Bill Gates on Google in China

I love some of the comments on the whole Google vs China standoff. Actually can you even call it a standoff? As Bill quite rightly points out, Google have yet to actually do anything. So they've said a lot, taken a moral stand... and, haven't actually followed anything through. Hey, way to go Google! Or not!

Bill Gates doesn’t get the fuss everyone’s making over Google’s recent threat to stop censoring search results in China.

“They’ve done nothing and gotten a lot of credit for it,” Gates said Monday during a visit at The New York Times.

“What point are they making?” Mr. Gates asked. “Now, if Google ever chooses to pull out of the United States, then I’d give them credit.”

Gates’ comments come just days after current Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was also critical of Google’s stance. Both Gates and Ballmer pointed out that many countries have questionable laws and policies.

Lest Sergey Brin and Larry Page are losing sleep over these verbal jabs, let’s point out that Gates also defended Google when asked if he considered them a monopoly: “I wouldn’t call anyone a monopolist.” (searchengineland.com)

Really I'm just waiting for Google to actually pull out of China, they won't because they're still making money. Will they un-censor their results? Nope because then China will simply block them anyhow. Lets face it, while Google may have an economy that many countries just couldn't refuse, China aren't really that concerned. Well that's just my $0.02.

The Curious Case of Argleton

Tin Foil Hat Time!!!

The curious case of "Argleton, Lancashire". Is it or isn't it? That seems to be the question on everyone's lips right about now. According to Google Maps Argleton does exist. Pity it looks like it's just a field in the middle of nowhere - or more accurately the middle of Aughton and Aughton Park.

Could this be Google trying to catch potential spammers by having anyone advertising at this location immediately flagged? Could this have simply been an error by those at Tele Atlas? I think there may be more to this than meets the eye.

But regardless, I tend to get a little nervous when Google starts to do strange things. What really is their motive. What really is their ultimate goal. I've got my tin foil hat, do you?

Halloween

Well no doubt the various search providers will update their search pages to reflect the Halloween theme in the near future. Yahoo! seem to be the first to have done so with a link to http://events.yahoo.com/halloween/2009/index.php already listed on the home page.

No doubt the others will follow in the coming hours. Wonder who'll be next?

Multiple Sites, Bad? Good?

I came across this nice write up on multiple sites by Michael Martinez. Because I wasn't logged in, thought I'd add my own $0.02 over here.

I agree 100%!

Okay, I'll go back a bit. Is having multiple sites for a business a bad thing or a good thing? Well many would argue off the bat that multiple sites instantly equal blackhat tactics. That multiple domains are a spammers delight.

I argue that point, and think Michael does a good job of pointing out why, once again, it's not what you do but how you do it. There are always bad ways of doing anything. Cloaking, is it good? Bad? How about IP delivery? That good or bad? It's the implementation and intent that's really the question.

I've often suggested several smaller sites instead of one site for new clients. The benefits of properly interlinking these sites is immediately noticeable. In addition sometimes you can really break a service, or group of services into separate sites. Each then becoming more focused while adding the the value of a whole.

While generally I'd only suggest this to new sites/clients while avoiding it with older more established sites, it's certainly a tactic that works.

Google Are Hiring

It would seem that Google are once again hiring and looking for the brightest and talented individuals to join their company. While they claim to be the greatest company to work for, I'll reserve judgment for when I have the chance...

So according to the Ads placed at M.I.T, the image posted contains a phone number to call. If you can crack it... let me know ;)

No, Your Website Should Not Be Number One!

How many times have you been asked why a website is not at, "number one in Google?" Only to have a look at it and very quickly realise that the site has some very simple yet huge flaws. I guess the easiest answer to this one is, "while your product may be the best (or at least you think it is), if you don't explain this to Google (I'll include the other engines too) it'll never know."

If the site is made up entirely of flash (and no it's still not being indexed properly), even if it is beautiful, you'll not be found. If the search engines aren't able to find the individual pages... you'll not be found. If you think you've been clever and copied a competitor - because they're number one... you'll not be found, ever!

Ah, so this brings me to the next question how do I get to number one in Google? My stock standard answer to this one is, "If I knew that answer Google would pay me an awful lot to say nothing!"

But the reality is the answer is much longer. We do know how to get to the top of Google. It's the sum of several factors and then some. But while some still punt the magic bullet that is search engine submissions and guaranteed number one spots the rest of us will just have to keep on telling folk that their site simply doesn't deserve to be number one in Google.

But... I'll can certainly show you how you can get a lot closer.

Google and More Antitrust Issues

The Italian government is currently checking Google for antitrust violations. Several newspapers in Italy are claiming that when they told Google not to list their content on Google News, Google also delisted their results from the rest of the Google search engine.

Google have been called a scraper among other things. But looks like the news industry have had a lot more to say on the matter than many other industries. But could that be because print media is dying off? It seems that they won't go with out a fight.

While it hasn't been proven that Google did actually delist these sites I don't see what the problem is really. Much like Microsoft having to remove IE from Windows. Why? Don't get me wrong, I'm really not a fan of either of these companies, but it's their index/OS, so let them do what they want. If you don't like it, don't support them. As an end user it's that simple. If they really are a monopoly, then let the government take care of it... (yeah, I know can't really rely on them)

While I don't really see the problem, I'm going to hope that Google do feel the hard end of that stick. If only to feel what it's like when everyone want's your blood - kinda like they did to Microsoft (payback's a bitch - ain't it?).