Search
Engine Optimization
The
internet has a range of users.
* Owners of websites
* Visitors to websites
* A support industry helping with
websites
* Google - MSN - Yahoo - Alexa Web &
Others earning money as recorders
of all that goes on.
Somehow,
the owners of websites and visitors to websites have lost control of
the Internet. Let us examine how this happened.
History
The
Internet was conceived as a network of interlinked-interconnected
computers
with the ability to exchange information. There were website creators
and website
visitors. Now the principal participants are under the control of a
service industry
that has evolved from a helper to a director.
Search
engines make the rules - website creators must obey, if they want
to
be included in lists of the Internet - search results. It is not
sufficent for a website to exist; it must conform to rules and
directions if it wants to be included in a list created by Search
Engines.
No
longer will a website be listed simply because it is there....it must
be there in the format that is laid down by owners of Search Engines.
If a
site dares to be
different it will be noticed and subject to evaluation by the
controllers of the Internet. These businesses decide the fate of
websites by demanding that websites conform to their rules....if they
want to be included at all or in a meaningful location.
This
then is the situation we have today...the clerks controlling the
Internet.
It
doesn't matter how much money you throw at a new website or how generic
or desrciptive the domain name, the Search
Engines only care about the point score on their scoreboard.
Recent events
Search
Engine operators have created the rules. The specialists or coaches who
interpret the rules and hand down advice to website owners are the new
power in
the Internet.
The
rules set by the Search Engines change frequently and these new
participants called "Search Engines Optimization Specialists" hand down
the messages or edicts to the site owners.
SEO
operators extract a lot of money from website owners in order to help
them comply with the rules. It is a commercial reality that
non-compliance with Google rules - Yahoo rules or MSN rules will have
an adverse effect on the numbers of
visitors. ( known as "Traffic" )
Options
Website
owners can obey the rules about links from other sites, new content,
advertising concentration, and ease of navigation or ignore them.
Compliance
means listing in the Search Engines and non-compliance means that
the "offending" site is recorded as having been born and monitored but
not presented to society.
Google's
isolation ward is called a "Sandbox". New sites and offending sites are
excluded from the accepted sites and not shown to potential visitors.
Fairness.
Is it
a good thing for Search Engine operators to decide whether or not
someone's
website is allowed to be known to exist. Is it OK for those who have
become wealthy by keeping records to be allowed to exclude a website.?
Do
people who use Search Engines know or care if the websites they see on
search results are not complete. Would they like to be able to choose
what they
look at or which sites they will allowed to know about or visit.?
Morality
Is it
ethical for search engines to exclude perfectly presentable sites on
the basis of rules they create?
Is
the decision process in the hands of the right people.?
There is
an alternative.
Do we
need an Internet index business without rules?
Do we
need a business that will list each and every site based on different
criteria?
Is it
time to demand search results that are complete.?
Someone
should create a Search Engine that lists every active URL based on the
keyword selected by the site creator.
The
list should be thorough and include date of commencement, domain name
and an email address which visitors can use to contact the owner of the
site.
Freedom
Human
Nature is programmed for intellectual exploration.
The
Internet will be a more diverse "place" once visitors are allowed to
know about every
website.
Website
owners will be free to be more creative.
Everyone
will win....that is everyone who owns the Internet will win... site
owners and site visitors.
It
may not be good news for those businesses that have taken control of
the
website birth and nurturing process.
Task
Create
a complete list of sites on the Internet with every site shown
according
to
untouchable rules based on at least domain name, selected keywords and
owners
name.
Plan B
Ask -
demand that Search Engines drop their rules and provide a complete list
to
the public. This will set site owners free and create a more diverse
experience for
website visitors.
Greg
Rogers is the editor@FAXTS.com
Disclaimer
Greg
Rogers has no issue with Google, MSN or Yahoo. Those companies and
their staff conduct there businesses ethically. The issue is one of
personal freedom of expression on the Internet. It is not about
censorship but diversity. If a new website about say, aircraft brake
pads, doesn't want to go in for "Search Engine Optimization" or have a
lot else to say, it should not be excluded or screened by artificial
ranking
or Page Rank ( TM Google ). Search Engines have an obligation to the
Internet which fuels them, to present - reveal every website.
There
are exceptions such as offensive or disturbing websites and those that
may cause harm. But the one subject - one issue, website - without SEO
will always exist. A Search Engine must include them from the day they
are noticed. If it not Google, Yahoo or MSN then it could be a new
website or business opportunity.
The
aim is to discuss what is required for an Internet that is truly what
site owners and website visitors want. Send your contributions to editor@FAXTS.com
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