Sorry Seth Godin. You’re wrong about Google!
Seth Godin blogged this morning that Google is now letting users interact with search results, wiki style. True. He added that “You can vote them up and down and leave comments.” True also. (See the official Google post here.)
However, he incorrectly added “And they will be seen by others”. False!
Sorry Seth. I love your books. I love your blog. You’re famous. But you made a pretty big mistake here. So far, Google has specifically stated in their blog that “The changes you make only affect your own searches.”
Now, as SEO’s, we all know that Google’s goal is quite likely to “improve their search results” by observing which sites get promoted up and down and which ones get removed.
Will we try to “game” this to advance our own sites and the sites of our clients? Uh… Yea, at least some will!
But to come right out of the gate the first morning and state that changing your search results will mean that others see those changes was not only wrong, it was irresponsible and poor journalism.
No offense, Mr. Godin. I love your stuff. Honest. We all make mistakes.
To all my readers, please go read Seth’s blog and his books. He is (almost) always right on the money.
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November 21st, 2008 at 10:58 am
Here’s the problem with your last sentence. He’s not always right. As a matter of fact, when it comes to the internet he’s usually wrong. Search for seth Godin and Click Fraud in Google and you’ll see how wrong he was. Seth might be right about a lot of things, but he’s generally dead wrong when it comes to business about the internet.
November 21st, 2008 at 11:07 am
Sorry, Corey Creed, but you’re wrong about Seth Godin being wrong about Google.
Ok, look the reality is that perhaps Seth misunderstood something and perhaps not. Perhaps what happened is that you misunderstood what Seth was saying.
See, in a sense, Seth is right, and in a sense you are too - but it depends on the context.
In that same Google post - in fact in the very next sentence after the one you mention - Google says, “But SearchWiki also is a great way to share your insights with other searchers. You can see how the community has collectively edited the search results by clicking on the “See all notes for this SearchWiki” link.”
So, yes, they WILL be seen by others. But no, they won’t AFFECT other people’s searches.
So, I stand by my comment that you are the one who may be wrong - not Seth. Sorry.
November 21st, 2008 at 11:15 am
Nice point, DazzlinDonna.
However, given that Google works this way, the accurate statement would be:
“and they CAN be seen by others”
not
“and they WILL be seen by others” as Seth wrote.
I don’t mean to be picky. But this is the most widely read blog on marketing. I think he should probably fix that. Is he looking to be sensational? All of this is just my opinion.
November 21st, 2008 at 11:38 am
I’ll give you that point - CAN is a better use than WILL, however, I wouldn’t be calling Seth “sensational” since, I think in this case, you’d be the pot calling the kettle black. No offense meant, but it’s fairly obvious that the point of this post was to be sensational and play off of Seth’s fame. Not that that’s a bad thing…everyone does it all the time. It’s the way these things work. But let’s not be all high and mighty either and pretend we aren’t doing exactly what we say others are doing, k?
Seth didn’t word it properly. You called him out on it, but got it wrong too. Maybe he was being sensational, but probably not, he was probably just not clear. You definitely were being sensational, and also didn’t get it quite right. In my opinion only, of course.
November 21st, 2008 at 11:49 am
Good call. We’re on the same page. My one response would be that Seth Godin should hold to a higher standard and be a little more careful. This post may seem a slight bit “sensational” as you say. But I have far fewer readers than Mr. Godin. He has a huge and loyal following that believes everything he says.
To prove it, the only reason I even knew about his mistake is that one of my clients (a fortune 500) wrote me an email first thing in the morning today stating that what Seth Godin wrote sounded “very interesting and could change the playing field”.
I need to meet with them later today. They are wondering “how this might change things and if there is anything we should prepare PPC wise or perhaps start in social media to get an advantage”.
Those are great questions and I look forward to discussing it with them. However, I hate to see legitimate businesses get all shaken up because of a slight error in verbiage by a very legitimate marketer.
I appreciate your comments. But I still feel that Mr. Godin made a pretty big mistake that could mislead many.
November 21st, 2008 at 12:16 pm
I’m certainly a big fan of Seth’s and this is the first time I’ve seen your blog, Corey.
I’d have to say this semantic difference is ridiculous.
In fact, Seth is correct if he said others WILL see the comments you post, because if you post a comment, and they are included in the search Wiki results, then what you post WILL be seen.
Sure, they won’t be seen with the original result, and sure, not EVERYBODY will see your comments, but if they are posted, they will be seen by those that look.
So Can and Will are not truly at odds here.
Bob Jenkins
November 21st, 2008 at 1:37 pm
I read it differently as well, Corey. I took it as he was just referring to seeing the comments made… not the position changes a user makes. I think the way Seth wrote it assumed one reading it already knows he is talking about those signed into Google… not the general searching public. Yes it could have been written better for the layman, but I think your reaction was a bit harsh.
You’re still in my cool book though
David