Answer Guy Central

Think you can do your own Search Engine Optimization (SEO) ? Think Again. Even Google can’t figure it out.

That’s right, the people who we all look to for SEO approval in practically the way a child tries to please daddy doesn’t do a very good job of optimizing its pages so it can . . . umm . . . find itself.

Google has released a report detailing their own SEO failings. You can download it here, or read what Google thinks about themselves here. Or . . . just read on:

First, let’s be frank; Google’s SEO doesn’t have to be very good; they’re Google. That said, though, the roadmap they provide to what makes good SEO is one that anyone looking to do their own Search Engine Optimization can learn from.

The question is whether you want to do your own SEO, or hand it over to someone like us. Either answer is fine; SEO, like most (not all, but most) of the services we provide at Answer Guy Central’s Virtual VIP isn’t rocket science. But it takes time. LOTS of time. And a devotion that not very many people trying to grow a business can afford.

Oh: and if want people to find you, you have to do it, period.

Read what Google has to say about Google. And then ask yourself if you can afford not to enact good SEO as your very next business change.

Ahh, Droid. We barely knew ye . . .

This week, Google introduced a version of Google Earth for Android SmartPhones. In large part, I don’t care; Google Earth is very cool, but compared to Google Maps it has limited real-world use.

And Google Earth requires version 2.1 of the Android operating system. Which means that it won’t run on the Droid, which has been available for just over three months.

Aside from being a Droid user and being in sour-grapes mode, maybe you think I shouldn’t care. You’d be wrong. Android is the fastest-growing operating system for SmartPhones, and Google is splintering the market for that operating system, which like Google Earth and the Nexus One is also a Google product.

Operating Systems don’t do very well when they get splintered this way. Just the introduction of viruses that act differently on one version than on another is all the proof you need of that. In fact, be cynical if you like about the Microsofts of the world being after your money, but the real reason you have to eventually upgrade to a new version of Windows  even if you think you don’t need it is because unless you do you’re open to all kinds of security threats.

I sometimes pick on Apple for the heavy-handed way they control the Macintosh OS and iPhone OS, but users of both sure do get consistent behavior, don’t they?

Google’s “Don’t Be Evil” slogan is feeling more and more like a line of . . . nothing. And as a business consultant I understand that they need to make (lots of) money. But to be as involved in the marketing of the Droid as Google was and after such a short period of time leave its users behind as they try to sell more Google-branded phones (the Droid is supported by Motorola, not Google) is just . . . bad. Evil. Wrong.

By the way: while Google Earth officially requires Android 2.1, People who use Android 2.01 can get it to work by going here.

You know . . . assuming there’s no virus.

Doug Leeds, US President of Ask.com, has a point to make: “at the end of the day, people would rather Ask for something than Google it”. (credit where it’s due: the quote is from this article from yesterday’s New York Times).

More credit: Mr. Leeds is correct . . . sort of. He’s wrong if he believes that people are interested in abandoning their Google.com search habit in favor of Ask.com, but we’ve all stared at that Google search box, not quite sure what to type in, then been frustrated by the results of our choice of search terms.

So wouldn’t it be better if you could ask your questions in natural language, have your search engine understand what you mean, and return the correct results?

In theory, that’s what Ask.com does. You’re encouraged to phrase your searches in the form of a question rather than combine words and operators such as “+‘, and “not“. Ask.com uses software to look at your question and decide what it means. You just have to trust it to do the job correctly.

Yeah, right.

I don’t trust it at all. That’s partly because I’ve tried it and not been any happier with the results at Ask.com than I am with what Google spits out. But the real point is that I’ve yet to see software that understands my questions well enough to trust. And that’s where social networking becomes social search.

The nature of the word “social”, when you strip everything else away, is that you trust people you’re social with. Trust can actually be negative, as in “I trust him to try and screw me over”, but it’s easier to deal from that uncomfortable position than to just start from scratch. It’s why I “trust” Google more than I trust Ask.com. I know that I get back exactly what I put in.

In acquiring Aardvark, Google is acknowledging that the next generation of search is trust. Aardvark is a search engine, but it uses the recommendations of people you already know to provide results. It’s like that “Ask a Friend” lifeline on the game show “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?“.

Social Networking, Social Search, Social Trust . . . business change that is all about who you know, and what they know.

Wow. And just when we had declared the Google Nexus One to represent no real business change.

While I’ll be standing by that statement for the most part, in not reading the contracts I missed one huge business change that folks who opt to take the Google / T-Mobile subsidy and get their Nexus One phones inexpensively could run up against:

Cancel early, and you owe not just T-Mobile, but also Google an early termination fee.

And it’s a fee that would make Verizon proud: $350 to Google, $200 to T-Mobile.

What ever happened to Google and their “Don’t Be Evil” motto? The little company that’s become more influential than any other has created the first fee to a phone manufacturer for early plan termination, which would be fine if in doing so they had eliminated your liability to the carrier. They’ve not. The Google Nexus One, as cool as it is, is feeling more and more like a giant rip-off.

When I bought my Droid from Verizon one of the things that made me jump was the knowledge that Verizon was getting ready to raise their ETF from $175 to $350. Verizon’s caught grief from the FTC for this, but next to the $550 you might pay to back out of a Nexus One contract that’s looking pretty tame.

I’m all about business change. I was disappointed when I thought the Nexus One looked like no business change at all. Now, I wish that had been correct.

Yesterday, someone in my Facebook stream asked about SmartPhones. And it occurred to me that even with all the press coverage and expert opinions being tossed around in the aftermath of Google ’s Nexus One release just last week, real people are tied in knots over their choice of SmartPhone.

I’m not talking about bleeding-edge, geeky gadget types, by the way; when real people decide to take the jump they agonize over the decision. It’s like business change; sooner or later you have to jump, but getting there . . . painful!

By now, there’s very little question about one thing: I don’t like the Apple iPhone. Let me be clear that I think iPhone is an absolutely amazing piece of technology, and that in the iPhone Apple has demonstrated yet again how terrific they are at making things that look great and act in a way that people understand without a lot of training. But my personal view is that always having to back out to “the top” when I want to do something different is not OK, and that I can’t use the iPhone on-screen keyboard.

In other words: Apple’s typical approach that “they know what’s best” is all over the iPhone, and if you don’t fit their vision, you’re better off elsewhere. And that’s fine; lots of people like being led around that way.

So along comes Google with Android. It’s infinitely customizable, and Google convinces phone manufacturers to use it as the software in the devices they sell to phone companies. They have only minor success until they get Verizon and Motorola to do Droid and market it heavily enough that the phrase “iPhone killer” starts getting tossed around. Droids fly off the shelf, Android gets instant credibility, Google becomes a serious player in the phone business, and . . . out comes the Nexus One. Yes, it’s manufactured by HTC, but nobody is saying that; this is the Google Nexus One, and it’s going to change the world.

I, of course, disagreed.

But there’s new momentum now. Real people are trying to decide which Kool-Aid to drink. And the question, in simple terms, was this:

one of my resolutions is to stop giving my kids all the good stuff and start getting some for myself so….a Nexus One or an iPhone? I need some input here…the Nexus one is the new Google phone. My son is pushing it over the iPhone for me to buy so I’m perplexed.

Most of the input that came back was from iPhone lovers. No surprise; there are a lot of you out there! But my answer was this:

Nexus One. Or better yet . . . Droid

As was my intent, it opened up the box of real questions that this real person had on her mind. Stuff like this:

I did look at the Droid today. And I am w/ Verizon now. Trying to make a good decision here.

I’m NOT concerned w/ storage AT all. I want a good phone and agree Verizon has best network especially where I live. But really like the sleekness of the nexus/iphone. (us women and our irrational decisions.)

Are you saying there is zero difference between Droid and Nexus for the most part and if I’m already with Verizon then go Droid?

And my favorite:

Maybe I’ll just master T-9 and stay w/ my old piece of crap!

So how Do I feel? Really?

Droid and Nexus One run the same software. Nexus One is lighter, but has no keyboard. It has a screen that will look better in bright sunlight, but Droid comes w/ 4 times the storage (16 GB vs. 4 GB). To me, I look at those stats, think “I don’t care”, realize the price is the same-ish regardless, and choose by picking the network. Verizon’s is superior, so if you’re jumping today, go Droid—The Nexus One will be on Verizon “soon”, if that already-done-deal doesn’t get undone before launch.

Assuming you don’t let the iPhone Army coerce you to the dark side <grin>, then it comes down mostly to weight, since the other Droid vs. Nexus One comparison point is the “better screen in extremely bright light vs. more memory” thing.

So with that said: the Droid feels substantial. Personally I like that, but it’s winter. When summer comes, I have no coat pockets, and being a dude I’ll be left no choice but hold it all the time because my pants pockets won’t do.  I could change my mind about liking the Droid’s weight when that happens.

The extra weight brings you a keyboard. I thought I would care about that, but the truth is I rarely do, except when typing something long. But with THAT said, I found the iPhone on-screen keyboard difficult and the Droid on-screen keyboard not difficult . . . and they’re very similarly-sized, as is Nexus One’s.

And as for T9 . . . listen, I know people who are really good at that, and while I’m not one of them I won’t argue.

Change is difficult. In the real world, for real people and real businesses, extraordinarily so. Ask real questions, demand real answers, and . . . the rest will work itself out.

Oh goody. A Whole New Internet Tax.

Our friends in France have come up with a new form of revenue, and while it won’t matter to you if you don’t have a physical presence there, it’s a new idea that I predict will be taking hold. Heads Up.

You may recall that I’ve written about Internet taxation before. Taxes are a funny thing, because you don’t have to pay them if you can figure out a way to show that they don’t apply to you. So when the State of New York decided to pretend that Amazon.com was located there because some of its vendors were, Amazon’s response was simple: they cut off their relationships with those vendors. Slick.

But Google, with both offices and customers in France, will have a hard time fighting this latest move, and because it’s so simple anyone who derives revenue from outside “their” jurisdiction is going to have to watch out for how this business change courtesy of a foreign government effects them.

I can’t wait to see what happens when everyone who runs any advertising through Google starts getting tax bills from places they’ve never been. Thank goodness Google lets you decide where your advertising runs.

By the way: thanks to my old friend and business partner Ken Rutkowski of KenRadio for cluing me in to this one!

I’ve written about Coopetition a few times. It’s one of my favorite topics when business change is on the table, and depending on how you view it, coopetition is either very easy or almost impossible to understand.

In a nutshell, the idea is that you don’t really have competitors any more. Now, coopetition has created a business environment where you find a way to work with others who formerly looked like competitors, but are now viewed as collaborators—even if there’s a zero-sum game for your shared potential customers.

Coopetition isn’t all that new an idea, but it’s the Internet and our new incredibly short attention spans that’s finally brought it to an easily explained place. I mentioned last week that CNet Managing Editor Jon Skillings had actually asked me to read their material and take the extra time needed to comment, but not to identify myself. Ridiculous. In adding (invited!) opinion to a post you add value to it both by expanding the readers’ minds and by keeping the readers on the post’s web site longer.

So here’s the next step: there’s a piece of code that can be added to Internet content that tells Google and other search engines that they should ignore links. That code is called NoFollow, and I can’t think of a good reason to use it.

OK, I can, but it doesn’t work when business change and coopetition are brought into play. NoFollow doesn’t stop a link from working, so if you comment on something you find on the Internet and include a link to back up your opinion that link will still do what you expect. But it does enable the site adding NoFollow to links to make your opinion “not count”.

And of course the reason to do that is to maintain a position of superior influence. In cases where you’re trying to cut down on SPAM, NoFollow could have a place, but there are other tools to handle that and I promise you every big web site uses them. And they work better than NoFollow

I’m all for winning. But NoFollow isn’t creating a long-term win, and as people come to understand that and call its users on the fact that they are saying “we want your opinion here to make us look important, but it doesn’t count” it’s going to backfire.

NoFollow: Don’t use it. And don’t stand still for other who short-circuit business change by doing so.

A few weeks ago I had some harsh words for David Pogue. Dave, The New York Times’ lead technology columnist—among other things—had expressed an opinion about copy protection that I felt was so out of touch with reality he needed to be called on it.

Pogue didn’t like my opinion. He told me so. Well, David . . . this time I’m with you: today, Pogue comments on Google and their new Nexus One cell phone. And I’m happy to report that he’s back in the fold as “the voice of reason”.

Over the last few months, and especially the last couple of weeks, the hype for Nexus One has been in full overdrive. Without every saying so officially, Google had let us know that they were about to release a new, super-feature-rich phone that you can buy without a contract. And they’ve done exactly that. The Nexus One is very, very cool, leap-frogging even my beloved Droid in a few areas (while falling short in a few others).

And that’s it. Business Change from the Nexus One? Very close to zero.

My disappointment with what Google has done stems not from my feelings about the device itself; I’ll repeat that the Nexus One is a great SmartPhone. But let’s be clear: while it’s theoretically true that you could just buy the phone and then 1) get service from the carrier of your choice and 2) get that service at a lower cost , the reality is that differences in the way cell carriers move calls and data around means that the only place you can get service for the Nexus One is T-Mobile. Yes, you could use AT&T instead, but then your data would be too slow.

Oh, and by the way: if you buy your Nexus One from T-Mobile, on contract, you’ll pay about the same thing that AT&T gets for an iPhone and Verizon gets for a Droid. And if you buy a Nexus One without a contract it costs . . . you guessed it . . . pretty much what AT&T and Verizon’s flagship phones cost without a contract.

Overall, this makes the Nexus One announcement a non-event in my book. So why write about it?

Because this is the very first time that Google has hyped/announced/released something that qualified as nothing more than a me-too. Love them or hate them, Google pushes the envelope on everything they do, and the Nexus One is not business change, phone change, power-to-the-people, or anything else, other than Google wanting very much to usurp Microsoft and Apple in the phone operating system wars.

I concede, Google; Android is spectacular. The Nexus One is a great Android phone; I almost want to replace my Droid. But . . . really, when you tell the world you’re going to change business, you need to actually bring some business change to the table. The Nexus One is no such thing.

OK, it’s time. You need to make your web site do more than just look good. Now, you need traffic.

You can buy traffic, of course, but that’s expensive—and not because clicks generated on Google Adwords cost so much (and they can). The problem with Adwords is that you can spend a fortune driving the wrong traffic to your web site, and take too long doing it since most people don’t even look at the right side of the page.

So you need to make sure that people searching for keywords that represent your business have links to you show up on the left side of their results. This is organic search, and getting Google to rank you high on that side is an art/science based on many, ever-changing variables. It’s called Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or Search Engine Marketing (SEM). They mean almost-but-not-quite the same thing.

Aside from its ever-changing nature, SEO/SEM isn’t rocket science; you could do it yourself. But it’s time consuming, and that’s the biggest reason that our clients hire Answer Guy Central to do it for them as part of their business change strategies.

Today I came across an interview by Robert Scoble. I’m not going to say anything about the quality of the video; you can judge that for yourself. But the subjects talk about something that’s important: when you hire someone to do your Internet Search Engine Marketing, it’s completely reasonable to know how much money they make on the deal, because this is no different than hiring a marketing agency. Note again that at Answer Guy Central we do Search Engine Marketing; if you read this and later hire us it’s going to cost us money to have been this honest.

And that’s OK, because part of business change is transparency, and I’m drinking my own Kool-Aid.

We’ve cued up the video to the point that matters, by the way; enjoy.

Using an iPhone, but prefer the Microsoft Bing search engine? There’s an app for that.

In the latest proof that Business Change is about coopetition, Apple has allowed Microsoft to put a search application in the iTunes store. What’s next, a Bing application for Google Android?

Since unlike Apple, Google and Microsoft both have search engines they want you to use, that seems unlikely. On the other hand, Google doesn’t have the kind of rules for their app repository that Apple does, so if Microsoft wants in they can get there.

The question is . . . do they?

The Answer Guy says ‘yes’. Microsoft has nothing to lose by trying to grab the attention of their most formidable competitor’s customers, and with no real barriers stopping them from doing so making an Android version of the Bing application is a no-brainer. So the next question is: why bother?

This is where things get interesting. As a Droid /  Android user, I’m not that interested in a Bing application. I already have all the functionality it offers built into my Droid, and the only business change that Bing on my Droid offers me is the need for a new learning curve. But Bing is different enough from Google that its fans will jump even if they use a phone running on the Google Android software.

Look for Bing for Android soon. Even if you’re Microsoft, getting more eyeballs more of the time in small incremental chunks matters. Grab that long tail. It’s the most important business change you can make.