Google plan to link user data spurs privacy concerns

Google plan to link user data spurs privacy concerns: Google announced a plan Tuesday to link user data across its email, video, social-networking and other services that it says will create a "beautifully simple and intuitive" user experience. But critics raised privacy concerns like those that helped kill the search giant's Buzz social networking service.

The Title Tag of Your Web Page

A title tag on your webpages is an important consideration to remember as it will assist you in converting your customer.  Many people think that the title tag is a "ranking factor", but traditionally it does not carry that type of weight.

The Value of Titles and Descriptions

I apologize for talking a bunch of mumbo jumbo here, but this is a good post to refer to regarding the value of meta tags and title tags and is an excerpt to a customer question:


I spent about 6 hours today digging into the full meta tag set and other tags (like title tags - which is not technically a meta tag) and aligning with Google's newest Rich Snippets and updated Markup Language suggestions (I will refer to as Google requirements) and have determined that the value of computer science is of the utmost importance here.  Many are not aware that by tugging on one element there is going to be some give in other elements and if we are not careful on how hard we tug or think about what we are tugging on, we may just tear the whole thing down.  This has been a huge concern as we are not only getting ranking on our pages, but we must be careful how we tweak and continue to do so carefully so our results improve and not digress.  In working on the meta tags I uncovered more than what xxx suggested and feel comfortable that we have covered alot regarding the meta tags and xxx's requests (which have great merit by the way).  I anticipate the newer updates to be programmed within a few days as they have been reassigned.  I had the time to dig into all 7 pages that affect the landing pages, not just the couple xxx brought to our attention.  In going over the suggestions from xxx we have had to create 3 new SuperTags to handle the descriptions and titles correctly.  Unfortunately there is not an existing company to try to emulate so we have created new code that I believe will work.  

Contractor Website Education..Our Motto

Our goal is to "educate" and give you the facts that are applicable to what is going on with the business.  We appreciate you as a client and my goal is provide a proper foundation that you can build from today and in the future.  With technology and marketing moving as quickly as it does these days the biggest problem is "YOU, the customer" can easily get lost because very few companies give you the proper website knowledge, search engine knowledge, overall education and the time to guide you from beginning to end.  This is is our goal.

New Content on my site

~~Interesting email was passed my way from a client and I thought it was interesting enough to share.  Below you will find the context of the email (specifics omitted of course)~~


Dear xxxxx,
I came across your website: xxxxxx and I was really impressed with its design and the information offered to your visitors.
I'd like to present you with an opportunity to add more valuable content to the “Kitchen Design/Decor” or "Home Decorating"  section of your website.
Our company, xxxxxxxxxx has created a variety of beautiful industry-specific PDF documents which include:
1. Kitchen Design Contents:

• Kitchen Design Questionnaire - Kitchen Design Ideas
• Kitchen Cooking Appliance Ideas and Planning
• Kitchen Flooring Ideas and Planning
• Kitchen Sinks and Faucets Ideas and Planning
• Kitchen Countertops Ideas and Planning
• Kitchen Cooling Appliances Ideas and Planning
• Kitchen Area Washers and Dryers Ideas and Planning
• Kitchen Area Outdoor Appliance Ideas and Planning
• Kitchen Dishwasher Ideas and Planning

2. Home Decorating Contents: 

• Home Decorating/Redecorating on a Budget
• The All-in-One Guide to Decorating with color

3. Home Energy Savings/Efficiency Content: The All-in-One Guide to Decorating with Color
They are all completely FREE OF CHARGE and customized with your company logo.
INFORMATION ABOUT HOW TO RECEIVE FREE WEBSITE CONTENT / RESOURCES
The above mentioned content will serve to: 
• Provide additional information/resources for your website visitors.
• Increase the number of pages of your website. 
• Increase your visitors’ time on your website.
…These factors will help increase your website traffic and search engine rankings.
To see a sample of the content, please visit:
xxxxxxxx
All of the files listed above will be customized with your company logo, so that the content will look like it has been produced by your company.
If you'd like this helpful and resourceful content on your website, customized with your company logo, all we ask for in exchange is a back link from your site to ours. (We can provide you with the details). It can be done very quickly.
Please feel free to e-mail me back for any questions regarding any of our offers above. I look forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards,
xxxxxx


And my response....

My concern would be a few things that you may want to address to xxxxx. One of the content articles as an example that they gave for you to review was the following:

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Upon review this content is the same content listed on other sites like the one below (maybe numerous others sites)

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It is my opinion that these articles are given to as many people as possible with the hopes in receiving a link back to their site to build their popularity and increase their Optimization efforts (which by the way there is nothing wrong with it) BUT I am not clear the impact and measured value this will bring to you. The content (proposed that is) on your site would definitely be "duplicate content" and although the value to them from an SEO point of view could be beneficial, your value would be to have content to share with a user (although content that is already out there AND content that Google feels that made it to their search index first.

In a nutshell here is how Google views this situation when it comes to content being submitted to their search engine. Google spends a ton of money every year in maintaining the content and information. The last thing they are interested in having is duplicate content that adds more cost to maintaining. Many do not understand the burden of duplicate information and how it is taxing to Google's search index.

So with this being said my suggestion is NOT, to do it, but I would like to talk to this xxxxxx and get some more information that I may not be aware of in this email and then we can make the final decision.

Oh, last thing IF he is willing to provide a link directly to xxxxxxxx from THEIR page as well then it might be a different conversation. The value of a link within the same industry to you is a step towards a successful link building campaign.

Contact David Johnson - Contractor Website Services

How a Website Should Be Built - Architecture

Here is the best advice that I would suggest for proper web design and proper search engine optimization.

1.  Always think "architecture".  For example if you have a family of 10 and you live in a studio apartment the "architecture" is wrong (in most places :) ).  You need the appropriate number of bedrooms and bathrooms in order to function as a family.  Your website works the same way.  If you have let's say 5 related services or products you cannot effectively "jam" them all on one webpage.  The best solution is to create the "appropriate number of bedrooms" so the architecture is sound.