I Am Naked Before Goolge and Matt Cutts!

Alright, I didn't really think it all the way through. Over at the old Threadwatch, I took on a pseudonym because I am hacked at Google for their betrayal of their faithful followers by initiating a hungry, globalist agenda. And I regularly and passionately grind the ax of my displeasure at their forays. So I intentionally chose a name that would be a deliberate poke in Google's eye. And what better target was there than Google's very public spokesman, Matt Cutts? So to express my disagreements with Google's unhealthy ambitions to rule the world, I took on the username CattMutts. (Because I have both dogs and cats, you see.) And I posted vociferously.

So it's all fine and good. I figure that though I can make a stand against the giant, it is quite unlikely that anything I say or do will actually make a difference. I am just a tiny, tiny amoeba on a little fishlet in Google Ocean. Not that my points aren't valid. Indeed they are. I mean, I'm not some twenty-something year-old altruist trying to get some attention in the e-world by jumping on the wagon of some trendy cause. Heck, no, I've already had a career. When I speak up about Google's dangerous global intentions, it's because I have a solid understanding of national and international waves of culture over the last several centuries and I see what's ahead if Google gets its way. And I don't like it. Not in the way that it is personally distasteful, but in that it is not going to be good for us as Americans (note: the Britts, Aussies, etc. are Americans too. So is fantomaster.) That is, it is dangerous to our privacy and our freedoms. But this is not a post to grind that ax.

So anyway, I post away at Threadwatch. But then, sadly, Threadwatch dies. A short time later, I somehow ran into Sphinn. What in the world is this? When did this start? Who's Danny Sullivan? I then saw that it had only been up for a week or two, so I thought maybe I can exercise my cathartic expressions here. But who knew that Sphinn would turn out to be a blockbuster? I didn't, so when I signed up, it was once again, as CattMutts.

But to say anything on Sphinn, you really need to blog. I'm not really a blogger. I've got a lot to say, and I say it, but not usually in a blog of my own. So I start writing in a blog the same things I'm thinking and saying elsewhere, and I start posting on Sphinn. And of course, all the posts and all my comments are listed by my pseudonym, CattMutts. As my submissions pile up, (though generally not sphinned very much) and the site popularity rapidly increases, I start to realize that this Sphinn thing could turn out to have a more visible profile than I feel comfortable with using a blatantly hostile, anti-Google pseudonym. And as for my posts, they are not about seo proper, they are about Google's intentions and the future implications. They are ALL about that. I have a spoken consistently on a regular theme. It's what I know and what I want to say. But Sphinn's footprint is skyrocketing in its scope by the day, and I write anonymously for a reason.

And then it happens. I get my Sphinn profile visited by Mr. Cutts himself. I am exposed.

How smart was this to parody this guy's name and speak out against Google? I feel like I broke into an office and just found out it was J. Edgar Hoover's (younger set, he was the leader of the FBI for forever.) Just think of the ways Matt Cutts can hammer me now. I mean, he works for GOOGLE. He can very easily find out who I am, where I am, he can read all of my emails in all of my gmail accounts, read my docs, my spreadsheets, see my pictures, find my websites, etc. etc. I mean any seo could track down my identity and my address. I'm not really hiding or anything. But Google, on the other hand, possesses WAYY more information than anybody should that is not part of your family. From my browsing history, Google can track down my banks, my personal interests, etc. and ascertain something of a profile on me, which, I suspect, is their goal anyway (on everyone, that is, not just me.) They could determine that most of the websites I visit on a daily basis deal with the war, the military, intelligence, jihad, and would correctly classify me as a vocal right-wing flag-waver. I am naked before Google and Matt Cutts! And I am not one to want to be naked on the internet. (Which proves I'm not in the twenty or thirty-something crowd!) I have unintentionally drawn attention to myself because of the name I chose. It was always my intention to draw attention to the message, not to me personally.

So it is time to go back underground. Matt Cutts has appeared. CattMutts must vanish. Like a phantom (or is that fantom?). Matt, it was nothing personal to you. It's about the company you work for. It's agenda is a global one, no longer an American one. Your company's activities, if successful, will betray and weaken the people of the country that protects you.

Google Phone Number Launched Today Through GrandCentral

Google hatched its Google phone number through GrandCentral today in a beta version. What it is is a single phone number that you can have forwarded to your cell phone, your work phone or your home phone. It is basically one number for everything. So when someone calls your G-Number, it will ring on any or all of the phones. Or it can be configured to go automatically to your voice mail.

It also can be configured to block certain callers, screen callers, has a full-fledged detailed call record and all of the other regular phone-using abilities that are common to phone services today.

Another interesting feature is the Web Call Button that you can insert into your web page so that people can call you without giving out your phone number. Once someone calls you, you can switch phones in the middle of a call with Call Switch. Of course if you want to call someone yourself, say from your address book, you can use Click2Call which calls them without having to dial the number. And also, if you are a member of the gizmoproject, you can call or answer your phone from any computer that is connected to the internet.

So here it is. Your universal, lifetime phone number. Goes with you anywhere and everywhere. Probably so nice that you will gladly embrace that upcoming Google Phone with its gps tracking ability for the first fully-functioning international human tracking system. Don't get me started....

Google 'Radio Ads' a Likely Cloak for Their GPhone Audio Ads!

If this article is on the money, then the speculations have proven to be true. Google will be debuting a GPhone next year.

So many are wondering why they would do this, seemingly mystified. There are discussions and arguments about how Google getting into the wireless world this would be good for the market. Yet few are looking down the road. I have covered the topic at length in previous posts, so I won't go down that trail again here except to say that people should be aware of the power of free; and then do the math. Open spectrum + free wireless service = total monopoly. Bank on it. (The corollaries to that of course, are:
A. Monopoly + GPhone = Your phone is a GPhone
B. GPhone = Global Positioning System (GPS)
C. GPS + Google Earth = International Human Tracking System
D. International Tracking System + Your GPhone = Loss of personal privacy; your whereabouts will then be public information
E. International Human Tracking System = Big Brother; you are not free, you are monitored)

But this post is not about the GPhone. It is about all those radio ads that Google introduced last year. You know, how Google suddenly announced that it would be auctioning off ads on the radio? Did that sound funny to you too? I knew something wasn't right about that. Well it finally hit me what that was all about. (I'm serious, this stuff just comes to me!)

Radio ads? Horse hockey! It has to be Google's warm-up for...PHONE ADS! Yes, GPhone ads! I mean, think about it, you are driving. You are looking for a restaurant or motel. You cannot (or should not, anyway) pull your eyes off the road to read some GPhone ads. You need them spoken to you; they need to be audio, not visual!

And if you missed my explanation of what Google's mobile model is going to look like and what it includes, read a few posts back. One of the features is a hands-free Goog-411 service that is entirely voice-activated and provides a free service that will actually connect you to the business.
So the search for a restaurant will be hands-free, (and your audio-'serps' will be based on your location as indicated by your gps Gphone) the results will be hands-free, and so will the connection to the business, 'But before we connect you, please listen to these ads......' It makes perfect sense. There never was going to be radio ads, I'll bet! It was just a red herring, a cover story for Google to build a platform for audio ads so that they could launch them simultaneously with the Gphone. Does that not make sense??

But I'll bet it gets even better. Not only will you communicate hands-free on the phone, but instead of actually talking to the place of business, you can just reply to their voice menu via your voice and book a reservation, book a room, confirm movie tickets while on the way (with your Google checkout pass, of course) all without ever having to dial a number. All the business will have to do is to run their voice mail or voice mail ad through Google, and Google will insert the audio click options, (and I'm thinking 'clicks' will be called 'picks') and they are up and running. Remember Google purchased Grand Central Station recently, a company that provides service for management of voice communication.

It all sure fits together better than Google selling radio ads! What do you think?

The SEO Future is ...You!

Be prepared to get very busy in the next ten years. A previously unheard of movement is in the works that is going to make an SEO a popular commodity. And not just in the world of commerce. There are rumblings, and now glimpses of a process that will add an entirely new dimension to searching. If you haven't checked out Spock.com yet, its because you haven't been invited to. If you haven't heard of them yet, so far, it is a one-way relationship, because they have heard of you. They know all about you....

You see Spock.com is a search engine that you will be talking about a whole lot very soon. It is not an information search engine....it is a PEOPLE search engine. Based in Redwood City, CA. it has actively been gathering information on individuals since 2006 and hopes to document every single human on the planet. It is currently adding about 1 million new individuals every day. When it is up and running, its goal is that a searcher can go on there and find out about anyone.

But there is so much more. Want to search by name? Of course that will be no problem. How about by email address? Yup. But then it gets interesting. Search by tag, such as "pacifist" or "inventor". After that it gets downright complex and hence the need for a qualified seo, because you will be able to search by such themes as: Drunk Driver; Sex Symbol, etc. And to keep someone off the dirty laundry list, it will require that a competent seo will actively be drowning out the bad news on the web with the good news. Some seo optimists are already engaged in such Reputation Management and I expect that this will be an activity that all of us will be engaged in rather quickly.

The pool of information Spock.com is gleaning is from all corners of the web. Wherever a profile of you exists, it is gathering that information and associating it with other remnants of your footprints. Including photographs, mind you. Pretty soon, if you want to know about your neighbor, you will just enter his name into Spock.com and an individualized serp will give you everything about that person that is on the web.

Oh No! Does that mean they will figure out my pseudonyms? Will CattMutts be outed? (Not really worried about that, any seo could easily put that one together.) But what about the privacy issues?! THIS is going to be a can of worms. Big worms.

And what would a MontereySEO Blog post be without my obligatory Google warning? I mean all of us know that Spock.com, if successful, will eventually be Goobled by Google, right? I mean, I am still baffled by Google's ogreish, selfish air wave ambitions, and it ticks me off to no end; but would we not all expect Google, the friendly search engine company, to want to capture people search to add to its quiver? That one is a natural. It wouldn't even tick me off as much because it is involved with search. Not that I approve of the whole concept, just that if someone was doing it, I would expect Google would get in the game.

But either way, the fact that people search is coming means that individuals are going to need to have their profiles managed. Whether your new job in seo is called Reputation Management or Profile Management will be up to you, but the times, they are a-changing. And I wonder which one of us will be the first one to get a call from Lindsay Lohan?

Local Search and PPC Will Dominate Mobile Applications

Local search and ppc will dominate the mobile market in a few short years. One of the items Google is flirting with in its mobile labs is free voice activated local business connection. You simply speak the name or category of a business into a dialed Google 411 number and Google will spit relevant options back at you. You respond, again with your voice, and you will automatically be connected to the business you selected.

So what does this have to do with search and with seo or sem?

Well, since the FCC sided with Google in the most critical areas of how the upcoming 700 mhz bandwith would be regulated, and since 20% of that bandwidth will be open access, Google has nothing but green lights ahead of it. And this means that Google's mobile model will not only compete in the market, it will become standard. If mobile searches made up even 10% of the total searches, this would be enough to drastically change how a site should be optimized. Especially considering that the searchers who are looking for a pizza place in their vehicles are not only qualified buyers, they are only blocks away and looking for a place to spend their money.

If you wonder what logical leap I took to go from Google flirting with a mobile directory, to its model becoming standard, please see my earlier rants, I mean posts. But for the uninitiated, the primer includes Google offering free phone service to its subscribers which will then put the others out of business. And today's soapbox could include the irony of how Google is pleading for an open market and claiming solidarity with public interest groups when it knows that it will completely swallow up all the others when its hand is fully played out.

But for now, let's look at what the Google mobile model might look like and why local search will be essential for search engine optimists (that's us...made that one up too) and search engine marketers very soon.

Here are the basic elements of the Google mobile experience, coming in monopoly form to a planet near you soon:

With your Google phone subscription you will be able to:

1. Search. (Normal search. But the question is, what will you be searching for in your car? Google will have that answer and an seo will also need to.)

2. Maps. As Google says, "Get directions, satellite imagery and live traffic on draggable maps so that you can find local hangouts and businesses across town." And probably a few ppc adds of businesses that are near your current coordinates. But how does Google know which ads to pitch to you? Well, they can see your Google search history, they can see what things you have searched for in the mobile application and which items you have clicked on. They, of course can tell when you are searching from a mobile device and what your patterns on the road are, and, of course, they can tell where you are because of the gps capability.

3. Gmail. (Obvious.)

4. Calendar. (Nifty.)

5. News. (Novel.)

6. SMS text messaging to Google and from Google. (Matrimony.)

7. Blogger. As Google says, " Snap a picture, write a message and post to your blog all from your mobile device." (Candy.)

8. Reader. "Read your favorite blogs and news feeds on your mobile device." (Crack.)

9. 1-800-Goog-411. "Use voice to find and connect with local businesses, for free." (Heroin.)

10. Picasa Web Albums. (Self-Indulgant.)

11. You Tube "Watch, upload, and share favorite videos — YouTube is available on your mobile device wherever you are." (Narcissism.)

Given that this user experience will likely expand in it scope of applications and it is based on the assumption that it will be standard, as discussed above, the bottom line is that it will have the reach to be able to command ppc advertising dollars. Want to go out for lunch? Ask your voice activated Google 411 about lunch specials. Your request will be met by some appealing lunch specials happening at some of the restaurants in your immediate vicinity. Of course, Google knows your tendency for Chinese food, so those are presented first.

Oh, and when you are driving by the mall, expect some text messages from Macy's or The Gap about their specials. Need to get the cheapest gas? Just ask. You will get location, directions, satellite pictures and traffic information. And probably some of their inside specials to boot.

So an seo will have to optimize a site, or at least a portion of a site, for local appeal for normal mobile searches. This will be a routine requirement. But sem ppc will rule the day in the maps and directory/Google 411 arena. This is all no longer an issue of if it will happen, it is now a matter of when. Nobody else can compete with free, and free is exactly how Google will bring its mobile model into the mainstream mobile world.

Drum Beats : Yes, Free Cell Phone Service

I'm not real big on saying I told ya so, but in this case, I guess there is not much else to say. Yesterday's Wall Street Journal article on Google's cell phone ambitions reveals exactly what the message has been at the center of my drum beating for some time. Yes, Google not only has hope to enter the cell phone world, but it has a strategy that is going to neutralize and all but eliminate their competition.

Not only are they currently aggressively soliciting cell phone manufacturers to adopt their format until they can get their own phone happening, but Amol Sharma and Kevin Delaney uncover the aspect of Google's Master Plan that guarantees their future supremacy: "The prize for Google: the potential to broker ads on the mobile phones, complementing the huge ad business it has built online. Google even envisions a phone service one day that is free of monthly subscription charges and supported entirely through ad revenue, people familiar with the matter say."

I hope you noticed that part about "free monthly subscription." What is this going to do to the cell phone industry? Well, if you were offering widgets to a customer for a dollar and your neighbor was offering the same widget for free, who do you think is going to get more customers? It is as simple as that.

And in case you are a late-comer and have not had the chance to hear me in stereo, the other drum I am beating says that your new Google cell phone, with your permanent individualized IP address, I mean, cell phone number, will come equipped with a gps capability that lo and behold will be able to be tracked and can be displayed on Google Earth.

Do you remember Neil Young's song, "Ohio" back in the day? It goes, "Tin soldiers and Nixon's coming, We're finally on our own. This summer I hear the drumming. Four dead in Ohio."

I'm going to change that now, with no disrespect to Mr. Young, my man, to: "Ad revenue and Google's coming, We're finally on our own. This summer I hear the drumming. Own you with a free cell phone. Own you with a free cell phone......"

Yes the article confirms my voiced suspicions about the gps danger, when discussing Google's specification requirements with potential phone manufacturers, "Google suggests the phones could include Global Positioning System technology that identifies where people are."

Such an include would indeed have a certain appeal, but what if, as part of the "free subscription service" as mentioned above, you had to sign off and allow your positioning to be tracked and publicized? That is where this is headed. And if all other carriers are put out of business, what choices will there be?

"Own you with a free cell phone..."

Full Speed Ahead...But To Where?

FCC Approval -- Check

Well, Google got what it wanted. Yesterday the FCC voted to open up a hefty portion of airwaves to open access. Though the FCC did not succumb to Google's fourth demand, that the winner of the upcoming bandwidth auction be mandated to sell access to other providers at wholesale prices, the door has been opened enough, nonetheless, for Google to get its giant foot inside.

And who knows if that fourth demand was an actual requirement of their tightly-guarded business model for their plans for the future or simply a negotiation feint, a red herring? Why not demand a handful of things if all you really wanted was two or three things to expand your empire? So that way, the FCC can feel good about itself for having a spine and not giving in to ALL of the issues, yet Google still gets everything it needs for its Master Plan. Demand the moon, settle for Poland.

So what does Google lose by the results of the negotiation? Nothing. Not a thing. All the necessary pieces on the chessboard have survived intact and Google may now proceed forth a move at a time. With one-third of the bandwidth slated for open access, this means that Google has the freedom to prepare its configurations for implementation.

But where is it going? Well, let's look at some of its moves in the past and what resulted from those plays to be able to imagine what might be up their sleeve on this one.


Some Google Goobles --Check

In 2004, Google Goobled (gobbled up; acquired) Picasa and the result was free photo organizing software for its customers. It also Goobled Keyhole Corporation and Where 2 Technologies , digital mapping services, and Google Earth and Google Maps were born. Those, too, are free services.

In 2005, it Goobled 2Web Technologies and Google Spreadsheets was born. Then it Goobled Urchin Software which hatched Google Analytics. In 2006 Writely and @Last were Goobled resulting in Google Documents and Google Sketchup. The list goes on and on, but the pattern remains the same. Google buys companies, converts the strength of the company into a free program or service for consumers and then advertises to the users in some of those platforms. In other cases, it is simply creating a dependence on or at least an affinity for Google. Indeed I myself have used many of its offerings and enjoyed them richly.

However, Google has violated one of its own mottos which is to do one thing well. Google, in fact is trying to do all things, not one thing. And as long as it is offering all these as free services there is great popularity among the public. Is there any reason for us to expect that Google is suddenly going to change their modus operandi? Unlikely. If they stay true to form, what will their next move look like?

VoIP Cellphones -- Check Mate

You are probably aware that several years ago Google introduced Google Talk. With that service, integrated with your Gmail account, you can chat with someone in real time, sort of like an audio IM. It is easy and convenient. The sound quality is fantastic. The whole program is brilliant. And it is all done with VoIP, Voice over Internet Protocol.

Now take that technology and hold it next to the recent Goobling of Grand Central Communications, a voice communications management company and what do you have? If you still are confounded, mix in a little open access bandwidth. Now you are getting the picture.

But the coup-de-grace in this is the final element: free cell phone service. Bring your cell phone to Google and they will give you free VoIP service. Check mate.

The FCC ruling may have been a small step for man, but it was a giant Googlestep for mankind. Beware.