NONE: Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Why it is a *HUGE* mistake to try and trick search engines...
Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Why it is a *HUGE* mistake to try and trick search engines...
Jeff Leane (leane_at_emerge.com)
Tue, 22 Oct 1996 14:17:35 -0700
THESIS:
-------
"It is a *HUGE* mistake to try and trick search engines..."
It's impossible, unethical, and unsustainable [Eric Ward]
ANTITHESIS:
-----------
"Your job is to get a page seen ... by fair means or foul."
It's possible, responsible, and necessary [Peter Hartley]
SYNTHESIS:
----------
Eric and Peter are actually saying the same thing.
*The market perceives search engines as a zero-sum game.* Jill's gain must
be Jack's loss, and vice versa. Jack & Jill can carry this further, to an
arms race -- then everyone loses, including the customer.
And the truth is that today's search engines *are* pretty crummy tools for
the purpose of segmenting customer interest -- that is what we're talking
about.
If you believe that the current crop of search engines is as good as it
gets, then we really are trapped in a zero-sum game. But I think that the
market wants desperately to play a better game than that. If someone would
introduce a better game, he'd have a winner.
THE CHALLENGE AS I SEE IT:
--------------------------
- Search engines are in the business of connecting supply and demand
- Search engines have a responsibility to both sides
- The people who want to see your pages should see them
- Search engines are failing both sides
- Search engines are fundamentally flawed
- Few people understand the rules of the game
- New approaches to searching are needed badly. They need
o to reflect how both supply and demand go to market
o to segregate commercial and non-commercial data
o to be clear, open, and accessible to everyone
o to simplify the process of "advertising" yourself
o to reflect what people are actually doing with the internet
o to improve performance and relevance
My team's answer to this challenge is Identify & IDML.[*] It's not a
perfect answer, and other answers are possible. But I'd like to hear your
thoughts on it and on our reasoning.
-- Best regards, Jeff
* http://www.identify.com and http://www.identify.com/webmasters.html
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Jeff Leane V: 415-328-6700 |
|V.P. for New Ideas F: 415-323-3281 |
|Emerge Consulting E: leane_at_emerge.com |
|171 Forest Avenue W: Emerge http://www.emerge.com |
|Palo Alto, CA 94301 Identify http://www.identify.com |
| BargainFinder http://bf.cstar.ac.com |
| Bio http://www.well.com/user/leane |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
