Feb 02 2011
2011′s New Spam Tool – Bing?
It was interesting watching Bing and Google squabble like fashionistas over the last purse on sale yesterday. Each claiming to have the high ground. And, as always the usual interest and excitement over a bit of drama slowly gave way to the ‘so what’s’ as the day went on, and so what would be right, as much of a distraction as it was, it really had very little relevance to actually making money. Until you look at it from a slightly different angle.
There are two possible scenarios, according to yesterday’s news, for ranking in Bing. The first and considerably less interesting is that Bing is copying Google’s search results. This is a nice easy one, because it means that there is potentially one less search engine to optimize for.
The second scenario is the one that caught my interest though, allowing me to entertain my grey side for an evening as I went over the possibilities. If we believe Bings version of events, Google’s sting results were due to Bing seeing people, using its toolbar, visiting those sites from a certain referrer string, and so (quite logically) determined that those sites were relevant to that query.
What if we applied this in situations where the site really was relevant? If we follow the logic to its conclusion, enough people performing a search, with the tool bar enabled, and clicking through to a single site, would cause that site to improve in rankings on Bing. How simple, to be able to hire hundreds of low cost workers to simply install the Bing toolbar, search for your head term on Google, scroll through as many pages as it took to find your page, and click. Suddenly Bing is swamped with information suggesting that your site is the one most relevant to the term.
Google’s sting results would also suggest that Bing may not be analyzing these results for relevance, so would the site with the most clicks win? It’s impossible to say how big an impact this would have on a competitive term, weighted with all of the other elements of the algorithm, in fact this is possibly as close to a test of a single factor as could be achieved anywhere, but it’s certainly an interesting area for further investigation.
This is such an old trick I’m not sure Bing could really be so naive as to include something so gameable in their algorithm, but, if it doesn’t work they show themselves as having copied Google, if it does, they have shown they have a long way to go before they truly understand what it’s going to take for them to be a viable competitor.
Written By:
Sarah Carling | Kiwi Collection
Sarah Carling head of search for Kiwi Collection.
More Posts By Sarah Carling
AnonymousNow that is interesting. Nice article, Sarah. I wonder if it wouldn’t be in Google’s interest to systematically train the Bing Toolbar to find irrelevant results, so that Bing’s “decision engine” becomes useless on important search terms. I mean, according to your “grey side” they’ve not only left themselves open to being played, but to being played by their biggest competitor. I bet they’d stop copying search results if it started messing up their “decision engine”.
Paul MaddenHa it’s nice to see talking to me for a while appears to have rubbed off on you!
I think that whilst I’d love that to work I think the cost of the outsourcers v the cost of buying links to support the site might not add up. Having said that running a test with mechanical Turk (or crowdflower for a better api) might be an amusing distraction.
I’m off to set a test…
http://twitter.com/SarahCarling Sarah CarlingYes, apparently you way of thinking is contagious! You have a good point re cost, although the original Google test didn’t seem to use many clicks at all, I guess it depends how much of a shift would need to be seen in order for it to trigger. Can’t wait to see if your testing brings any results!
http://twitter.com/SarahCarling Sarah CarlingIt would certainly be an interesting move for Google to make, but I can’t imagine at this point they would want to do anything that would take away their ability to cry foul any further, and playing that sort of dirty game wouldn’t gain them any fans from anywhere
AmyFabulousSarah is a pretty much a SEO genius. Love the post. Thanks!
Daily Archives: February 2, 2011
5 Steps to Building an Email Re-engagement Campaign
‘Shadow’ real estate inventory may take 4 years to clear | Inman News
'Shadow' real estate inventory may take 4 years to clear
S&P: Slower liquidation rates to blame
By Inman News, Wednesday, February 2, 2011.
Flickr image courtesy of kretyen.It may take more than four years to clear the "shadow inventory" of distressed homes lurking on the sidelines in the U.S., a factor that’s likely to undermine real estate prices as the backlog clears, analysts at Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services say.
At 49 months, the estimated time needed to clear shadow inventory at the end of the fourth quarter of 2010 was up 11 percent from the previous quarter and 40 percent from a year ago. With the lone exception of Miami, the months’ supply of shadow inventory grew in almost all of the nation’s 20 largest metro markets.
But much of the increase in the estimated months needed to clear shadow inventory is due to the fact that it’s taking longer for lenders to liquidate distressed homes — not because the number of distressed properties is growing, analysts said.
Standard & Poor’s defines shadow inventory as properties with borrowers who are 90 days or more delinquent on their mortgage payments, properties currently or recently in foreclosure, or properties that are real estate owned (REOs).
Although shadow inventory peaked in the first quarter of 2008, loans that are 90-plus-days delinquent and foreclosed properties are taking longer to become REOs. That’s once again lengthening the overall timeline for resolving troubled assets, Standard & Poor’s analysts said.
Shadow Inventory: top 20 U.S. markets
MSA
Months of inventory, Q4 2010
Change from Q3 2010
Change from Q4 2009
Atlanta
49
+13%
+41%
Boston
71
+14%
+30%
Charlotte
65
+26%
+49%
Chicago
59
+14%
+41%
Cleveland
57
+20%
+60%
Dallas
56
+24%
+39%
Denver
38
+10%
+36%
Detroit
31
+3%
+43%
Las Vegas
33
+9%
+62%
Los Angeles
50
+11%
+38%
Miami
60
—
—
Minneapolis
38
+10%
+77%
New York
130
+9%
+31%
Phoenix
25
+10%
+49%
Portland
51
+12%
+65%
San Diego
39
+12%
+43%
San Francisco
42
+11%
+53%
Seattle
59
+10%
+42%
Tampa
57
+3%
+12%
Washington, D.C.
50
+13%
+52%
U.S. total
49
+11%
+41%
Source: Standard & Poor’s Ratings ServicesÂ
At the current, slower rate of liquidation in the New York metro area, Standard & Poor’s analysts estimate it will take 130 months to clear $116.7 billion in shadow inventory there — 2.7 times longer than the average for the U.S. as a whole.
That’s despite the fact that the Los Angeles metro area has a larger "overhang" of troubled mortgages — $173.1 billion, or 31.5 percent of all outstanding mortgages.
The good news is that the overall level of distressed loans continues to decline, and loan-cure success rates — often the result of loan modifications — have been improving since the second half of 2008.
Although 45 to 50 percent of loans modified or cured in the fourth quarter of 2009 redefaulted within the first year of modification, that’s an improvement from the nearly 80 percent redefault rate on loans modified or cured during the first quarter of 2008.
Contact Inman News: Letter to the Editor Copyright 2011 Inman NewsAll rights reserved. This content may not be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, in part or in whole, without written permission of Inman News. Use of this content without permission is a violation of federal copyright law.
Is Your Market Stabilized?
Bedford Hills NY Weekly Real Estate Report | RobReportBlog – Robert Paul’s blog
02/02/2011
Bedford Hills NY Weekly Real Estate Report | RobReportBlog
Bedford Hills NY Real Estate Report | RobReportBlog
24 homes available
$8,900,000 high price
$425,000 low price
$1,274,000 median price
4732 average square feet
$461 average price per foot
245 average days on market
Verify your Comment
Previewing your Comment
Posted by: |
This is only a preview. Your comment has not yet been posted.
Your comment could not be posted. Error type:Your comment has been posted. Post another commentThe letters and numbers you entered did not match the image. Please try again.
As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.
Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.
This weblog only allows comments from registered TypeKey users. To comment, please enable JavaScript so you can sign into TypeKey.
Bedford Church by Robert Paul | Flickr – Photo Sharing!
Our Greatest Referral Fear :: Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing
Weekly Video Tip: Optimizing Your SEO | RISMedia
Blog and Get Feedback | Bedford Corners NY Homes