AJ Kohn › Comments

"I think the real crux here is the definition of curation. You're right, it is not about distribution. It is not just about sharing what you're reading.  It's not how much you read, it's how much you understand and how you can connect the dots.  It's one of the reasons why curation services based on social signals (Summify, Percolate, XYDO, KnowAboutIt) all seem a bit stale to me. There's no context or opinion attached to those collections. Curation, done appropriately, IS friction." - AJ Kohn

In this post, we are going to look at some potential link building benefits to content scrapers, how to find out what sites are scraping your content, and what you can do if you want to either benefit from the linking standpoint or have them take it down. - AJ Kohn

Save time and deepen search results. Boounce gives you the power to leap from one search engine to another with a simple click. - AJ Kohn

From the dawn of time through 2003, according to Google’s executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, human civilization generated approximately 5 exabytes of aggregate information. In 2009, that much data—captured in the equivalent of 25 quadrillion tweets—was generated every two days - AJ Kohn

"Build a social platform around email? Google did that already. It was called Buzz and it was an absolute failure. Google+ is a solid social platform and while I don't think the Search+ integration is great right now Google has ample time and opportunity to refine how it works moving forward. And how exactly are we at some great loss because Google doesn't show Facebook content or Tweets in their own social search results? Both content types aren't very valuable.  Furthermore, why do we truly expect them to. Would we expect NBC to promote CBS shows?" - AJ Kohn

"I agree. In fact, I'm not sure why they haven't done this yet." - AJ Kohn

"In many ways I think Facebook is already a search engine, it's just not the type of search we've grown accustomed to over the last decade.  http://www.blindfiveyearold.co... But even if you think the current social curation of relevant information isn't a "push" form of search I think Facebook could quickly evolve and deliver search results to users. http://www.blindfiveyearold.co... The Open Graph and Facebook's topical modeling should allow them to surface related items based on what's showing up in my News Feed. This type of "assisted search" would move intent further from passive and closer to active, which is what I believe most of us think of as traditional search. Facebook has us busily creating a curated version of the Internet and it seems like only a matter of time before they truly leverage that asset. Then again, I figured they would have done this already, so perhaps Facebook has a different vision." - AJ Kohn

"Well there's always my own 2012 Internet, SEO and Technology Predictions http://www.blindfiveyearold.co..." - AJ Kohn

"So people aren't going to Twitter to find things so instead you want Google to make it easier for people to find those things on Twitter?  Does anyone else find this ... ridiculous?  At a minimum, perhaps Twitter should pay attention to configuring their subdomains correctly so that multiple versions of the same account don't crop up on search results. Or does Twitter think Google should just do that work for them as well." - AJ Kohn

Add subdomains or subdomains as separate sites in GWT so you can specify geotargeting preference. - AJ Kohn

"I agree with this sentiment to a point but it's not just context and presentation. The key is to transform data and turn it into information that provides insight and allows action.  That doesn't necessarily have to be about context and presentation though they can often be useful in reaching these goals." - AJ Kohn

Metrics and graph showing the purported % of traffic from each spot on Google search results. - AJ Kohn

"After bantering back and forth with some folks we came to the conclusion that what Klout really measures is activity, not engagement and not influence. But clearly it's being used by some to measure the latter. That's where I'm in a bit of a conundrum. I don't particularly like the metric but with the integration of Google+ my Klout is now a pretty decent 78. Now, I'm not going to change what I do to move this number. And I'm reticent to publicize my Klout score even though it potentially could help in the sales funnel for my boutique agency. It just feel hypocritical to not believe in a metric and yet use it at the same time. Finally, do I even want the clients who only want to work with me because of my Klout score. Who think that I must know SEO because of that number instead of my track record and work? Who may actually believe I have more Klout than Matt Cutts? Probably not. Maybe that's a bad business decision. I don't know and maybe I'll revisit it and change my mind, but for..." - AJ Kohn

"Everything is hunky-dory huh? In the past, the search partnership with Google never expired. It was renewed well before November.  It's not 2008 anymore. The economic climate is vastly different and Google owns a larger share of the browser market than Firefox.  I'd guess that Google's offering them a Groupon like deal, 50% off the prior contract terms. And Mozilla should take it and run. Here's my take on the things prior to the expiration: http://www.blindfiveyearold.co... Also, is it a coincidence that Mozilla launched a fundraising video today?" - AJ Kohn

Synchronized collaborative writing - AJ Kohn

A SEO agency composed of ex-Googlers? Hummm. - AJ Kohn

An amazing amount of data in this presentation as to why people are upset with the inequality in America. - AJ Kohn

A really fantastic short-film. Watch it today if you haven't already. - AJ Kohn

"Yes, being the first paid result will often produce too many monkey clicks and reduce your ROI. It's been that way since the beginning of AdWords. But are you equating the 3rd position on paid results to the 3rd position on free results? As I read it, the Senators were not speaking just about paid search results. And 3rd is worse than 1st on organic (free) results. In fact, I'd need to see this list of terms and how they were queried to see if it was even valid. Did they perform the searches without personalization turned on?  Danny Sullivan did a great piece earlier this year on Google's 'favoritism' in search results. http://searchengineland.com/su... But simply doing a bit of due diligence right now on some of the terms in Ben Edelman's 'research' show that Google is not pervasively third." - AJ Kohn

"Well said Carlos. You can pursue many business opportunities and essentially diversify. Continuous personal employment acknowledges failure as part of (if not necessary to) success." - AJ Kohn

"I'm one of those who have embarked on continuous partial employment. I did so to ensure I had more time for my family. I wanted to be around - to be present. But more importantly, the creativity it has afforded is unparalleled. Without the daily marching orders, I'm able to open myself up to opportunities I might have passed on previously. I don't know where those might lead, but I get value from the conversations alone. The ability to connect with different people and understand different businesses is an advantage. Not to mention the time to explore other interests as they develop. I'm not the same person I was five years ago, so why would I be doing exactly the same thing? We evolve, and I'd say we evolve faster because we're able to absorb more information than we have previously. I believe the accelerated discovery of information and people has unlocked this cultural shift. It might only be happening in urban areas and technology hubs, and I'm not sure everyone can handle life..." - AJ Kohn

"G+ is certainly a means to and end for Google. They don't need to beat Facebook. Instead, Google simply needs to have their own stream of social data and attach that to an identity that then allows them to map authorship of content throughout the web.  In doing so, they join web of people with the web of documents.  I still believe in the algorithm but the vast acceleration of web documents and their own ability to digest them (via Caffeine) has provided new challenges. I see the potential of AuthorRank as a way to efficiently allocate their resources.  It's not that Google won't analyze and process all of the documents, they just might start with and give more importance to those that have positive authorship attributes." - AJ Kohn

"Very true. The value of a +1 would be contingent on identity. In fact, a +1 could hold more weight based on the influence and subject matter expertise of the author. So a +1 by Fred Wilson on Venture Funding would carry a lot of weight, while his same +1 on, say, hang gliding might not count for nearly as much. Once you connect identity with authorship (that's both blogs, comments, Tweets etc.) you can begin to understand the web of people and how each is contributing to its makeup." - AJ Kohn

"Very true. The value of a +1 would be contingent on identity. In fact, a +1 could hold more weight based on the influence and subject matter expertise of the author. So a +1 by Fred Wilson on Venture Funding would carry a lot of weight, while his same +1 on, say, hang gliding might not count for nearly as much. Once you connect identity with authorship (that's both blogs, comments, Tweets etc.) you can begin to understand the web of people and how each is contributing to its makeup." - AJ Kohn

"Google+ is absolutely about identity. Why? Because it is vital in supporting both search and advertising. The explosion of digital content has made it increasingly difficult to quickly identify and surface quality content. It's difficult, even for someone with the processing power of Google, to perform document level analysis. Identity and authorship provide Google with a new way to sort web documents, not by starting at the document level, but by starting at the author level. AuthorRank could be a powerful way to reduce marginal content and scrapers - the issues that so many have been howling about.  If interested, I wrote up my thoughts on this about a month ago here: http://www.blindfiveyearold.co..." - AJ Kohn

"Google+ is absolutely about identity. Why? Because it is vital in supporting both search and advertising. The explosion of digital content has made it increasingly difficult to quickly identify and surface quality content. It's tough, even for someone with the processing power of Google, to perform document level analysis at this scale. Identity and authorship provide Google with a new way to sort web documents, not by starting at the document level, but by starting at the author level. AuthorRank could be a powerful way to reduce marginal content and scrapers - the issues that so many have been howling about.  If interested, I wrote up my thoughts on this about a month ago here: http://www.blindfiveyearold.co..." - AJ Kohn

Heh. - Stephen Mack from iPhone

That's the way, CHAMP! - Micah

The ultimate guide to Google Analytics bounce rate featuring Ron Paul, The Rolling Stones and Nyan Cat. - AJ Kohn

"I'm certainly grumpy.  I have two clients that have seen 30%+ changes in reported traffic. Upon matching Google Analytics to web logs you can confirm that this is simply phantom traffic. I know of another major site who has the same issue. This needs to be addressed and is the second change in the last month that has created a false positive for organic search volume." - AJ Kohn

"I'm certainly grumpy.  I have two clients that have seen 30%+ changes in reported traffic. Upon matching Google Analytics to web logs you can confirm that this is simply phantom traffic. I know of another major site who has the same issue. This needs to be addressed and is the second change in the last month that has created a false positive for organic search volume." - AJ Kohn