Yes, deliberate mistake It grates when people write poorly, huh. When writers write well, the words almost become invisible. The focus shifts away from technical details, and onto the message. Is there an easy way to write better blog posts? E-mails? Web copy? Let’s take a look at three guidelines for web writing. 1. If You Can Say It, You Can Write It The Dilbert Mission Statement Generator - sadly now offline - comes up with convoluted gems this: “Our challenge is to assertively network economically sound methods of empowerment so that we may continually negotiate performance based infrastructures” Satire, one would hope. However, the US Air Force uses the following mission statement: “The mission of the United States Air Force is to deliver sovereign options for the defense of the United States of America and its global interests - to fly and fight in Air, Space, and Cyberspace” “Deliver sovereign options”? Who talks like this? Well, apart from the US military. Nobody. Good web writing is the same as good spoken language. Use short sentences, short words, simple structures and a natural, predictable flow of ideas. Avoid waffle, hyperbole and words that hide meaning. Whenever you finish a piece of writing, read it aloud. Cut or rephrase phrases that sound clunky, because they’ll read clunky, too. Your writing will sound warm and human. The human voice is especially important online. Communicating at a distance, particularly two-way communication, is relatively new to humans. To help people connect with one another more easily, it pays to write in a warm, conversational style that mimics personal conversation when conducted in close, physical proximity. When you think about how you would say something, especially to a specific person, you choose words, expressions and structures based on that personal context. Try to imagine that person in front of you as your write. This approach works well for all applications - from formal legal sites, to personal sites. 2. Planning Planning what you’re going to say helps you to complete any writing task more quickly and easily. 1. Identify and list your goals. What is the message? What is the desired action you want your reader to take? What is the key thought you want your reader to take away? For example, a goal list might look like this: *inform people the last project went well, even though there were problems *highlight the good aspects about the project *highlight the problems *present ideas on how these problems can be overcome in the next project *get everyone revved up and excited about the next project 2. Think about the audience. Who is your audience? What do you know about the person or group? 3. Determine the right tone and format based on answers 1& 2 4. Write quickly. Don’t edit, even if your writing is a mess. Separate out your writing and editing functions. 5. Draw a solid conclusion. Calls to action work well. 6. Read aloud what you’ve written. Cut, fix and tighten. Writing comes alive in the rewrite. Solid blog posts sound spontaneous, but they’re not. They’re often structured, worked and reworked. 3. Hyperbole Doesn’t Work On The Web Hyperbole means extreme exaggeration. i.e. “All the perfumes of Arabia could not sweeten this little hand”. Web readers tend to gloss over the flowery and the convoluted. On the web, people scan, so the shape of your writing - how it appears on the page - can be just as important as what you say. So think about the shape and form of your writing. Can you use bullets, headings and images to break up large blocks of text? Sometimes, the best thing to do is not write at all. Can an image convey your message? If so, use it. Also consider context. When visitors arrive on a page, a page deep within your site, do they know what your site is about from glancing at that one page? If not, consider using chunks of content to provide context. These chunks of information can be repeated on every page of your site, and should be self explanatory. Think directory entry. Your repeat visitors will become blind to it, but your first time readers will appreciate it. We could go on all day about web writing. However, we’d like to hear your tips. How do you approach writing on your site? Do you plan? Do you wing it? What style of writing gets the best results?

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How To Write Good

Yes, deliberate mistake It grates when people write poorly, huh. When writers write well, the words almost become invisible. The focus shifts away from technical details, and onto the message. Is there an easy way to write better blog posts? E-mails? Web copy? Let’s take a look at three guidelines for web writing. 1. If You Can Say It, You Can Write It The Dilbert Mission Statement Generator - sadly now offline - comes up with convoluted gems this: “Our challenge is to assertively network economically sound methods of empowerment so that we may continually negotiate performance based infrastructures” Satire, one would hope. However, the US Air Force uses the following mission statement: “The mission of the United States Air Force is to deliver sovereign options for the defense of the United States of America and its global interests - to fly and fight in Air, Space, and Cyberspace” “Deliver sovereign options”? Who talks like this? Well, apart from the US military. Nobody. Good web writing is the same as good spoken language. Use short sentences, short words, simple structures and a natural, predictable flow of ideas. Avoid waffle, hyperbole and words that hide meaning. Whenever you finish a piece of writing, read it aloud. Cut or rephrase phrases that sound clunky, because they’ll read clunky, too. Your writing will sound warm and human. The human voice is especially important online. Communicating at a distance, particularly two-way communication, is relatively new to humans. To help people connect with one another more easily, it pays to write in a warm, conversational style that mimics personal conversation when conducted in close, physical proximity. When you think about how you would say something, especially to a specific person, you choose words, expressions and structures based on that personal context. Try to imagine that person in front of you as your write. This approach works well for all applications - from formal legal sites, to personal sites. 2. Planning Planning what you’re going to say helps you to complete any writing task more quickly and easily. 1. Identify and list your goals. What is the message? What is the desired action you want your reader to take? What is the key thought you want your reader to take away? For example, a goal list might look like this: *inform people the last project went well, even though there were problems *highlight the good aspects about the project *highlight the problems *present ideas on how these problems can be overcome in the next project *get everyone revved up and excited about the next project 2. Think about the audience. Who is your audience? What do you know about the person or group? 3. Determine the right tone and format based on answers 1& 2 4. Write quickly. Don’t edit, even if your writing is a mess. Separate out your writing and editing functions. 5. Draw a solid conclusion. Calls to action work well. 6. Read aloud what you’ve written. Cut, fix and tighten. Writing comes alive in the rewrite. Solid blog posts sound spontaneous, but they’re not. They’re often structured, worked and reworked. 3. Hyperbole Doesn’t Work On The Web Hyperbole means extreme exaggeration. i.e. “All the perfumes of Arabia could not sweeten this little hand”. Web readers tend to gloss over the flowery and the convoluted. On the web, people scan, so the shape of your writing - how it appears on the page - can be just as important as what you say. So think about the shape and form of your writing. Can you use bullets, headings and images to break up large blocks of text? Sometimes, the best thing to do is not write at all. Can an image convey your message? If so, use it. Also consider context. When visitors arrive on a page, a page deep within your site, do they know what your site is about from glancing at that one page? If not, consider using chunks of content to provide context. These chunks of information can be repeated on every page of your site, and should be self explanatory. Think directory entry. Your repeat visitors will become blind to it, but your first time readers will appreciate it. We could go on all day about web writing. However, we’d like to hear your tips. How do you approach writing on your site? Do you plan? Do you wing it? What style of writing gets the best results?

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How To Write Good

Webmaster Level: All If you want to add video information to a Sitemap or mRSS feed you must specify the location of the video. This means you must include one of two tags, either the video:player_loc or video:content_loc . In the case of an mRSS feed, these equivalent tags are media:player or media:content , respectively. We need this information to verify that there is actually a live video on your landing page and to extract metadata and signals from the video bytes for ranking. If one of these tags is not included we will not be able to verify the video and your Sitemap/mRSS feed will not be crawled. To reduce confusion, here is some more detail about these elements. Video Locations Defined Player Location/URL: the player (e.g., .swf) URL with corresponding arguments that load and play the actual video. Content Location/URL: the actual raw video bytes (e.g., .flv, .avi) containing the video content. The Requirements One of either the player video:player_loc or content video:content_loc location is required. However, we strongly suggest you provide both, as they each serve distinct purposes: player location is primarily used to help verify that a video exists on the page, and content location helps us extract more signals and metadata to accurately rank your videos. URL extensions at a glance: Sitemap: mRSS: Contents: The playpage URL (url attribute) The SWF URL (url attribute) The FLV or other raw video URL NOTE: All URLs should be unique (every URL in your entire Video Sitemap and mRSS feed should be unique) If you would like to better ensure that only Googlebot accesses your content, you can perform a reverse DNS lookup . For more information on Google Videos please visit our Help Center , and to post questions and search for answers check out our Help Forum . Posted by Nelson Lee, Product Manager, Video Search

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Video Sitemaps: Understanding location tags

Yay! It’s another episode of Web Analytics TV! In this exciting series, with Avinash Kaushik and Nick Mihailovski, you ask, and vote on your favorite, web analytics questions via the Google Analytics Google Moderator site and we answer them. This episode was particularly awesome since there were some fantastic questions . Tough questions that made us think hard. But also questions that made us proud of how sophisticated Google Analytics users are. In this action packed episode we discuss: Google Website Optimizer and the ga.js async tracking code issue What is considered Personally Identifiable Information (PII)? Teaching Google Analytics the location of your local __utm.gif image Implementing ecommerce tracking with multiple currencies Goal names in Google Analytics Similarities and differences between Visitors and Unique Visitors metrics Lovely opportunities for developers to build products using our API Reasons why utm_content values show up as (not set) Best practices for applying segments to specific pages (cool answer!) Implementing ecommerce tracking if you don’t have an order id Using advanced filters in the connection speed report Why the value “other” shows up in your reports Tracking how a visitor finds a site the first time for attribution Correlating business data with Google Analytics data Here are the links to the topics we discuss: Setting the __utm.gif path using _setLocalGifPath How Mikael T. built a business using the Google Analytics API Troubleshooting the tracking code As always, if you need help setting up Google Analytics or leveraging the advanced configuration options, we recommend hiring a Google Analytics Certified Partners . If you found this post or video helpful, we’d love to hear your comments. Please share them via the comment form below. If you have a question you would like us to answer, please submit a question and vote for your favorite question in our public Google Moderator site . Avinash and I will answer your latest questions in a couple of weeks with yet another entertaining video. Posted by Nick Mihailovski, Google Analytics Team

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Web Analytics TV #11 with Avinash and Nick

Today, Eric Schmidt and Ivan Seidenberg, Chairman and CEO of Verizon, will announce a joint proposal for an open Internet. We’ve been working with Verizon to find common ground on the issue of net neutrality for nearly a year—last October we released a shared statement of principles , and in January, we made a joint filing to the FCC . We hope today’s proposal, a suggested legislative framework for consideration by lawmakers, helps to advance the debate over open Internet rules in Washington. We also believe that it is best for users and for the web. For more information, read the full post on our Public Policy blog . Posted by Karen Wickre, Editor, Google Blog team

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A joint policy proposal for an open Internet

Last week, we held our sixth North American Computer Science Faculty Summit at our Mountain View headquarters. About 100 faculty members from universities around the world attended the summit, which focused on security, cloud computing and the social web. Included in the agenda were presentations by Eric Grosse on security at scale, Ulfar Erlingsson on cloud computing and software security, Betsy Masiello on engineering private spaces online, and Andrew Fikes on “planetary-scale” storage systems in the cloud. Andrew Tompkins also moderated a panel on the future of the social web. Alfred Spector , VP of Research and Special Initiatives, talked of “prodigiousness” in his discussion of the potential of cloud computing. He noted that the network underlying the Internet is predicted to carry a zetta-byte (10 21 ) per year, which translates to 32 KB/sec for 1 billion people. You can see a more complete list of the topics and panels on the Faculty Summit site . In his closing talk last Friday, Vint Cerf spoke about the “Future of the Internet.” Among his topics were the challenges in migrating from IPv4 to IPv6 , which has a much larger address space than IPv4. This results from the use of a 128-bit address, whereas IPv4 uses only 32 bits. We will soon exhaust the IPv4 address space, so migration is imminent, and complex. Vint also discussed the great potential in implementing an “ Internet of things ,” which refers to a network of everyday objects. Imagine that you’re traveling, and receive a text message informing you that the temperature in your wine cellar has increased to a level that can damage the wine. You then start an app on your smartphone that interfaces with the cellar’s temperature control system to bring the level down. That’s just one possible application as we connect more and more of our personal and home electronics to the Internet. Over on the Research Blog, we’ve posted deeper dives on a few of the talks—on cloud and security , cloud computing and the social web . Visit the research site for videos of the plenary talks and presentations. And if you have questions, please add them to our Moderator page and we’ll be glad to answer. Posted by Maggie Johnson, Director of Education & University Relations

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The 2010 Google Faculty Summit

(Cross-posted from the Lat Long Blog ) What do Alex Trebek, teachers and Googlers have in common? Last week, these individuals and groups all came together at the Googleplex in Mountain View, CA to celebrate exploration and learning. Google hosted its first Geo Teachers Institute, an intensive two-day workshop in which 150 educators received hands-on training and experience with Google Maps, Google SketchUp and Google Earth, including features like Mars, Moon and SkyMaps. Attendees from around the globe not only learned how these products work, but also discovered tips and resources for introducing these tools to students and using them to conceptualize, visualize, share and communicate about the world around them. Through this event, teachers were hopefully inspired to bring the world’s geographic information to students in compelling, fresh and fun ways. John Hanke, VP of Product Management, addressing the audience of educators As part of our continued effort to collaborate with teachers and help students get a better sense of places across the globe, we also announced that Google Earth Pro is now available to educators for free through the Google Earth for Educators site . Educators from higher educational and academic institutions who demonstrate a need for the Pro features in their classrooms can now apply for single licenses for themselves or site licenses for their computer labs. A similar program exists for SketchUp Pro through the Google SketchUp Pro Statewide License Grant , which is currently being provided via grants to 11 states, and available to all others at the K-12 level at no cost. In conjunction with these exciting Geo-related events and announcements, the Geo Education team also thought it’d be timely and fun to test Googlers’ geographic knowledge by hosting the company’s first ever Google Geo Bee. With help from National Geographic, 68 teams relived their school years and took a written geography exam, competing for a spot on stage with Alex Trebek, who hosted the main event. The competition was based on the group version of the National Geographic Bee for students, which Google has sponsored for the past two years. Questions included those like “Which country contains most of the Balkan Mountains, which mark the boundary between the historical regions of Thrace and Moesia?” and “Ben Nevis, the highest peak in the United Kingdom, is located in which mountain chain?” The winners of our Google Geo Bee: Ian Sharp, Marcus Thorpe and Rob Harford The final three Google teams (the Tea-Drinking Imperialists, the Geoids and the Titans) all showed off their geographic literacy and answered a plethora of diverse and complex questions. In the end, it was the Tea-Drinkers who emerged the winners when they figured out that Mecca was the answer to the clue, “Due to this city’s location on a desert trading route, many residents were merchants, the most famous of whom was born around A.D. 570.” And they didn’t just walk away with bragging rights; thanks to Sven Linblad from Linblad Expeditions , they also won an amazing adventure trip to either the Arctic, the Galapagos or Antarctica. Through all of these education efforts — for teachers, students and grown-up Googlers alike — we hope people of all ages never stop exploring. Posted by Tina Ornduff, Geo Education Team

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Alex Trebek, teachers and Googlers unite at the Google Geo Teachers Institute

This is part of our summer series of new Search Stories. Look for the label Search Stories and subscribe to the series. -Ed. Having been a new dad for six months now, I’ve quickly come to learn two valuable parenting lessons. First, being a father is truly a full-time job—and second, sleep is completely overrated. Whether buying the latest bottles, binkies, blankets and bibs, or just blogging about the whole magical journey, becoming a father has been the most invigorating and moving experience of my lifetime. This week, I’m excited to help introduce our latest search story, New Baby . The video really captures the joys (and costs!) of becoming a new parent. I’d like to share my heart-felt compassion with new dads everywhere (and of course, my wife and the other mothers out there who are the true heroes.) We will all rest when they head off to college—in the meantime, enjoy! Posted by Murali Viswanathan, Product Manager

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What to search when you’re expecting

The following is a guest post by Kpaul. A long time ago, on an Internet far, far away (when I wrote for fun - and for free), I did a piece called Portrait of a Blogger . The year was 2002 and blogging was just beginning to really hit the mainstream hard. If you’re not familiar with the audience at Kuro5hin.org, they’re a snooty version of slashdot readers if you can imagine such a thing. (Mentioning both of these websites is outing my age, I think. I better not mention Compuserve.) The story was published on K5 and is still available today. I was told once that it drew a lot of traffic, although Mr. Foster never would share the exact numbers with me. (I imagine he’s laughing somewhere on his yacht these days.) It’s interesting to see how many of the links are still active in that article. In any case, I thought about that story the other day when I was lamenting the fact that I didn’t start publishing my own content on my own sites earlier. (I spent the bubble years working for corporate media on the Death Star .) I let the idea of the piece gel in my mind for a while. I knew I couldn’t do another portrait of a blogger piece. I mean, I could, but I don’t think it would do as well as the previous one did. Also floating around in my mind was an okay from the esteemed Aaron Wall to submit a guest post for SEO Book. Eventually, these two ideas crossed paths, exchanged emails, and set-up a plan to combine the old Portrait of a Blogger piece with something relevant for Aaron’s audience. So, without further ado, I give you a portrait of an SEO circa 2010 The SEO Newbie Favorite software: SENuke Favorite website: webmasterworld.com Favorite drink: Jolt (cause that’s the stereotype and it was in Hackers the movie) Favorite viral video: Numa Numa Favorite rapper: 50 cent A friend of their friend’s sister’s little brother makes money online, so it’s totally going to be possible. The SEO newbie looks forward to a life of an hour of work every week for untold riches. While more and more people are trying to make money online, many of them just don’t have what it takes to work for themselves online. While chasing the magic button - also known as the golden tip, the super duper affiliate secret, or even the extra double tip for making money online - the SEO newbie tends to get distracted from the one obvious thing that equals sucess - i.e. work. Once most SEO newbies find out making money online takes work (more and more of it as time passes and competition increases), they drop out of the game and go back to whatever it was they were doing. Before that, they’re usually found on Webmaster World gabbing about the latest “Google Dance.” SEO Auto-Blogger Favorite software: WordPress MU Favorite website: Any with an RSS Feed Favorite drink: Watered Down McDonald’s Pop (mass produced sugar water that sorta resembles soda) Favorite viral video: Lazy Sunday (something everyone copied) Favorite rapper: Black Eyed Peas If one page in the SERPs is good, and ten pages in the SERPs is great and so on and so forth, what about 1 billion pages? That would be best, right? But how to write a billion pages worth of content? Enter the auto-blog. This spray and pray method of SEO is still tried by many new to the industry, but it is becoming more and more difficult to keep a site like this going for more than a few months. That’s not to say that it doesn’t exist, but there are few low level auto-bloggers who don’t end up getting burned. And yet auto-bloggers make up a large slice of the SEO landscape. This will undoubtedly change in the years ahead. SEO Link Merchant Favorite software: Yahoo! Site Explorer or any Online Link Tool Favorite website: Any that will buy or sell a link Favorite drink: Absynth (not legal anymore) Favorite viral video: Star Wars Kid Favorite rapper: Tupac These people live and dream about links. From the value of links to anchor text to placement to link wheels, their world revolves around the power of the link. Since link selling and buying has gone into a shady black market type atmosphere over the last few years, some of these characters can be shady. A common technique is to peddle “text advertisements” for a low monthly rate to unknowing webmasters. While there are some websites and email accounts still operating in the open, there are also black hat link merchants in some very bad neighborhoods. While I probably shouldn’t mention it, there are some who see short term success using these methods. The thing is, online you want to play the long game. And for that, buying and selling links is out. Phony SEO Guru Favorite software: The autoresponder Favorite website: forums.digitalpoint.com Favorite drink: Acai Juice Favorite viral video: That annoying frog techno thing! Favorite rapper: Vanilla Ice The schemes and scams are plentiful in the world of the phony guru. Yes, you too can make money by showing others how to make money. A lot of these so called gurus don’t even make money on the Internet other than peddling their ebooks and membership sites. The problem with these people is that after a person is burned by so many, they run the danger of not spending ANY money online. This can be just as bad as wasting money on worthless, phony gurus. For example, an SEO Book membership is a wise investment that will pay off in the long run. Don’t be afraid to invest money wisely after being burned by phony SEO gurus. SEO Tail Chaser Favorite software: The latest WSO! Favorite website: warriorforum.com Favorite drink: Budweiser (or something domestic and bland) Favorite viral video: Anything their neighbor liked Favorite rapper: Eminem Usually found huddling around the phony gurus (which grow in numbers every month it seems as more and more people try to monetize the web), tail chasers are those people who try to copy current successful marketing methods online. If you study the whole rebill period of Internet marketing, there were a few people who started off strong (and somewhat legit), but as more and more people got into the game, the boundaries were pushed more and more. The highlight for me, I think, was seeing an elderly lady talking on a YouTube video about posting links to Google to make money. While some tail chasers may be able to make small (or even moderately large) amounts of money in a short time, they lack the skills (and vision) to replicate the success on a continual basis. We interrupt this guest blog post for a shameless plug. On one of my blogs, I’ve started using D&D character alignments instead of ‘colored hats’ to tag various methods for SEO and marketing online. Okay, it’s not really unique and I doubt it catches on, but it gives more opportunities to categorize Internet marketers. We now return to our regularly scheduled guest blog post. Thanks, Aaron! White Hat SEO Favorite software: Vanilla Internet Explorer Favorite website: mattcutts.com/blog/ Favorite drink: Water (good for you) Favorite viral video: Anything LOL cats Favorite rapper: DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince When not wearing their “I Heart Matt Cutts” t-shirt or coming up with ways to make their website more unique and useful for visitors, these individuals like to volunteer at local homeless shelters and nursing homes. But seriously, these people make an effort to do things above board online. Many are still able to make a good living while doing this. Many don’t have the patience for white hat SEO, which is a shame, because it’s one of the better long term methods of success online. Think of your visitor after they get to your site more than trying to trick Google into ranking you high in the SERPs and you’re on your way to becoming a high level white hat SEO, which comes with many special abilities and powers. Black Hat SEO Favorite software: xRumer Favorite website: Any that will take a link - willingly or not Favorite drink: Whiskey (wine is fine but liquor is quicker) Favorite viral video: Anything from 4chan Favorite rapper: NWA There are some who fall between the tail chasers and the SEO grandmasters (of all persuasions) who have the ability to recognize an opportunity and jump on it, making a bit of money along the way. The problem is that most methods used with Black Hat SEO are short term. They may have a huge payout, but the model is not sustainable unless you can stay somewhat ahead of the crowd when it comes to new things to exploit online. While some are fine with this, most at this level have the ability to come up with unique ideas on their own. When you consider that there’s about the same amount of work involved and the non-black hat techniques last longer, it makes sense to try to get beyond this stage in your SEO evolution. Grey Hat SEO Favorite software: A little of this and a little of that Favorite website: wickedfire.com Favorite drink: Coffee (some mornings with a dash of rum) Favorite viral video: Boom Goes the Dynamite Favorite rapper: Drake If you mix black and white, you get grey, of course. The grey hat SEO uses both white and black hat techniques. While they’re more open than those who wear a black hat most times, they are generally more cautious than people into white hat SEO. For the most part the mix of both (good and bad) vary at any one time with grey hat SEO. Over the years, this label has morphed somewhat into a blue hat SEO, with a few key differences. Grey hat SEO, to me, means more about techniques while blue hat SEO concentrates on a mixing of web properties with different values. Blue Hat SEO Favorite software: A little of this and a little of that Favorite website: wickedfire.com Favorite drink: Coffee (some mornings with a dash of rum) Favorite viral video: Charlie the Unicorn Favorite rapper: Ice Cube I’m pretty sure I know who came up with this phrase, although I’m not exactly sure of their definition of the term. To me, it follows the ‘SEO Empire’ line of thinking that was created by Eli at Blue Hat SEO . So, it would be a mix of pure white and somewhat grey (or downright black) websites in a network online. So, garbage sites at the bottom of the pyramid point up toward the money sites at the top of the pyramid. How this differs from straight grey hat SEO, I’m not sure, but it’s used by quite a few people these days. For the most part, Blue Hat SEO peoeple are well versed in the way the Internet works. And if they don’t have skills, they have someone in their network who does. There are quite a few high level blue hat SEOs currently operating online. Article Marketer Favorite software: Google Docs Favorite website: ezinearticles.com Favorite drink: Green Tea (proven weight loss, act now!) Favorite viral video: None (text based viral only) Favorite rapper: Mos Def (very lyrical) When they’re not actually banging out articles for their own or other sites, they’re thinking up ideas and topics for their next round of articles. They know the value of content online. This group is split like most others into various levels of quality ranging from garbage to modern literature and everything in between. You will notice if you look closely that the more successful article marketers have higher quality content. This is no coincidence. Of course, good content is only one small piece of the puzzle, but you may want to consider outsourcing your content needs to an article marketer. Viral SEO Ninja Favorite software: Anything related to email Favorite website: digg.com Favorite drink: Tang (it’s orange, it’s different) Favorite viral video: lonelygirl15 Favorite rapper: Kanye West (marketing magic man - good or bad) When it comes to linkbait and causing ripples in the blogosphere, there’s nothing like the skills of a high level viral ninja. Part Charlie the Unicorn, part Star Wars Kid, and with a dash or two of LOL cats and one very, very, extremely tiny bit of 4chan, the viral ninja can mix media to send a message, get a laugh, or compel people to tell their friends about the content. As more and more people come online and try to be viral, it’s becoming more and more difficult to be unique and stand out from the millions of other people online who are vying for attention. The viral ninja understands this and is already working on three or four projects that will drown the numbers for the “Please don’t taze me” video. SEO Grandmaster Favorite software: LAMP Favorite website: SEOBook.com Favorite drink: Vitamin Water (expensive, but worth it) Favorite viral video: Dancing baby (old school…) Favorite rapper: Grandmaster Flash You don’t hear from these people too much on the forums or at conferences. They don’t typically have a very active blog. They do, however, spend their time making money online - most times quite a bit of it. They apply their SEO knowledge quietly in the background, slowly building their empire piece by piece. They understand marketing and business principles and employ them. These people learned early on that wasting time online - especially at forums chasing the magic button - is not a good thing. They learned how to buckle down and apply the knowledge that everyone who’s anyone has. They know it’s all about applying the information rather than just knowing about it. While you don’t hear much from these people publicly, when they do talk quite a few people tend to listen. Real SEO Guru Favorite software: Firefox browser + extensions Favorite website: Any that they own or are involved with Favorite drink: Orange Pineapple Juice (sweet, sour, but good for you) Favorite viral video: All Your Base Are Belong To Us (cause they do) Favorite rapper: Jay-Z (making piles of money) What are the lyrics from Ghetto Boys about real gangsters not talking much? Go Google it. (Sorry, Matt, it’s a verb now. You know there are secret Google parties celebrating the fact. Smile.) But yeah, real gurus aren’t all talk and no action. Real gurus of the industry don’t pitch anything and everything just to make a buck. The real gurus are few and far between, but they do exist. If you run into one, be nice to them. Unlike the SEO grandmasters, they’re more public and don’t mind interacting with the public. That said, they tend to value their time, so don’t waste it. This path has the most opportunities for people who are into SEO. (In gaming terms, it has the highest level cap.) It’s a long road, and it’s not a quest that can be undertaken alone, but if you’re serious about SEO, this is the route you want to take. The Future of SEO? If you’ve been around for any length of time, you know that the Internet is still constantly changing. Some of the changes are for the better and some aren’t as good, but they all are something that everyone who works online has to deal with. The SEO of last week - or even today - isn’t the same SEO that is going to be in operation over the next decade. Personally, I see the word organic being more important. By organic SEO, I mean not mass produced, not a trick, not a scam, not a scheme, but an actual relationship between publishers and website visitors. The sites that are able to build communities around themselves are going to be the ones that survive, I think. And there is no method of SEO known to man that can create a community - a real one - out of thin air. That said, SEO can be useful to help draw people to a website that is worthy of a community forming around it. —– The above was a guest post from K. Paul Mallasch, who runs kpaul media , which publishes local news communities like Anderson Free Press as well as many niche websites. You can contact him at kpaul.mallasch@gmail.com A disclaimer from Aaron: I thought it was fun, but I loath rap music (especially that from asshats like Kanye West), and I realize that being a publisher in the SEO space is way more profitable than being labeled as an SEO guru. I also didn’t put the last picture in because he used me…and I felt that would have been a wee bit egotistical for me to publish a guest post highlighting me like that. But the post is still a lot of fun & I am sure you can associate with at least 1 or more of the above profiles. If not then you haven’t been in the SEO space very long yet!

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Portrait of an SEO

Back in June, our Zurich engineering headquarters welcomed 100 of EMEA’s brightest computer science students to our annual Europe, Middle East and Africa Scholars’ Retreat. Recipients of the Google Europe Scholarship for Students with Disabilities joined Anita Borg Memorial Scholars and Finalists for three days of workshops, technical talks, poster sessions, networking events and, of course, lots of fun! Check out our video below to hear from scholars and speakers in their own words: Our academic scholarships are designed to support a new generation of talented, diverse computer scientists from all backgrounds. If you want to learn more, visit www.google.com/university/emea for a complete list of scholarships, grants and other opportunities available to students and academics. Posted by Caitlin Pantos, University Programs Specialist

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2010 EMEA Scholars’ Retreat: top CS students share their impressions