Category Archives: Web 3.0

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RIP Google Authorship, we barely knew ye . . .

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“ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes” - David Bowie

Goodbye to Google Authorship.

Yesterday Google announced that it was unplugging its ‘Google Authorship’ tool after a three year effort to match authors with content and apply to search.

Authorship was a great idea with a lot of potential, but lack of adaptation and impact coupled with the rise of (and constraints of) mobile search led to its demise.

More specifically:

  1. Not enough authors were using it,
  2. Not enough webmasters were adopting it,
  3. The images took up too much space in search results served to mobile, and
  4. Google found that Authorship did not have a noticeable impact on click traffic.

Officially announced yesterday by John Mueller (see Google+ post from Google Webmaster Tools), Google will no longer show authorship results in Google Search, and is discontinuing tracking data for any content using rel=author markup.

The news has even sparked speculation and stretching that Google+ could be next on the chopping block, but don’t count on that further development. Google has a long history of rolling out new experimental products and rigorously testing them for usefulness, adoption, relevance, impact and overall value.  If those products fell flat or failed to measure up, then Google has admiringly pulled the plug on them and moved forward. That approach to products and services is one of the main reasons Google has risen to the top – and also why they should continue their dominance.

Chances are that Google already has there eye on a better way to achieve the goals that Authorship failed to reach – and are testing it in a super-secret lab in the mountains.

Rock on Ziggy Stardust . .  Changes on Youtube.

 

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Google Fiber to Leawood, KS

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the google fiber rabbitWe have very exciting news for Leawood, KS residents: Monday night (August 19th, 2013), the City Council for Leawood, KS voted to bring Google Fiber to town. An announcement was made to this effect on the Google Fiber blog by Rachel Hack, Google Fiber Community Manager. This comes quickly after the recent announcement on August 5th that Google Fiber will be coming for Prairie Village, Kansas as well.

This is wonderful and exciting news!

In a previous post(7/26) about the need for the remaining communities in the greater Kansas City area to ‘get on board’, I lamented the delay of a handful of cities to approve Google Fiber. Now there are only a few more communities in the are to go, namely:

  • Overland Park, KS
  • Independence, MO
  • Lenexa, KS

Come on City Council members, please release your residents from ‘Technological Limbo’. Google Fiber is one of the most exciting things to ever happen to the greater KC area, and it isn’t fair to your residents to continue delaying the vote. Please put politics aside and place progress at the forefront.

The future is now, why on Earth would you delay?

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Defining the Future – Kansas City’s Opportunity

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Dear People and Companies of the World,

Young and old, big and small – the future is ready, are you? It spreads in the daring minds of pioneers. Architects of the future are now increasingly valued in the World – more than at any time in recent memory. Those minds are being encouraged and fed greater resources.

Resources to build, room to dream, frontiers to conquer, sails to set and horizons to eye.

It is happening.

Today, explorers and adventurers have the ‘royal ear’ and the New World is here once again. It is our same old World seen through transformative eyes . . .

New Kansas City, New Austin soon.

What will we call that place on the slopes? New Provo sounds nice!

Google is sending out the fearless, the bold, and are planting flags of the future in the Heart of America. A new product launching called Google Fiber – and running glass – fiber optic cable, to connect the World in ways in which we should have already been connected. As daring and bold as it is, what we are seeing is merely the groundwork for what is to come – people connecting, sharing, building new things – better things for a better tomorrow.

Ford, Chevy, Sony, Microsoft, Apple and Small Businesses – there are new ‘roads’ being built for your products and services. Get off your laurels – the time to act is now – and ever now.

Kansas City Areas Eligible for Google Fiber (as of 05/08/2013).

The only foes in this bright and exciting New World are those keepers of the old order – fat, complacent cats dining on old hoarded cheese. The Fiberbahn is being built, line-by-line, street-by-street, pole-by-pole, city-by-city, and mind-by-mind. When someone jumps in to build a better World, a better way – open your mind and wallet and get on board. Buy-in and build.

Enjoy being part of building and creating the new and improved – FOR REAL.

Don’t think 20% better, or twice as good . . . .

Think 100 Times – Faster, More Powerful. The old ISP and cable feudal lords know that the ‘gig is up’. Sad that someone entirely outside the industry had to come in and build a platform for the future – but there is much excitement, because a fiber-optic network is finally underway. The clamor for Google Fiber is resounding throughout our land – ask any city leader about the calls and emails that they get, saying “Can we get it? When can we get it??!”.

Indeed. Thank you, Google for having the vision and guts to begin building what will hopefully grow into a nationwide fiber-optic network. And thank you for choosing Kansas City as your first market.

The light is shining, the future is here – and it is double-parked . . . Let’s Go! Envision how our bright future will look and help build it.

There are no monsters in the uncharted waters. The Earth is not flat. The waters of the oceans don’t spill off the edge of the map into oblivion.

There are new vistas to behold, new ground to break – and it is all around you as far as you can see – wherever you are.

I see the pioneers of today building the World that they want to live in. Bob Bigelow is building a fleet for travel into space with plans for a lunar settlement and he is making progress. Ree Drummond, ‘The Pioneer Woman’ (and dear friend) has built a fairytale into a televised, and best-selling reality in Pawhuska, Oklahoma! I can’t wait to dine at her new restaurant that is in the works (from what a little bird told me).

I LOVE Ree, she calls me 'Josefus'!
I LOVE Ree, she calls me ‘Josefus’!

Google is laying a fiber optic network which will transform the way we live in ways that we are just now starting to imagine – and providing tools and opportunity – necessary means for us, our children and the leaders of tomorrow in America – to employ.

Build the future, think of ONE HUNDRED TIMES . . . Bigger, Better, Stronger, Faster.

Be part of a New Renaissance of all communications, commerce, products, services and their exponential impact of their application.

Leave complacency behind – on the couch, in the cubicle. Re-think goals, dare to dream ‘What if?’ and put on your running shoes and join in.

I’ll see you on the frontier.

– Joe

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Google Fiber - THANK YOU

Fire Up A Torch. Light Up The Sky.

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Google Fiber - THANK YOUMy friends, there is a coming superstorm. Not a bad one, but a good one. An EXCELLENT one.

One that we will build (and in some cases are building, and have been working toward).

We have a World that is in flux in many ways – which is alarming, in that we have been sedentary for decades (centuries?). Joseph Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness’ was dispelled by global growth – a lack of question marks on the map – and more importantly, a lack of querying in our minds. The old ‘it’s all been done’, ‘I can’t make a difference’, ‘what can I do?’ fears and excuses are sad comforts that are easily cultivated in our minds and later manifest in our Worlds.

Snap your fingers and dispel those lies. Do it now.

The World needs people that are, as the Chili’s say, are ‘Wide Awake Now‘.

Wake Up!

Start making a difference. You are a generator of storms. We are all builders, creators, explorers, pioneers, inventors and innovators. Marianne Williamson is right – Our greatest fear is not that we are powerless – but that we are powerful beyond all belief.

My experience is that activating that power in oneself happens when we begin allowing ourselves.

Allowing.

To dare, dream, plan, build, achieve, create.

No one can keep us down but us. Let’s allow ourselves to experience a full life and fix this World as much as possible.

Right now there is an election going on that people are all in a furor about. But this is not about politics. Every time someone starts getting ‘bent’ about politics, it just makes me think about how disarming the idea of choosing someone else to make decisions for us can be. If we all dared to make the World that we live in a better place – then evil men would be eternally discouraged and confounded.

I like the sound of that.

Every day that sun comes up, the turnstiles turn, people die, people are born, and the status quo rolls on in a slightly different iterations.

I’m all for kicking it into a better gear.

Conrad’s Heart of Darkness has returned like a wicked multi-headed Hydra.

It aint no big deal.

We’ve been slaying beasts and overcoming ‘insurmountable’ problems for as long as anyone has been paying attention. It is what we do.

What heads on the hydra?

  1. Global economic fears,
  2. Global environmental fears,
  3. Conspiracy fears,
  4. Health-related fears,
  5. Fears for our safety, livelihood and future.
  6. Et al and ad naseum.

I’m not buying it. Make a play for all of the brightest minds and light will shed (thank you again, Anthony Keidis).

The mythical beasts have returned in digital forms. The Medusa holds us paralyzed in her gaze through TV screens, live feeds of varying nonesuch-ery and sales pitches. The evil creeping up has been creeping up slow and digging its tendrils in for a long time. Certain unnamed industries have used a steady hive of smartly-dressed, sexy sirens in Washington lobbyists to turn the eyes, blind the minds and darken the hearts of our good men that we keep VOTING for. Those poor, over-paid, over-sexed and over-privileged lost sailors.

We must retake the World for tomorrow by waking up today.

I pride myself on having a television that is far older and crappier than the one in the lavatory at the local sports bar. Yes, I admit I will follow a certain long-maligned local NFL franchise and my Alma Mater in certain sports. Not saying that we don’t need some re-creation and entertainment. But let’s wake up and not be blinded, used, misled.

Dearest Mankind, we can handle ANY problems that come our way. We have to believe, we have to try, and we have to wake up and pay attention. We are capable; we have been blessed with endless gifts. You can’t tell me that one person can’t make a difference. Sure, more helps. But we all have to start somewhere. If we start lighting torches and lanterns, we kill darkness around us and provide light for others so that they may light their torch as well.

It is not about a political party affiliation. It is about who we are, what we do, how we see ourselves and how we can choose to change the World by starting with ourselves, our outlook, our decisions on what we will think and what we will do with our time and abilities.

They say that is cheap, but I am lighting my torch. I want to spread light, to shed light, to help wake people up. I dream of seeing a World of empowered free-thinkers.

Let’s wake up and slay some dragons. Our ancestors climbed mountains, slayed beasts, overthrew tyrants, sailed seas, conquered the wild, trekked forests and deserts and tundras.

We can do the same. Let’s allow ourselves. Let’s have REAL ADVENTURE and build a better World.

Forget online fantasy role-playing games that eat up your time. Disengage from any scurrilous activities that are beyond engaging us – but engorging us . . . hello Mr. Eight Fantasy Football League Teams.

The World is for doers. For dreamers. For those that dare.

So wake up and un-plug. Dare. Dream. Do. Grow. Learn. Create. Build.

That person in the mirror is a dragon-slayer – and we’ve got plenty of dragons in our new Hearts of Darkness.

The World in flux? How about the WORLD ON FIRE WITH LIGHT!

You want opportunity, challenges, adventure, drama, romance? It is all there in front of us – ALL YOU WANT.

So, here I am spouting off, running around with my torch, looking for dragons to slay. I need some help. That darkness closes in a bit at times. It also brightens the heart when I see other points of light.

Grand terms, yes. Why not.

It is only our World, our minds, our lives and our futures.

Strike it up!

If I can help – let me know. There is a lot going on out there. If you have a retail business and could use some exposure, branding and extra traffic (Internet or ‘foot-traffic’) – I will help. If you made it through my ‘rah rah’ blog post, the least I could do is offer to help.

Just let me know you’d like to help spread some light, slay some dragons, have some adventure and build your business a little more.

What will I do to help? I will advertise your business at no cost. As long as you are willing to help me as well – help me spread some light – and make a decent offer (discount or promotion) for our Cardholders.

That’s it.

I’ve been inspired by many to try to spread light. I get inspired by people and company led by people that dare, dream, do, build, create and do things for the right reasons. I’m talking to you, Google.

Yes, a lot of people like to gripe about an industry leader. But this one actually builds things and GIVES THEM TO THE WORLD.

I like that.

  1. An excellent search engine that organizes the World’s information and puts all of it at your fingertips? (Google)
  2. An incredibly detailed, feature-rich global (and then some) mapping system?(Google Maps),
  3. An awesome email system? (Gmail),
  4. Et cetera.

They just keep going.

What I love is their latest gift to the World. Google Fiber.

This has been needed for so long. I’m doing EVERYTHING I can to help make this latest Google ‘gift to the World’ get built and spread as quickly, and effectively as possible.

  • Gigabit Internet Speeds Upstream and Downstream? OH YEAH!
  • Crystal-clear HD video-conferencing? OH YEAH!
  • Speeds that are 100 TIMES FASTER at a better rate than companies that just want to keep out any new competitors, continue to screw their customers and NOT work to build something better? OH YEAH! (Yes, Pete – I heard you).

Well, I’m drinking the Kool-Aid.

It can’t be any cooler that Google Fiber chose to start in Kansas City. They have decided to LIGHT UP A TORCH that can light up the sky and help make the World a better place.

It starts here. I’m helping them. I am helping spread the word.

Thank you, Google Fiber for coming to Kansas City and firing up that big, huge torch. I see the light. Better things are coming.

Booyah!

And I’m out.

Joe

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World's Top Search Engines

The importance of proper SEO grows daily

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World's Top Search EnginesYellow pages? I am sure some people still use the yellow pages to find what they need. I just don’t know any of them. Like it or not, the relevance of yellow page directories has come and gone.

So where does a business spend their marketing dollar to get the best ROI?

Increasing their visibility for WHAT they do in search rankings at the World’s leading search engines.

This doesn’t mean trying to employ some strategy to trick Google, Yahoo! or Bing into putting their listing at the top. That will not work. Even worse, if it did work – it will only be for a matter of hours or a couple of days before the algorithm update – which will relegate the cheating strategy site to search oblivion.

Just two days ago I met a potential client who was imagining a strategy of using a lot of little sites in an effort to dominate Google’s rankings! I couldn’t believe that someone had suggested this to them! I wasted no time telling them to ABSOLUTELY AVOID any such strategy.

They were aghast at the news.

Which brings me to the topic of educating business owners about organic search engine optimization. A good portion of delivering quality SEO is educating the client on the right approach – and mindset of the approach – as well as working to ‘undo’ or delete whatever bad SEO strategies that have affected their rankings negatively.

It is amazing how many people don’t understand that they will be penalized for deceptive, shady strategies and/or duplicate content/duplicate listings.

Another common hurdle is trying to educate the business owner who wants to be ranked number one for their town, plus all other surrounding towns and areas in organic rankings. This simply does not work.

Here’s why:

  • The best search engines provide the best quality of search results.
  • Quality of search results depends on three things:
    1. accuracy,
    2. relevance,
    3. value.

So here’s the deal – here’s how to get and keep the best possible organic search rankings for your business:

  1. Accurately represent your business on the web,
  2. Provide value for site visitors.

Yes it is a good idea to be social and use social media to connect with people. Making your business accessible through the latest social media platforms says a few things about your business, namely that A) you are a vibrant and relevant business, and B) you are open to connecting with consumers on the Internet.

Having a well-defined presence at Google+, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. also helps establish the accuracy and relevance of your company’s brand.

Rankings = Marketshare in 2012

What are some good guidelines to use when discerning the good strategies from the bad?

  1. Always strive for accuracy . . be WHO YOU ARE, and WHERE YOU ARE.
  2. Adopt the point of view of a search engine and then reflect on that before getting excited about some ‘special strategy’ that someone told you about.

RE: #2 above . . .

Yes, you need to look at things from Google’s point of view. Consider that Google is working every day to sift through a gargantuan amount of information from innumerable sites that is growing every day. In order to be THE BEST search engine in the World, Google has to sort through this mass and deliver the most accurate, relevant results that have the most value for their search engine users. So how does Google do this? Many ways, including:

  1. Continually updating the value of a complex, top-secret algorithm that ranks all web sites/pages/content to determine and deliver the highest-quality search results.
  2. Continually tweak methods for identifying ‘webspam’ and removing the offending webspam publishers from the indexes of their datacenters.
  3. Continually update the datacenters with fresh, relevant content that is being delivered ’round the clock’ by billions of spider bots that crawl and index the information available on the World’s servers.

In addition to those efforts, new efforts are being made by the Big Three (Google, Yahoo! and Bing) to improve the formatting of the web by integrating semantics through use of microdata and mutually agreed-upon protocols as in http://www.schema.org (see my blog post on The Semantic Web), which will dramatically increase the overall accuracy of information on the internet.

Quality SEO is not rocket science – but more common sense. With Google, you are either part of the problem or part of the solution.

My advice?

Be part of the solution.

The job of a quality organic search engine optimization consultant is to:

  1. Quantify your company as it applies to search,
  2. Define the parameters of your company and how they should be represented online,
  3. Research whatever current presence your company already has online (which you may or may not be aware of) – and remove any negative elements,
  4. Assess the needs of your company’s Internet presence – including social media outlets, and necessary site elements,
  5. Develop a plan to showcase your company in the most accurate light and most accessible fashion,
  6. Implement this initial plan for your company’s Internet presence, and
  7. Work with you on a plan to remain vibrant and relevant to the online community (which may include social media, adwords campaigns, email marketing and blogging).

Q. Can you do these things for yourself?

A. Yes. In fact, an effective and winning strategy will most likely require your participation.

Q. Should you hire a professional SEO consultant to make sure that your company is optimally presented on the Internet?

A. ONLY if market-share is important to the success of your company, and the success of your company is important to you.

In 2012 – and the future – how important is the Internet to the success of your company and to garnering a respectable amount of market-share?

  • Consider that 2012 is the year when overall ad spend for digital marketing (Internet) eclipses the amount spent on television advertising and print advertising.
  • Consider that hiring a reputable SEO professional that can show you recent examples of their SEO results, and comes highly recommended is as important as choosing the right doctor, dentist or surgeon.

The doctor is in! We look forward to helping your company have success online. Please call 913-271-2955 or contact joe@joewooldridge.com for a free consultation and quote.

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Web 3.0 – Preparing for and building the Semantic Web

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Web 3.0 – Preparing for and building the Semantic Web

Ready to help manifest the future of web? Get ready for Web 3.0 – The Semantic Web

In web 3.0 you will need to build your site and web applications to deliver content in a semantic, organized format. We’re seeing this progress as Google, Bing and Yahoo! have embraced the microdata formats from schema.org.

This is the future of being found on the internet for what you do. It is time to build your site for web 3.0 (the semantic web). Start now by using schema.org’s microdata wherever and whenever possible.

Kate Ray provides this great video re: web 3.0 w/ transcript, interview bios, etc. Need info on building a site or incorporating semantic web elements into your organic SEO strategies? Contact Joe Wooldridge at joe@joewooldridge.com and stay tuned to www.joewooldridge.com.

Web 3.0 Interviews with:

  1. Tim Berners-Lee
  2. Clay Shirky
  3. Chris Dixon
  4. David Weinberger
  5. Nova Spivack
  6. Jason Shellen
  7. Lee Feigenbaum
  8. John Hebeler
  9. Alon Halevy
  10. David Karger
  11. Abraham Bernstein

Joe Wooldridge is a digital marketing generalist, currently working on www.myjoecard.com.

via Web 3.0 on Vimeo.

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