SEO Werkt!

So Google X founder Sebastian Thrun was on Charlie Rose last night showing off his latest creation, Project Glass. Which, if you haven’t seen by now, is quite possibly one of the most ambitious consumer products to come out of the Googleplex in recent memory. But until Thrun’s appearance on Rose, we didn’t actually know how the glasses would work other than the sizzle reel that was put together earlier this month.

A couple of things struck me as odd, though. Thrun never actually gave any voice commands during his demo of the glasses, while in the video everything was driven by voice. But that’s not what has me worried about Project Glass. During the interview, Thrun snapped a photo of Rose and uploaded it to his Google+ account. So far, it appears to work as advertised but take a look at the image quality and tell me whether or not it’s acceptable in this day and age. It’s not, it’s terrible.

But this is a much larger issue for Google and it’s one they don’t seem to be taking very seriously. At one point in Google’s history, the company we’re so beholden to actually made some really great products. Not that they were ever perfect, mind you. Google has grown complacent and comfortable with launching half baked products that they or others would eventually fix. Just look at Android, for instance. It’s still a work in progress, which is the fundamental issue with nearly every new Google product launched in the last few years.

Back to my original point – the optics on those Google glasses stink. Look at what Apple has been able to accomplish with the iPhone camera, especially the 4S. If there’s one takeaway that every product manufacturer needs to learn from Steve Jobs it’s that the marriage between hardware and software will always reign supreme. Sony is unable to replicate the iPhone 4S’s image quality in any of their smartphones with the same optics. The same could be said for Nokia’s Lumia 900 and its Carl Zeiss 8-megapixel camera, which, by the way, is advertised in commercials. Even HTC is making an effort to improve the optics on their devices with software tweaks and they seem to be working. The Titan II, for instance, has a pretty killer camera. But I digress.

Early on in the interview, Thrun admits that he likes taking photos and proved that Glass works. But at what point do you stop trying and innovating just because it works?

Glass has serious potential, whether it’s in the medical field for the handicapped or supplanting the Bluetooth headset wearing fashionistas but Thrun and his team have a long road ahead of them if this first public demo is any indication.

Be excellent again, Google. That’s all we ask.

Hey. Do yourselves a favor and watch this li’l video from our pals in the Googleplex:

Caught this via the NYTimes.  Remember this post about “Why Social Media Is The Future of Public Relations”?

Look out your window.

See that guy drinking espresso while fiddling with his iPhone?

Maybe he’s writing a Yelp/TripAdvisor/Angie’sList/Glassdoor/Amazon/Twitter/Facebook review of your company or product… which will be indexed by Google… which will be excerpted in a mainstream media feature… which will get picked up by a blogger… which will impact the purchase decision of your next customer.

That guy drinking espresso while fiddling with his iPhone may be as important to your success as a NYTIMES reporter.

Think about those concepts again, after watching this video.

Yea. I know, right?  It’s coming.

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Bing As Fresh As Google? Microsoft Thinks So
  A WebmasterWorld thread is having discussion around a new Wired story named Microsoft Says Decaffeinated Bing Tastes as Good as Google. The story basically has Microsoft claiming they aren’t necessarily better than Google but they are as good as Google on freshness and search quality…
• Bing Takes Clear Stance On Mobile SEO: One URL
  Duane Forrester from Microsoft posted on the Bing Search Blog a significant statement on mobile SEO. He said that Bing proposes the “one URL per content item” strategy.

  Google has not been bold enough to make such a clear proposal…

• Poll: Can You Make A Full Time Income Off Google AdSense?
  A WebmasterWorld thread has Google AdSense publishers talking about how feasible it is these days to make a full time income from Google AdSense.

  Yes, there are many individuals as well as companies that make most, if not all, of their money with Google AdSense…

• Google Village – Mini Googleplex
  At South by Southwest (SXSW) this weekend, Google set up their Google Village. The Google Village is a miniature version of the Googleplex.

Other Great Search Forum Threads:

• Google Maps for Android – 6.4 update, Google Maps Help
• Google removes Twitter socialize options from Feedburner, WebmasterWorld
• Bulgarian liberation day doodle, Google Blogoscoped Forum
• Link units within Ad units, WebmasterWorld
• Vulgarian liberation day doodle, Google Blogoscoped Forum
• Comment pages given more weight than main article page, WebmasterWorld
• Receiving suspicious/spam emails from support@youtube.com? Click here to learn more., YouTube Help

Eric, Zee and Agata has made a video welcoming everyone to the new AdWords help forum.

Here is the video welcome:

They filmed this at the Googleplex in Mountain View, California.

You can check out the new forums at en.adwords-community.com…

Eric, Zee and Agata has made a video welcoming everyone to the new AdWords help forum.

Here is the video welcome:

They filmed this at the Googleplex in Mountain View, California.

You can check out the new forums at en.adwords-community.com.

Like I said before, I really like the new forums over what others are switching to now.

I wish all the other forums that switched to the Google Groups platform switched to this instead.

Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Google To Understand Entities
  A Mashable story has details from Google’s head of search, Amit Singhal on where Google search is heading.

  Here are two excerpts from the article:

  The future of Google Search, though, could be a very different story…

• Google Webmaster Outreach 2011
  Kaspar Szymanski, a Googler responsible for webmaster outreach and a downright awesome guy…
• Google: Cookieless Domain Have No Direct SEO Effect
  A Google Webmaster Help thread asks if there is an SEO benefit to going the cookieless domain route.

  The simple answer is that no, there is no direct SEO impact on going with the cookieless domain…

• Can AdSense Publishers Sell Direct Ads?
  A WebmasterWorld thread asks a question that is so obvious and basic that I’ve never thought of it or even seen it asked before in the forums…
• Google’s Tony Bennett Valentine Logo & More
  Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! Valentine’s Day is one of those days the search engines go all out on their logos, like they do on New Years, July 4th and many other days.
  Like we do every year, I wanted to share the logos
• A Fake Google Store
  We know Google has a Google Store in at their headquarters in the GooglePlex. We know they are thinking of adding one also to their Dublin office. But a random Google store somewhere in the Middle E

Other Great Search Forum Threads:

• Search Engine Click-Through & Bounce Rates as Ranking Metrics, seoworkers.com
• The "Search by Images" is killing my game (50,000+ players) please help!, Google Web Search Help
• Anyone Noticing a little yellow box when they click in to see a domain?, Google Webmaster Help
• It’s time to do another Google Webmaster Central…, John Mueller – Google+

There are big changes ahead at the Googleplex, Google’s Mountain View headquarters

The company is developing a huge 120,000 square foot “Google Experience Center,” which will serve as a sort of private museum and meeting center, as well as labs for secret projects and the company’s @Home automation endeavour, reports the Mercury News.

The new buildings are big part of Google’s $120 million constructions efforts at the Googleplex, and they show how the company is quickly transforming into something more than just a search giant.

The Experience Center, for example, will be a place for the company to share big ideas with important industry figures. It may host future entries of Google’s new Solve for X conference, given the description by one of the architects working on the building:

The Experience Center would not typically be open to the public — consisting of invited groups, and guests whose interests will be as vast as Google’s range of products, and often confidential… Therefore, the Experience Center must also operate somewhat like a museum, exhibit, or mercantile space allowing flexibility in the exhibits so that as Google’s products and needs change, the space can adapt.

Such a building would also give Google an easy way to demonstrate its products for future enterprise and government customers, technology analyst Rob Enderle tells the paper.

Not surprisingly, Google had little to say about the Experience Center, or about its secret lab space, dubbed Project X. It’ll likely be a larger area for Google X, the company’s lab for fantastical projects. According to the Mercury News, Project X could involve “precision optical technology.”

Google is also carving out a lab that can screen out wireless frequencies for its @Home automation service. Little is known about @Home at the moment,  but Google has hinted that it could do things like control your home lights, appliances, and will be powered by Android. The company’s recently rumored streaming music device could end up being a part of its @Home suite.

Photo Maria Ly/Flickr

Filed under: VentureBeat

If you have avoided creating a Timeline in Facebook or you simply didn’t know how to do it, over the few weeks or so it won’t matter anymore. Facebook is officially rolling the feature out to all Facebook accounts so get ready. Oh and don’t forget the 7 day “grace period” to clean up your online mess of life so others might be entertained.

By this point in time Facebook’s Timeline isn’t really news unless you are one of the millions upon millions of Facebook users who don’t pay attention to changes in the social media giant until they are forced upon them. All that means is that there will be the shrill cry of those mortally wounded (in a social media kinda way of course) by the grave injustice that Facebook will have perpetrated upon them by making a, gulp, change.

Just read some of the comments over at TechCrunch to see that there is nothing like Facebook change to bring out the joy in folks!

Can’t you just feel the love?

I bet the folks over at Google will be excited to see that there has been another crime committed against the socialnistas. Oh and Google will be most excited that it can’t be connected back to the Googleplex in any way. Or can it? Any thoughts? Any way you can imagine to blame Google for this problem? There has to be at least one ……

Marketing Pilgrim’s Social Channel is proudly sponsored by Full Sail University, where you can earn your Masters of Science Degree in Internet Marketing in less than 2 years. Visit FullSail.edu for more information.