I got to thinking… Which of course can be dangerous. I am now beginning to wonder how if search engines keep incorporating more, and more and more bits and pieces of websites that make them popular… how can said website can stay in business???

If you can get the basic idea, or the popular video, son or excerpt from a new novel, or whatever it is you are search for right from the search page, why click over? Since websites and search engine have a symbiotic relationship, I personally think that search engines should slow down trying to incorporate everything but the kitchen sink, even if tastefully and cleverly done like Bing… Which I really like, presentation-wise. They rely a little too much on Wikipedia results!

Anyway, can you see the double edged sword? Google on the other hand wants you to go to websites, (so adWords, and AdSense continue to progress and profit) and it’s obvious that Microsoft doesn’t focus on that, but wants to get everyone to their site more so that direct web searchers to others websites. Of course Bing traffic is FLAT, and probably will continue to be, no matter how cute and well laid out their results, features and search results are. So perhaps I’m pondering nothing?

Food For Thought.

Have Search Engine Gone Too Far?

So I run Google Adsense on my blog, in my business directories, and most commercial sites that I own and operate. The big “G” has decided to make some changes to at least two of their most popular Adsense formats As you can see from the image gallery included, the “LeaderBoard” 728X90 rectangle has been changes in various ways. Instead of columns, the ads appear straight down, with the URL, title, and description all on one line. Are these changes good for advertisers? Are these changes good for publishers? Are these changes ultimately good for Google? All these questions are hanging in the air, and need to be answered.

The Google Adsense format 336X280 and the 300X250 Square Adsense formats reflect that the URL will now be the same color as the title and follow the title on the same line as the title. I have mixed emotions regarding these changes, as they have just rolled out over the last couple days. My CTR yesterday sucked. Today’s it’s somewhat lower than normal, but traffic, and people fluctuate. It will take at least one month for me to determine if I need to redesign my main Adsense earning sites, or change to different Adsense formats that these, because I do use all these formats regularly. I’m sure that Google knows what they are doing, and this is the most important part of their business… Or is it? I have more questions than answers at this point.

Page Rank Revisited

Every webmaster worth his salt know what Google PageRank is, or “PR” for short. It’s like the Holy Grail for a website, getting a high page rank from Google, who pretty much dominates the Internet in providing search results. Often the only way to raise your site’s PR is to have quality sites with good PR to begin with to link to your site. FFA links pages, and link farms, and link directories just aren’t getting the job done. You need to be getting reliable links, whether you pay for them or not, from legitimate websites, preferably that focus on the same subject as your website does. This can often be a daunting task. If you have money there are a ton of great SEO companies out there that can and will deliver high quality, high PR links.

If you don’t well you have to rely on reciprocal links, and a good choice is just to simply ask nicely. Another great choice today for getting quality links is the stratospherically-popular social networking sites, mySpace, FaceBook, Twitter, Etc.. Working these systems to their full advantage takes time, but is ultimately worth it, and can pay off with great incoming links. Of course content is king, so if you have great content, natural linking will occur.

Here’s a nice interesting article on how some sites artificially inflate Page Rank, from a reliable SEO company that has been around for quite a while. While PageRank in not the “end all be all”, it doesn’t help in the willingness of others to link to you. That’s important to realize. Is is also important to know that you can have a quality site that even generates money without having a high PR. So DO NO get discouraged if your PR is low. Keep working hard, and it will come as long as you have good content. Of course I would be remiss not to mention to stay out of BAD LINK NEIGHBORHOODS! (FFA, link farms, Adult…)

Cheerio’

Microsoft has announced on Monday that it’s deal with OpenX Technologies Inc will allow them to reach customers they might not ordinarily have access too. OpenX Technologies ad serving technology is open source, something that’s not readily associated with the software giant Microsoft.

According to the CEO, Tim Cadogan Open X and Microsoft will be referring publishers to each other.

Everyone knows that Microsoft continues to bleed money, recently posting a $480 Million loss for it’s online services division. It’s anyone’s guess if this will help Microsoft, but time will tell.

For now Google dominates the area of contextual advertising, and even though Microsoft may make a little headway into that area, they have a long way to go.

Thanks to @MattCutts, for pointing me to this story. According to Bloomberg, The reason why MS is cutting costs on their web services, primarily those that store and run their e-mail systems, is it’s a strategy to keep Google Inc. at bay from making to much headway in that market. According to the article by Dina Bass, Microsoft will now charge $10 a month per user for its Business Productivity Online Suite, down from $15.

Of course, it’s probably not going to keep Google from gaining ground. The article goes on to say, “Last week, the Los Angeles City Council voted to have Google manage e-mail for 30,000 city workers, rather than Microsoft or Novell Inc. Google counts Tokyo-based Konica Minolta Holdings Inc., the printer and copier maker, and Glen Allen, Virginia-based MeadWestvaco Corp., a packaging company, among its recently added customers for software applications.”

Thanks, and here’s the whole article It’s a good read.

Motorola Droid Revealed

The best thing to hit since the iPhone? That’s what http://phones.verizonwireless.com/motorola/droid/ is claiming. I must say it’s about the slickest commercial I’veeever seen for a phone. The sly knock to the iPhone’s proprietary OS, battery and inherent limitations make people think. From researching it, I know it’s the most powerful device that’s ever used Droid 2.0 (Thanks Google) That alone should be enough to make people WANT IT BADLY.

According to Jeff Dougan, a marketing manager at Texas Instruments, which supplies the 3430 processor which powers the Droid,”We’re really pumped to see all the industry excitement it’s created,” said , . “This is the first handset that truly realizes the full potential of Android,”

Google’s Android 2.0 operating system that runs on the Droid phone, is likely to become w huge player, as it’s pretty much already there. Although I haven’t gotten my hands on one, after all I’m just a simple BlackBerry man… If I upgrade soon, I will be getting this phone. The Motorola Droid is getting the cell phone Inustry a-buzzing again, but it’s not soon likely that anyone can top the Droid. Too slick, too much functional tech goodness. On second thought, how late it the Verizon store open?

UPDATE: Forget the Droid… Get a Palm Pre