I'm following with great interest the NPR.org Morning Edition series on search engines and think it's great! But this morning's segment on Google had an error that will mislead many people and keep a myth alive that should have never gotten started in the first place.

The segment describes Googles PageRank (PR) as a system where pages are "voted for" to determine what pages and sites are valuable. This is true, however PR is only part of the story. Google has said for a long time and states on their site (http://www.google.com/webmasters/4.html) that part of what they use is PR.

Sites that only focus on linking will see some good results from that effort as it now stands. However, the PR system is badly flawed and we expect it to be changed this year.

The problem is that PR can be manipulated and therefore the results cannot be trusted. Many site owners trade links with other sites to increase PR, and now some are selling links on sites with high PR to other sites. This corruption is rampent and as with every other thing that has been missused in the past, we fully expect it to be discounted heavily.

The other flaw with PR is that you have company sites that offer affilate programs. If I have an affiliate link to a site and a visitor clicks that link and buys something from that site, I get a commission. Affiliate links have also muddied the waters when it comes to PR being accurate.

I do have a possible solution to this problem with PR, however, and it is simple to grade it on a curve. New sites with just a few links to them at first will get a jump in PR to a basic level, after that PR does not seriously consider the links until that hit a very high threshold that is beyond the reach of most site holders to manipulate.

(hris

New SEO ranking tool just made available!
If you are not a search engine geek, then click away, this may bore you to tears.... but if you are interested in search engine rankings, then read on...

There is a new ranking research and analysis tool from the people who gave us ThumbShots, those little screen shots of web sites that are tied to DMOZ.org and are made available for free. They have created a SEO tool that compares results between several search engines, and does so in a visual way so that you can instantly see how a URL ranks across two different systems, and the position on each.

It also allows you to see what the other sites are in the ranking and their positions. And you can see lines that run between the same pages on different search engines. So if one page for "seo" is is #2 on Google and the same page is #12 on Yahoo, there will be line running between them.

One of the things you can do with this tool is see how your page ranks on two systems now, and make changes and see how those changes affect the ranking on both sites. Try this free tool out and I think you will find it very interesting.



On this sample screenshot, we checked for our Consultant Directory on Google and Yahoo for the phrase "Consultant Directory". The image shows our site links in red. Amazingly, we are listed as #3 at Google and #2 in Yahoo...! I did not know that. I guess we are doing something right...?

Very cool tool. Check it out.

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Webtrends to acquire WebPosition Gold

(April 10 2004) High Search Engine Rankings reports that NetIQ, the owner and distributor of WebTrends web analytics software, has announced the purchase of WebPosition, the search engine optimization software arm of FirstPlace Software.

[WebTrends was great, but has been way over-priced for many years. In the mean time, others have been eating it's lunch, or at least many of the snacks that have been left lying around. What are the stats packages used at most ISPs? Not WebTrends. Webalizer, Urchin, and Deepmetrix Livestats.

WebPosition Gold? I'll bet WebTrends paid big time for that piece of junk, still, it's hard to argue with success. But like Microsoft's products, being an industry leader does not equal quality and value, only better marketing and lack of consumer knowledge...

...but what do I know? I submit by hand... with this free search engine list. ]

(hris

Mesothelioma Generates Ad Revenue For Search Engines

Asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma has become one of the hottest words in search engine keyword advertising, costing as much as $90 dollars per click in some cases. Considering that most search engine ad words cost around $1 a click, mesothelioma is clearly the industry leader in price per click.

(hris