Relevance
What a Google & Yahoo! Image Search Reveals
My friend, Juan Guillermo Tornoe’s Hispanic Trending blog is always a good read. His post Search Engine’s Perception of Hispanic vs. Latino made me think.
First, the headline made me consider why I think of myself as Hispanic but never use the term Latino to describe myself. For those of you confused by that, Spanish is my first language. I never learned English until I went to school. My parents immigrated to the US from Argentina in 1962 and my mother’s family spoke Spanish as their first language centuries before Columbus bumped into the island of Hispaniola, they are Sephardi jews.
Second, the image search is revealing. The way people use the terms, Hispanic & Latino, is often interchangeable. However, it’s obvious that the people using the term have different ideas about what they means. I simply never thought before about how valuable image search is in understanding the underlying terms. Marketers take note; what an interesting way to determine relevance.
Read the post, it’s short, but it might make you think too.
So what is the right term, Hispanic or Latino? If there isn’t one right term then how do you choose which one to use?
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Written by:Jeffrey Eisenberg
Bryan Eisenberg on Websites That Stink (in a Good Way)
Is it really such a bad thing to have a website that stinks?
In the second and final installment of Bryan’s interview with Ralph Wilson — recorded at February’s Search Engine Strategies conference in London — the two shift their focus from personas (as discussed in Part 1) to improving landing page conversion by creating better “scent” for the visitor.
In the video, Bryan talks about a study conducted by usability guru Jared Spool that shows, among other things, that…
- When visitors found the “trigger words” — keywords that either get stuck in their heads, either consciously or subconsciously, often from advertising — on the landing page they’re sent to, they were content with what they found a whopping 72% of the time.
- When these same visitors didn’t see their trigger words on the landing pages they found, their search was only successful 6% of the time.
(If video doesn’t load, click here.)
Despite all the heady research that analyzes how people actually search for — and find — things on the Internet, it’s so obvious that it’s almost funny: We sniff around for relevant info like animals on the hunt. We go where the scent takes us. If we find what we’re looking for, great. Game over. If not, we retreat to home base, regroup and go out on a slightly more refined path until we see it in the corner of our eye. Then we pounce.
. .
Want Bryan’s advice on how to make your website stink (in a good way)? Meet him at FutureNow’s Call to Action seminar on June 3rd in Manhattan.
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Written by:Robert Gorell
Stop Paying for Bad Keywords in Three Steps
Web analytics reports can be deceiving. They’re great at showing you WHAT visitors did on your website, but they can’t tell you WHY they didn’t do what you hoped they would.
But with the right process and frame of mind, it is possible to use web analytics to get insight into “why” your traffic isn’t converting — especially if you do pay per click advertising.
Here are some ideas for attracting more targeted traffic in order to get higher conversion rates and a much better return on pay-per-click (PPC) spend.
One
• Look at your top traffic-driving keywords (PPC and organic).
Are they highly relevant to the industry you’re in and the products you sell? Do these keywords clearly indicate that the searcher has a motivation to find your solution to their problem? Some keywords may have double meanings and could suggest that the visitor had a completely different search intent than expected. Someone searching “training videos” might actually be looking for “workout training videos,” “management training videos,” or a variety of other things. If the traffic from these fuzzy keywords is converting poorly, don’t be surprised. Stop buying and doing search engine optimization (SEO) for ambiguous keywords. The ultimate goal should be to figure out which key phrases specifically relate to your industry, product or service, and do some PPC and/or SEO to get listed for more relevant keywords.
Two
• Don’t play the generic keyword game.
It both difficult and expensive to get traffic from the most generic keywords in one’s industry. Such keywords are much more competitive in the search engines. You pay more for text ads and it takes a lot of SEO effort in order to get listed organically for these keywords. A lot of these single-word keywords are really only attracting early-stage visitors who are not necessarily ready to buy, anyway! If I’m searching for “purses,” I probably haven’t yet decided on a brand or a style of purse and it could take me a lot longer to convert. When I search for “white Chanel purse,” though, you can be fairly certain I’m ready to buy. Focusing on phrases that are tailored to your product or service is what people really mean when they talk about “long tail keywords” [define] — and often it’s the difference between having visitors who are ready to learn and ones who are ready to buy.
Three
• Speak the customer’s language, not your own.
Sometimes, marketers get so focused on their own sales process that they convince themselves that would-be customers actually care about the words they use to describe their own products and services. When someone is searching for a solution to their problem, they enter search terms that sometimes don’t match up with what the company thinks people should be searching for.
Are you buying traffic for keywords that mean something to you but mean precious little to your customers? We’ve all done it before. Even brilliant marketers can assume that customers will think and behave as they do. This is what we like to call “Inside-the-Bottle Syndrome.” Although contagious, it is curable, but your web analytics reports alone can’t diagnose you.
Let us know if you’d like to optimize paid search from the customer’s perspective.
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Written by:Melissa Burdon
The Search Engine’s Love Affair With Blogs
You’ve heard it time and time again: “Search engines love blogs.” You’ve read in one too many places that your website should include a blog in order to get better positioning in search engine results.
It’s not as simple as some may lead you to believe.
First, there’s the issue of relevance. A blog won’t magically give you a top ranking position on Google, Yahoo! or the like. The content your blog has, the frequency with which such content is being updated, and the amount of relevant incoming links to your site are some of the factors that will make-or-break the effectiveness of your weblog.
Don’t add a blog to your site if you’re not willing to consistently invest time and effort. An outdated blog will reflect the opposite image of whatever it is you want potential customers to know about your company.
Some bloggers are a bit obsessive-compulsive when it comes to “keeping it fresh.” No, you don’t need to add 10+ posts per day; what you need is consistency and relevance. You can update your blog daily, weekly, bi-weekly or even monthly, but you need to do it on a regular basis.
More importantly, write about your product/service/industry from as many angles as you can imagine. Link and opine on news and commentary related to your business. Doing so will benefit your customers as they try to wrap their heads around the issue (or problem) that your organization is able to solve.
If you are selling Piñatas, talk about piñatas; how they originated, the different materials/manufacturing techniques being utilized, market share, growth opportunities, or give examples of when and where it’s appropriate to have one. Show piñatas across the world, client testimonials, the most commonly used characters, licensing issues, what NOT to put inside them, the best sticks used to break them, how to liven any party, how to grab the kid’s attention during a birthday party . . . you get the picture.
Don’t go off on a weird tangent by addressing personal interests (outside of Piñata World) in your company blog. Have the need to do it? Start a personal blog and be as weird, nerdy, cool, public or anonymous as you wish to be. And, when it’s appropriate, link to your company’s blog.
Here’s a personal example of the true power or blogs: “Hi, my name’s Juan, and I’m an obsessive-compulsive blogger.” I have to blog on a daily basis about my passion, the Hispanic Community.
Every single post on my blog has something to do with Latinos; marketing and advertising, culture, religion, language, sports, business, buying power, politics, education, health. Bottom line: If it’s relevant information that will help you acquire a stronger grasp of Hispanics, you will find it on Hispanic Trending.
Through many years of non-stop blogging on the subject, I’ve been blessed to have established good relationships with many interesting people, from all walks of life, with the same interests as me.
One such individual is Dave Schechter, a news editor at CNN. In late September 2007, when interest regarding Hispanic Heritage Month was reaching its zenith, CNN and CNN.com launched a very insightful initiative, both on and off line, under the name, “Uncovering America,” with humongous coverage of everything Latino in a very professional and thorough manner. Early morning on September 28th, I received an email from Dave, requesting that “Uncovering America” be mentioned on Hispanic Trending. He even emphasized that coverage would be on both CNN and CNN.com.
Knowing that the entire coverage would be extremely relevant to the blog’s readers, I complied with my friend’s request and added a simple (and truly short) post that evening, with a link to “Uncovering America’s” landing page on CNN.com. Programming began on September 29th and everything was business as usual at Hispanic Trending. Being addicted beyond hope to my site’s analytics, on October 1st, I noticed abnormally high traffic numbers (trending towards 4 times the “normal” number of visitors for a single day). My analytics showed that the traffic spike was being generated through Google, specifically for the search term: “cnn.com/uncoveringamerica.”
I was fascinated by the phenomenon and kept digging deeper into it. I went to Google Trends (also captivating) and finally grasped the magnitude what was going on. For reasons beyond my control (I’m guessing the mention of the website on CNN’s TV coverage), “CNN.com/UncoveringAmerica” had reached, according to Google Trends, “On Fire” search term status that day; ranked #2, right between “veratril” and “aliens in america.”
Google Trends not only shows the most popular search terms of the day, it provides links to the news articles, blog posts and websites people are visiting after performing that specific search. There were no results under the news articles section, and my guess is that there wasn’t one article from any tracked media outlet that included the specific term being searched.
Under blog posts, I was pleasantly surprised to see my blog ranked number one. Then, looking closer, I couldn’t believe my eyes. The actual CNN.com site had the #2 and #3 positions behind, you guessed it, my blog. People were searching for the term “cnn.com/uncovering america” and clicking on my blog. Once there, they found a prominent and clear link to the information they were looking for and off they went. Since that day, the blog’s readership — although not at the record level it reached — was permanently increased to a new level that otherwise would have taken much longer to achieve.
The power of a relevant and consistently updated blog is not to be taken lightly, nor is it for the faint of heart. Years and years of posting relevant information about the subject made Google consider the blog so relevant that, when this specific term was searched, they listed it “Numero Uno.”
Advertising investment: $0.00
Hispanic Trending didn’t reach this milestone because of a catchy name, a nice design, or by who I know; it was a combination of perseverance and focus over time.
Sure, a blog can do wonders to increase traffic to your site, but do you must consider it a long-term investment.
Has blogging helped your organization? Got any lesser-known examples of how blogging has or hasn’t helped business?
[Editor’s Note: This is Juan Tornoe’s first guest post for GrokDotCom. He’ll be joining us at least once a month to share his insights about blogging and online Hispanic marketing trends.]
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Written by:Juan Tornoe
Pardon Me, Do You Have Any Hanukkah Ham?
“So… That not kosher?”
Isn’t it bad enough that my people can’t even agree on how to spell the holiday? 
One might expect Balducci’s, the fine food emporium, to know better. After all, they wrote the we’re-not-taking-sides-but-you-should “holiday” menu(s)*:
Balducci’s has everything you need to create a magnificent holiday meal, no matter which holiday you celebrate. Whether it’s an informal Chanukah get-together, an elegant Christmas feast, or even a glamorous New Year’s Eve fete, with our Holiday Entertaining Menu and Ordering Guides you’ll find all the ingredients for a memorable meal.
Ah, but that just shows how thoughtful they can be online. What about when NancyKay Shapiro goes into one of their stores to shop for the “holidays”? Apparently, the product doesn’t match the persona.
Okay, so it’s not like they were marketing this for Ramadan. And maybe I did have a prosciutto and mozzarella sandwich for lunch, but that thing was good. (Don’t tell my rabbi.) Besides, a stock room clerk — not a marketing manager — probably made this mistake. Still, it’s important for marketers to be careful with those “holiday” promotions.
Happy Chanukah/Hanukah/Hanukkah**!
(*Which, for some reason, you can only download as a PDF. It looks good, but why not host it on the site? That way, customers could have the option to download, print, or email to a friend.)
(**To anyone for whom that’s relevant.***)
(***Now do you see why George Costanza recommended we all just celebrate “Festivus”?)
[Hat tip to the Good Experience blog.]
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Written by:Robert Gorell
Screencast: Hunting for Early Bird Persuasion, Part 3
Now that you’ve seen Parts 1 and 2, where we found that the smartest way to persuade early-stage customers is to educate them, let’s focus on how to provide a consistent experience for them.
As we look at how Cabelas.com and BassProShops.com prepare to catch the Early Bird customer, consider the following:
- Relevance — If they’re not ready yet, don’t get carried away. (Is your website proposing marriage on the first date?)
- Screen Space — Early Birds need to know that they’re welcome, right from the homepage. Give them enough space, and combine relevance with scent to lead them in the right direction. (Use the battleship grid to protect the Early Bird from winding up in irrelevant worm holes.)
- Scent Trails — Not even the brightest of basset hounds can help you with this one, but creating the right scent for the customer to follow is key; particularly when they’re early in the buying process, and may not even have the vocabulary to know what they should be asking. If they come in with the wrong questions, and don’t buy, they should at least leave with the right ones. Help them find their way.
- AIDAS — Awareness. Interest. Desire. Action. Satisfaction. If customers aren’t aware of you, there’s no place to move forward. If you haven’t grabbed their interest, forget it. If there’s no emotional desire to lure them in, they won’t bite. If it’s difficult for them to take action, they’ll run away. And if they’re not satisfied, they won’t return.
- Inside-the-Bottle Syndrome (the other “IBS”) — “When you’re inside the bottle, you can’t read the label.” This is the biggest challenge marketers face. They know too much about their own products, too much about their own companies. It’s the “Curse of Knowledge” and you must overcome it to persuade.
Once again, it’s time to go huntin’ for Early Birds…
(If you’re viewing this in an RSS reader, click here for video.)
If you have a moment, share one of your early-stage buying experiences with us in the comments. Which sites have done a particularly good job of persuading you to buy, or turning you off, when you were only pecking around?
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Written by:Dave Young
Anyone Else Sick of Esurance?
For all I know, Esurance.com is a great company. But their commercials are polluting my brain.
Take a look:
(RSS readers click here for video.)
(RSS readers click here for video.)
(RSS readers click here for video.)
A few thoughts:
- The name is, like, totally “1.0″. You’re not eBay. The only companies that should be allowed to be E-anything are ones that can wear it as a badge of honor for surviving the digital gold rush.
- Do I really need “Erin Esurance” to save me from car-destroying, football-playing, thin-ice-skating robots if buying insurance can be done between latte sips? Besides, her real competition consists of talking geckos and metrosexual cavemen.
- Geico.com’s ads are funny because they present insurance as a mundane necessity that shouldn’t get in the way of your life. In fact, they’re just trying to save you time and money — maybe (i.e., “Just 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance”). Esurance’s Unique Value Proposition seems to be that they’re cute, oh-so-online, eco-friendly — because they somehow save trees/paper — and it’s as easy as “Quote, Buy, Print!” Nonsense. Their quote process is just as cumbersome as anyone else’s in their industry. I counted about 8 steps that I could see without putting in my personal information.
- Erin’s Secret Diary blog is ridiculous. It’s great that they’re involved with environmental issues, but honestly… who can read this crap? “Dr. Botanicus?” Really?
- Sorry, but “Quick, get in the hybrid!” is one too much.
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Written by:Robert Gorell
“Eyetracking, Heatmaps & Gaze Plots!” Oh My…
All you heatmap lovers out there, Uncle Jakob (Nielsen) has a great new post for you. Today’s Alertbox features a topic near and dear to the Grok’s heart: the overuse of fancy words in Web copy.
These “dollar words” are truly excellent… at going over your audiences’ heads while keeping them from accomplishing their goals by taking the actions you’ve set out for them. Anyone who’s taken our Persuasive Online Copywriting course would agree; Jakob is singing our tune in his discussion of a usability test he did on the U.S. Census Bureau website:
Beyond banner blindness, the major reason this homepage failed is that it used made-up terms or branded descriptions rather than plain-spoken words. Terms like “Population Clock,” “Population Finder,” and “QuickFacts” are not as descriptive as a simple line of text that says:
Current population of the United States: 302,740,627
Once Jakob goes beyond the heatmap, things really get interesting. He uses gaze plots (click thumbnail for image) to describe 4 main classes of behavior — “search-dominant,” “navigation-dominant,” “tool-dominant,” and “successful” — and gives insightful descriptions for each. If one were so inclined to look at the same observed behavior through the lens of the personality types or the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, they’d see beyond the how people clicked, and into the why they clicked. It’s how they’re wired, naturally, according to their preference, or type.
A: The Competitive type — what Jakob observed as “search-dominant user” in this study; Using the MBTI lens we’d shorten their preference to operating in “NT” (iNtuitive/Thinking) mode- working at a fast pace, with a logical bias. The Competitive quickly scans and skims everything, looking for a clue as to how to solve the puzzle. Neither Active Window [define] content nor navigation seemed to be the path of least resistance. (Notice: Competitive type didn’t even look in the right-hand column; they’ve been trained to ignore it.)
The right and left vertical lines clearly illustrate the Active Window, where a Competitive is most likely to spend time. (The same goes for all types, but the Competitive does this more often.) Once this person struck out with copy in the Active Window, they aimed for navigation and, after quickly striking out there, went to search.
As a footnote, Jakob adds, this “user” (don’t get me started) mentioned the ability to search faster for the answer… at Google.
B: The Methodical type — Jakob’s “navigation-dominant user”; “SJ” (Sensing/Judging) on the MBTI — behaves with a logical bias similar to Competitives, but with a far more deliberate pace. You know the Methodicals in your audience. They’re not easily satiated by the answers you give them. They want more. No detail’s too small. They want it all. The good news from a marketing communications perspective is they’re willing to give you their time — provided you’re willing to give them relevant content.
The Methodical approach was to look everywhere; Active Window, left navigation, right-hand column (where the answer was actually sitting, cloaked in techno-babble and jargon), above the fold, below. You name it, they saw it. They just didn’t find anything that seemed like the answer until, finally, navigation appeared “most promising”.
C: The Spontaneous type — Jakob’s “tool-dominant user”; “SP” (Sensing/Perceiving) on the MBTI; — behaves at a fast pace, with an emotional bias. They’re highly experiential by nature. (Notice how Jakob describes this type as people who “like parts of websites where they can do something”.)
The Spontaneous visitor clicked around briefly, mainly focusing on the interactive features, before most likely leaving in failure. The gaze went everywhere, without focus, until a single feature grabbed their attention — that is, until another rabbit hole appeared (on another website) that was more entertaining.
D: The Humanistic type — Jakob’s “successful user”; “NF” (iNtuitive/Feeling) on the MBTI; — behaves at a slightly less deliberate pace than the Methodical, but with an emotional bias. Testimonials were created for this type. Show them how you’ve treated other people like them, and you’ll gain their confidence.
My assumption that Plot D represents the Humanistic is based on a few observations and is a shining example of the value of optimizing your experience based on a plan, rather than some out-of-the-box analytics package or testing platform. Had we planned this experience using a customer-centric methodology like Persuasion Architecture™ [define], we would have a context in which to view this gaze; to know how far off the execution was from what we’d originally planned. That would give us an actionable approach to making website improvements.
With Plot D, I see someone who’s spent more time than the other visitors — except, of course, for the Methodical — not just scanning and skimming, but actually connecting. I also see someone whose gaze fell oddly on the right-hand column; a behavior we typically see when people are capable of scrolling with their mouse without actually looking at the gutter to find the down arrow. They intuitively know the scroll bar is there.
Each of these experiences could have been planned better to achieve the task at hand, but that’s a post for a different day. For now, simply consider that people are wired to behave according to different preferences, their behavior fueled by their own momentum.
For you to achieve your goals, your audience must first achieve theirs. That means presenting what they want, when and where they want it — even if you have to make a single product page speak to 4 different “types” of people. But that’s the beauty of the medium. Online, it’s far easier to measure and improve your plan dramatically over time.
(Author’s Note: Anyone think my headline would’ve been better if it were “What People Do on Your Site and Why”? Now do you see the power of plain-spoken language?)
[Editor’s Note: Here’s more on persuasive copywriting by personality type and how to make your site reader-friendly. Enjoy!]
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Written by:Howard Kaplan
Digital Camera Shops Miss the Big Picture
“What’s the #1 complaint about point-and-shoot digital cameras?”
That was Bryan Eisenberg’s morning riddle today. It’s a great question, and one I was sure to answer incorrectly — Bryan isn’t known to ask rhetorical questions without punchlines.
Now, before you read my response, close your eyes for a moment and think of three possible answers.
Seriously, stop cheating and humor me…
Eyes back open? Good. It’s easier to read that way.
I guessed:
- Shoddy image stabilization — With all the hype over new image-steadying technology, I figured the camera marketers were on to something. Besides, how many commercials of parents taking pictures of kids on tire swings can I handle?
- Grainy low-light images — This one was a (fine, I’ll say it) shot in the dark, but it’s one of my biggest complaints about non-SLR [define] digital cameras.
- Poor red eye reduction — The human cornea reflects light differently than other mammals. Lucky us. But why, in 2007, must we endure blinding rapid-flash settings only to look like evil deer in headlights?
Just as I’d suspected, each of my guesses was wrong. It turns out that the biggest complaint among automatic digital camera owners is “shutter delay time” — not “shutter speed,” mind you; rather, the response time between clicking the button and the damn thing actually taking a picture.
Yes! Exactly! That’s my least favorite thing about point-and-shoot digitals, too! So, why didn’t I know that?
Am I backpedaling from my previous answers? Absolutely. Would your customers likely do the same thing? Absolutely. Why isn’t “shutter delay time” addressed by most retailers? Let’s stick with threes:
- Customers don’t have the vocabulary to describe their needs in the terms of manufacturer’s jargon.
- Manufacturers don’t want to admit how bad the shutter delay is on their cameras.
- Retailers aren’t doing their homework on how to help customers buy on their own terms, and in their own language.
After years of hearing “megapixel”-this and “stabilizer”-that, shopping for digital cameras becomes intimidating for people who just want to take good pictures of the people, places and things they love. Some do a good job overall, but miss the big picture when it comes to shutter delay. Others have pretty decent emotional copy, but it ends up sounding generic. And with each boring, overly-technical description, digital camera retailers are flushing money down the drain. Some don’t say anything; they just list technical specs.
Here’s what camera retailers should know if they’re to fix it:
- Surveys are flawed. Had Bryan explicitly asked if “shutter delay time” were the biggest problem with automatic digital cameras, I’d have said yes. Since I was left to my own, limited vocabulary on the subject, I gave three plausible-yet-unsatisfying answers. Such are surveys. Ask people what they really want and you’ll hear plenty about what they think they really want — which can be horribly misleading, if not altogether useless.
- Focus on motivations. What questions would your customers ask if they had the vocabulary? What are their underlying needs? How will they be using the camera? To address motivations, learn how to create real customer personas that transcend demographics and stereotypes.
- Search engines value relevant content. Original, engaging copy is worth whatever you paid for it, and then some. Don’t rely on the manufacturer to sell its products for you. Their perspective is biased, and they don’t know your audience like you do. Grokking customer motivations gives insights into missing persuasion barriers like “shutter delay time”; things the competition isn’t addressing. It’s also how you know you’re buying the right keywords.
For example…
I have no problem geeking out for a week, digging through review sites like CNet until I stumble across a review like this one where, halfway down the page, a graphic (not the video) introduces the concept of shutter delay. But I’m the exception. I’m the gadget-obsessed 18-35 year-old male who knows megapixels alone aren’t the measure of a camera’s worth — and I still guessed wrong about my own biggest concern about digital cameras. So much for demographics!
Meanwhile, other people may not do the research.
What if my step-mom were in the market? She’s owned her current digital camera for three years. It’s in great shape, but she’d buy a new one today if she knew it would take the shot fast enough to capture those rare moments when my 6 year-old nephew looks directly into the lens — that’s what matters to her, not techno-babble like this description of the Canon PowerShot SD800 on Amazon:
[The DIGIC III Image Processor] takes the performance and speed of DIGIC II to even higher levels of processing power including new face detection function, up to 1600 speed ISO, high-ISO noise reduction, lower power consumption, increased speed for SD media cards, and higher resolution image processing for enhanced LCD viewing.
Um… Parle vous Ingles? Any chance she’d know off-hand that ISO refers to light-sensitivity, or that “noise reduction” means it will reduce graininess of poorly lit images, or that “enhanced LCD viewing” means quickly viewing the pictures on the camera’s screen? What was “DIGIC II”? Why would she care?
Luckily for Amazon, customers have always done the selling for them. So, unless you’re Jeff Bezos, it’s good to invest in persuasive copy of your own.
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Written by:Robert Gorell
SEO Ethics: New York Times is Challenged
Clark Hoyt, the New York Times public editor, serves as the readers’ representative. In his Op Ed column, he writes:
A BUSINESS strategy of The New York Times to get its articles to pop up first in Internet searches is creating a perplexing problem: long-buried information about people that is wrong, outdated or incomplete is getting unwelcome new life.
People are coming forward at the rate of roughly one a day to complain that they are being embarrassed, are worried about losing or not getting jobs, or may be losing customers because of the sudden prominence of old news articles that contain errors or were never followed up.
Archived material is being pushed to the top of the search engine result pages by the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) efforts of the New York Times. That is considered good business, especially for a website that makes money from displaying ads and the reader gets what might be relevant information. However, the practice raises a new crop of questions about journalistic ethics:
- What is their responsibility to archive all of their published works?
- Do they have a responsibility as a news organization to follow up on all published material to verify outcomes and then link it back to the older articles?
- Should they allow people the ability to comment on this dated material?
- Should they allow for the editing of the archives at a later date to change what was originally published as news?
- Should some material just be deleted and forgotten in this digital age?
- Whose responsibility is it to monitor and influence (if possible) what the search engines say about people?
Please let me know what you think about these new ethical challenges for journalists. What are our responsibilities as bloggers? Do the readers even care when things have finally been resolved?
P.S. If you’re in the mood for contemplating ethical challenges, Marshall Sponder raises another large one: What’s an honest SEO person to do when Universal Search clogs up SERPS with results they can’t manipulate?
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Written by:Bryan Eisenberg
