Search Engine Optimization

“Google Inc. wants to offer consumers a new way to store their files on its hard drives, in a strategy that could accelerate a shift to Web-based computing and intensify the Internet company’s competition with Microsoft Corp.” – wsj.com

Google is set out to release a new GDrive service that will allow Googlers to store all of their data on it. Though a number of companies have tried this approach, it did not become too popular among online crowds, but in this case Google has a bigger gun over everyone – it’s the big G doing it, and when Google does something, everyone hears about it.

The “downs” of remote storage

Privacy. Facebook is on fire due to privacy issues, Google team must be extra careful in their approach. Sensitive information such a docs, pictures, music and video will not be easily shared, unless there is a solid in your face “What goes here stays here” policy.

Mass Element. Again the Facebook, what is happening with a new Google like superstar is not only affecting Facebook but the internet in general. I believe users will and have become wary of their personal info, and it will take some effort to convince them to turn over valuable gigabits of 1s and 0s to a remote company.

Speed. I have 15GB of music, with my uplink it will take about 3 month to get that to a remote server, name me a good reason of doing so. =)

HD Cost. Hard drives are as cheap as they can get, storage is in abundance, why go remote? CDs, SDs and mp3 players do the job of data movement, there is not really a need for remoteness. Of course some might agrgue, it is always good to have your favourite song that can be listened anywhere with an internet connection and I have to agree with them.

A new Social P2P Bomb?

One thing that could help five year old project is going social. Social is Web 2.0, it is a nifty hot thing that gets the fortunes and what is hotter then a social P2P file network? Slap! What about the copy write laws? Hmm….. That would be a dilemma, so social P2P is off the table, but considering the fact that 21st century youth have never bought an album(yes me too), this would be a goldmine.

Gdrive stands at the core of a really touchy subject and though it is a good move on Google’s side, Googleplex team will have to convince a lot of people and do it very well, or offer people something new and unique, Google so far has been an expert at it – fans are guaranteed.

Ads for Adobe PDF Powered by Yahoo

According to Reuters, Adobe and Yahoo have agreed to launch new ad service network designed to display text link ads in Adobe PDF documents.

Public testing begins today so if you always wanted to write that novel, but never got your hands on it – this is your chance =).

Washington post: “The benefit for advertisers: They get a new channel for their ads. Readers will benefit when publishers offer for free documents that they previously charged a fee for, or that they simply didn’t make available online.”

I am surprised Yahoo were the first ones to get there, since this kind of a model definitely has future. So far the only way to make money with free e-books was with affiliate Click Bank networks, so a new relationship will only benefit all 4 sides:

• Yahoo
• Adobe
• Publishers
• Readers

This will work the in same way as classic Pay Per Click.

Google is experimenting with a new type of Digg style search, that allows people to move and bury search results.

Google Experimental was launched in May. It allows anyone with Google account to participative in testing of new projects.

What if Google became Diggle?

So far, voting does not affect the index and only shows adjusted results at a personal level, but I think it has the potential of influencing the overall results. Google currently tracks activities throughout its empire at:

• Search
• Email service
• Customized home page
• Feed reader / Feed management
• Analytics
• Ad network
• Video content
• Google accounts
• Firefox(which sends data to Google)

A degree of popularity and relation to the interests of Google users is probably taken into account and plays a role in calculating the overall power of the website and its influence in the industry. If Google is to allow people to digg itself, it would most likely do it at a personal level. Digg has some very advanced algorithms, and not all algocrackers get them entirely, however Muhammad Saleem from Search Engine Land is confident that Digg has anti network algos that look for patterns in user behavior that constantly promote certain authors or certain type of content.

What I am trying to say is, Google could allow complete control of search results at a personal level and a degree of influence of the main index. Suppose 200 marketing people who get emails about marketing, read news about marketing, have feeds on marketing and search for marketing, start moving or deleting pages in search results – will most likely be taken into consideration by Google.

Why it is highly improbable we will have Digg Google duo?

Link farmers will have a new job =). A perfect example of anyone-can-participate that’s gone wrong is Wiki, and a monstrous, enterprise with multi billion dollar sub industries around it like Google, might have a tough time fighting off advanced user spam networks.

The Dark Side of Wikipedia – “Wiki-Hacker created several accounts on different IPs, then vandalized a number of pages, mostly small and under-the-radar, appearing to look like a competitor (adding links, references, promotional content, etc). He then “investigated” these pages through his trusted account, “found” the “spammers,” removed their content, and was praised by some other community editors. Later, he used the newfound trust to create subtle, but effective references for his own client.”

I can guarantee there will be colossal networks of spammers working together, moving stuff up and down with hundreds account per each, and hundreds of identity interests to appear genuine, so the idea of digg like search will be probably off the table, at least for now.

Just my thoughts.