Going to SES, what would you like to know?

[rumblepup]

So guys, rumblepup is going to SES San Jose, and asking questions. If there are members here who'd like to meet up and tell war stories, just let me know your coming.

For those who are not going, or can't, I wanted to start this thread to give you guys a chance to post a question you'd like to see answered.

So here are the rules. Just one question per member, so make it a good one. I'll compile them on Friday into a nice little word document, and see who I can get to answer them.

Might be a Googler, might be an SEO star, or it just might be the some guy I run into at the bar. But I'll promise to get as many answered as possible.

[Rephrase]

What is a SES? I hope you don't consider this as my question :P

[rumblepup]

Simply put SES is Search Engine Strategies, a conference for, you guessed it, everything internet and search. It's the one of, if not, the largest gathering of it's kind. The originator of the conference is one Danny Sullivan, who began Search Engine Watch: Tips About Internet Search Engines & Search Engine Submission many, many moons ago.

Attendees and speakers include everyone from Google, Yahoo, and MSN representatives to guest speakers/ search engine experts such as Todd Malicoat, Lee Odden, Dave Davies, Bill Slawski, Rand Fishkin, and our own resident BAMF's like Mike McDonald and Brian Mark, and Neo (AKA David Brown) just to name a few.

SES San Jose takes place right near the Googleplex, and yours truly will be hanging out there, usually walking aimlessly from room to room, excited and confused, like a kid at a candy store.

So back to my original post.

If you had one question to ask some of the most expertly experts in the field, what would it be?

[ratzisme]

I don't have a question but I will be at SES for the first time.

[rumblepup]

but I will be at SES for the first time

Cool. Look for the big confused guy with a grin on his face. I'll be standing about 5 feet away from him.

If you see me, walk up and introduce yourself.

[incrediblehelp]

rumblepup. I am sure that Google will be talking about this, but here goes. I would ask them about the recent change to AdWords in which they will start using Maximum CPC instead of actual CPC price when figuring out placement for your ad. Could be huge for mom and pop or lower budget campaigns.

[Ne0]

Wow... a slap in the face... I don't even get a mention

I'll be there with bells on and NO I'm not the big guy w/ the confused look on his face that will be right next to Rumblepup!

This show is going to be the biggest they've had at SES San Jose to date! I can't wait! Fly out this Saturday.... Should be a Ton of fun! And like Robert (rumblepup) said... if you see us walk up and say hi! It's great meeting ppl that you've only seen online... in person!

See ya there!

OH and rumblepup... I'd like you to ask Danny Sullivan, where he gets his inspiration for the songs he sings on DSC!

LOL

db

[crankydave]

Here goes...

With the recent announcement of the removal of the supplemental tag, it was said that the hope was for all queries to reach the supplemental index. Does Google plan on taking the best matches from the RI and the SI for every query or will they continue to look in the RI for the best matches first?

Hope that makes sense.

Dave

[incrediblehelp]

With the recent removal of the SI tag, what should we feel about the future of the PR toolbar figure? Should we expect it to disappear soon to?

[ratzisme]

Flying in on Sunday and staying at the Fairmont. I'll be the fat chick with rectangular glasses! If you see me, come up and say hi!

[cyberkid]

I have a question based on my own bad feeling and a bowl of sour grapes. Recently, I changed platforms and now have an asp.net ecommerce platform using aspdotnetstorefront. I had used Front Page until Microsoft shut down the ecommerce platform that integrated with the Front Page website. Thusly, the "bad feeling" of being used and forced to change platforms. Now having bought into the next MS platform, namely asp.net I have found that MSN/Live has indexed my new site perfectly, if not flawlessly and Google has created an utter mess out of the same data. What is the deal with Google? Why cannot Google correct errors it has created or more to the point does Google force results in order to force users to make more searches in an effort to drive users to use the paid adsense results? Is Google using fuzzy logic to manipulate and contrive results when it is determined that paid advertising results warrant a greater weight than the results it has strored within its free index.

The proof is in the pudding. The search term is pebeo fabric markers and the answer from my site yields "yarn" at Google, and the expected page at MSN/Live as pebeo fabric markers.

[Ne0]

sorry cyberkid but I'll chime in and answer your question really quick...

reason your having those sour grapes... is because your using a Microsoft product and doing well in their search engine (because it originally created the mess and can read it) Google won't bend over backwards to try and figure out what your trying to do... .02

See building your site w/ wordpad and google problems

hope that makes sense... however I'm biased... I can't stand most of the microsoft software....

NeO

[cyberkid]

I like computing, I grew up an IBM kid. My friends dad went on to be a board director, we started out in the IBM Chicago office with Watson before being transplanted to Fairfield county. That's a lifetime of computer age and the internet is a nice breeze to the days of old. Before PC's there was of course the mainframe and then the first generation pc came along with a 5 1/2 250kb disk for an operating system and then HD development and processor speeds that could at least make a printer type at a high rate of speed and gradually in terms of time the computers took over where morse code offices left off.

How advanced is Google? Is it nothing more than a huge card catalog system? Is reading a title, a description, and a keyword really a multi-billion dollar business? What values are we putting on a machine that sorts web pages in a manner so as to optimize its own product share by generating revenue by the number of paid web pages it can produce and why is there any incentive to produce web pages that are freely indexed even if they are more relevant to the search at hand? What is the intended future of Google? Will it ever apply logic and form a set of data that can be considered knowledge? Why is Microsoft dumber than Google?

[rumblepup]

cyberkid

You opened up a can of worms (and whoopass) that deserves it's own thread. If it wasn't for the fact this thread is about me asking all of your questions at SES, I'd jump right in and battle with ya!

(Actually, all of my source is asp.net, don't let the LAMPS get to you!)

But you know what? I'll ask that question. But basically, and you can take this with a grain of salt, In My Humble Opinion, Googlebot and the Google Indexing Algo are two to of the most powerful computing properties ever created. Google is number 1 for only one reason, the best service, and the legend of the best service. Marketing? I don't remember Google ever doing any on the tube. Tells you something.

They get stuff wrong all the time as well, but they are still Google.


NeO, sorry for leaving you out of the mix bro! I'd figure you'd be all super busy with your new responsibilities (be sure to check out NeO on Webmaster Radio SEO 101 at 1pm EST Mondays, Wednesdays, and live on Thursdays!)


OK, any more questions?

[crankydave]

Originally Posted by rumblepup

OK, any more questions?

Since you asked...

On July 2nd of this year, Google was granted another extention on their right to use patent for the words "TRUSTRANK".

Have the implemented a ranking system they intend to call "TRUSTRANK". When did they or when will they? Will this "ranking" be viewable by the public and what will it mean?

What differences have searchers and webmasters seen, or will they see, when they do?

Dave