Google Personalised Search

Google's new personalised search now works even if you;re not logged in. I never used personalised search before and found it highly annoying, so I haven't been looking forward to the public one. You don't really have much of a choice to opt-in - you're co-opted in automatically just by using Google (which on principle I really hate). You have to opt-out (repeatedly even) - so there's no respect for your personal wishes.

Here's my big question: if you always got back the same results from the same sites you already know of - what do you need Google for? I'm guessing the impact of this will be low and that it may even be pulled/easier to opt out of than it currently is.

One of the first times we came across personal search issues was shortly after it was launched more broadly sometime last year. A friend of ours in Dublin was doing a demo and discussing SEO with a client of theirs. The client wanted to check where we ranked but we didn't show up anywhere. My friend rang me and they were quite curious - we eventually clicked that they were logged into Google and they were seeing personalised search. And it's been a big problem since then, so I'm wondering how much of a problem will it be going forward.

A couple of people have raised the idea that Google may be doing this to push their own AdWords sales and to be honest, I'm wondering myself.

Initial Verdict: Google may be a very successful search engine - but thats because they were so clever and user focused at the start. Now they're changing quite radically. If open personalised search is the future and in the best interest of the user - then I can only agree with it. But I'm still not so sure....watch this space!

How my network with twitter has expanded....

I signed up to twitter a little over a year ago. So, like most people, this is what I get asked most often by people: what has meant to you and your business? Many people are much more blunt: "How has it affected the bottom line?" I'm not sure I can answer that entirely and it's going to be very different for different people but here's what's happened for me since  February:

Through twitter I got introduced to a whole new group of Limerick based entrepreneurs, technologists, consultants and generally, a good group of business people. James Corbett, Keith Kennedy, Paul, Patrick, John Kennedy - lots others. People I still meet every month and some I even do some work with

From this group we organised Bizcamp Limerick, a truly great and first of its kind event in Limerick. The event was organised by a wider of group of people connected via twitter and/or LOCC. The group included (but not limited to) Stephen Kinsella, Shane McAllister, Mark Cahill, Ger Hartnett, Gabriella Avram, Joe Correia. Apologies if I've forgotten anyone, old age etc! I also met David Hickey from Limerick Self Storage and from that I've been working with the Irish Self Storage Association.

Another member from LOCC and speaker at Bizcamp and someone I've done lots of work with, is top chap Ted Vickey (who had the gym at the White House). Ted writes about Golf fitness and entrepreneurship and things like this. Ted also introduced me to Pauric Logue, who recently setup Wiseloads.com, an online courier and parcel delivery service. Pauric knows everything there is to know about logistics and parcel delivery, and is really working hard to deliver a better service for Irish businesses, especially those trading online.

I also met Sian Maloney, who became a new business partner when I joined her business, Irish Gift website, Giftsandvouchers.ie. We also setup Ireland's first dedicated shopping forum, talkshop.ie. We've also been working on some other projects, like the Irish Self Storage site.

I've also meet a whole new group of business friends - Grainne from Local Discounts, Elaine from Seefin Coaching (who recently setup the first Mallow Open Coffee Club - and from that even more nice people), and Sian from online directory, WhatsWhat.ie.

LinkedIn adds business profiles

LinkedIn.com has added a new tool - Business Profiles. I've always wondered why they didn't do this sooner but then again, the personal 1-2-1 networking opportunities it provided was always going to be the most important part of it. So it's even more curious as to why they've added it now.

As I've been using it for ages, I was glad to be able to put up Primary Position. As business profile tools go, this is certainly of the best I've ever seen, allowing you to add different locations, employees and lots of details on your business.

Our profile is here: http://www.linkedin.com/companies/primary-position. Or you could just look at the screenshot below :-)

Falling for the oldest (SEO) trick in the book

I can't believe I just fell for one of the oldest "tricks" of SEO tonight. I arrived in, after a very long drive in the cold rain and I popped in a search phrase, Search Engine Optimisation, and to my immediate surprise, this is what I got:

I'm normally used to seeing completely different results - the usual Irish sites (and my own, hopefully) who normally appear but this seemed like an international list of complete unrecognisables. I immediately went to check that I wasn't searching Google NCR (No Country Recognition) or USA or CO.ZA but I was at the right place. I'd searched for "Search Enigne Optimisation" by mistake, instead of "Search Engine Optimisation".

This has to be one of the most overlooked yet easiest to implement opportunities for Webmasters and its one of the oldest tricks. Don't expect your target search market will never make mistakes - in fact, plan for them. The number of sites in the index for "enigne" instead of "engine" is only 12,600 - but in the correctly spelled version, there are 38 million results - much easier to rank for!

People make this mistake with everyday words all the time - apartments (aparments), Christmas, accommodation (acommodaiton etc), travel destinations (Porto for example) - so make sure you have both bases covered, don't rely on Google to auto-correct.

Endeavour Programme in Tralee

I got an e-mail from John Dineen, CEO of Learnpipe.com - Ireland's (and the worlds) leading training course search engine, about the Endeavour Programme. From his own blog, I am copying this so you can read all about it

Back in September, I was listening to Matt Cooper's Last Word drive time radio show when I heard an interview with Jerry Kennelly (founder of Stockbyte) on the launch of a new entrepreneurship programme in Tralee, Co. Kerry called Endeavour.

The interview caught my attention - it seemed as if the Endeavour Team were trying to build something special - almost like an Irish Y Combinator / TechStars. The programme offers seed capital (CORD) combined with intensive mentorship - all designed to hatch new companies / take others to the next stage - very, very quickly.

Wiseloads - Online Courier and Parcel Delivery

Thanks to top chap Ted Vickey, Golf Fitness Writer and commentator, I was introduced to Pauric Logue, the man behind Wiseloads.com, Ireland's new online courier website. Pauric is setting up some interesting new solutions for companies that need cost effective parcel delivery etc.

SEO Dublin

Given the amount of travelling I'm doing to Dublin and the time I'm spending there, I hope to announce a new SEO Dublin office address there shortly. I like Dublin and I used to live there but I'm settled in Limerick with our family here and in Kerry, so I'll have to continue splitting my time until then.

I've been offered a nice desk near St James' Gate and I'll update everything next week when I get a chance!