Google Notebook

Seems the Google Notebook is simple to use. Easy to cut and paste info and save in the notebook.

Here's a snapshot of what it looks like when you pull the notebook up in the corner of your screen.






Here's a shot of it open.






You can opt for a public or private notebook. It's up to you.

I still need to play around a bit to see how much I enjoy this new toy, I mean tool. Apparently there are numerous other sites that are more seasoned than Google Notebook (BackPackIt, I believe, was mentioned on one SEO forum). Check it out for yourself, it may be the newest thing on your desktop.

www.google.com/notebook

Have fun.

Google Notebook

As I sit here with a yellow legal pad on oneside, extra large PostIt notes on the other, and an extraneous yellow PostIt I'd better not lose it dawns on me.

Maybe I should stop putting off looking into that Google Notebook option. Not that I've been avoiding it, there's just so much to do these days.

Will Google be able to "see" everything I'm doing, target ads directly to me, and possibly peer into the world that once belonged to PostIt? Probably. But if I lose this one PostIt I may be in big trouble. Saving the info where I need it most just makes sense, right?

Matt Cutts is Everywhere

Recently Matt Cutts was interviewed by Mike Grehan in a 75 minute podcast. Mike, lucky for some of us without 75 minutes to spare, has supplied us with a run down of the interview. He's also put the interview in two parts onto his site for those who want a listen.

Last night, Matt Cutts was interviewed by Danny Sullivan in a special podcast at 7:15PM. While I caught the tail end last night (I still need to download the full podcast) it seemed like a thorough, if unstructured, interview. Sorry Danny but the giggling and tangents during an interview I had marked on my calendar so as not to forget were quite annoying. Then again, I know how this goes, if I have a problem with how you guys do things I'm free to not listen. I heard another group say such on their show. I turned them off.

A snippet from Matt last night revealed his take on "what's important in the search engines". A lot of chatter on keyword densities, link popularity and link weight, textbook SEO and the like. Matt basically outlined it like this:

Google -- PageRank
Yahoo! -- Paid Inclusion (interesting)
MSN -- textbook SEO

While he did say the above are what he'd rank heaviest in the algorithms they are not the end-all be-all of getting ranked. It came down to, "Have a good, relevant page and/or site" [not exact Matt quotes].

Keyword density Matt said he doesn't pay particular attention to in his daily bloggings and such, mainly because the percentage of good keyword densities is like finding the holy grail. Everyone's got an opinion on where it lies and yet no one can prove they've found it.

Matt's suggestions include: testing, testing, and more testing. Test your keywords and densities, test the number of links (though if you get a relevant link hold on to it!), experiment with demographics and geographics. Just test. Oh, and use your server logs or else all your testing will be for not.

In other Google/Matt Cutts news, BigDaddy is complete. It was completed in March. Sites "falling out of index" now are not due to BigDaddy (by the way, Page noted at Google Press Day they do not call it BigDaddy, but I'm skeptical). The new algorithms just aren't as nice to some as the old ones were. So, although it's been stated time and again, BigDaddy is not to blame any longer -- according to Google. Matt investigated these claims, what a savior, and noted that the new algorithm doesn't reward for weak linking. Reciprical linking to and from weak sites is not highly regarded. Quality links are becoming even more important.

Beware: if you've got reciprical links to irrelevant sites or inbound links to irrelevant sites it may be time to reevaluate the "added value" gained before Google sends up a red flag.

Now I'm going to hunt down last night's podcast and review the 75 mintue podcast. I'll review more later.

If you heard or read these podcasts/interviews please offer your comments and opinions. That man is everywhere, thank goodness, otherwise we'd never know what Google was sticking its fingers in.

Kristen Owen writes for ContentWorth, a full SEM solution.

DOJ OKs Microsoft

Despite complaints and moves to slow production the DOJ has OKd Microsoft to use its MSN search as default in the new IE7 browser.

Reminder: Matt Cutts Interview LIVE

Tonight at 7:15 EST Danny Sullivan will be interviewing Google's Matt Cutts LIVE from the GooglePlex.

The Daily SearchCast will continue as usual, but this is a special addition. To listen you'll need to load WebmasterRadio.FM live broadcast stream (easy instructions on the site).

Live listeners may find the chat room an added bonus. Info on how to do this is located on the Daily SearchCast FAQ page.

Or you can opt to listen at another time if the podcast is broadcast at an inconvenient time for you. When the podcast is available it will be posted, with others, on the Daily SearchCast page. Or if you have the blogs feeds or other feeds from this site you will receive the podcast automatically.

On tonight's agenda? According to Danny Sullivan he'll touch on:

Issues with missing pages some are reporting & the Google's "out of space" concerns.

Dealing with domain names.

Sitemaps and spam checking tools.

You can also drop comments into Matt Cutt's Blog or at the Search Engine Watch Forums. If you're interested in Search Engine Marketing and Search Engine Optimization you may want to tune in.

Yahoo Facelift

Hollywood's not the only place facelifts are popular these days. For the first time since its inception Yahoo has decided to revamp its image.

The new interface is user focused rather than everything-focused. Yahoo being the world's most visited webpage, has finally come through with a new look. The interaction and user-friendly personalizations may draw even more to bookmark Yahoo as their homepage. Obviously it's a great time to launch the "look" with all the search engine battles this quarter.

Available in preview mode only, aka beta, until otherwise decided.

The new interface promotes a larger search bar focusing on the importance search plays in today's world. The page also promotes interaction while not sending users from the site.

The new Yahoo user-friendly interface even happily welcomes new comers and seasoned patrons, as noted in the picture above. Click on the above link to preview the Yahoo homepage. As stated before, this is the beta version and is not set to release full-blown until, well, the powers that be decide to release it. Typical of beta versions.


This screenshot shows one of the interactive aspects now included on the Yahoo page. Enter your city or zip code for local or weather and it pulls up your area. So, that features not new persay. However, the local pulls streets with clear names for your area and pinpoints traffic accidents or other problematic areas. Now you'll know where to avoid before sitting in your car for 15 minutes waiting for the 15 second traffic and weather segment. Nice.

Check it out. I like it so much I've changed my homepage destination to the new Yahoo page (it was on Google News, sorry Google). We'll see if it keeps my attention for long, but for now it's my new #1 destination on the web.

What do you think?

Kristen Owen writes for ContentWorth, a search engine marketing firm. Please contact Kristen with any comments or questions and feel free to browse the site, there is plenty of search engine information available, and more added daily.