http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/keywords/
Digital Point Keyword Tracker Review: "
Pros
� Ability to track rankings as they move over time
� Track an unlimited number of keywords
� Uses the Google API
Cons
� Only tracks Google rankings
� Must setup seperate logins to track seperate campaigns
The Bottom Line - Google keyword rank and back link tracking is made easy with this free tool from Digital Point. Powered by the Google API, the system is limited to 1000 updates a day, but will track an unlimited amount of keywords over time.
Hogan has put together one of the best free keyword tracking tools available online and is offering it up to anyone willing to take the time to register for a Google API and a Digital Point account. The tool does take some time to process, but when you consider the amount of data that it is feeding back and forth to Google via the API, and the amount of time you can save in not having to go and manually search for your rankings each month, it's well worth using this system. My experience has shown that the results are extremely accurate and several of my clients use it as a way to check in on their rankings. I'd highly recommend this tool to anyone looking for a quick and speedy way to track their Google rankings over time.
Description
� Users can specify an unlimited amount of keywords and URLs to be tracked.
� Backlinks can also be entered into the system and tracked over time.
� Custom charting option allows users to track the rise and fall of their keyword rankings over time.
� Custom settings allow for the viewing of competitive search results that appear near tracked words.
� Search engine listings can be restricted to certain languages or a certain country.
� Unicode languages such as Japanese, Chinese and Russian are compatible with the system.
� The system is available in 19 languages including Turkish, French and Belarusian.
� System does not update results on its own, users can setup their own automated processes
Friday, April 23, 2004
Wednesday, April 21, 2004
The nature of meaning in the age of Google
Some choice quotes
The nature of meaning in the age of Google. Google, Indexing, Web, Meaning: "Pity the poor Web author! Condemned to a culture of ignorance and denied any direct assertion of meaning of her content! She is encouraged to act naturally, constructing her Web content and linking to Web pages of interest. Acting naturally, however, is not without hazard in a rapidly changing, technologically complex environment where it is easy to do something 'neat' that inadvertently makes your content unpalatable to the visiting Googlebot. There is a fine line between using technology to jazz up your Web page and using technology that unintentionally limits the aggregation of your content...
The irony of constructing content for the open Web is not knowing how aggregators will use it. Any trick you employ to reduce your ignorance (i.e., you successfully spam the Googlebot) will be ultimately neutralized, throwing you back to the position of total ignorance:
Google prefers developing scalable and automated solutions to problems, so we attempt to minimize hand-to-hand spam fighting. The spam reports we receive are used to create scalable algorithms that recognize and block future spam attempts. (Google Information for Webmasters).
Google has always disdained structured metadata in the open Web as bad faith:Also, it is interesting to note that metadata efforts have largely failed with Web search engines, because any text on the page which is not directly represented to the user is abused to manipulate search engines. There are even numerous companies which specialize in manipulating search engines for profit. (Brin & Page, 1998)...
In its latest makeover, Google also tweaked the closely guarded formula that determines which Websites are most relevant to a search request. Google has made five significant changes to its algorithmic formulas in the past two weeks, Brin said. (Liedtke, 2004, February 18).
I argue the need for a survival guide for Web authors (without attempting to provide one here). A survival guide helps someone survive, largely by avoiding hazards, as opposed to being a bag of tricks for besting someone else...
The need for a survival guide becomes compelling when you witness someone writing for the Web, but doing it in a manner that offends the Googlebot. Google has a list of technological hazards to avoid such as Javascript, cookies, session IDs, frames, DHTML and Flash. The penalty of inhibiting the Googlebot is limiting the exposure of your work. One would think that poets would be anxious to place their work before a large public, but consider the submission guidelines of Poems That Go:
Poems that Go publishes Web-specific new media, hypermedia, and electronic poetry, prose, and short narrative. We are open to all forms of multimedia, computer-generated, and interactive work that include (but are not limited to) HTML, Shockwave, Quicktime, streaming media, Flash, Java, and DHTML content. Because Poems that Go focuses on how sound, image, motion, and interactivity intersect with literary uses of the Web, we regretfully do not accept text-based poetry or written work in the traditional sense. (Submission guidelines).
Such is the gulf that exists between creating cool stuff for the Web and preparing something appetizing for the Googlebot."
The nature of meaning in the age of Google. Google, Indexing, Web, Meaning: "Pity the poor Web author! Condemned to a culture of ignorance and denied any direct assertion of meaning of her content! She is encouraged to act naturally, constructing her Web content and linking to Web pages of interest. Acting naturally, however, is not without hazard in a rapidly changing, technologically complex environment where it is easy to do something 'neat' that inadvertently makes your content unpalatable to the visiting Googlebot. There is a fine line between using technology to jazz up your Web page and using technology that unintentionally limits the aggregation of your content...
The irony of constructing content for the open Web is not knowing how aggregators will use it. Any trick you employ to reduce your ignorance (i.e., you successfully spam the Googlebot) will be ultimately neutralized, throwing you back to the position of total ignorance:
Google prefers developing scalable and automated solutions to problems, so we attempt to minimize hand-to-hand spam fighting. The spam reports we receive are used to create scalable algorithms that recognize and block future spam attempts. (Google Information for Webmasters).
Google has always disdained structured metadata in the open Web as bad faith:Also, it is interesting to note that metadata efforts have largely failed with Web search engines, because any text on the page which is not directly represented to the user is abused to manipulate search engines. There are even numerous companies which specialize in manipulating search engines for profit. (Brin & Page, 1998)...
In its latest makeover, Google also tweaked the closely guarded formula that determines which Websites are most relevant to a search request. Google has made five significant changes to its algorithmic formulas in the past two weeks, Brin said. (Liedtke, 2004, February 18).
I argue the need for a survival guide for Web authors (without attempting to provide one here). A survival guide helps someone survive, largely by avoiding hazards, as opposed to being a bag of tricks for besting someone else...
The need for a survival guide becomes compelling when you witness someone writing for the Web, but doing it in a manner that offends the Googlebot. Google has a list of technological hazards to avoid such as Javascript, cookies, session IDs, frames, DHTML and Flash. The penalty of inhibiting the Googlebot is limiting the exposure of your work. One would think that poets would be anxious to place their work before a large public, but consider the submission guidelines of Poems That Go:
Poems that Go publishes Web-specific new media, hypermedia, and electronic poetry, prose, and short narrative. We are open to all forms of multimedia, computer-generated, and interactive work that include (but are not limited to) HTML, Shockwave, Quicktime, streaming media, Flash, Java, and DHTML content. Because Poems that Go focuses on how sound, image, motion, and interactivity intersect with literary uses of the Web, we regretfully do not accept text-based poetry or written work in the traditional sense. (Submission guidelines).
Such is the gulf that exists between creating cool stuff for the Web and preparing something appetizing for the Googlebot."
Tuesday, April 20, 2004
DMNews.com | News | Article
DMNews.com | News | Article: "For the past week, DM News has been one of the 1,000 users Google invited to test its controversial new e-mail service, Gmail.
A common complaint by Gmail critics is that scanning personal e-mail messages to place ads is invasive... the vast majority of Gmail messages have contained no advertising. Google spokesman David Krane said the company is judicious about the frequency, and users should not expect to see them in most messages...
Of the ads received, some have been impressively targeted, highlighting the potential payoff for advertisers. One e-mail message about a visit to New York to watch a Yankees game was accompanied by text listings offering Yankees tickets and merchandise...
still in testing, however, Gmail often gets it wrong. Invoices from cell-phone providers target listings for invoice services, not cell phones. An e-mail mentioning 9/11 and the war in Iraq triggered listings for online memorials. Krane said Google filtered ads from sensitive subjects and would continue to build this capacity."
A common complaint by Gmail critics is that scanning personal e-mail messages to place ads is invasive... the vast majority of Gmail messages have contained no advertising. Google spokesman David Krane said the company is judicious about the frequency, and users should not expect to see them in most messages...
Of the ads received, some have been impressively targeted, highlighting the potential payoff for advertisers. One e-mail message about a visit to New York to watch a Yankees game was accompanied by text listings offering Yankees tickets and merchandise...
still in testing, however, Gmail often gets it wrong. Invoices from cell-phone providers target listings for invoice services, not cell phones. An e-mail mentioning 9/11 and the war in Iraq triggered listings for online memorials. Krane said Google filtered ads from sensitive subjects and would continue to build this capacity."
Trademark Bidding on Google
Trademark Bidding on Google: "Google's opening up trademarked keywords for bidding is one more piece of power shifted away from corporations and toward consumers. I imagine corporations will waste little time heading to court to protect their property. In the long run, I doubt the corporations will come out on top."
Example: Branding seeks to own a concept and attach a name to it. In our brand-saturated world, names can become shortcuts for product categories. "U-Haul" means "low-cost, do-it-yourself moving." Of consumers searching on "U-Haul," some want to find a van to rent, and some specifically want a U-Haul van. Those focused on the brand will ignore competitive offers. The rest are up for grabs. A problem creeps in only if they're attracted by deception.
This is the core of the power shift away from corporations and toward consumers. If Google does a good policing job, consumers ultimately will have more power. They'll find competitive deals, better prices, and more options. It blurs the whole sales cycle we've held so dear for so long: awareness --> consideration --> trial --> purchase --> repeat. Consideration, in particular, is at risk.
Example: Branding seeks to own a concept and attach a name to it. In our brand-saturated world, names can become shortcuts for product categories. "U-Haul" means "low-cost, do-it-yourself moving." Of consumers searching on "U-Haul," some want to find a van to rent, and some specifically want a U-Haul van. Those focused on the brand will ignore competitive offers. The rest are up for grabs. A problem creeps in only if they're attracted by deception.
This is the core of the power shift away from corporations and toward consumers. If Google does a good policing job, consumers ultimately will have more power. They'll find competitive deals, better prices, and more options. It blurs the whole sales cycle we've held so dear for so long: awareness --> consideration --> trial --> purchase --> repeat. Consideration, in particular, is at risk.
Monday, April 19, 2004
Google IPO Central - Latest Investing and Stock Offering News
"SiliconValley.com is reporting that Google will be required to begin filing financial reports with the SEC beginning April 30th. According to the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 companies that have $10 million or more in assets and 500 or more shareholders must file quarterly reports with the SEC just as a publicly traded company does. Since this is generally an undesirable position for companies to be in most observers feel that Google will now file an IPO. Google officials are of course not commenting. Whether or not the Google IPO, if and when it finally happens, will make anyone money still remains to be seen. For more information on the possible Google IPO see Google IPO Central."
Google IPO Central - Latest Investing and Stock Offering News: "IPO Important Developments
Google may have to disclose earnings and revenue information, effectively forcing them to IPO"
Google IPO Central - Latest Investing and Stock Offering News: "IPO Important Developments
Google may have to disclose earnings and revenue information, effectively forcing them to IPO"
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