Search for "Ebay" Reveals Half Naked Woman in News Results

As part of my research for an article about Google site search, I typed in the search query "ebay" this morning. I was quite surprised when the news results on the first page of the SERPs yielded a scantily clad young woman appearing to be using a Wii with the caption "I Really Should Study". This is an actual screen shot of the search results which were provided on the first page of the Google results. Is this press release marketing genius or Google catastrophe? Full article on using shock in search engine marketing.

As this result appeared under the news results, it was clearly optimized for the term "ebay" and distributed as a press release by a vendor hoping to sell a Wii to every family (or at least every father) in the country. What is surprising is that such an image could be attached to a press release without being caught by either the press release distribution agency or the publisher of the press release. While it is a known fact that alluring content sells, this appears to have stepped over the line in terms of search engine marketing for a family friendly term such as "ebay".

It is a questionable practice at best - using shock value to market a product, especially when you are trying to reach a family friendly audience. In this case, it appears to have backfired against the vendor; when I repeated the search five minutes later the listing appeared to be removed from the results - even when clicking on the extended news results. Translation: no traffic. So while for the few minutes this result appeared in the index may have resulted in a higher click through rate than would normally be expected, a more conservative approach taken by the vendor would likely have resulted in more clicks over a longer period of time.

Moral of the story: if using shock value, be sure to think about your target audience. If it is likely to be deemed offensive and inappropriate, the increased buzz surrounding the shock will likely be outweighed by a negative reaction from your consumer base or the search engines.

Read more!

iPhone Security Hampers News of Discovery of Lost Dog

The iPhone's security settings are great - unless you are not familiar with them and someone is trying to get in touch with you to let you know that your missing pet has been found. This is the story of how the iPhone foiled my attempt to get news of a missing pet to the pet's owner as quickly as possible.

My Seattle Project Manager Peter Hamilton is in Austin this week for some training, and staying with me at my house. Yesterday Peter got news that his beloved husky, Kamira (pictured), had somehow gotten out of the fence. This is a beautiful specimen of a dog and needless to say he was devastated. After going through several hours of the stages of grief, including denial, anger, and mourning, he took a shower. While he was in the shower, his iPhone started ringing, and I saw that it was his friend in Seattle calling him. I thought to myself, "maybe he found the dog", so I decided to answer the iPhone.

The iPhone stopped me in my tracks. As it was ringing I picked it up and tried to answer it, but could not find an answer button on it. Then I noticed a thing on the screen which said "slide to unlock". All this while the phone is ringing. So I attempt to make the thing slide with my finger, but it didn't budge. I guess I didn't touch the screen in the right place, or perhaps the iPhone read my fingerprint and decided I was not an authorized user. Regardless, no luck. All this time the iPhone is ringing.

I finally get the damn thing to slide, and then I get a screen which says "enter security code". Arg! By now, the phone had gone to voice mail. I missed the call.

As it turns out, Peter's friend from Seattle was calling to report that the dog had been found pursuing the Call of the Wild on a nearby beach. Because I was unable to answer the iPhone, the transmission of this news to the grieving owner was delayed by 15 minutes or so, until voicemail could be checked.

As I watched Peter weed through the security measures to check his voicemail, I realized how far I had been from getting to answer the phone. Not only did he slide the bar and enter the code, but the iPhone then proceeded to instruct him to perform a number of "tricks". As I watched Peter stand on his head, wiggle his toes, rub his tummy, do a backflip, click his heels three times and say "there's no place like home", and say the ABC's backwards before the phone would unlock, I realized that no hacker would ever be able to access his phone.

And as a result, an unnecessary extra quarter hour of grief was put upon my friend. At least the story has a happy ending, as Kamira is back home in Seattle anxiously awaiting her master's return tomorrow.

Read more!