The Google Gods
I'm watching Biography entitled The Google Boys and, fifty minutes in, before the IPO, I've already changed the title. These boys are already taking charge. If knowledge is power, and it is... these two have a lot of both. Let's hope their ideals remain high and pure. They both come from academic, not corporate families. One even has communist roots. Are the Google gods all-loving and benevolent?
Now they will be integrating all or part of the library collections of Harvard, Stanford, Oxford, U Mich (Page's alma mater) and NY Public Library into their indexes. Amazon.com already has a Search Inside a Book program allowing users to find any passage in one of Amazon's books.
What fascinates me most is the search concept and execution, and their philosophy. The difference between their search and that of Yahoo & other previous methods reminds me of the discussion I just engaged in about the paintings. One was all linear and set apart, the other was organic and connected. Yahoo employed thousands of human librarians to visually inspect all web pages and classify them. Google sent out millions of spider bots to check out all the web pages and how many times they are clicked on, uses algorithms to add points for things like having certain terms highlighted on the site or having other sites with links to yours, and tabulates... a popularity contest. They are extremely attentive to speed. The graphic Biography used looked like that Disney ride where your little spaceship enters the dark universe of linked up lights...technology moves us into the future. The Google Galaxy.
I date a guy who works with companies to develop their web presence. All advertising, and much economic, growth is in this area. When I started my Adsense account, to track how many hits I was getting on the blog, I was surprised at how guys as smart as Sergi & Larry could put ads of companies seeking to protect intellectual property on my blog. I mean, if you look at the blog, you can see the... er...irony there. He explained to me that the IP protectors bid more for search terms like film and music, which is largely what this site is about. Interesting, I guess it's clear who's got the most cash in this game.
After a month of bad ads, over which I had no control, I notice they are putting up very appropriate ads, like one for Eternal Sunshine, a movie I reviewed here. So, if you scroll down to the bottom of this blog you'll see the ads. I do control the placement, I could make the ads more intrusive & dominant on the blog, change color, size, & number of ads, but I have no control over which ads pop up there. I would love to understand if they really do have some way of finding out that the folks who read my blog might actually want a quick link to the Sunshine rental site, but might not be too motivated, after reading my blog, to go out and protect a bunch of intellectual property. After all, the beauty of Google advertising (and the key to its success) is the idea that companies can direct their ads toward the people most likely to want their services or products. Are the Google Gods omniscient?
I started this blog as an exercise, to speak my mind, record thoughts. It's all there on the first post. Now I've develped a Mission Statement, which I'll soon publish. Blogging was not to make money, but, I'm thankful for an easy way to not only track traffic but make a whopping $53.88, more than I've made off my art or film so far. I get money sometimes when people click on those ads. Not when I click on the ads, that I know. Others, it seems to totally depend, on what, I don't know. Sometimes I get like $4. a click, other times it's under $1. Why? I'd love to know, but like everyone else, probably never will. The Google gods are very mysterious. Maybe they rate each clicker by how much they earn or click or buy, or when they click. I do know that companies have paid third world clickers to make real money off phony clicking. I'm sure Google has many sophisticated algorithms to make sure each click represents a viable customer.
Anyway, it's astounding that you can actually grow a business this way. With absolutely no advertising, most of my friends don't even have my site address, my site is now the #11 search result on Google for the search term intervision. Do you know what this means? Again, I'm not totally sure, and it may change every day, but, I'll tell you this... it fuckin blew me away, that's for sure. Especially as I'm watching this Biography saying that lots of people are employed full time trying to get companies in the top five search results. Now, those may well be more commercial search terms.
Compared to moving boxes, there aren't as many people out there searching for "intervision". It's not even a real word, for god's sake. Only the select few, like you, and a growing throng, know what it means, and certainly not every shmuck out there is willing to blog away hours of their time to educate the public about their rights & do it so rudely for $53.88. But seriously, there are 93k sites with the term, many companies & organizations use it and of them mine is #11 in terms of activity and links.(?) So. for this little site, with one page (sites with multiple pages get many more clicks) to come in #11 out of 93,000 is pretty amazing, especially since I've never paid Google a cent....I only blog on a site they own and make money off.
And I plan to make it more visible by re-conneting with people from Ipac (which alredy has my link on their blog), EFF, Free Culture, Downhill Battle etc. to link to my site, as I've recently added links from mine to theirs. The more you are linked up in the world-wide-web, the better., at least in Googleland, maybe every land. So please, if you like what you read, pass it on, tell a friend, put a link on your website. It's important to spread the word on issues like this. It's hard to post comments on these Blogspot blogs, I guess you have to open a blogspot to do it, and some have opened blogs in order to comment here, which is a good thing. Anyway, you can email me at Intervision428@yahoo.com. I look forward to hearing from you!
It seems that the Google gods are determined that the unpaid placements should be fairly earned and keep changing the algorithms to make sure that interested entities don't artificially stack the results. They've done this several times and Biography liked them to hurricanes. Apparently, after the last one, many sites that had come up in the number one or two spot got lost into the webosphere. Proving, don't mess with forces of nature. The Google gods are omnipotent.
So, if you want to win the visibility game, Google's way, you have to pay (the most), or make your site something folks want to visit, or, get lots of other sites to link to yours. Again, it does seem the Google gods like fairness, level playing field, accessible auction thing, just like with their IPO.
When I sold advertising space for Personal Computing, we were the largest circulation PC magazine and our biggest selling point was our CPM, that's how almost all advertising is valued - cost per thousand eyeballs. There's usually a volume discount, our CPM was the lowest of all competitors. That's why big, general advertisers love hit magazines, hit shows. They talk about the big ticket Superbowl ads, but they're probably some of the most cost-effective ads out there.
Now you can go not only for general sector and eyeballs, but for very targeted audiences, fairly easily. And you can pay for only live leads, someone actually clicking onto your site, as opposed to exposure, which does not always transfer to sales. So, while Google now makes 1/3 of it's income from Adwords, I would expect that to grow. And I expect that more and more individuals will start putting up a web presence and look for the like minded. It's Google's job to put your ad in front of those most likely to click on it, and you don't pay till they do. It's straight commission, they don't get paid till someone clicks on you, so they need to place you well in order to profit off you. Not so with magazines, TV and radio.
So, Google stock is still skyrocketing, they're now bringing the libraries online, as the US empire declines, China and Google rise. They seem to mean it about the progressive work environment, fostering collaboration and creativity over competition, lots of toys and games, and best of all, their head chef is the guy that used to cook for the Grateful Dead.
They also have Dave Drummond, a nice guy, who just won them a summary judgment in three days against Geico, who sued them because they allow competitors to bid for paid placement on their search results page.
Anyway, Blogger, which hosts this blog, is....you guessed it....a small group within Google, which bought their company a few years ago. How did I find out about Blogger? I Googled "blog", it came up as #1 for both paid AND unpaid...how very shocking. #4 was the Blogger Google Blog. Now maybe you understand why my blog came up #11.
Hopefully, I'll soon be able to upload music and do something about the bland visuals (maybe they like it that way, just my countercultural rants and their ads). Yes, Google is omnipresent. Their link is above, tell them you found out about their site through me. They'll be so happy. Yes, I'm proselytizing for Google, so they may rain appropriate algorithms upon me. I hope they keep up with Yahoo which is now making it easier to search videos.
Anyway, you know whose blog came up as #7? Lawrence Lessig! See, people want and need to know. His blog isn't even that great. Hank, consider this a personal appeal, your voice is needed, you'll feel better.
Now they will be integrating all or part of the library collections of Harvard, Stanford, Oxford, U Mich (Page's alma mater) and NY Public Library into their indexes. Amazon.com already has a Search Inside a Book program allowing users to find any passage in one of Amazon's books.
What fascinates me most is the search concept and execution, and their philosophy. The difference between their search and that of Yahoo & other previous methods reminds me of the discussion I just engaged in about the paintings. One was all linear and set apart, the other was organic and connected. Yahoo employed thousands of human librarians to visually inspect all web pages and classify them. Google sent out millions of spider bots to check out all the web pages and how many times they are clicked on, uses algorithms to add points for things like having certain terms highlighted on the site or having other sites with links to yours, and tabulates... a popularity contest. They are extremely attentive to speed. The graphic Biography used looked like that Disney ride where your little spaceship enters the dark universe of linked up lights...technology moves us into the future. The Google Galaxy.
I date a guy who works with companies to develop their web presence. All advertising, and much economic, growth is in this area. When I started my Adsense account, to track how many hits I was getting on the blog, I was surprised at how guys as smart as Sergi & Larry could put ads of companies seeking to protect intellectual property on my blog. I mean, if you look at the blog, you can see the... er...irony there. He explained to me that the IP protectors bid more for search terms like film and music, which is largely what this site is about. Interesting, I guess it's clear who's got the most cash in this game.
After a month of bad ads, over which I had no control, I notice they are putting up very appropriate ads, like one for Eternal Sunshine, a movie I reviewed here. So, if you scroll down to the bottom of this blog you'll see the ads. I do control the placement, I could make the ads more intrusive & dominant on the blog, change color, size, & number of ads, but I have no control over which ads pop up there. I would love to understand if they really do have some way of finding out that the folks who read my blog might actually want a quick link to the Sunshine rental site, but might not be too motivated, after reading my blog, to go out and protect a bunch of intellectual property. After all, the beauty of Google advertising (and the key to its success) is the idea that companies can direct their ads toward the people most likely to want their services or products. Are the Google Gods omniscient?
I started this blog as an exercise, to speak my mind, record thoughts. It's all there on the first post. Now I've develped a Mission Statement, which I'll soon publish. Blogging was not to make money, but, I'm thankful for an easy way to not only track traffic but make a whopping $53.88, more than I've made off my art or film so far. I get money sometimes when people click on those ads. Not when I click on the ads, that I know. Others, it seems to totally depend, on what, I don't know. Sometimes I get like $4. a click, other times it's under $1. Why? I'd love to know, but like everyone else, probably never will. The Google gods are very mysterious. Maybe they rate each clicker by how much they earn or click or buy, or when they click. I do know that companies have paid third world clickers to make real money off phony clicking. I'm sure Google has many sophisticated algorithms to make sure each click represents a viable customer.
Anyway, it's astounding that you can actually grow a business this way. With absolutely no advertising, most of my friends don't even have my site address, my site is now the #11 search result on Google for the search term intervision. Do you know what this means? Again, I'm not totally sure, and it may change every day, but, I'll tell you this... it fuckin blew me away, that's for sure. Especially as I'm watching this Biography saying that lots of people are employed full time trying to get companies in the top five search results. Now, those may well be more commercial search terms.
Compared to moving boxes, there aren't as many people out there searching for "intervision". It's not even a real word, for god's sake. Only the select few, like you, and a growing throng, know what it means, and certainly not every shmuck out there is willing to blog away hours of their time to educate the public about their rights & do it so rudely for $53.88. But seriously, there are 93k sites with the term, many companies & organizations use it and of them mine is #11 in terms of activity and links.(?) So. for this little site, with one page (sites with multiple pages get many more clicks) to come in #11 out of 93,000 is pretty amazing, especially since I've never paid Google a cent....I only blog on a site they own and make money off.
And I plan to make it more visible by re-conneting with people from Ipac (which alredy has my link on their blog), EFF, Free Culture, Downhill Battle etc. to link to my site, as I've recently added links from mine to theirs. The more you are linked up in the world-wide-web, the better., at least in Googleland, maybe every land. So please, if you like what you read, pass it on, tell a friend, put a link on your website. It's important to spread the word on issues like this. It's hard to post comments on these Blogspot blogs, I guess you have to open a blogspot to do it, and some have opened blogs in order to comment here, which is a good thing. Anyway, you can email me at Intervision428@yahoo.com. I look forward to hearing from you!
It seems that the Google gods are determined that the unpaid placements should be fairly earned and keep changing the algorithms to make sure that interested entities don't artificially stack the results. They've done this several times and Biography liked them to hurricanes. Apparently, after the last one, many sites that had come up in the number one or two spot got lost into the webosphere. Proving, don't mess with forces of nature. The Google gods are omnipotent.
So, if you want to win the visibility game, Google's way, you have to pay (the most), or make your site something folks want to visit, or, get lots of other sites to link to yours. Again, it does seem the Google gods like fairness, level playing field, accessible auction thing, just like with their IPO.
When I sold advertising space for Personal Computing, we were the largest circulation PC magazine and our biggest selling point was our CPM, that's how almost all advertising is valued - cost per thousand eyeballs. There's usually a volume discount, our CPM was the lowest of all competitors. That's why big, general advertisers love hit magazines, hit shows. They talk about the big ticket Superbowl ads, but they're probably some of the most cost-effective ads out there.
Now you can go not only for general sector and eyeballs, but for very targeted audiences, fairly easily. And you can pay for only live leads, someone actually clicking onto your site, as opposed to exposure, which does not always transfer to sales. So, while Google now makes 1/3 of it's income from Adwords, I would expect that to grow. And I expect that more and more individuals will start putting up a web presence and look for the like minded. It's Google's job to put your ad in front of those most likely to click on it, and you don't pay till they do. It's straight commission, they don't get paid till someone clicks on you, so they need to place you well in order to profit off you. Not so with magazines, TV and radio.
So, Google stock is still skyrocketing, they're now bringing the libraries online, as the US empire declines, China and Google rise. They seem to mean it about the progressive work environment, fostering collaboration and creativity over competition, lots of toys and games, and best of all, their head chef is the guy that used to cook for the Grateful Dead.
They also have Dave Drummond, a nice guy, who just won them a summary judgment in three days against Geico, who sued them because they allow competitors to bid for paid placement on their search results page.
Anyway, Blogger, which hosts this blog, is....you guessed it....a small group within Google, which bought their company a few years ago. How did I find out about Blogger? I Googled "blog", it came up as #1 for both paid AND unpaid...how very shocking. #4 was the Blogger Google Blog. Now maybe you understand why my blog came up #11.
Hopefully, I'll soon be able to upload music and do something about the bland visuals (maybe they like it that way, just my countercultural rants and their ads). Yes, Google is omnipresent. Their link is above, tell them you found out about their site through me. They'll be so happy. Yes, I'm proselytizing for Google, so they may rain appropriate algorithms upon me. I hope they keep up with Yahoo which is now making it easier to search videos.
Anyway, you know whose blog came up as #7? Lawrence Lessig! See, people want and need to know. His blog isn't even that great. Hank, consider this a personal appeal, your voice is needed, you'll feel better.
posted by Intervision at 4:50 AM
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