Industry News

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today...

I love Paul Taylor’s perspective in Fix The System Problem, Not The People Problem. He points out that many managers look first at the people structure of an organization when it is struggling:

People often resort to blaming individuals rather than acknowledging systemic issues due to a psychological inclination for self-preservation. Additionally, societal and organizational cultures may emphasize individual accountability, discouraging a systemic analysis. Almost ALL of the leadership...

We just got back from an incredible 2.5 weeks in South Africa. I have a lot of processing to do… but what I will say for now is that the sunsets in Africa are still the best in the world. Don’t @ me, it’s just science.

Also, here’s a Spotify playlist of chill South African jams that I think you will enjoy. Give it a try!

It took me many years to rid myself of the commonly-held belief that Sales is the “enemy” of Product. Here’s a good reminder that (good) Sales teams are our allies:

Contrary to stereotypes, only part of sales actually involves convincing a customer to buy your product. The person selling your product spends a very large amount of time helping customers successfully navigate their own complex organizations, and purchase a product that they already want (yours).

I’ve always said that when I grow up I want to write like Paul Ford. Well, I’m all grown up now. I still don’t write like Paul Ford, and he still writes absolute gems like To Own the Future, Read Shakespeare—in my opinion the final word on the value of the humanities:

A programmer sneers at the white space in Python, a sociologist rolls their eyes at a geographer, a physicist stares at the ceiling while an undergraduate, high off internet forums, explains that Buddhism anticipated...

There has been a ton of chatter within the SEO community over the past couple of days related to extreme ranking volatility within the Google Search results. The Google tracking tools have also picked up the volatility over the past day or so. There is no way Google pushed out a confirmed update this week but hey, Google's search results live a life of their own.

No one should be surprised to hear that I am reporting on some intense Google search ranking volatility starting this Friday, December 22nd, through the weekend, with things seeming to calm down today, Sunday, December 24th. Did Google push an algorithm update or tweak before the holiday break? Who knows, but there are signals of ranking volatility either way.

Earlier this month we covered a report from Sterling Sky that said the Google Local search ranking algorithm now uses if a location is open as part of its local ranking system. Google's Search Liaison, Danny Sullivan, confirmed the change late on Friday saying, "we've long used "openness" as part of our local ranking systems, and it recently became a stronger signal for non-navigational queries."

You'd expect that the Google search ranking volatility would calm as we get closer to the holiday break, Christmas timeframe. But no. Google's search ranking volatility is ever so heated, or shall we say, cold, as we approach the holidays.

A friend recently mentioned that he is feeding DALL•E prose from the fantasy novels he is reading, and asking it to create images of the scenes. This sounded like an excellent idea to me and since I am currently re-reading Lord of the Rings, I’ve been doing the same. It has genuinely enhanced my enjoyment of the book to create “text-accurate” images of the characters and scenes as I read.

Here are a few of my favorites (yes, I’m still in Fellowship)…

Tom Bombadil exactly as he appears...