Your Website, their Battleground
I was on a website called sex-geek.com reading an interview with a middle aged prostitute, the author of the sex-geek.com website, a self-described prostitute who loves what she does. She's compensated well and she likes what she does. It's not like someone's tearing her clothes off and doing whatever they feel like.
Which reminds me of Google and Yahoo.
A couple weeks ago Google updated their toolbar and made their ill-conceived AutoLink feature a prominent part of it. Autolink is a feature that changes a webmaster's website in ways they did not intend, specifically by adding links to it. Fortunately there is a JavaScript that can kill it, and all webmasters who care for the integrity of their website should download it and slap it into every website they own.
Yahoo followed suit recently with the Voice Update of their IM service. The update is obstensibly to install PC to PC voice services. Unlike ordinary software updates, this update installs a feature that will add links to the websites Yahoo IM users visit. YIM users have to choose a "custom" download box in order to opt out of all the additional software Yahoo wants to load onto their users computer, including a feature that will alter your website by adding links to it. That's right, Yahoo has joined Google in changing the information provided by your website.
Altering websites is not a new thing. Spyware companies have been doing it for years. Heck, even internet users feel they have a right to alter our web pages by using adblockers to remove our advertising and affiliate cookies. The webmaster has been under pressure since the day some geek figured out he could turn off images and javascript to surf faster. Don't be under any illusion that this notion that our websites are malleable will go away someday. It won't.
These alterations by the search engines can appear as yet another front in our battle to turn a buck. But it is more than a front. It's a whole new war, not against our websites, but between the search engines themselves.
It's all about the users
It's not like we haven't been exploiting search engines in one fashion or another, so in a way there's a karmic what goes around comes around aspect to it. Even the so-called white hats have had their turns screwing Google and Yahoo by altering their serps to what they felt was best for the search engine users.
Nevertheless, the search wars are progressing in a way that is turning our websites into their battleground. This is a trend worth noting. Keep in mind that encroachment onto our websites may become more aggressive in the future as the big three battle over who gets to alter what the end user sees... on our websites.
Which reminds me of Google and Yahoo.
A couple weeks ago Google updated their toolbar and made their ill-conceived AutoLink feature a prominent part of it. Autolink is a feature that changes a webmaster's website in ways they did not intend, specifically by adding links to it. Fortunately there is a JavaScript that can kill it, and all webmasters who care for the integrity of their website should download it and slap it into every website they own.
Yahoo followed suit recently with the Voice Update of their IM service. The update is obstensibly to install PC to PC voice services. Unlike ordinary software updates, this update installs a feature that will add links to the websites Yahoo IM users visit. YIM users have to choose a "custom" download box in order to opt out of all the additional software Yahoo wants to load onto their users computer, including a feature that will alter your website by adding links to it. That's right, Yahoo has joined Google in changing the information provided by your website.
Altering websites is not a new thing. Spyware companies have been doing it for years. Heck, even internet users feel they have a right to alter our web pages by using adblockers to remove our advertising and affiliate cookies. The webmaster has been under pressure since the day some geek figured out he could turn off images and javascript to surf faster. Don't be under any illusion that this notion that our websites are malleable will go away someday. It won't.
These alterations by the search engines can appear as yet another front in our battle to turn a buck. But it is more than a front. It's a whole new war, not against our websites, but between the search engines themselves.
It's all about the users
It's not like we haven't been exploiting search engines in one fashion or another, so in a way there's a karmic what goes around comes around aspect to it. Even the so-called white hats have had their turns screwing Google and Yahoo by altering their serps to what they felt was best for the search engine users.
Nevertheless, the search wars are progressing in a way that is turning our websites into their battleground. This is a trend worth noting. Keep in mind that encroachment onto our websites may become more aggressive in the future as the big three battle over who gets to alter what the end user sees... on our websites.
Search Engine Commentary by martinibuster || Your Website, their Battleground
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