on "the Titanic" (your government, wherever you may be) to have enough on hand.

With my last post, I wanted to take the temperature of folks to see if they "got it." Is patriotism blinding or are people starting to see the iceberg?

In general, it seems, we all seem to agree that an iceberg looms, with a varying degree of clinging to hope. I can only suggest...

Shuffling the Chairs for the Best View of the Iceberg

Ken's Blog

I almost posted this to an excellent thread in our SBI! Forums about a Wall Street Journal article entitled Nearly Half of Americans Are "Financially Fragile".

It would have pulled the thread off-topic so I resisted, even though there are some excellent tips in that thread about personal financial management.

The underlying issue, in fact, is so much more important. At this stage, personal financial management almost feels like we're shuffling chairs on the Titanic so that we can be here for the best view when we hit the iceberg.

The more you read about what's going on in this world of ours today, the more you realize that we are watching the inevitable sinking of a country that I have admired since I was 14 and studied Emerson, Thoreau and Whitman (in Literature class) and American history in high school.

Europe is headed in the same direction, I'm afraid.

We, the individuals, are sacrificed as the bad choices of institutions and countries are bailed out. Lobbies run the show. We're bogged down in wars we can't afford to be in. The US dollar is being inflated like there's no tomorrow (pushing back the iceberg to the day-after-tomorrow). There are no great leaders today, only political expediency.

SBIers do take control of their personal futures, which is a good and important step. Personal financial management (from the forum thread above) is a must, too. "Self-reliance" and "the American Dream" that moved me in high school sooooooooo many years ago are still possible.

Consider, though, the biggest step of all to optimize the life that you and your loved ones live, one which several SBIers have already done...