Michael Gray - Graywolf's SEO Blog
Michael Gray - Graywolf's SEO Blog |
| Google is Scarier than Facebook on Privacy Posted: 02 Jun 2010 07:59 AM PDT
In the past few weeks Facebook has been publicly criticized over privacy policies; however, when Google invades people’s privacy, the offenses don’t receive the same level of scrutiny or public outrage. Unless you had all of your attention focused on the Lost season finale, it’s been impossible to not know about the problems Facebook has been having with privacy . It had gotten so bad that people created infographics showing the erosion of privacy over time and the byzantine settings to control your privacy. This caused some high profile people like Jason Calacanis and Leo Laporte to delete their facebook profiles as a form of public protest. However, when Google is guilty of similar violations, those people (and the community as a whole) remain mute on the issue. In recent weeks Google has been caught uncharacteristically with their pants down on more than one occasion. First they admitted they “accidentally” downloaded personal information. More recently, they were “forced” to admit they were geographically mapping all open wifi networks as part of the European street map program. I don’t know about you, but I think these are some pretty serious offenses. But are Jason Calacanis and Leo Laporte deleting their Google profiles or calling for any form of protest against Google? So why does Google get to “slide by” while Facebook gets sacrificed on the altar? First off, Google has done an excellent job of perpetuating the “garage company startup” despite being a huge business and financial juggernaut. Don’t think for a second that the playful colors, funny logos, bean bag chairs, and lava lamps are by accident. It’s all intended to create that sense of being “googly.” The second part is that Google creates a lot of good will by giving things away for free. It doesn’t matter that, by giving things for free, they destroy other businesses. It’s almost as if people believe that, as long as long you get it for free, it’s all good. But free is a funny thing, and it motivates people in funny ways. People have been known to give away a lot of personal information to get things for free. That tendency is something that a lot of startups depend on. If the community isn’t going to protest, then it’s up to the government to step in. While the DOJ may want to go after Google, right now it’s not happening. Call me a crazy conspiracy theorist , but the spooks in the spy agencies have convinced the government that spying on its citizens is a good thing, and they might as well let someone else get their hands dirty doing it. And this isn’t a red state blue state debate: both Bush and Obama have extended the Patriot Act. So what’s the next step? We each have to take a stand and educate our circle of friends and contacts about the clear and present danger that all of these companies put on our personal freedoms. Facebook, Google, or some other company–it doesn’t matter where the threat comes from. What’s important is that we see it for what it is and act accordingly. As Ben Franklin says “He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither.” Advertisement: Ezilon.com Regional Directory – Check to see if your website is listed! #5 This post originally came from Michael Gray who is an SEO Consultant. Be sure not to miss the Thesis Wordpress Theme review.  Related posts:
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| Posted: 01 Jun 2010 08:00 AM PDT
For this post I’m going to review the SEO Automatic Plugin produced by Scott Hendison. Some of you may know some of Scott’s other work from Search Commander, Inc. and the WP Core Tweaks Plugin. For this post, we’re going to be looking at his latest creation SEO Automatic for Agencies. The plugin is designed for agencies and SEO firms who run a lot of site audits and are looking to save time by getting a quick assessment of a website’s technical aspects and identifying any potential problems or issues. The plugin isn’t designed to replace a experienced SEO, but it does automate some of the grunt work. and make you more efficient and profitable. Here’s a video from Scott that talks about the product: Click here to view the embedded video. Once you install the plugin (which I have to say went off without hitch), you put a bit of code on page and you’re ready to start running reports. Put the URL in and you’ll get a report back within a minute. Here’s the actual report from my website. I’ve got two important issues: no H1 on my homepage, which is true and probably something I should fix, and no meta keywords. It also tells me I’ve got a some other issues worth noting, like missing alt tags, inline CSS, excesive number of links, page size, and so on. All in all, it’s a pretty useful report that compiled in much less time than it would have take to figure out the same information on my own. You can use the report as a starting point for SEO audits. If you sell them yourself, you can white label the reports. There are a bunch of other uses for the SEO Automatic tool. Personally I like the idea of being able to run the report while talking to a potential client and getting a really quick idea of what’s going on during the conversation. Another thing that makes this unique is that all of the ranking factor definitions, results, advice, links, and even the thresholds for determining high or low for links and file size are editable right from inside your WordPress admin. It’s not just a “white label” report–it’s actually your own advice. This is a premium plugin that sells for $997; however, what you have to look at is how much time it is going to save you. If you can do a few hours worth of work in minute or two, that has value. If you’re able to do it for multiple clients over a year’s time, the tool will have more than paid for itself. There is also a monthly payment option of $89 per month. You can see all the pricing information here. Is this tool for everyone? No. However, if you are a small- to mid-sized or even a large agency, having a tool like this could save a few hours for every client project you work on each year. In a consulting world, time is money, and the quicker you can get information, the better off you’re going to be. Find out more information on SEOAutomatic.com (http://www.seoautomatic.com/plugins/seo-automatic-for-agencies/). The preceding has been a sponsored post. Find out more information about sponsored posts. Advertisement: Scribe SEO Review find out how to better optimize your wordpress posts. #4 This post originally came from Michael Gray who is an SEO Consultant. Be sure not to miss the Thesis Wordpress Theme review.  Related posts:
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