Google, why do you hate SEO so much?

See the post on GetClicky blog re:Google's new Ajax-powered search results breaks search keyword tracking for everyone.

In a nutshell, the referrers you get from Google SERPs may no longer have the keyword phrase on the query string. So good luck trying to figure out how your customers are finding you!

Ask.com Top 10 Search Terms for 2008

Ask.com announced their top 10 search terms for 2008, and Tech crunch covered it succinctly.

Its not surprising to anyone who has examined user behavior that it is common to use search navigationally. That is, they type in Google the search box of Yahoo and,apparently, Ask.com, to get to google. Ask.com top term "dictionary" should be seen as a navigational search; Ask.com owns dictionary.com.

TechCrunch lauds Ask for being more honest than the other search engines who scrub their lists so much the results are meaningless.

In my opinion, Ask.com and others should cite their methodology. Do they remove terms that are navigational to their competitors? Do they remove porn terms? Its fine and expected that they do, but they should say that.

Raw data is one outcome I hope to see in the future, and why I laud projects like solr that help make open search a reality.

Google AdPlanner

Why buy a search term and link it to a page that is unreachable? No prob, if you a) have more money than Yaweh and b) you are the guy from whom we buy search terms.

A search for AdPlanner, Google's new publisher tool, does just that. Organic results include links to Toyota affiliate terms of use etc, which means this blog just might be a linkbait success.

I'll dig more into AdPlanner once I find a link to official public info, but Valleyway is already blogging about what it means to Comscore and Nielsen -- ok, they say its no threat. But maybe they were just being ironic. Oh, I can hope.

Compete Aquired

Mashable reports Compete Acquired by TNS for $75 Million. Compete offers free public web metrics, like Quantcast. Unlike Alexa, in that it doesn't suck.

I predict that in five years either Compete and Quantcast will be purchased by Google, and the new company will *replace* Nielsen/Net Ratings and comScore. Information wants to be free, and the industry desperately needs a trusted third party to step in so we can all start comparing traffic using the same measuring stick. Mergers and acquisitions rely on this data, and beyond the top 10 sites, Nielsen and comScore methodologies can't see through the data storm.

The survivor will combine data that works by getting anonymized data from a significant portion of ISPs, like HitWise does, and data gathered from javascript that can be copied and pasted onto your website -- does this part sound like Google Analytics to anyone? Google also has the peering relationship with ISPs to get the first part done. And they have the "preventing fraud" chops to get it done right.

Nielsen will not be trusted any more then it currently is (not a lot) and it's Golden Age has past. comScore hasn't shown it can do a better job. Long live {insert successor here}!

Google hearts Cupid

In the past I've blogged about Cupid.com running afoul of Google's mystical algorithm. That's a thing of the past, now it's the first search result for the term "cupid."

Our business model of advertising on local radio means we don't have to play the PPC game or get crazy worried about our Google search results, as long as we do well for branded search. For example, if you search for "online dating", the competition to get on that page is fierce/expensive, and we just haven't engaged in that pursuit.

Today I noticed, however, if you search for "online dating" or even "dating," Google's new "Searches related to" section includes "cupid.com" or "cupid." Very cool. Nice to be finally getting our props, just in time for Valentine's day.

Google, Cupid.com hearts you too.

Web Analytics software compared

One of my favorite quotes, I don't know who said it originally but I got it from a high school math teacher "If you change the questions, the answers will change accordingly."

Public kudos to Stone Temple for their 2007 Web Analytics Shootout, a head-to-head comparison of how several different web analytic packages running concurrently on the same sites reported different outcomes. A must-read for anyone who produces or consumes data like site page views, unique visitors, and conversion rates.

Too bad WebTrends and Omniture were not included in the broader study, each one was only used for one site in the study. It'd be great to see if the findings were true on more heavily trafficked sites.

Google Analytics can't track Javascript support

AJAX is almost a definitive component of Web 2.0. I tend to be an asshole about security so I like my sites to degrade nicely for those users who have Javascript disabled. I was wondering today if I am a relic.

Digg, my favorite web 2.0 site, is unusable without Javascript. You can login and click around your profile ok, but you can't digg any stories. I'd call that core functionality.

Google maps work ok. Maybe not mashups of Google maps, but the site itself will display in street view and text links for zooming and panning. Nice degradation.

But how many people actually surf around without Javascript enabled? I use Google Analytics to measure the meager traffic I get to this blog, so I checked there first. But since Google Analytics measures traffic solely by Javascript, by definition they can't tell how many people on your siet don't have Javascript enabled. Those users are invisible to Google Analytics.

Looks like Omniture has worked around this issue, I'm checking to see if WebTrends via log analysis provides the data too.

I can't complain about a missing feature in a free service, it's just uncommon for Google to miss a trick.

PS: Blogger requires Javascript, as I discover trying to click the "Publish Post" button and get nothing. Time to enable Javascript again.

Rackspace SLA = 99.9%. Penalties kick in.

Rackspace had a serious outage. Valleywag scooped the actual police report.

I think most Diggers are being too kind to Rackspace. I just checked with my hosting provider about this scenario:

"There are two Central Hudson utility transformers that feed our building. They are located behind locked fences at the Central Hudson sub station on the perimeter of our campus --- far from any roads.

Additionally, there are receiving and distribution transformers within our building on both the second floor of our mechanical plant and our data center. Again, these devices are not located near roads or traffic.

Lastly, our emergency generators are located in protective, sound enunciator houses to protect them from the environment / external elements. These generators are also not located anywhere near traffic flow."

I host with Cervalis btw. I ckecked with Rackspace's live chat attendant this AM. Their SLA is for 99.9% uptime, so penalties kicked in for affected customers.

Their penalities are a percentage off monthly fees equal to the portion of the montly outage. So if your company was down for .5% of the month, about 3.5 hours, you'd "save" .5% of your Rackspace fees. How crazy would you be if your business was SOL for 3.5 hours?? This SLA is lousy imho.