« April 2004 | Main | June 2004 »
May 28, 2004
Google and Cloaking
Danny Sullivan from SearchEngineWatch mentions today of a particular example in which Google finds 'cloaking' - a technique considered rather unethical in search engine terms - as 'OK' for the National Public Radio pages.
To be frank this is not something we can greet with pleasure. Exactly like Danny Sullivan says 'many other companies would like the ability to feed Google content in this manner. In addition, they have just as compelling arguments as NPR about having good content that isn't adequately indexed by the Google crawler. Unfortunately, they're denied the privilege of feeding relevant material just to Google's crawler'
I would like to see what Google has to say about this. Their weblog has been getting dusty since they haven't posted anything for more than a week. This is an issue where I would like to see what they have to say about. And not just in 'corpo speak'.
Harry Tzetzos @ Rugles website marketing
Posted by Basileios at 09:03 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 27, 2004
Yahoo! Against Spyware
A week after the Google 'good software guidelines' Yahoo! replies with more than words: Their new Yahoo! toolbar which will be launched within the day will have anti-spyware capabilities provided by the anti-spyware company PestPatrol.
"The toolbar is the best place to present this application because of its accessibility--you can log on and use your toolbar from any machine--and because it's a persistent application in the browser window" Yahoo! spokeswoman Stephanie Iwamasa said.
Posted by Basileios at 06:11 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Pay per Click , The Complete Guide
You may have noticed that for the past week or so we have a new addition to our Journal look. We are currently offering a discount on the new Rugles publication 'Pay-per-Click. The Complete Guide'.
The new 90 page ebook provides full information on how to plan, start, execute and track a pay-per-click campaign and is ideal for people that want to learn the secrets of a superficially easy way of marketing (but with lots of traps and problems).
The price of the ebook is $37.50 for a very limited time period and you can find more information on the Rugles website
Posted by Basileios at 05:43 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 26, 2004
Is Google Making the Same Mistake as Hitler?
The announcement of the good software guidelines last week by Google and the leak of the forthcoming Google Desktop search utility has fueled a series of discussions on the developments and new additions that Google may want to follow: A Google-Gmail desktop tool, a Google Operating System, a Google refrigerator (powered by Google search technology since we all know how difficult it is to find the mustard in a packed fridge).
I think most people have applauded with delight on this Google extension and I think I may be part of a minority that thinks that Google is making a set of mistakes that show signs of immaturity and spontaneity that does not justify the Google IPO statements on We will sacrifice the short term in favor of the long term.
Google has two very strong opponents at the moment: Microsoft and Yahoo! and it is not a coincidence that in its IPO it is listing the two companies as Risk factor no1. Google may have a very strong market (and brand) position in search related technologies but both Yahoo! since their adoption of Inktomi last February and Microsoft with their forthcoming new search engine are ready to take slices of the Google pie.
Google has decided that the best defence on this is pure offence so it attacked Yahoo! (and Microsoft) with the 1Gb Gmail (yet to be seen) and Microsoft with the forthcoming launch of the desktop search utility. But will such a multiple front in the war against the two super-powers be successful?
I have strong doubts on that. The front against Yahoo! (and Hotmail) although it sounds as an excellent weapon suffers from many problems: The general unrest caused by privacy issues, the fact that can be copied immediately by competition but also the fact that it is undergoing beta testing for two months and has completely lost the element of surprise essential in such attacks.
On the other hand the Desktop search utility is definitely not going to create a large dent on the Microsoft fender and will simply aggravate a few people in Microsoft enough to consider this as a casus belli. Again the element of surprise has been lost since the rumor is out but the utility is nowhere to be seen.
Ok, I know that you may say that the fronts were already there. Microsoft had attached Google with their new search and Yahoo! dumped Google in favor of their own Inktomi. That is definitely true. My problem is though that I believe that Google is simply being led into matters that does not know well in order to lose slices of the pie that has established it as the worlds favorite engine. Google should focus on the things it knows how to do best at this stage and build on the search empire they have already created. It has been a while since we saw a major change and evolution in search technology and I am sure that Google can make a new revolution there and surprise both Yahoo! and Microsoft in ways that will not allow them to answer at a days notice.
If I were Google I would lie low at the moment and fortify my existing arsenal and use the weapon that none of my opponents have: The fact that I am considered a nice company. This is a branding that is difficult to obtain and easy to destroy.
Basil Drolias @ Rugles Website Marketing Services
Posted by Basileios at 04:36 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 25, 2004
BehaviorTarget Announced by Kanoodle
Kanoodle has just announced that they have teamed up with 24/7 Real Media, Inc. in order to create a new feature in their PPC services that will take into account the bahavioral patterns of visitors in order to serve ads appropriately.
BehaviorTarget will be the first behaviorally targeted sponsored links network available to advertisers and publishers and will integrate 24/7 Real Media's proprietary Insight XE Web analytics technology to analyze and track user behavior anonymously throughout Kanoodle's BehaviorTarget network of publishers.
The service is scheduled to be launched on the second quarter of 2004 and it is certainly a development worth noticing. Kanoodle may be a smaller palyer in the PPC/Advertising world than Google Adwords or Overture but there is definitely room for elbowing its way through. Such a new technological approach to advertising is certain to create a bit of a stir in the big players so it will be interesting to wait for the waves that will follow this announcement.
Harry Tzetzos @ Rugles Website marketing Services
Posted by Basileios at 06:16 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 24, 2004
Google Brand Name
I have been doing a personal experiment over the past few days: Instead of Google I had been using just Teoma to search the web for anything that I needed. It came as no surprise to me that I was extremely satisfied with the Teoma results. I always found what I was looking for, the results were always relevant and had really no complaints about the overall service.
I suspecty that I would feel almost the same way had I experimented with MSN (or the new MSN) or Yahoo! In the end these days the choice of search engine (a.k.a. Google) is a matter of pure habit and brand name recognition than an actual difference in the results that are produced and the service that we get.
That can explain the results of a survey which I found in Andy Beal's weblog in which 76 percent of the questioned had heard or used Google and only 17% did not consider Google a good investment.
Harry Tzetzos @ Rugles Website Marketing Services
Posted by Basileios at 06:40 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 21, 2004
Gmail Competition
Anyone who think she/he has got the guts to enter this competition can win a Gmail account...
Be prepared for some really tough questions. After all there is no such thing as a free lunch (or a free 1Gb...)
Posted by Basileios at 11:46 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Blog Spam II
A big thanks to Richard Stokes at http://www.startupskills.com/ (very good weblog as well!) for pointing us to Jay Allen's spam filter.
In theory it sounds as if it is something that does the trick. I really want to see it in action!
Harry Tzetzos @ Rugles Website Marketing Services
Posted by Basileios at 04:30 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 20, 2004
The Google Software Guidelines
Google has prepared a set of software guidelines in order to help in the prevention of Spyware:
These guidelines are, by necessity, broad. Software creation and distribution are complex and the technology is continuously evolving. As a result, some useful applications may not comply entirely with these principles and some deceptive practices may not be addressed here. This document is only a start, and focuses on the areas of Internet software and advertising. These guidelines need to be continually updated to keep pace with ever-changing technology.
It really sounds very noble and Google wants to show that they are the 'nice guys'
Now, you may ask why would Google be interested in software principles? The reason is that - allegedly - Gogle will soon appear on your desktop with an pplication that will allow you to search your hard drives using the 'Google Technology'.
As Microsoft was accused in the past of being a 'spyware' by sending search information about your local searches to Microsoft (Epic had mentioned this in the past if i can remember correctly) this is a way of saying that 'we are nicer than those Microsoft guys, so use us'.
Interesting development and definitely a tool I would like to take a look at.
Basil Drolias @ Rugles Website Marketing Services
Posted by Basileios at 02:59 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 19, 2004
Blog Spam
We are getting a bit fed up with Blog Spam comments since a significant part of our day is spent deleting these f***ing comments.
I find that comments contribute so much to a weblog of this type since they can offer a vehicle for criticism and discussion. For example yesteraday's post on the terrabyte space in Google Gmail which we were glad to learn through a comment that it was a type and had returned back to the 1Gb.
However, if this continues we will have no other alternative (we are not fans of registering for placing a comment) but to remove the 'comment' option from our posts.
Harry @ Rugles Website Marketing Services
Posted by Basileios at 10:56 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Gmail: 1Gb * 1000
The news of the day is that Gmail - the Google mail system that is currently under beta testing - has increased the storage limit from 1Gb to 1000Gb for some users.
This has been done quite quietely and Google has not responded to comment requests.
It is such a shame that they still haven't really used their weblog properly.
Basil Drolias @ Rugles Website Marketing Services
Posted by Basileios at 01:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 18, 2004
Are We Mad at Google?
I was just asked by one of our existing customers on whether we at Rugles Consultants are angry at Google and worried about the launch of Jumpstart, the service that allows one to start advertising in adwords by allowing Gooogl experts to create the advert and place the cost per clicks for you. And according to the setup this although it costs $299 to setup is used up in the cost per click (so if your advert is up for the time it takes to use $299 in clicks Jumpstart is essentially free).
The immediate answer is a definite NO! We are not angry and we are definitely not worried about such a service. Our services stretch far beyond setting up a simple PPC campaign and chosing somebody's keywords, and have to do with all the marketing and business processes as a whole that integrate an e-business. We are trying to view each case as a different entity and give real solutions to our customers that will be 100% customized to their needs. Enough of the self-talk though...
I can understand why many small consultancy firms would be angry about such a service. In a way I consider this as a good thing than a bad thing for the industry in general since it will definitely separate quite a few businsses out who are doing more than simply setup an adwords campaign. The survival of the fittest once again... People in marketing should alreadyt know that and should be prepared both for their customers and themselves.
Posted by Basileios at 04:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 17, 2004
Google Adwords Launches Jumpstart
Google Adwords has just launched a new service called Jumpstart. The service is for anyone that wishes to create an Adwords campaign without even searching for the text and keywords since the 'Google experts' will:
- Create the adverts for you
- Find the right keywords for you
- Set cost-per-click amounts
The cost of the service comes up to $299.
This is an extension of Google into the world of marketing in a way that was done previously only by Yahoo!. It does seem though that the service is a bit overpriced for what it is.
A Google Adwords campaign needs a lot more than simply placing the initial bids as this type of marketing is subject to the environment situations and learning from the feedback that the Pay-per-click results are producing.
Should you want to learn more about Pay-per-click advertsing you can check our complete guide to PPC.
Harry Tzetzos @ Rugles Website Marketing.
Posted by Basileios at 06:25 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 14, 2004
Google Groups vs Yahoo! Groups
Google has just launched a beta version of Google Groups 2 an extension of the current Google Groups that is does not only include Usenet but is similar in functionality to Yahoo! groups.
Google Groups 2 are at the moment part of the Google labs and can handle only the most basic functionality in creating and maintaining a 'Group'. Yahoo! groups has certainly much more functionality at the moment but I am sure we will soon see the two services to be more or less equal in 'power'.
Another head on attack of Google on Yahoo! Some decent competition never hurt anyone...
Basil Drolias @ Rugles Website Marketing
Posted by Basileios at 06:40 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Google Blog II
Google has responded to the criticism raised by many journalists and bloggers concerning their new googleblog.
It appears that Google wants us to consider the blog as a 'beta' or part of their google labs and give them the 'benefit of the doubt' for a bit until they learn the rules.
Blogs are living things. Ours was just born and is still adjusting to the loud noises and the bright lights. It's gonna be awhile before we get our driver's license, so you decide if you want to sit in the passenger seat while we figure out which one's the gear shift and which is the turn signal. One way or another, it should be an interesting ride.
I cannot agree more with the fact that blogs are living entities. Blogs are there not as monologues but as 'hearing aids' as well and it is good to see that Google has responded to the bad comments about their blog.
However, I do not find the 'wait a while till we get our driving license' statement quite reassuring to the investors who will soon put their money on the Google IPO.
It looks to me as if Google doesnt really know why they should have a blog for their business.
In spite of all that, I am certainly giving them a 'benefit of the doubt'. It is just that my expectations are very high.
Harry Tzetzos @ Rugles Website Marketing Services
Posted by Basileios at 04:25 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Google Loses CNN Spot to Yahoo!
Yahoo! has struck a deal with CNN and is now providing the search facility in the popular media newtwork.
Yahoo! has appeared in CNN since last Wednesday and it provides both plain listings and Overture results. This is definitely a big loss for Google and big gain for Yahoo!.
It appears that ever since the Yahoo! independence of Google last February Yahoo! is following a 'hub marketing' tactics in which it is establishing deals with websites with a lot of traffic (Wall Street Journal, CNN...).
What will be next? ICQ maybe?
Basil Drolias @ Rugles Website Marketing Services
Posted by Basileios at 12:43 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 13, 2004
Adwords To Use Images
The Google Adwords program will allow the display of images for the Google Content network.
This is a move towrds banner type advertsising that has been very popular in the past that has fallen slightly back due to the Pay-per-Click type of advertsising that Overture and Google adopted.
The new image adverts will not be shown on the Google search pages but will be part of the Adsense program (and of course only if the page owner will choose to include images to be displayed).
This is certainly a small revolution in Adwords and is a sign of the many changes that we will see in the very near future in both the PPC and Search part of Google.
Posted by Basileios at 05:49 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Google Blog, Yawn...Yawn...
As we reported a couple of days ago Google started their own official weblog.
Unfortunately it seems as if the blog does not rise to our expectations. The first few blogs seem quite dull and pretty dry and more like 'company speek' than spirited comments about 'life the universe and everything'.
Cnet also has reported on a rather interesting 'change of words' in the second posting that certainly shows that this has started on the wrong foot...
Maybe it is too early to speak; that remains to be seen. Google should certainly rise beyond this dull wall and show us the signs of excitment, freedom and innovation we saw in the past. Otherwise, who cares if its written by Google if its plain boring...
Basil Drolias @ Rugles Consultants - Website Marketing Services
Posted by Basileios at 02:32 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 12, 2004
Rugles Included in BullMarket 2004
We have recently been selected as one of the few companies to be included in the 'BullMarket 2004 Companies That Can Help You Make Things Happen". The book is published by Seth Godin in association with FastCompany.
We are definitely honored by this and we plan to continue being 'Purple Bulls'.
We would like to thank all our customers for trusting us with making things happen for them. It is our vision to offer innovative web marketing solutions for everybody.
Harry Tzetzos - Rugles.com Website Marketing Services
Posted by Basileios at 01:33 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 11, 2004
The Official Google Blog
Google has started their official Google Blog. The URL for it is:
http://www.google.com/googleblog/
And the feed is, naturally, an atom feed.
I hope Evan (Blogger Program Manager) will provide us with information we need (and dont need...)
Rugles.com - Website Marketing Services
Posted by Basileios at 12:19 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 10, 2004
Google Updates Blogger
Blogger, the company owned by Google has done a major update in its look and feel.
Users of Blogger will experience a lot more than a simple change in the aesthetics as the new Blogger offers a lot more functionality in the very popular (free) blogging software, such as Profiles, Conditional Tags for customizing pages, new Templates etc. You can find a list of the changes in The Great Blogger Relaunch page. This is the most major update in Blogger since 1999.
At the moment we have to wait to see how this will be integrated with the other new Google services (like Gmail) that are under construction.
Basil Drolias @ Rugles - Website Marketing Services
Posted by Basileios at 05:44 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 07, 2004
Orkut Data Leak
The news of the week is that there has been a quite large leak of Orkut data (the Google social networking website). You can now check the leaked data in an application called Orkut Personal Network Geomap where your friends are positioned on the map...
Check out the geographical location of Larry Page's friend...
Posted by Basileios at 06:10 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 06, 2004
Enter the Google Sandbox
Another very interesting article by Garrett French about an effect that came to our notice as well over the past few months.
The phenomenon seems to be common to all sites that have entered Google over the past 6 or so months: They tend to rank quite high after a couple of weeks of their inclusion in Google and then they dissapear in the four figures region.
The theory is that all those new sites are in some sort of 'sandbox' where they can play among themselves (we at Rugles called it a 'limbo area' just like the first circle in Dante's Hell).
As the article states the effect is supposed to do some sort of filtering and a fight against spam but of course it is something that affects the new sites as well. In any case it seems as if this is something that is done automatically by the new algorithm that is followed by Google.
More on this as the situation develops.
Posted by Basileios at 08:44 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 05, 2004
Google to Expand in India?
In the wake of the IPO announcement here is a very interesting article on a Google's possible R&D center in Bangalore India.
The article talks about a $3-4M initial investment for a center that will undertake projects in data mining, data warehousing, business intelligence and knowledge management.
Sign of the times?
Posted by Basileios at 08:09 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Newsmap: Visualizing Google News
I just discovered a very cool tool for displaying the hierarchy of Google News.
This is very cool. There are also some other cool links on that webpage for displaying blog hierarchies. Check them out...
Posted by Basileios at 06:36 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
A Google Blog Search Engine?
Garrett French has discovered the existence of a /blog directory in the google servers (http://www.google.com/blog/) giving rise to speculation about the creation of a separate (?) search engine for blogs, as an alternative to Technorati, daypop or feedster.
Will this mean that blogs will be removed entirely from the 'ordinary' search engine results pages?
It is quite possible. As we reported in the past Google has decreased the importance of blogs in the ranking (and there is evidence that there is a decrease in the importance of the back links from blogs).
I suppose the argument of keeping SERPS uncontaminated from blogs would be that when people want to search something they are not usually interested on somebody's commentary / blog. A separation of the results would keep things organized and clear.
However, I have to say that I do not wholeheartedly agree with this decision (although I do see the advatages on the search engine side). Weblogs are rarely 'optimized' for search engines and they really do not interfere that much with the rest of the results. And to be frank with you if I am searching for 'blue widgets' and it happens that one of the first sites is a blog about 'blue widgets' in which they are criticized on their quality I will definitely call this a relevant result (and not noise...)
Still this is just speculation rising from a blank page with the word 'Test' on it.
Basil Drolias @ Rugles.com - Website Marketing Services.
Posted by Basileios at 01:19 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 03, 2004
Google Crawls Flash Objects
The rumor was floating about for the past week but it looks as if it is true. Google appears to have started crawling Flash Objects and retrieving text information from them.
For example check the results for all the Flashes with the word 'flash' in them.
I personally consider this a bit of a disaster. Quite a few websites have annoyed me in the past with their aestehtically chalenged flash animations, sound and incredibly slow loading. In the past, the fact that crawlers did not index flash objects was a constraint in the number of sites with Flash animations.
Does that mean that more and more sites will be using Flash? Almost definitely. It remains to be seen how Flash objects can be used for search engine optimization reasons.
Basil Drolias @ Rugles.com - Website Marketing Services
Posted by Basileios at 07:33 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Yahoo! Results in Kartoo Look: Ujiko
Kartoo has just launched Ujiko a new type of search engine that is using Yahoo! search results in a pleasant Macromedia Flash front and a customization feature that can be quite useful: The engine behind Ujiko places links that you have visited before on the top of your search list if you perform the search again.
Ujiko is trying to protect users privacy with saving personal data (i.e. visited pages) in the local PC. The only data which are passed to the engine are just the keywords entered by the user just like in other search engines.
The fact that this is an add-on to the Yahoo! results makes this search engine worth mentioning. To be frank I can think of reasons why this type of automatic personalization can be quite annoying. Admittedly there is something pleasing about the colors and the power given by the Mcromedia Flash front but I do not consider this such a great advantage at this stage.
We have to wait for something rather more revolutionary than this I think...
Harry Tzetzos @ Rugles.com - Website Marketing Services
Posted by Basileios at 06:17 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack