Seo Redefined

Yahoo filed a patent last month to automate the SEO process.  On the surface this may sound like a real threat to SEO firms and their very way they make a living.   It all most seems like Yahoo has found a way to make SEO a no brainier.  Is Yahoo saying that it is no effortless to optimize a web site for their search engine?  Well, maybe!

Yahoo's patent is to automate the process of website SEO. It is done by using keyword analysis through the frequency of searches on Yahoo.  The keywords will be analyzed and then relationships of keywords will be strung together in order to determine what will work best for a website.  Depending upon what your site is about; Yahoo will determine the type of traffic you will get.  This automated process, according to Yahoo, is going to direct lots of traffic to your site.

Lots of traffic to your site sounds great. Except if it is not the type of traffic your really want.  Let's say you are trying to sell Left Handed Blue Widgets and Yahoo determines that your SEO should include Whatchamacallits as well.  We all know that Left Handed Blue Widgets cost 10 times more than a Whatchamacallit .  You have a real niche market for Left Handed Blue Widgets and want to market to only those people but the Yahoo automated SEO process has decided that you should market to the Whatchamacallit crowd as well. Do you see the problem here?  Niche market websites could be killed by this automated process and Yahoo will send lot of traffic your way except they are looking for the cheaper Whatchamacallits and can not afford your more expensive Left Handed Blue Widgets.

In theory this all sounds good but in the end I think this will only be good for people who like to do their own website design.  Good luck with this one Yahoo.

Many privacy advocates will be decrying this new Google tool called Google Latitude.  This widget, as I mentioned in a previous blog, allows you to track where your friends and family members are ay any given moment.  By downloading a small widget to your phone and your computer and turning on the GPS feature of your phone you can see in real time on a map where people are located.  Many people, including myself find this tool to be kinda cool.  

The downside is that people do not have to have the same carrier as you to see you.  If you are not careful how you use this, one of your kids could be tricked in to giving "VIEW" permission to the wrong person.  Google has some built in protection .  You can set features to:

- Hide your location.
- Share only city level location.
- Remove the friend from Latitude.

 But we all know about hacking and most hacking is done through social engineering. So your privacy is only as protected as long as you know who is viewing your location. 

Google released a new widget called Google Latitude, that can keep track of your kids for you.  The widget can be used with a cell phone and your computer.  By downloading the widget to each cell phone you want to track and turning on the GPS feature you can locate you children quickly.   Now in theory your children can now no longer hide from you, but there have been some issues with this new technology.

Several groups have done some testing and found that this service is not always accurate.  The system using what is called Triangulation. Simply put the nearest three cell towers make a best guess as to where the cell phone is located.  Hopefully the cell phone is still with your child.  One group found that their children had relocated to a mall in Las Vegas, even though they had been in Atlanta, GA just 30 minutes before that.

This new free service has many advantages for small business as well.  Even though it has issues it is a great start for a free service.