Symetri Blog

Metasearch engines come about on occasion and mostly go by without but a shrug and a "Meh." Recently, however, I've been witness to a mild buzz surrounding just such an engine called Search Salad. This UK based compilation engine puts together the results from the "top 5 search engines" as well as pulling from comparison and information sites like Kelkoo and Ciao! (UK shopping), ebay, and c|net.

A brief search for "human animal hybrid" pulls up a page with 5 framed SERPs (Google, Yahoo, Microsoft Live, Ask, and Wikipedia) sandwiched between left and right Google Ads. Clicking the "Electronics" link below the search box at this point brings up Engadget results, although the logo was cut off and it took me a minute to reflect on what the heck enoadoet was. Other links, other results.

Overall, I like that it pulls from more than just the top three engines; depending on what you're searching for, a direct ebay or engadget result may be just what you're looking for. Unfortunately, having a heavy background in design makes my tummy make funny noises whenever I see frame-y looking structures on a page. I've got one of them new-fangled scroll wheels and it would've aesthetically looked so much better to just transpose the top 10 results directly onto the page.

So aside from the whispered chuckles about not just the implication of a "tossed salad," but an actual TOSS button, Search Salad is worth a look if just to take a breath and experience something a little different than your usual branding of results.

Labels: big 5, search engines

Yes, you read correctly.



From ThinkGeek:

Here at ThinkGeek we're pretty lazy when it comes to technology. We expect our gadgets to do all the busywork while we focus on the high level important tasks like reading blogs. That's why we hate to have to crack open our laptops just to see if there is any wi-fi internet access about... and keychain wi-fi detectors, we would have to actually remove them from our pockets to look at them. But now thanks to the ingenious ThinkGeek robot monkeys you can display the current wi-fi signal strength to yourself and everyone around you with this stylish Wi-Fi Detector Shirt. The glowing bars on the front of the shirt dynamically change as the surrounding wi-fi signal strength fluctuates. Finally you can get the attention you deserve as others bow to you as their reverential wi-fi god, while geeky chicks swoon at your presence. You can thank us later.

Freedom costs $1.05; Geek Heaven is around $30.

Labels: gadgets, tech geeky

On December 17, 2007, created a lovely post about Ocelot Grooming in Greensboro, North Carolina.

The purpose, of course, was to offer a tangible example to anyone involved in SEO or someone looking to hire a company to do SEO as to the importance and weight of blogs. The post was slightly heavily peppered with keyphrasing, variations, and misspellings, but without being flagrant, egregious, or irrelevant; I stated my purpose directly in the post itself. Included was an image with the proper attribute "alt" tag. [Not directly used, but a further step would be to make use of the built-in blog tags to take advantage of even more levels of relevance.]

I am pleased to say that within about a week, a Google search for ocelot grooming places pages in this blog at #1 and #2. Similar results show by adding Greensboro to the mix, and that single post lists us 2nd only to the NC Zoo for "ocelot greensboro." That would be a case in point.

However, the first quagmire that I enter with such a post is that by writing about the results of a blog post and its effects on rankings in another blog post and using the same keyphrases as the original post, I risk altering those results, immediately rendering them null and this blog post inaccurate.

Yes, you read that correctly: by writing this blog post I am entering information into the interwebs that - by its very existence - may void the information within the post itself. As Keanu Reeves and Joey Lawrence one day need to say in unison: Woah. [And, no, that's nothing like Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle; read your particle physics book again, please.]

The second issue, of course, is that some neckbeard living in Mom's basement will stumble upon this post between marathon sessions of WoW and myChickBot CAD revisions, interpret modest bravado as a personal affront, and seek only to own the phrase "ocelot grooming," which, being unemployed, he will successfully accomplish within two weeks time. This will also nullify the information in this post.

So as a single day comes and goes, never to occur again, let us enjoy the ephemeral SERP listing, and stand in awe at the fickle nature of Google, our Fortuna.

Labels: blogging, social marketing, symetri

As you return to work after the holidays and your co-workers settle back into the day-to-day office rigmarole, why not spice up your 2008 with a little generated insanity?

Meet the ThinkGeek Annoy-a-tron:

The Annoy-a-tron generates a short (but very annoying, hence the name) beep every few minutes. Your unsuspecting target will have a hard time 'timing' the location of the sound because the beeps will vary in intervals ranging from 2 to 8 minutes. The 2kHz sound is generically annoying enough, but if you really really want to aggravate somebody, select the 12 kHz sound. Trust us. The higher frequency and slight 'electronic noise' built into that soundbyte will make a full-grown Admin wonder where his packets are.

It's only $10. Get it. Get it now. Before They do.

Labels: gadgets, internets

From New Scientist's Tech Pages:

The open-source search engine backed by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales could go live as an early test version as soon as next week. Unlike Google, Search Wikia will not share search data with advertisers, nor invade privacy by storing users' search terms.

In a SETI@home-style project, 500 volunteers are running web-crawlers to compile Search Wikia's web index, which so far totals 100 million pages. Jeremie Miller, the project's technology chief, hopes an "alpha" version of the engine will be running by Christmas. As well as search, it will offer "wiki-style tools to improve search and basic social networking", he says. Users will also be able to vote on the effectiveness of search hits.

But don't expect too much, too soon. "The alpha version will probably break in numerous ways we can't predict, but that'll help us improve it," Miller says.

Now that you've read the blurb, feel free to openly laugh at the title if you have not already.

While I do commend not sharing search terms with advertisers, if you don't store search terms somewhere, then how can you compile information on popular searches? How do you sort through millions of variations? How do you know what to give people when they search for something if you don't have anything to match that search term to?

Ah, maybe they mean something else. Over the past few years, Wikipedia has become (a bit of) an elitist community where if you don't spend long days editing and updating entries, any submitted entry has the potential of being attacked within two minutes by someone who does, all in a world where every single Pokemon character has its own page.

At this point, anything with "Wikipedia" attached may be slightly soured, but we are looking forward to something new, even if we only end up making fun of it.

Labels: google, internets, online tech, search engines, Wikipedia

This is not so much a clever and humorous blog post about ocelot grooming in Greensboro, North Carolina, as it is an experiment and an example to all those who have this one specific question about Search Engine Optimization: How do I pin down my niche?

Say, for example, one of your niche specializations was the grooming of ocelots - whether wild ocelots or the domesticated osalot - and you wanted to focus on gaining clients locally in Greensboro, North Carolina. Does NC have a lot of ocelots? I know not, but I'd start by putting together a slick, kickin' ad with the proper name and alt tag:


Ocelot Grooming in Greensboro, NC is HOT!

Now, with my sweet ad - sans real contact info should one find this image not on this blog but on Google Image Search and want to have their ocelot groomed - and my informational blog post about how to get your ocalot grooming business up and running in Greensboro, NC (with requisite keyphrase density, variations, and misspellings), you now have a veritable trampoline with which to bounce your niche business into the lead on a Search Engine Results Page.

Just please be careful when grooming ocelots: they bite.

Labels: education, niche marketing, search marketing

Have you heard of Second Life? Chances are, if you have, it was a brief media blurb about some company or another spending the time and money to create a virtual world in the Second Life platform. Then again, depending on how deeply you are entrenched in the online world, you may spend your free time there.

For the uninitiated (in this case, consider yourselves "innocents" as opposed to "naive" until you read the rest of this post), Second Life is a 3D online environment in which you create an avatar - or representative character - to interact with other users via their avatars. There is no directive, no mission, and no winning; it is truly a second life, a place for you to meet friends, go clubbing, or enjoy a park setting, all while enjoying the computer screen glare and not actually interacting with humanity in any way.

You can hang out in Second life for free like a stylish vagabond that never needs a hot meal or you can get a paid membership, some land, and an allowance of Linden Dollars. In the "sandbox" you can learn to create anything from a beach ball to a castle and keep it on your land or, perhaps, sell it. The interesting thing is that Linden Dollars have a direct conversion to real currency and vice versa; there is a viable community to be had, and a handful of users make a good deal of money selling their creations to other users.

But to ask the real question posited in the title: is it cool?

Second Life was launched in 2003 but didn't start popping into the mainstream media until sometime in 2006. Some examples include GM opening shop in SL selling cars for a few bucks back in '06, an Ohio University replica making its debut in February '07, and most recently CNN creating a virtual I-Report hub.

So what's the problem? Unfortunately, these businesses pop up only occasionally. Unfortunately, Second Life is a microcosm of the real internet, which is to say that it is largely populated by pornography, with an inflated representation - due to customizable avatars - by those who dress up in animal suits, i.e., furries. And that's just creepy.

So what's the problem? Is Second Life cool? Sure, it's cool, for a while. Is it a viable platform for a virtual business? I'd say no. Consider the following scenario:

One day while speaking to a client, I mention that I have a virtual place on Second Life. She says she's heard of it and might look me up sometime. Later that week, my client signs up for a free account, plays with the controls, makes it through the tutorial, and - unable to find my land directly - decides to wander. Before you know it a professional relationship is suddenly strained because while searching for my business, our client stumbles upon a club full of humanoid caricatures of woodland creatures doing things humanoid woodland creatures should never do.

Bottom line: until businesses decide to populate Second Life to a ubiquitous level and the navigation of the world becomes intuitive enough to easily avoid said "furries," people who are seeking you out because of their lack of tech experience have no business seeking you out in the moral minefield that is Second Life, and you have no business leading them there. Unless, of course, furry sadism is your business.

That said, I empathetically weep for the intern tasked with reviewing the virtual world "news" that comes across SL's CNN desk. The real news is worrisome enough.

Labels: Second Life, symetri

Symetri has some very exciting news in the world of SEO: Search Engine Watch has picked us up as a regular contributor to discuss the finer points of SEO education as it pertains to both those coming in to the field and those trying to keep up with the ebb and flow of technology, companies, and algorithms.

Check out our premiere, SEO.edu: Can You Learn SEO From a Book? and keep on with us - it's going to be a brilliant ride.

Labels: blogging, education, internets, Search Engine Watch, symetri