Google Introduces Over Optimization SEO Penalty

Internet marketing efforts often focus a large amount of time and energy on "Search Engine Optimization" (SEO). This means placing the right keywords and meta tags in your site in order for it to rank high (preferably the first page of results) on Google. Google uses secret algorithms to determine its result rankings. Google constantly does a kind of code battle with web site developers over whether the users see what Google "thinks" they want or what the pages marketers want people to see. Developers work to reverse-engineer the algorithms, Google tries to refine them.

SEO is not dishonest in and of itself, however, some sites have great SEO but hardly any content other than advertising. Now Google has decided to penalize "over optimized" sites. Read Google Introduces Over Optimization SEO Penalty for more details.

Managing your online reputation

Faculty and anyone else who regularly publishes (or would like to some day): be mindful of your online reputation.

An article in Nature News, Best face forward, explains how not just to keep track of your online presence, but to take more control over it.

Most interesting is the mention of a private company that will do this for you:

Online Reputation Manager, headquartered near Rochester, New York, is a company that uses search-engine optimization strategies to repair the online image of clients who have been besieged with unfavourable press.

Here's a new sub-field within Public Relations I hadn't heard of before. Know any other similar companies? Please let us know in the comments.

Five gadgets that will be dead in 5 years

Courtesy of Prof. Bob Fulkerth:

Five gadgets that will be dead in 5 years. From MSNBC's Gadgetbox blog.

The Knowledge Economy in Europe

What is a knowledge economy? What segments constitute the knowledge economy? What are the prospects for growth of the knowledge economy in Europe? You will find the answers to these and other questions in the concise 23 page report by the Work Foundation prepared for the 2007 EU Spring Council : The Knowledge Economy in Europe. This will prove of interest to students and faculty studying competitiveness issues regarding European financial services, high tech and information industries, as well as those seeking forecasts of growth in these industries. The report also evaluates education and health care.

Click here for a list of additional online reports and books, full text, through the University Library's Online Catalog (current GGU ID number required for off-campus access to full-text).

For assistance in using the full-text resources or in improving your search results, please contact the Librarians of the University Library.