One Week Without Search - Day 1
I’m sure all three of my loyal readers are eager to find out how my day went yesterday. Well, I’m eager to tell you that it went…mezzo, mezzo.
I didn’t have to do a lot of search, up until I had to check SERP’s. You see, that’s my job, getting SERP’s. I started to feel a bit like a tard, thinking that my one week experiment in not using search in any way was a bit….ill conceived.
Aha, but wait! I have bookmarked some services that gave me a kinda, sorta view on where my serps where yesterday. Three of my favorites are:
Shoemoney’s SERP tool - It’s pretty straightforward. Shoemoney has got this great little tool that will check for your position in the major search engines all at one shot. After checking out a bunch of these tools, I have to admit that Shoe’s is one of my favorites. Direct, to the point, and pretty accurate.
Rank Checker by Seobook - Aaron Wall is just a really great mind folks, and the Rank Checker is another of his neat tools that give you a basic look-see of what’s actually happening out there.
seodigger - When it’s working, which sometimes it goes a little hooey, it’s a neat reverse lookup of where your site is listed for a given keyword. The service is goodly, in that all you have to do is pop in your url, and voila, you get a listing that is “somewhat” up to date of the keywords your site ranks for and where.
Of course, there is always Webmaster Tools, which gives you a weekly rundown of how your site is ranking for given terms, but it’s limited in that it only shows Google SERP’s. Good, but I need the info from the other SE’s as well.
So, the day progressed as so.
I really only had to do one search, for an asp.net control (yes, I’m a Microsux dude) I needed for some developing (no, I’m not a good coder in any way, shape, or form - I just play one on the internets) So I drop on by asp.net (go figure) and I start poking around. A search on their site, which is actually kind of a cool tabbed thinger, yields some results, but the problem is that the app I’m working on is still in asp.net v 1.1, and in the internet world, REALLY OLD. .Net developers LOVE new shiny toys, and everybody is working on .Net 3.0 beta, zeta, some such thing. Took me a while to find a reference to a blog post that when clicked on, lead to a 404 page.
Nuts.
Ok, off to something else. Before hitting the directories I’ve mentioned, I went to Ma.gnolia. I like the concept behind Ma.gnolia, and it has a soft spot in my heart, cause I did an interview with Larry Halff, but I have to admit, I got really flustered really quickly. (I found Ma.gnolia on a Matt Cutts post) I mean, the concept is cool. You bookmark your favorites, with your own tags, they come up under your profile, and you can join your bookmarks to groups, and each group has discussion forums (for lack of a better term) I mean, I really liked how the vibe (when I first joined) was “oooh, look what I found, what did you find, wow that cool” kind of thing.
But the performance! After just a few seconds I started sounding line Yosemite Sam after his foot has been blown off.
“YAH fricken fracken frookin, ricken racken FRACK!”
I tried from three different computers, just in case it was my problem, to try to just get to the tags. The first time I clicked on Everyone’s Tags, the website huuuuuunnnnngggggg theeeerrrreee for almost a full minute. Just when I thought that the page would pop up, blammo, 503 Service Temporarily Unavailable. DAMN! I checked again, and again. Nada. Ma.gnolia has had this problem with performance since it’s inception, and I was really hoping that some day they’d get it under control. But it was just too difficult to actually use it for discovery. I’m hoping I can try again today.
So, off to del.ico.us. We all know it, some of us use it, and I’ve always liked exploring it. But I think I came upon one of the problems with Social Bookmarking. Using the search function is del.ico.us worked pretty quickly, but if their algo uses tags as meta, then that explains why I couldn’t find what I was looking for. People tag bookmarks with a word or phrase that is:
- Meaningful to them
- Is a tag that corresponds with a high PR page.
So my search with terms that I found important where smacked up against the mob rule. Oh, I found some really killer stuff when I started clicking on tags, and I have to admit that the quality of the tags and what they represent are on the whole very, very good, but nobody on del.ico.us had tagged what I was specifically looking for.
By the way, I found a really good blog post on How To Integrate Google Checkout and Paypal In 3 Steps. Boy I need that.
Well, I tried both BOTW and DMOZ. Nothin. These are directories of sites, not of content. A phrase search doesn’t really work.
So I head over to HotSripts. OMFG (Nuff Said)
I bite the bullet and went on over to Mahalo, and just using the directory links I found their Programming Languages category page. Uhmmm, Mr. Calcanis, asp.net might not be LAMP, but it does exist, for some time now as well.
So right them I threw in the towel. No, not on my experiment, but on this particular thing I wanted. IM’d a friend who had in his script librabry an asp.net 1.1 table data view control. Before you even go ballistic and say that I could have rolled my own, which is true, go to hell, ’cause this was for science, and I’m a lazy shit. So he sent it over to me, and that was the day.
So, my first day without search kinda sucked. Social bookmarking and “discovery” sites are still the bomb in my book, but today’s experience has led me to believe that it’s solely for discovery, and not search. Well, I’ll try again today, cause I have some interesting stuff to try to find.
Will someone please tell me what I missed if I had used search?
One Week Without Search
In my last post, Search Engines Are Dead, I told you guys how flustered I was with the idea that someone thinks that search engines are a thing of the past. Well, “social” is very much alive, but a complete replacement for search? I just don’t think so.
Search is part of our collective sub-conscious. In the real world, aka, my desk, my bedroom, my living room, my car, I SEARCH for things, all the time. You want to find an errant sock? You search for it amongst the all the other socks that have been in the dryer for the past two days. You want to find that receipt where you bought that laptop battery? You search for it in your office, or your bedroom, or if your like me, somewhere in your car, probably under the car seat with the old candy wrappers and that pen you’ve been looking for since who knows when.
So I thought I’d challenge myself. A pretty scary challenge it is. I’m gonna try somethin’, and see how far I can get by just clicking links, or going to portals, or news sites, or social bookmarking sites, and not use search engines for one week.
That’s right, no Google, no Yahoo, no MSN, not even Ask, for one whole week. (Damn, ok, I won’t use Mahalo either) I’ve been thinking about some self appointed rules for this little gambit of mine, to be a little realistic. I’ve got a job to think about as well, so I can’t just give it all up for the sake of science, but I think I might be able to survive with the following rules.
- I can’t use SEARCH ENGINES. The basis of my experiment. I can’t go to Google and type in “baby boogers” or anything else into the search box. I can however, use the tools I’ve signed up for, like GMail, Gtalk, Yahoo! Mail, Calendar, and all the other stuff the SE’s give away so you’ll STAY there.
- I can use my bookmarks.
- I can go to websites I know from memory.
- I can go to sites that my friends refer me to.
- I can go to search results I find linked to in posts and forums.
- I will allow myself to be led by friends to the right spot.
- This one is important. I can’t use search engines, but I can use the built in search of the sites I visit. However, some sites use Google for their internal search. I’m going to allow myself to use these because they are an internal search to the site alone.
So, what am I trying to prove or disprove. I’m not sure, I’m not done with the experiment. But I’m interested in what someone like myself, who knows how to use search, will find just by using blogs, social bookmarking, portal links, and news sites. Can I find what I’m looking for? (Neat, instead of search, I need to find) Can I exist without SEARCH. Hmmmmm.
Ok, off the top of my head, I’m going to start with these sites, and move on to blogs that I personally know of as well. Well, the blogs are all SEO blogs, but they often link to important stuff as well.
del.icio.us - they’ve been at it for awhile, and I’m interested in really testing their algo.
Reddit - Same thing.
ma.gnolia - I did an interview with the founder, and I like the setup.
Digg - What, for real information? Nah. Good for finding funny pictures of Bush doing whiskey shots, but I sometimes question what digg’s users think of as super important information. Hey, I use digg all the time to find very unique content, so I’m hoping that experience might also pay off for search.
Best of The Web - Shoemoney says that they should replace DMOZ as a bonafide directory. I know that I like their MO more that the MOZ, so I’m gonna try it out. But I still might use DMOZ from time to time.
So every day this week, I’ll let you know how the previous day went. Along the way, if you want to point out some good sources, please do. I have a feeling that I might need the help. Please feel free to point out any sites or services where you think that I can find what I want by clicking or doing an INTERNAL search only.
My first order of business this week?
ASP.NET code for the new e-commerce site I’m building.
CSS - yes, I know some of the best spot, like AListApart.
Beauty News - I work for banler, I have to be up on the latest.
Odds and Ends? Don’t know, I haven’t started wondering yet.
..
..
I’m not going to enjoy this, am I?
Search Engines Are Dead
**BE FOREWARNED! THIS IS A LONG POST**
Sitting there at lunch at this neat little Cuban/ Argentinian restaurant in Coral Gable’s, Florida, I actually experienced someone look me straight in the eye, and poo poo search.
“The Search Engines are a thing of the past” he says to me as he waves the thought away like some bothersome fly blowing little fly kisses in his ear.
“Google is non-consequential, they are part of the past, we won’t need search.” he continues to say as he looks at me like I’m some lowly waterboy learning the secrets of the universe from him. His community building technology will attract an audience because, like a stormtrooper, it will enforce it’s authoritah.
Yes, this conversation actually happened.
At first, I thought that he meant that he didn’t need search to attract an audience, basing his search marketing on viral methodologies. A link here, some buzz there, a good news article, and a viral thing happens. Hey, it works. Most of the major social community sites didn’t attack search at all, they just created a little buzz on the web about what they are doing, and why, and we are off to the races. Search results will come, especially when you have a few hundred users tagging, talking and bookmarking stuff. Before you know it, you’ve got thousands of pages of relevant content that you did not have to create, from a site that is actually a magnet for users.
For instance, thisnext, which is a social shopmarking site where a community of avid shoppers bookmark deals, steals, gifts, clothes, beauty products, shoes, and unique…stuff from all around the web, is just that kind of site. I can definitely say that I’m a fan of the concept. I’m sure I’m not the first one to notice the potential, especially in monetizing such a framework. I mean, where else are you going to find the Hello Kitty Assault Rifle? (something my wife has been eying, so I’ll be sure to bring her chocolate everyday)
It’s not new, per say. Forums have been attracting this kind of search results for years, but with a bookmarking site, you can create your own little celebrity status, becoming an expert in something. This can be attractive.
Eventually, viral marketing affects search, (linkbait, linkjuice, linkwhore) and I’m sure that most of today’s thisnext users found the site through search. I’m not your most accomplished journalist, so I haven’t asked before I started this post, so I can’t vouch that my opinion is valid. It’s an intuition, and not an opinion that should be taken as any kind of fact. All I know is my experience with thisnext, and my observation of the people around me. My wife found thisnext through searching for hair care.
This conversation started when he began explaining his online community building “software” as he calls it. In all actuality, I’ve been researching the semantic web, ontologies, meta data and associative word knowledge based systems for awhile. I’ve got to tell you the truth, his technology is impressive. I’ve also done a little database work, since my primary field is e-commerce, relational databases are always on my mind. (I’m actually preparing a post for this whole semantic, ontology, tagging thing, so stay tuned) So I was excited to hear more on his concept.
But when he said search was a thing of the past, my ears started to bleed. Unless I misunderstood, which has happened my times I’m sad to say, his idea was “build it, and they will come.” His technology would create instant authority because it created the proper meta data that pushed the concepts the community was most authoritative out into the web.
I asked, “Out into the web, …where?”
Remember “build it and they will come”? The basic concept of what NOT TO DO, when thinking of promoting a website. I mean, the search engines have all improved over the years, and Google’s capabilities are really staggering. I can pretty much bet you that if you have a url, and a bs index.htm page with nothing on it but company name, no inbound links, no site submission, and a noindex in the meta and the robots.txt file, google still knows it’s there, and would probably list the reference to the site in a search for the url. But there is no amount of meta, semantic, topological, ontological or any other “ogical” technology that will enforce it’s rules upon any of the SE’s, especially Google. It’s Google’s algorithm that decides if your an authority site, not your algorithm TELLING Google your the authority. Just doesn’t happen. Even though the technology was super impressive, his reasoning, his attitude was just wrong. You need to market your business, at least one freakin link somewhere. Nope, not according to his plan. According to him, people will go to a site they don’t even know is there.
So my main dilemma was trying to figure out how people where going to find this site. So I give him a theoretical situation. Say you build a community site for women entrepreneurs. There is PLENTY of interest on the web for that. How do you attract the visitors? How does a woman entrepeneur, who wants to network with other women entrepeneurs, find your site?
It’s as if I asked what 2 + 2 is to Albert Einstein. He was incredulous. How could I ask him such a question.
“The meta data engine will push out this information to the right people” he says.
OOOOOHHHH, wait a minute. Are you saying that you’ll have an RSS or syndication service that will push out the content of your community to web properties like Yahoo or Aol or MSN? You’ll be using a proliferated data model? Where will you get the initial content? ( I learned this stuff from Mike McDonald)
“No. We can use RSS and the syndicated datamodels of other websites that have information our users want. In the case of a woman entrepreneurs social site, we can draw in the information that they want to have, based on their movement inside the community. When they network with people from their own state, or college, or they communicate an economic idea, or their favorite accounting package, or where the best source for labor is, they will be creating meta data that is quantifiable. We can present her with everything she wants all within the same matrix, she won’t even know she’s always within the same structure.”
Right now I’m thinking ‘OK, listen. I AGREE 100%. Your technology is awesome. The relational data structure is simply massive in it’s implications. FACEBOOK is based on a similar concept. But even FACEBOOK had to let someone know they existed. “Hey, look at me, I’m FACEBOOK, you cool new toy”‘
So I ask him again -
“But how will a business woman know your site exists?”
“From the users” he says.
BIG SLAP TO MY FOREHEAD CURLY STYLE.
I say “And those users will find your site how?”
I had to ask this again. I was starting to feel all weird in the head.
“Because our technology will push the data out to those users”
Can you see where this is going?
Since we where sitting at a restaurant where a lot of professionals like lawyers, doctors and businessmen hung out, I ask the young lady next to me what she uses the web for. I had to make sure he listened to this conversation, so I made it look as if we where going to flirt with her.
“Hey” I ask her. “Do you like to use the internet?’
“Yeah” she says “I do a lot of research, and I network and communicate with others in my field. I buy a lot of stuff online as well.”
When he heard the word network, he grinned at me like saying “You see”
So I asked her, “How did you find these professional networks,” and I could see his face, waiting for the kill, to show me how I was an antiquated, silly and stupid individual who knows nothing of web technology and shouldn’t even be allowed in the room.
Wait for it….
She said “Oh, I did a search on Google for a young lawyers group. I did different searches. I used Yahoo as well. I found this blog of a young attorney in San Fransisco, but I also found a listing for a discussion forum for young lawyers, and a Linkedin listing.”
His smile faded.
“Ahh, you SEARCHED for it. Google is a great search engine. Yahoo is a little better at groups and such” I said.
“Yeah, but pretty much everything you want to find, you can find it through Google. If not that actual web page, then a reference to a web page” She said.
“Cool” I said.
..
I looked over at this incredible intelligent man who developed something I couldn’t even begin to comprehend, and I said. “You see, she searched for this, on a search engine. She might have also been on a forum that had a link on it, but she found that forum via search to begin with. Those websites didn’t just appear on her page because they know who she is and came to her, and jumped through the browser. Now that she knows they are there, she’ll return on her own, WHEN SHE NEEDS TO. Not because she’s always in there.
He fell silent for awhile. I couldn’t comprehend how search didn’t even come into this man’s attention. Did he think that people would go online and pop into the url field his website because that’s what their fingers did?
Social Networking, social media, bookmarking, meta tags are a wave front of the future, but it’s hard to comprehend a future without search. Social technologies will never replace the need for search, I don’t care what the experts say. Search was borne out of necessity, and that necessity remains. But the social aspect of search WILL jump forward to show it’s face and be an active part of search. That is without question. Right now, you don’t have to go to a lawyers website to find out how the law works or what you need to do for a special case, you can read someone else’s account, and see different people’s reaction to that situation. That’s authority, and the SE’s like authority.
