Apr
1
China Buys Google
Filed Under Google | Leave a Comment
Story in The Register
The news was disclosed in a Captcha graphic on its Google Canteen Menu weblog; investors had to click a hidden link to see the announcement, and then decode a stenographically-hidden message watermarked into the JPG file.
Apr
1
Google Romance Debuts
Filed Under Google | Leave a Comment
It’s been a long time coming, the search for a soulmate is the most important one anyone will every do.
This was actually suggested over two years ago in this thread at WebmasterWorld on social networking- msg #10
http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum3/21371.htm
I’ve always thought google should start a dating site, they’ve got almost everything else. I still think it’s a good idea; it could be called snuggle.
Added:
And a jokes site, like the news. Then we’d have Froogle, Snuggle and Giggle.
Of course it’s Beta, which is very appropriate. In today’s society living together has become a common way to do beta testing before taking the perilous plunge into matrimony.
Jan
3
Not only was there a post done at SEWF July, 2004 but there was a post done way, long ago at WebmasterWorld on the very same thing - June 14, 2003
Logical vs. Physical Domains and Site Themes
There are some around who don’t think the whole concept of “Site Themes” is valid, but they’d have a hard time convincing those who have long reaped the benefits of applying the concepts. Besides, it does make for intuitive site navigation and is good for users - so I really fail to see the point of arguing against it. Also, there are *still* current papers being published that make reference to term vectors for sites, and with all the hubbub about LSI that was around late 2003 and early 2004, it’s may just not be as unconnected a topic as it might seem. It’s all about words anyway, because that’s what people use when they search.
Something else that caught my attention on this topic recently was a comment in recent blog entry by Matt Cutts entitled
We’re getting closer to calling for feedback on 64.233.179.104, but I probably won’t ask for reactions for another week or two. Right now that datacenter isn’t serving traffic 100% of the time as people pull it out of the rotation from time to time to tune things up under the hood. That data center has some infrastructure that I think in time will work better for canonicalization and redirects. We also recently improved site: to show slightly more logical urls as well.
The site: command is now currently showing more logical URLs - the index pages of subdirectories on sites, right at the top of the pages returned for the query.
I really don’t see anything wrong with setting up a site so it’s “themed” which makes it far easier to maintain, and is easy for users to navigate - regardless of what it’s called. So I truly fail to see why anyone argues against the concept, when it’s just plain, flat-out user friendly.
Jan
3
The year 2005 saw many new and helpful features offered to webmasters by Google, including Google Sitemaps. That’s all great and very helpful, but somehow I don’t think it’s all totally motivated by the fact that it gives them whiter, brighter teeth and a prettier smile. 
There are a lot of interesting phenomenon happening, and the beginning of 2006 called for adding a new page with a few white papers on site navigation that seem interesting, particularly those explaining the concept of “logical domains vs. physical domains.” Added here, with more to come:
Sitemaps, Domains and Website Navigation Structure
It’s no secret that Google has been working on resolving canonical issues, and that sites that do a total redesign and restructure run into problems that resemble what’s commonly referred to as “the sandbox” - which really isn’t the case, IMHO. There’s also been some speculation that not all TLDs are affected by the “sandbox” that seem to come from some sources with verifiable personal experience.
Maybe there’s a bit of information in those papers, and others yet to be added, that may shed some light on some of the factors that contribute to the drop when there’s a major change in site structure, or factors that affect different domains.
Incidentally, there was a post done on this very topic July 23, 2004 at Search Engine Watch Forums
Logical vs. Physical Domains in Site Architecture and Ranking
It was pretty much overlooked, but I think it’s an even more interesting topic now than when it was first posted.