Encrypted Google Web Search
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Google announced yesterday on their blog that it would start having a secure search via SSL.
My question is Why?
We all remember last year on CNBC when Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt said:
“If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.”
If the internet is about being open and transparent as they want us to believe then why is there a need for any such privacy?
As I continued to read the blog post one particular phrase caught my attention:
Searching over SSL doesn’t reduce the data sent to Google — it only hides that data from third parties who seek it.
Read that again…
it only hides that data from third parties who seek it.
Google still knows what you are searching. I think the thing that is transparent here is that Google is an advertising company who just happens to be in the search engine game. There are plenty of third party applications that rely heavily on data from Google. The ones that I see being adversely affected by this new encrypted search are the small advertising companies and software companies that are not going to be able to pay for that kind of information from Google. Particularly the firms that focus on SEO and PPC.
I’m sure that there are many other area of your life that Google would like to “control” as they place order to the world via the internet. Is this just another way to gain control of our personal information?
Is this just another tactic to regain control over our private information? Tell me what you think. Leave a comment below
New UFC Champion Mical Johnson?
By · CommentsEveryone remembers the commercial Google aired on the Superbowl. Well to continue the success of that campaign Google released a fun new tool called Search Story Tool. Not only is this a great piece of marketing but also teaches us a few things along the way.
Let’s break it down to see why this is such a great viral marketing campaign.
They kept the process simple… 3 steps is all
You write a little story add some music and the upload it after you check it out. Keeping the process clearly defined and easy to follow is a prerequisite for any viral marketing campaign. The harder it is the less likely it will take off.
Give Creativity to the end user
Everyone likes to tell their friends about something they made or created even if they had a little help. If you give a way for your end user to do a little bit of customization it will pay dividends in the long run. Get creative and let your end user show their stuff.
Make it easy to share
If a campaign is going to go viral it needs a way to easily spread. Leveraging the end user’s social media connection is the fastest and easiest way to do just that. You don’t have to go crazy and give them every option under the sun but the top 2-3 will do just fine.
On a side note….
If Google didn’t test using Google Buzz as one of the viral tools…shame on them
Also don’t over look the ease of sending a link or embedding the media on a blog or website. It’s a great way to get your end user to spread the word even more. Nothing says Viral like being linked on millions of blogs and websites.
So to recap…
When creating a viral marketing campaign remember to:
- Keep the Process Simple
- Give Creativity to the End User
- Make It Easy to Share
Don’t be shy let my know what you think and make a comment below 
Don’t Be Evil Google
By · CommentsAs much as I love using Google’s products this definitely makes me think about that phrase “Big Brother is Watching You.”
Here’s something that will make you think
thanks to Ed Dale for pointing me to this video
*** Update 4/23/2010 ***
I noticed that the video above had quitely been removed from YouTube no doubt not by the user as the screen shot above indicates. I found the video elsewhere and have included it below.
Aweber’s New Feature or Smart Marketing?
By · CommentsI was reading on the Aweber blog today that they just released a new feature for their autoresponder service. It has to do with the broadcast archive that’s available. I haven’t really used this feature very much mainly because it looked terrible and unless I put a link back to my site in the email it doesn’t link back to my site. here are a couple of screen shoots that I took from the Aweber blog to show you how this visually makes a difference.
Before
After
Now the old look vs the new look is 1000 times better. Here are a couple things that I really like
- Branding Elements added
- Reader Engagement in the Sidebar
These are great additions to the once very boring RSS feed of your emails. But as marketer I look at things a little different. The biggest glaring thing that I see is inserted into the footer.
Don’t get me wrong I have no problem with them branding their own product. I do that all the time. After the excitement wore off of this new feature the problem I have is that I’m an affiliate of Aweber. And if someone reads my RSS feed and clicks on that link will I get credit?
NO…
There is no way of inserting my affiliate link in there **Hint: This would be a great new feature Aweber**
I’ve sent out promotional emails for them in the past. Put banners out on several sites that I have but this would undermine everything that I’ve worked so hard to do.
Can I just get a little help here!
[stepping off my soapbox now]
The other issue that I have is just a small one.
I love the branding elements so I can keep my messages consistent but how about a link back to my own website in the sidebar or header image?
Internet users have been conditioned to look for them there and the only thing that happen is they will remain in the archive. Since this RSS feed is actually hosted on Aweber’s site I can understand them not wanting to link back to my site….
Wait….
No I can’t. I am a paying customer and they are using my content to promote (very quietly) their email autoresponder service.
WOW! This is Genius. It’s like integration marketing in reverse. I wish I would have thought about doing that with my customers.
Wait… I do. But I actually ask them first.
Even though this is a great new feature these two glaring things make it a big turn off for me and I probably won’t be using it.
Anyway… Here’s a great video about the new feature from Aweber.
Google slaps around duplicate content
By · CommentsThis is going to be a short post just pointing out a new change recently with the Google algorithm.
But first I wanted to mention an update on my last post about Google Buzz. There were a lot of concerns about some of the privacy settings and how your information was being used. Google has made various updates and they mention the changes on their blog. Enough said.
A few days ago on the official Google blog they made a post about how webmasters and web site owners could specify your canonical. One of the biggest concerns for anyone that does SEO is that of duplicate content on their website. Now that Google, Yahoo and MSN (Bing) are going to start supporting the rel=”canonical” tag in the header it makes it easy for Google and the others to slap your website around if you have duplicate content.
For those that aren’t sure what I am referring to here is an example:
- http://micaljohnson.com
- http://www.micaljohnson.com
- http://micaljohnson.com/index.htm
All this links point to the same page and would cause a duplicate content penalty to be served. This is a very simple example. I’ll share more in a moment.
Those of us that use WordPress blogs should be familiar with this because of the way the link structure of the blog works we often times end up with duplicate content. Thankfully the genius wordpress plugin creator Joost de Valk at Yoast.com made a great wordpress plugin to canonical your blog and help eliminate that problem.
Here are a few places to check out to get up to speed on this:
Here is also a video of Google’s Matt Cutts explaining it a little better
