Archive for October, 2007
Microsoft.com just tweaked the Live.com search engine relevancy algorithm in an attempt to compete with Google, but instead ended up with what I think are some of the poorest search results out there.
It only takes a few searches to realize that the biggest change Microsoft made was to give a heavy weighing factor to domain names and keywords in URLs.
Let’s take a look: Searching for the term text message Live returns a top result of textmessage.cc – a GoDaddy parking page! That’s right, the most relevant result here is a freaking GoDaddy parking page!! You’ve got to be kidding me.
Looking at another result, viagra we can see that the #3 result here is viagra.name – a thin affiliate site! It’s easy to see that adding a product to your cart on viagra.name just takes you to another site with an affiliate ID.
If we were to run a search for another highly competitive term: payday loan we’ll see that every result returned has the term in the URL. This simply doesn’t happen over on Google where the algorithm returns more reputable loan companies (that have physical locations) as well as the ftc’s website and news results.
Clearly, Microsoft still has a lot of catching up to do when it comes to search.
October 3rd, 2007
There’s a lot of talk in the industry about the fore coming Google Phone, but there really hasn’t been any proof. People have stated that Google wants to compete with Apple, and others even swear to have seen a prototype.
So is the Google phone coming? Who knows. Here’s what I think:
I don’t think Google wants to get into the hardware business. They’ve had plenty of opportunities to do so with various other things, and they haven’t. Likewise, they aren’t trying to get into the offline software business.
Google is in the services business. Things like Maps, Mail, Search, etc.
Services like the above on cell phones typically suck really bad right now. Even the iPhone still has tons of room for improvement.
It seems like it’d be a natural move for Google to sell it’s services to the current cell phone providers. The providers could benefit from the cool features, and Google benefits from the advertising. Remember, advertising is Google’s main business model.
That’s where the Google phone prototype many of you talked about comes in. If you’re going to sell services to a company, you have to demonstrate the possibilities. It would make sense to see Google develop it’s own phones so they can show off their latest and greatest mobile services. Remember, the article just mentions that they have a prototype phone – not that they’re going to try to sell it.
Sure, there could be a Google phone coming, but I don’t think there will be. I don’t think it’s a market that Google wants to get into. With that said, it is a possible direction they could go if adaptation of Google services among current providers turns out light. One way or another though, Google has got to get their services (and ads) on mobile devices if they want to remain on top of the digital advertising industry.
October 1st, 2007
I put my 2 weeks notice in today at my current job, and as of October 22nd I’ll be joining the team at Demoxi. My official title will be Senior Manager, Product Marketing which is basically a fancy title for “doing some really cool stuff in a really cool area.”
I wasn’t really looking for a career change at this time, however certain opportunities presented themselves after my trip to Seattle and I couldn’t say no.
Demoxi is a rather new company focusing on online identity and privacy – two areas that are constantly becoming concerns for many individuals. It’s all about “connecting with confidence.” There’s a lot of potential here, and I’m excited to be part of it.
I’m going to miss working with all the people at Brand Labs. It’s been a lot of fun over the past 6 months or so, and I’m really sad to leave. I feel bad about leaving Brand Labs, but joining Demoxi is the right career move for me, and I hope to benefit from the countless opportunities it will provide.
I’ll post some more updates later, and no I’m not moving to Bellevue (yet!) For now, I urge you to check out the Demoxi homepage.
October 1st, 2007
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