Just want to do a quick post today pointing you to a couple of columns I ran this week that might be of interest, just in case you missed them.
My SearchInsider this week (Lessons Learned from the Pasternack SEO Contest) was talking about Greg Boser's entry into the David Pasternack SEO contest. Greg's approach was very clever and I just had to send props out to him. My point in the column was that SEO is as much about understanding how we connect and interact online and how human behavior tends to play itself out as it is about technical tricks and tactics. And I think that's the whole point that Dave Pasternack missed when he decided to launch his attack against SEO Buzz online is certainly a dynamic force and it's reflected in the organic search results, more than anywhere else. If you have someone who really understands that, they can leverage organic optimization effectively. That's what Greg did in this particular contest. So while SEO might not be rocket science, it's definitely a social science. Greg gave us a very clever lesson in how algorithmic search works as a proxy for common social interest patterns online. It's probably not a coincidence that I understand Greg Boser is an avid poker player. He's obviously a student of human nature and he played his hand very well in this contest. Anyway for more details, check out this week SearchInsider.
My Just Behave column on Searchengineland this week (
The Pros and Cons of Personalized Search) was a recap on personalization and why I think it will be a win for the user, eventually. I gathered some comments I picked up from my blog and from various places online that were protesting Google's move towards personalization. Through them I try to identify the common themes and tried to understand why people are pushing back against personalized search results. I also tried to present the other side of things.