Web PieRat

My latest article at Practical Ecommerce, read it in full here.

The pieces are rapidly falling into place for Google’s increasing integration of “social signals” into its search algorithms. With the oddly isolated “+1″ button launch at the end of March and the seemingly abrupt end of its agreement with Twitter in early July — see “Google Loses Access to Twitter Stream, Suspends Realtime Search,” on Mashable — it seemed that Google was dropping the social ball yet again.

Instead Google surged forward with Google+, its month-old social network based on sharing specific content to specific circles. From the users’ perspective, it’s like Gmail and GTalk combined with Facebook, but far more engaging. From Google’s perspective it’s the missing piece that connects the social dots between its products and provides a unique source of social-signal data to feed its ever-growing algorithms. Assuming Google+ realizes its potential, Google has the beginnings of a revolution on its hands.

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While researching how to add the +1 button, I came across this interesting tidbits on using rel=canonical to consolidate +1′s to the canonical version of a page. This bit from the FAQ is interesting because it mirrors advice on canonicalizing URLs to consolidate link juice, which points to a possible future in which +1’s enjoy a similar level of algorithmic importance as links do. Otherwise, why bother to worry about canonicalizing for them, hmmm?

From Google’s +1 FAQ:

However, your site may make the same content available via different URLs. For example, your site may have several pages listing the same set of products. One page might display products sorted in alphabetical order, while other pages display the same products listed by price or by rating. For example:

http://www.example.com/product.php?item=swedish-fish&sort=alpha
http://www.example.com/product.php?item=swedish-fish&sort=price

If Google knows that these pages have the same content, we may index only one version for our search results. As a result, +1′s for the other versions may not appear in search results.

You can make sure Google displays +1 annotations for the most search results possible by adding the rel=”canonical” property to the non-preferred versions of each page. This property should point to the canonical version, like this:

This tells Google: “Of all these pages with identical content, this page is the most useful. Please prioritize it in search results.” Now, when a user +1’s a page with a non-canonical URL, Google will associate that +1 with the canonical, preferred version.

Google Keyword Tool is a window into the world’s innermost desires. Often the keywords reported are mundane and predictable: [hotels at disney], [disneyland restaurants], etc. Some days, however, I’m struck by a particular phrase and the intent behind it. To the keyword phrases that brighten my days I dedicate this “As Seen on GKT” column.

Today’s As Seen on GKT: [disneyland bar] and [club at disneyland]

People go to Disneyland to have a good time. For some people having a good time is synonymous with partying, and for others it means photos of the kids with Snow White. These two search phrases show different sides of the “having a good time” coin, which is what fascinates me most.

1. Bars: It’s hard to mistake the intent here. People looking for bars in or around Disneyland are either there to party, or there with the whole fam-damn-ily and in need of something to dull the edge. The [bars near disneyland] query caught my attention first and got me thinking about the parents who just wanted to wander off and drown out the shrieking scene with a stiff drink or five. But who am I to say. Last time I went to Disneyworld with my then-princess-obsessed daughter Hazel I had a glass of wine or two and quite enjoyed myself. But I didn’t feel the need to tie one on or search out the available bars nearby. There’s a difference and it puts a pretty big downer on the whole “Happiest Place on Earth” thing.
2. Clubs: While bars have a more depressing connotation in my opinion, clubs have a celebratory connotation. You go to a club to dance and have fun, not to sit on a stool and stare into your cups. When I happened upon the search queries for [club at disneyland] and the like, I realized there’s another side to drinking at Disney — the fun side! I could especially recall all the 20-somethings I saw at Disneyworld and the great fun they were having. Of course they’d seek clubs as part of their trip. OK, that’s less depressing.
3. Secret Club: But what’s this? A secret Disneyland club? Keyword research exposes you to some of the coolest stuff you never knew existed. Like a secret members-only club in the New Orleans Square section of Disneyland. If you’ve got a couple extra grand lying around and love Disneyland, check out Club 33 for the elite experience. Apparently.

Barry Schwartz broke the news today on Search Engine Land that Google’s URL removal tool has allowed you remove URLs from ANY domain, not just domain you own and verify.

Yes it’s a faux pas on Google’s part and clearly needs to be fixed, but how is it much more than an annoyance? Google’s guidelines for the tool state that the URL requested for removal needs to either 404 or be restricted using meta robots noindex or a robots.txt disallow either before or soon after you submit for removal.

To ensure your content is permanently removed, you must do one of the actions below before or soon after you submit your URL removal request. If you don’t, your site may later reappear in search results.

So unless the site owner you’re trying to sabotage has kindly already sabotaged himself using one of these methods (404, etc.) the removal from Google’s index should be temporary, especially for sites that are crawled frequently. Which makes sense because the same Google Webmaster Tools help page also states that the tool is for emergency URL removal. If it’s that big of an emergency then it should be removed from the site as well. Google recognizes that you can’t always do that immediately, but if after several crawls that URL is crawlable and there happily serving a 200 OK, it’s fair game again for indexaion.

Still, Google had wisely disabled the feature for now.

My new best friend: The New Trent iGrip IMP1100 Universal Battery Case includes a “leather” padfolio case with the standard iPad viewing window on one side a dedicated slot for the included 11,000 mA battery on the other side. Brilliant! During the widespread power outages caused by the derecho in the northern Chicago suburbsthis week, the IMP1100 kept two greedy cell phones powered for 36 hours. If only it could power my home’s well pump as well I’d be set!

At 11,000 mA, the iGrip rechargeable battery has enough juice to recharge an iPad fully one time, or a standard cell phone like the iPhone 5-6 times.

The large battery capacity means you’ll be able to power your devices longer, but it also means you’ll be recharging the battery itself at least overnight. The iGrip battery charges using your device’s power cable, it does not come with its own. It’s meant to use the iPad’s charging block and cable, but I’ve found that it plays nicely with the third-party 2.1A USB chargers I’ve bought for the iPad. Sadly, the iGrip uses what looks to be a 3.5mm male connector instead of a universal micro-USB or iPad connection to charge itself. But the USB to 3.5mm cable is skinnier than my other USB cables so it’s easy to carry along.

Have I mentioned that this rechargeable battery is light as a feather? After lugging some heavy batteries around, I was seriously skeptical that this featherweight would hold any charge at all, let alone enough to recharge my phone six times over. But it does. However they did it, they could teach the rest of the mobile electronics industry what thin and light really means. In this case light doesn’t mean flimsy, though. It has lived in my purse for four months with only cosmetic damage. By cosmetic I mean that constantly rubbing against the back of my iPad has worn some smooth spots in slightly textured plastic of the battery’s case. That’s only to be expected from the way I treat it.

I’ve used the iGrip IMP1100 rechargeable battery to power my iPad (original), HTC Thunderbolt, and BlackBerry Storm 2. Anything that charges with a USB cable at 2.1A or less should be able to charge from this battery. The manufacturer’s site also lists compatibility with:

• Compatible with 2G 3G 3Gs 4G iPhone
• Compatible with iPad2 and iPad
• Compatible with all generation 2G 3G 4G iPod touch
• Compatible with Motorola Droid
• Compatible with HTC Android (EVO, incredible, X1, nexus)
• Compatible with Blackberry (9630, 9700, 9550, 9800)
• Compatible with major brand portable game system, such as Nintendo DS, Nintendo DS lite, Sony PSP. Adapters will be sold separately
• Also work with Kindle reading device

When fully charged, the battery LED glows green and slowly turns to blue as power decreases. While it’s recharging, the blue LED is steadily lit and the green flashes. The iGrip features an on/off switch to hoard battery power when not in use. I let it sit for weeks in my purse fully charged without using it, and when I had to press it into service this week it seemed to be fully powered up still. If it did lose any charge in the meantime I didn’t miss it.

Now let’s talk about the case. It has four viewing angles thanks to indentations on the battery compartment, a snap closure, and side-entry for the iPad and the battery to ensure that your devices won’t slip out while it’s closed. Very smart. All the necessary charging ports are exposed while the devices are in the case, so you can slip the charging cables into place while you’re using the devices in the case. Again, very smart.

Still, when the iGrip battery & case arrived, the first thing I did was toss the case in a drawer. It claims to be leather, but mine looked, felt and smelled synthetic. The case that I received is also brown, not black as pictured, so I may have gotten an older model. If it matters to you, I’d recommend sending them an email to confirm the case color and material. The death knell for me, though, was that the case didn’t fit in the purse I bought specifically to hold my iPad, phone and all the other electronics I just have to have with me all the time. It doesn’t add noticeable thickness or width, unless you have a bag that’s already a close fit with the iPad alone. In a briefcase or backpack it would be just fine.

In the end I didn’t really care about the case, though, because at $69 with free shipping from the manufacturer I feel like I got a bargain on the battery alone. And after its performance this week during the power outage, I know I did!

Yesterday on the train, Brian R. Brown and I were chatting about orphaned pages, XML sitemaps and indexation without benefits. Brian referred to XML sitemaps as the “one hit wonder of SEO.” Brilliant! XML sitemaps, like Dexy’s Midnight Runners, are one hit wonders.

Dexy’s Midnight Runners, for those of you who missed the 80s, are famous for their one hit “Come on, Eileen.” XML sitemaps are famous for inviting the crawl. And just like Dexy’s Midnight Runners don’t have any other great songs, XML sitemaps really don’t provide anything other than a way to request that search engine spiders crawl your site. This comparison just begs for a Weird Al-style lyrics mod:

Come on Crawl Me,
I swear (well he means)
At this sitemap
You’ll find everything…

Actually Blondie’s “Call Me” was screaming for a “Crawl Me” spoof, but you can hardly call Blondie a one-hit wonder. Anyway, back to XML sitemaps.

What XML Sitemaps Do

• Invite search engines to crawl specific URLs

What XML Sitemaps Do Not Do

• Guarantee crawling of URLs included in the XML sitemap
• Block crawling of URLs not included in the XML sitemap
• Guarantee indexation
• Improve rankings
• Drive traffic or sales

For want of the crawl indexation was lost.
For want of indexation rankings were lost.
For want of rankings the visitors were lost.
For want of visitors the site was lost.
And all for the want of a crawl.

How do you invite friends to Google+ while it’s in field test mode and invites are officially disabled? Use the the “share by email” back door.

All you need to do is share a post with someone who isn’t a Google+ member yet. I just share the same post over and over from my profile stream. Here’s what I use.

You can paste in their emails individually or create a Circle of unregistered friends and invite that Circle all at once.  When you add unregistered friends an option appears at the bottom of the share window next to the Share button to confirm that you want to share with these unregistered users by email. YES, you do! Check the box and hit send.

Google+ will send them an email work the first words of the post you’re sharing as the subject line of the email. It looks like this.

All your friend needs to do is click that orange-red button to start the registration process. New users are rate limited by hour so if they can’t get in at first tell them to try again later.

This is a Google+ invitation loophole, so be warned that it may stop working temporarily at any time. Good luck!

Oh and if you don’t know anyone who can invite you, leave me a comment here with your email. My comments are moderated so no one will see your email but me. PieRat’s promise not to use them for any purpose except your Google+ invite lest I be keel hauled.