(Article) Newsweek on SEO

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10415455/site/newsweek/

"If search-engine rankings are supposed to represent a kind of democracy--a
reflection of what Internet users collectively think is most useful--then
search-engine optimizers like Fishkin are the Web's lobbyists. High-priced
and in some cases slyly unethical, SEOs try to manipulate the unpaid search
results that help users navigate the Internet. Their goal is to boost their
clients' (and in some cases their own) sites to the top of unpaid
search-engine rankings--even if their true popularity doesn't warrant that
elevated status."

Ironically, the the site which hosts this article rel="nofollow"s all the
links at the top. What would they do that for if not for SEO purposes?

Roy Schestowitz wrote:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10415455/site/newsweek/

"If search-engine rankings are supposed to represent a kind of democracy--a
reflection of what Internet users collectively think is most useful--then
search-engine optimizers like Fishkin are the Web's lobbyists. High-priced
and in some cases slyly unethical, SEOs try to manipulate the unpaid search
results that help users navigate the Internet. Their goal is to boost their
clients' (and in some cases their own) sites to the top of unpaid
search-engine rankings--even if their true popularity doesn't warrant that
elevated status."

Not a bad article as far as anything in Newsweek goes. Did you catch the
/. discussion? - for nerds the majority of /.ers don't seem to know much.

Fishkin looks like Ringo Star.

Ironically, the the site which hosts this article rel="nofollow"s all the
links at the top. What would they do that for if not for SEO purposes?

Good point, they are nofollowing their standard links such as the RSS
feed, signup so those essentially worthless pages don't pick up PR rank.

__/ [davidof] on Monday 12 December 2005 11:48 \__

Roy Schestowitz wrote:
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10415455/site/newsweek/

"If search-engine rankings are supposed to represent a kind of
democracy--a reflection of what Internet users collectively think is most
useful--then search-engine optimizers like Fishkin are the Web's
lobbyists. High-priced and in some cases slyly unethical, SEOs try to
manipulate the unpaid search results that help users navigate the
Internet. Their goal is to boost their clients' (and in some cases their
own) sites to the top of unpaid search-engine rankings--even if their true
popularity doesn't warrant that elevated status."

Not a bad article as far as anything in Newsweek goes. Did you catch the
/. discussion? - for nerds the majority of /.ers don't seem to know much.

The discussion over at Matt Cutts' blog seems worthwhile:

http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/seo-article-in-newsweek/

He published that item before /. grabbed the 'scoop'. Also, Matt himself was
involved in fragments of that article (indirectly).

Fishkin looks like Ringo Star.

I better know Ringo Star's appearance in his older days. The beatles predate
me.

Ironically, the the site which hosts this article rel="nofollow"s all the
links at the top. What would they do that for if not for SEO purposes?

Good point, they are nofollowing their standard links such as the RSS
feed, signup so those essentially worthless pages don't pick up PR rank.

I actually pointed that out in this newsgroup before, but I can't recall the
context. I am certain that MSNBC.com are among the only ones to adopt that
practice. I see it clearly as it's highlighted in red. It makes it an unfair
game ,in my humble opinion, and you would have thought that Microsoft-NBC
ought to play nice, being a large player.

I guess that rel="nofollow" is becoming a fundamental factor in Web design --
somewhat of a necessary skill.

Roy

--
Roy S. Schestowitz | "Disk quota exceeded; sig discontinued"
http://Schestowitz.com | SuSE Linux | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
12:45pm up 1 day 19:53, 6 users, load average: 0.53, 0.35, 0.25
http://iuron.com - next generation of search paradigms

Roy Schestowitz wrote:

The discussion over at Matt Cutts' blog seems worthwhile:

http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/seo-article-in-newsweek/

He published that item before /. grabbed the 'scoop'. Also, Matt himself was
involved in fragments of that article (indirectly).

Thanks for the heads-up. I noticed you'd contributed to the /.
discussion as well.