Penton Plunge?
April 6, 2011
Yesterday a former publishing executive asked me about my write up about traffic to enterprise search vendors’ Web sites. If you want to review those data, read “Enterprise Search Vendor Web Traffic.” The main point of the write up was that I used Compete.com data, which I viewed as indicative, not definitive. Across enterprise search vendors, the majority of the vendors’ Web sites get minimal traffic. Even the big dogs like Autonomy and Exalead are not pulling at the level of magnetism of some big blogs. Lady Gaga type traffic is just not happening.
The person with whom I was conversing expressed surprise that large companies were getting such lousy traffic. He asked, “How can that be?”
I told him that I would give this some thought and post my observations in Beyond Search. This write up captures the ideas that crossed my mind. I decided to focus on one publishing company, Penton in New York City, as my representative example. The company has a number of Web sites but the flagship is www.penton.com.
Compete reports this:
Traffic is less than 13,000 uniques per month. But more interesting is the alleged data’s indication that usage of the Penton Web site has dropped by 30 percent in the last couple of months.
The question becomes, “Why?”
First, I think that the data are in line with traffic to some other publishers’ Web sites. The information on the Web site is not compelling and, therefore, does not attract the MBA students, job seekers, or competitive intelligence professionals. Penton’s financial performance has been lackluster as well, so the Web site is in line with the overall performance of the company.
Second, I think that more and more company information is becoming harder and harder to find. Forget Google and the SEO marketers’ best excuse for lousy traffic. The Penton site is little more than brochure ware. The substantive information is lacking in my opinion. A quick look at the source code for the splash page shows that the company is using an open source tool, lots of tagging, and stuff like this:
Tidy code? This bloat can be addressed for major browsers, including Chrome, by making a change to the master page. Without the fix, you get this junk as a cookie workaround.
Third, Penton is not using its corporate Web site with intent. Whoever is the brains behind the Web site is walking in step to a different drummer than the goslings in Harrod’s Creek follow. Now I know that the slick New York crowd is with it, but in terms of creating an information service that ignites excitement, I see a typical big media Web presence.
Why SEO Is in a Bind?
April 4, 2011
In New York City, I gave a breezy 15 minute lecture about “content with intent.” The main point was that traditional search engine optimization methods are now under attack. On one hand, the Web indexing systems have had to admit that SEO distorts results lists. Examples range from links to auto generated placeholder pages such as the one at www.usseek.com or links to sites not related to the user’s query.
Google has made significant changes to its method of relevance ranking. You can read about the infamous Panda update to the PageRank algorithm in these articles:
- Google Panda Update: Say Goodbye to Low Quality Link Building
- Google’s Panda Update Changed The Playing Field
- Google Panda Update Survival Guide.
Blekko.com’s approach has been more direct. The company introduced filtering of sites. For more information about the Blekko method, read “Blekko Banning Some Content Farm Sites.”
The larger problem can be seen by running a free comparison on www.compete.com. Enter the urls for Bing, Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Yahoo in the search box on this page. If the traffic from Facebook and Twitter are combined, the traffic winners will not be a traditional Web search engine in the future. Keep in mind that Compete.com’s data may be different from the data your Web analytics system uses.
SEO experts and service providers may find themselves hemmed in by changes such as Google’s Panda algorithm tweak.
The real problem for traditional search engine optimization service providers comes from a combination of factors, not a single factor. This means that Google’s Panda update has disrupted some Web sites’ traffic, there are a number of other forces altering the shape of SEO. These include:
- A social system which allows a user to recommend a good source of information is performing a spontaneous and in most cases no cost editorial function or a curation activity. A human has filtered sources of information and is flagging a particular source with a value judgment. The individual judgment may be flawed but over time, the social method will provide a useful pool of information sources. Delicious.com was an early example of how this type of system worked.
- The demographics of users is changing. As younger people enter the datasphere, these individuals are likely to embrace different types of information retrieval methods. Traditional Web search is similar to running a query on a library’s online public access catalog. The new demographic uses mobile devices and often has a different view of the utility of a search box.
- The SEO methods have interacted with outfits that generate content tailored to what users look for. When Lady Gaga is hot, content farms produce information about Lady Gaga. Over the last five years, producing content that tracks what people are searching for has altered search results. The content may be fine, but the search engines’ relevance ranking methods often skew the results making a user spend more time digging through a results list.
- Google, as well as other online search systems, is essentially addicted to online advertising revenue. Despite the robust growth on online advertising, Google has to find a way to generate the revenue it needs to support its brute force Web indexing and search system AND keep its stakeholders happy. With search results getting less relevant, advertisers may think twice about betting on Google’s PageRank and Oingo-based Adwords system.
SEO Experts Under the Microscope
April 3, 2011
Search engine optimization is an interesting service business. People with Web sites usually get low traffic. The notion of “build it and they will come” works in Hollywood. Not so much in the real world I assert. In order to get traffic, individuals poke around documentation and experiment to find ways to make a lousy site get traffic. With Google in the dominant position in Web search, SEO means spoofing the Google.
The tricks are clumsy; for example, describing a site with index terms unrelated to the focus of the site. Even big outfits find ways to outfox Google. I once used a German auto manufacturer’s tricks in my talks. Sigh. Bush league tricks. Yep, SEO.
So what? I just read “Is SEO Going to be Costlier in Coming Years?” There was a large amount of information in the write up. I wanted to pull out one quote that struck me as particularly interesting:
SEO as an industry is going to earn a distinguished place in IT service domain. It will earn much recognition and respect.
Oh, yeah. After more than a decade of excellence, respect is just around the corner.
Stephen E Arnold, April 3, 2011
No April fool either.
Content with Intent Delivers Search and Sales Impact
March 28, 2011
Millions of content creators on the Internet must now tighten their output or face obscurity. As a result of a recent change in Google’s quality grading, writers and bloggers are scrambling. Luckily, something can be done. Stephen E Arnold, ArnoldIT.com, will be one of the speakers at “Google Changes the Rules” on March 30, 2011, in Manhattan at iBreakfast. The “content with intent” tag line is one that Mr. Arnold has used since his work on the Threat Open Source Intelligence Gateway, funded by an interesting government entity in the fall of 2001. He has refined the system and method for a number of clients worldwide. To see an example of the technique, navigate to Google, run the query “taxodiary” or “inteltrax” and follow the links. Your product or company can achieve similar sales and marketing impact in as little as one month. Unlike SEO, the content with intent method persists. Run a query on Google.com for “ssnblog”. This demo site has not been updated since April 30, 2011 and the content continues to be easily findable. Keep in mind that the Web sites for each of these examples is one way to access the information. The method touches hundreds of findability services, including real time and social systems.
Most SEO delivers an expensive, often problematic, failure for clients with unrealistic expectations for an expensive, low traffic Web site. Source: http://www.lifepurposediscoverysystem.com/blog/uploaded_images/fear-of-failure-768216.gif
This shift ArnoldIT’s “content with intent” approach manifest is an innovation driven by a high volume of lower quality online content and increasingly heavy handed SEO tactics.
Stephen E Arnold’s “content with intent” method works in a manner similar to a series of bursts, a digital MIRV. Source: http://www.rolfkenneth.no/NWO_review_Sutton_Soviet.html
In what appears to be increasingly desperate attempts to generate traffic to a Web site, search engine optimization experts have forced Google and other search systems like Blekko.com to take action. Going forward, search vendors will, like a strict teacher, to scrutinize, “grade”, and flunk some online information.
Arnold says, “In effect, Google is like a college composition teacher. Grades of C, D, and F are not acceptable. Deliver A or B content or suffer the consequences.” “Does Google have an emotional investment in great writing?,” asks Arnold. He answers his own question this way, “No, Google cares about ad revenue and lousy content could harm Google cash flow.”
The relationship between content producers and Google sounds grim at best. Fortunately, Steve Arnold, author of Google: A Digital Gutenberg and managing director of Arnold IT, recently provided four tips for moving out of “SEO hell”, where guessing and shoddy content are likely to yield decreasing traffic from major search engines like Google and systems which federate its outputs:
SEO Woe: Cows in the Commons
March 6, 2011
I have another gosling writing about this but I wanted to weigh in on this fine rainy Sunday in Harrod’s Creek. Point your browser at “SEO Is No Longer a Viable Marketing Strategy for Startups.” The basic idea is that certain search engine optimization methods of building traffic have lost their efficacy. The key point in my opinion is:’
I talk to lots of startups and almost none that I know of post-2008 have gained significant traction through SEO (the rare exceptions tend to be focused on content areas that were previously un-monetizable). Google keeps its ranking algorithms secret, but it is widely believed that inbound links are the preeminent ranking factor. This ends up rewarding sites that are 1) older and have built up years of inbound links 2) willing to engage in aggressive link building, or what is known as black-hat SEO. (It is also very likely that Google rewards sites for the simple fact that they are older. For educated guesses on which factors matter most for SEO, see SEOMoz’s excellent search engine ranking factors survey).
I added boldface to the phrase that struck me as particularly interesting; namely, the one with the word “content”.
Now there are some outfits who have figured out that the lousy economy makes it easy to get people to write articles for a modest amount of money. If a company generates quite a few articles and tosses in the basics of page indexing, the various search engines usually index the content. The more links and buzz that an article generates makes the write up show up in a Tweetmeme.com list or high in the Google search results or even a top spot on Bing.com.
Wonderful. We have a popularity context much like the one that puts such effective professionals into the various US, state, county, and municipal elected offices.
What I find interesting about the voting approach is that our friend Alexis de Tocqueville pointed out that the majority approach delivers quite a number of outputs. Excellence may not be assumed. Popularity is one yardstick. The measurement of quality in a written document may not lend itself to popularity. One chestnut is the plight of Al Einstein. Nothing he wrote resonated with more than a baker’s dozen of folks. Even the Nobel committee struggled to recognize him. That’s the problem with excellence. Voting does not work particularly well in many situations.
Too many cows in the commons.
What’s this mean for search engine optimization, content factories, and a results list in a free Web search engine? Three points in my opinion:
- Gaming the system (no matter what system) is great fun and extremely lucrative for those who can exploit what I call the “something for nothing” approach to information. A short cut is worth a lot of money, particularly at conferences that explain how to send lots of cows into the common fields of content.
- Smart search engines are just not that smart and probably will not be. That is the reason that commercial content producers generally offer information that follows a different path. I know that most people are not interested in provenance, fact checking, and accuracy, but most of the commercial database producers do a better job than a Web master looking for a way to boost traffic and either keep a job or get a raise. Content is not job one for these people.
- Search engine optimization is pretty much whatever the experts, pundits, and carpet baggers want it to be. There are tricks to exploit stupid Web indexing methods. I just ignore that sector of what some journalists view as “real search” because search is darned easy for any one with a net connection and a browser.
Bottom line: SEO won’t go away. In my view, one can’t kill it. After a nuclear blast, certain creatures will survive. Publicly accessible, ad supported indexes will not be as objective as I would like. Nor will the indexes do a particularly good job of delivering precision and recall. The advanced features are little more than efforts to get more advertisers.
In short, Web search, SEO, and much of the content on the Web is like a common grazing area with too many cows, too many footballers, and too many gullible walkers. (These are metaphors for marketing for me.)
SEO is not dead. How do you kill looking for a deal, finding a short cut, getting something for nothing? Tough to do. And those cows in the commons. Lots of output. Lots.
Stephen E Arnold, March 6, 2011
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Search Engine Optimization Discovered in Miami
March 2, 2011
You know a story is bit time when it is covered in a two page article in the Miami Herald. Miami, of course, is the capitol city of The Islands, as The Nine Nations of North America pointed out years ago.
The point of the story is that search engine optimization experts—trained at conferences partially underwritten by the Web indexing services—have learned how to fool the Web search engines. It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature, but it is perfectly okay to fool the Web indexes. Hey, traffic equals ad revenue and has for years. Now the Miami Herald has discovered “The Dark World of Search Engine Manipulation.” There you go.
According the article:
Now Google is incorporating recommendations from your social media “friends” to personalize the search results you get. Who authorized Google to help itself to that information? And precisely how will your so-called friends’ opinions alter the rankings you see? Google is an extraordinary company, and its credo of “do no harm” is impressive. But it’s difficult to think of another private, profit-seeking entity that has ever exercised such vast power over what the world thinks about and pays attention to. That’s a profoundly public function, and with it comes an obligation of accountability that Google has so far bungled.
Will the Miami Herald’s insight have an impact? Does anyone know how social media can be manipulated to spoof relevance?
Nope.
Stephen E Arnold, March 2, 2011
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SEO: The Dark Art
February 25, 2011
Many firms provide legitimate search engine optimization (SEO) services to companies in order to improve their ranking in search results. However, cheating the system is frowned upon, as JCPenney recently learned. And Overture. Ouch!
With so many players manipulating the field, David Dorf asks “Can you Trust Search?” Government intervention isn’t the answer, but how is fairness maintained without oligarchic rule by the chosen few: Google, Yahoo!, Bing, etc.?
He goes on,
“Now Google is incorporating more social aspects into their search results. For example, when Google knows it’s me . . . search results will be influenced by my Twitter network . . . the blogs and re-tweeted articles from my network will be higher in the search results than they otherwise would be. So in the case of product searches, things discussed in my network will rise to the top.”
SEO services will continue to grow, especially in the realm of social media, and everyone will be expected to play by the rules. The question remains: who makes the rules?
Emily Rae Aldridge, February 25, 2011
SEO Baloney Stripped of Its Plastic Wrap
January 27, 2011
Navigate to “4 Reasons Why SEO Is Underfunded.” The audience is a marketing person, a Web master, or an SEO expert. The message is that search engine optimization could get more money if certain things were different. The write up points out that those buying SEO or funding SEO want results. No kidding. In addition, the people with cash want silver bullets. Making matters worse is the word smithing that goes on to explain the methods to get a better PageRank. Since Google does not reveal its methods in particularly useful detail, the chatter and jargon cover up the fact that outsiders are often clueless. And, the article suggests, is that some folks in need of traffic don’t dig the value of “organic traffic.”
When I read this write up, I drew several hypotheses:
- SEO is mostly on point, original content with appropriate word use. Lacking the base of high value or magnetic content, traffic for most Web sites is going to suck. Don’t believe me. Navigate to Compete.com, get a free account, and look at the reported site traffic of Coveo.com or BA-Insight.com versus a gasper like Yahoo.com. What do you see? Lousy traffic and zero traffic. Why? Nothing pulls the traffic and no amount of SEO puffery will change the traffic for these successful companies’ Web sites.
- A Web site is no longer a high tech adventure. A Web site is the potential Sir Gawain for the organization. Traditional marketing is disappointing in today’s market. The answer? The Web. Now the fast talkers who pushed content free, brochureware Web sites are at risk. Termination? Litigation? Whatever. Organizations need Web sites to perform, and, believe me, that’s tough to do with some SEO “sauces.”
- Long term value! Give me a break. I can name a dozen companies within a five minute drive of the goose pond that could go out of business next week. The local bank is not going to pump dough into an outfit unless it doers not need the money. You can’t talk long term to an organization unable to meet payroll and pay the utility bills.
It is time to focus on SEO as a set of practices that complement broader marketing goals. SEO won’t generate sales. Even the magic of Groupon.com or LivingSocial.com works in certain use cases. Telling 20 million people that ArnoldIT.com can do a $100,000 chunk of work. Think that will sell in Farmington, Illinois?
I loved the source write up. It strips bare the weaknesses of selling a tool that can do only part of the marketing job needed today. Honk.
Stephen E Arnold, January 27, 2011
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SEO Tricks for Search Revealed
January 23, 2011
We thought the concept for search was objective results that meet the user’s query. Guess not.
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is the process of gaming the search systems to increase traffic. Commercial websites want to be at the top of the results.
Search engine administrators distinguish between SEO practices which are fair and those which are a nuisance. The article “Concept of Search Engine Optimization for Web Site Marketing” elaborates:
“SEO techniques can be classified into two broad categories: techniques that search engines recommend as part of good design, and those techniques of which search engines do not approve. The search engines attempt to minimize the effect of the latter, among them spamdexing. Some industry commentators have classified these methods, and the practitioners who employ them, as either white hat SEO, or black hat SEO.”
Search engines can penalize black hat sites by weakening their rankings or simply blocking them.
Black hats often use deception to elevate their ranking. No wonder the results on public Web search services are sometimes wacky.
Cynthia Murrell January 23, 2011
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Broken Search?
January 19, 2011
Beer and cake is not a combination I’ve tried yet, nor is it one that sounds even remotely appetizing. Has Google has dropped the ball or turned a blind eye to some clever search engine optimization tactics?
The search giant seems to think beer and cake go together like peas and carrots or peanut butter and jelly. I think it seems more like tuna and a rubber tire but really, who am I to judge?
According to Phil of Phil’s blawg on tumblr.com, there had been several searches for “Cake Central” that yielded a top result of Beerby.com. Beerby is a mobile application that lets users track their favorite beers and breweries, as well as the eateries that carry them. Though they have since corrected the issue, the question of why Beerby was the #1 search result when a user queries for cake recipes and decorating tips remains a mystery.
I am beginning to think that it is difficult to get a set of results from a query that is relevant and on target. I hope I am wrong, however.
Leslie Radcliff, January 19, 2011
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