How Do You Separate the Information From the Disinformation?
October 13, 2011
A healthy dose of skepticism is always beneficial. From Scienceblogs.com comes a post by Orac entitled, “The architects of a ‘disinformation campaign’ against homeopathy are revealed.”
In this entry, Orac critiques a recently published Huffington Post article, “Dana Ullman: Disinformation on Homeopathy.” His main problem lies in the author’s reliance on ad hominem fallacies to take the place of a logical argument.
Orac goes back and forth quoting Ullman’s article and throwing jabs at it in addition to homeopathy:
[S]cientific experiments are designed primarily to falsify, not to prove, hypotheses. That’s where Ullman gets it wrong. He wants an experiment to “prove” homeopathy…If homeopathy can stand up to such hypothesis testing, then that’s an indication that the hypotheses that represent the central concepts of homeopathy might have some validity. They didn’t.
Our position is to remain cynical of anything without empirical evidence. A disinformation campaign seems like it would fall under the category of things I’d question.
The problem with searching for definitive answers on topics such as this, especially in the arena of science, is that non-biased research and reports are hard to come by.
Megan Feil, October 13, 2011
Google Predicts Video Games’ Successes
October 11, 2011
An increase in searches for game titles on Google and YouTube signal an awareness of the titles and the desire to acquire them, providing insight into sales. Google analyzed search activity for title terms of the top 15 games of 2010 and 2009, such as “Call of Duty,” “Black Ops,” and “COD Black Ops,” on Google and YouTube. The average search activity per title in 2010 rose 24% on Google and 28% on YouTube, jumping 25% in overall search activity.
About.com Staff Lay Off: Slow Ad Sales Lead to Changes
October 10, 2011
Google’s search algorithm changes are hurting more than just the average search user.
About.com posted weak revenues in the most recent quarter and attributed the lag to changes in Google search and slow ad sales. The site’s revenues dropped 10.2 percent in the last quarter. In hopes for some stability, The New York Times’-owned company recently laid off 15 editorial staffers and will be hiring 10 replacements as they reconstruct the site’s mission.
Yahoo News’ article, “About.com lays off staffers; hires replacements” shares more about the changes.
[Kristin Mason, a spokeswoman for the internet company, said] 10 new full-time positions will be created, with outgoing staff members to be given “first-priority” to apply for the new posts. She said many are expected to be rehired. The organization will be broken into four groups: uide Operations & Recruitment, About Editorial & Quality Review, Site Review and Community Tools. This is intended to improve the site’s focus and quality.”
Even with promises of “first-priority” for outgoing staff members, there will still be five positions completely cut from the company. To me, this doesn’t look like simple reconstruction with hopes for stability. This looks like brute force cost reduction in its purest form.
Andrea Hayden, October 10, 2011
Google Opens Retail Store: Search Engine Identity Crisis
October 9, 2011
After the huge release of Google+, a pretty direct attack on Facebook, Google is now going directly after the Apple giant in the form of retail outlets.
A spokesperson claims it is just something the company is playing around with, but we learn in Business Insider’s article,“Google Just Opened Its First Retail Outlet In London,” there is plenty of room for this “experiment” to grow:
…this is exactly how Microsoft got into the retail game a few years ago: by creating ‘Microsoft stores’ within big outlets like Circuit City, Best Buy, and — yes — PC World in 2008. It learned what it needed to know…Google doesn’t have enough products to sell to justify its own line of retail stores. Yet. But by the time it does, look for a gleaming chain ofGoogle Stores to sell whatever it comes up with.
Is this experiment in retail sales really a core competency of Google? I think not. Search engines seem to be having a major identity crisis these days, with Google in the lead. Attempts to tackle every market available may leave major areas of search engine systems weak. I assume rectifying the realm of search should be at the top of the agenda, but I remain wrong.
Andrea Hayden, October 09, 2011
Craigstant Not So Helpful to Job Seekers
October 8, 2011
If you haven’t figured it out, Craigstant is the combination of Craigslist and Instant. You can search any Craigslist location simply by typing what you want. That’s about all there is to it. The downside of using Craigstant instead of proper search is that you’ll miss out on things like picture previews and additional search filters, but if you just want pure speed it can deliver.
Panda Strikes Again
October 7, 2011
What a surprise! Panda, the Google algorithm that punishes the unworthy and elevates the noble among Websites, rewards its own services. These Google-owned beneficiaries include YouTube and Android.com, both of which gained a 10% increase with the latest Panda release, according to “Google Panda Punishes Some, Boosts YouTube.” The ReadWriteWeb article, penned by Jon Mitchell, notes:
Google maintains that the Panda updates are conducted meticulously with solely the users’ interests at heart, and it backs that up with an extensive list of criteria. But eyebrows always raise when Google makes an adjustment to search that benefits its own sites.
Raised eyebrows? But surely, this must be a coincidence. No “cooking” of search results here, right?
Other results of the recently implemented Panda 2.5 update include bad news for such sites as consumeraffairs.com, savings.com and, interestingly, prnewswire.com. Some consumer sites and tech blogs are also at a new disadvantage. (Uh-oh.) Also, some big names like Myspace, the Huffington Post, and even Amazon have fallen behind.
Some non-Google affiliated winners are Last.fm, Zappos, and the Washington Post. Interesting.
No need to fear, fellow searchers, the Panda has everything under control.
Cynthia Murrell October 7, 2011
Page Views Add Top Dog Credibility
October 3, 2011
Short honk: I wanted to capture the reference to “one billion page views.” This is a big number, and I don’t know if it is accurate. Online usage data are—ah, how shall I phrase it—somewhat malleable. The source that carried the claim was “HuffPost at One Billion Monthly Page Views: More buying, More Launching, More Hiring.” The article contained a hint of what one of the goslings called “page view envy.” I have no idea what the person was talking about. I learned:
Along with the record one billion page views, the site also said it had 37 million unique visitors in August, the largest number it has posted yet, with 5.1 million comments.
This struck me as important for one simple reason: HuffPost and Ms. Huff herself now have some additional ammunition to oust the Googler and take over AOL. In my view, Ms. Huff has what it takes to make AOL grow. The Googler in chief at AOL now has the distinction of making a deal for an acquisition that knows how to generate traffic, capture headlines, and operate in an organized fashion. Am I right? Hard to say. I wanted to capture this thought, however, because “real” journalists are not in this particular game at this time. Real journalists mostly report was Ms Huff is doing.
Stephen E Arnold, October 3, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Useful: How to Prevent Scraping
September 4, 2011
It is becoming more and more difficult to retain credit for digital passages. Have you ever thoughtfully posted to your site only to find you’ve been outranked on your own content? “Fighting Scrapers when Google Won’t: A Simple Guide” provides some easily implemented steps toward prevention of content theft.
The advice fits neatly under the following banners:
- Make regular Updates
- Link back to your site
- Add “Read More” URL inclusions
- Truncate Your RSS.
These are some useful, common sense suggestions. Basically, treat your online work as you would your lunch in an office: write your name all over it. Those relying on screen scraping technology for content are, in my opinion, lazy. Crating original content or providing a service by highlighting significant articles as I am doing in this short write up, the screen scrapers would reduce clutter on the Internet. Many scrapers are taking content short cuts. Please, heed the advice in the “Fighting Scrapers” article. Add author tags, links to your page, clipping a passage to dangle the meat with a “read more” etc.
Sarah Rogers, September 4, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Google DoubleClick Usage: A Warning Signal?
September 2, 2011
According to a Google report, Facebook is the leader in page views in June 2011. Google determines this rank by analyzing Google data and is used by ad companies in determining where to place ads. The article, Google DoubleClick Stats May Report Inflated Social Media Numbers, on Media Post News, questions to reliability of the Google report.
The information Google acquires through its giant network of data is influential to companies seeking the best place in which to sink billions of dollars in advertising. As the article explains,
Google gives marketers a guideline by allowing them to click on the link for each of the companies listed in the 1,000 sites to discover demographics of site visitors, such as household income and age. For each site on the list, marketers can see the site category, unique visitors, page views and whether the site has ads. The data provides ad placement information, specifications and keywords to find the site.
ComScore, another company specializing in website visit analysis, disagrees with Google’s numbers, claiming Facebook received half the number of clicks Google claims. The discrepancy lies within how the data is gathered. ComScore sells its information, opposed to Google who shares for free, so ComScore most likely does have more accurate results, explain experts.
It doesn’t take a silly goose like Beyond Search’s owner, Stephen E Arnold, to see that some companies might be tempted to make some tweaks to keep the revenue and traffic looking buff. With possibly questionable activities already popular among Web mavens and Web masters in the area of search engine optimization, is it likely that new methods will emerge to increase clicks to page, ads, and links? Hopefully, no.
Catherine Lamsfuss, September 2, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Google Study Finds Web Banners Ineffective
August 31, 2011
On Saturday, one reader sent us a link to this story: “Is Google’s Search for Quality Content a Ruse for a Massive Diversion of Cash to Its Own Sites?” We are not sure if the points in the write up are spot on, but the theme of the article connected to another story we noticed.
According to a 2010 survey by Google, the average click through rate for banner ads this past year was 0.09 percent which is down from 0.1 percent in 2009. This decrease leads me to believe that attempts to make banner ads more inviting to potential customers are failing miserably. However, the article Google: Click-Through Rates Fell in 2010 [Study] states:
[The study] found that the format of a display ad can make a difference. A 250×250 pixel ad using Flash got the highest CTR of any format — 0.26%. The worst performers were vertical 120×240 banners with Flash and a full (468×60) banner with Flash, which both got rates of 0.05%.
As with television ads, it’s difficult to determine the effectiveness of digital advertising by only looking at click-through. It is important that we recognize that banner-ads are not created inside a vacuum, but are rather one small part of a larger complex advertising strategy. Needless to say, if studies continue to come out showing any aspect of this strategy to be failing it could lead to major implications for Google.
At lunch on Sunday, I discussed these two items with two people immersed in Web advertising. Three observations stuck in my mind:
First, if there is a softening in click through or online ad revenue, Google will have little choice but find ways to pump up its revenue.
Second, the notion of social media fatigue seems germane. People may be tired of online ads. The result is to shift to a more low profile “pay to play” model. Overt ads may be on the down side after a long run up.
Third, the urgency for organizations like Google and Flipbook to find a way to inject rich media is an indication that the ad revenues flowing to television advertisers are the next Klondike.
I am not sure what to think, but this notion that online ad revenue may need some xoskeletal supports is fascinating. There are significant implications for objective search results as well.
Jasmine Ashton, August 31, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
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