This blog is a rant. I am not ashamed, even though I have never posted a ranting post before. A discussion entered Sphinn today based on an article about Google’s CEO Backing Obama, and it seems to have gotten some people really upset. Well, let me put in my two cents without taking up a full page of comment space.

The problem with our human interaction with media (including search media) boils down to something I studied back in film school. Have you ever heard of the “hypodermic needle theory” in regards to media? Well, it basically says that what we watch is what be believe. So if I see something that tells me that Dove soap is better than Ivory, I am likely to believe it, even if there is no logical persuasion (now all of you will go purchase Dove soap). As a young idealistic lad at the University of Texas, I thought, NO WAY. No way does that make any sense. People believe what they choose to believe, and these advertisements, politically charged TV shows, or morally biased films only add to the collective resources we have to make opinions. As you can imagine, I did not believe that way for long.

People are like sheep. By and large, we go where we are told. This can be a very scary thing to consider when people have the power to elect presidents, engage in mass riots, and wipe out other races. The hypodermic needle theory certainly has some weight.

Now, back to this article about a political bias in Google. The only thing that scares me more than the bias of one of the world’s most powerful media resources is not knowing what that bias is. Though it was probably not in his public best interest, it is good for us to know that Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, has a democratic (or Obama) bias. A few comments in the discussion supported this idea, saying that Eric Schmidt is going to have a bias either way and he will most likely have some influence with that bias. The only difference with him doing it publicaly is that now we know about it and can adjust our interpretations of his company’s actions accordingly.

And this is great!

When the public hears things like this, the hypodermic needle theory becomes less effective. The more a reader or searcher knows about the company giving the information, the more they will put it under scrutiny and attempt to gather their own opinions. We should not be afraid of knowing the truth! I hope millions of people learn of Google's political affiliations and catch wind of other biases found in major corporations or other powerful entities so that we can begin to live as more analytical creatures than our less fortunate woolen friends.


About the Author: Peter Hamilton is the Project Manager in charge of the Seattle office of ArteWorks SEO. His interest and experience in search engine marketing is largely focused on social media optimization and multi-media facets of exposure. To learn more about search engine optimization, visit www.arteworks.biz.

With iPhone users gobbling up more and more of the mobile search market, Internet marketers must consider the idea that perhaps the mobile market will some day be the dominant search platform. That is certainly the feeling I got from the iPhone and SEO session at SMX East 2008.



According to panelist Cindy Krum, iphone users consume six times more data than the average mobile phone user, and in a world where mobile search has increased by 68%, this is a pretty exciting figure. One of the largest barriers to success with mobile search, and why some companies have outright ignored it, is the necessity for a separate website format that is easily accessible to cell phone browsers. According to Cindy Krum, the .mobi website structuring is out, and iPhone web browsing is in, quickly changing the possibilities for all types of businesses. With the iPhone’s ingenious ability to render html, most website owners don’t even have to change their existing site to show up in beautiful form on the iphone. Even if a business wants to create a custom look for mobile users, they can simply have multiple CSS, one set of rendering instructions for ‘Screen’ and the other for ‘handheld’. The content can stay the same, while phone users get a much simpler navigation using a handheld.

This means that more and more people are going to be exploring the world wide web using mobile devices. Both Nokia and Blackberry have already come up with their answering products to the iphone, meaning a simple touch screen interface and quality html rendering will eventually become commonplace. This implies that consumers will be using their phones to search for information, services, entertainment and more at a dramatically increasing rate. Any smart business owner will soon realize the importance of a search engine presence on mobile devices, which is why SEO experts and in-house teams need to be paying close attention.

Gregory Markel of Infuse Creative, brought up some excellent points about the possible future of the mobile search experience. Markel speculates that search oriented applications will take over the way users find what they are looking for. Instead of relying on keywords in a vast search engine, specific apps will help users find information and services faster. For example, Urban Spoon is an application that helps you quickly find restaurants and revues in proximity to your current GPS location. Just shake the iphone, and this nifty application brings you exactly what you’re looking for, maps it up, and will even let you know what others think about it. This sounds pretty simple compared to entering a long keyphrase search like “thai restaurants near seattle wa,” then having to sift through various forms of results, then mapping them, then getting directions or looking at reviews. Phone Internet users are looking for the quickest, easiest way to get what they want, which is extremely understandable given the limitations in download and typing speeds.

Making sure your business is available through the most used industry specific applications and that your website is user friendly and attractive on the iphone is going to be extremely important if you are going to compete in mobile search. Though it may seem like a small slice of the pie right now, I believe we are going to see a surge as cell phone technology continues to develop, making it possible for people to have access to everything they need through a device small enough to fit in their pocket.

About the Author: Peter Hamilton is the Project Manager in charge of the Seattle office of ArteWorks SEO. His interest and experience in search engine marketing is largely focused on social media optimization and multi-media facets of exposure. To learn more about search engine optimization, visit www.arteworks.biz.