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Google Changes Algorithm, Site Networks Suffer

So, my blog now has the same page rank as Engadget. Go me!!! Oh… wait.

Anyone who has been paying attention has already heard the news about the shift in Google’s algorithm that seems to be penalizing sites for massive cross linking. This is especially relevant to myself as my job is as Lead designer for one of these networks. So, here’s the roundup of everyone who is writing about it.

  1. TechCrunch - Google Declares Jihad On Blog Link Farms (Where I first heard the news from Gavin)
  2. Silicon Alley Insider - Google’s PageRank Shuffle: Big Sites Say Bye-bye, Traffic?
  3. Search Engine Journal - Google Drops PageRank For Many Sites : Paid Links or New Algorithm?
  4. Mathew Ingram - Google uses the PageRank hammer
  5. Google PageRank Penalties For Network Blogs
  6. Andy Beard - Digg Favorites Slapped By Google (IMO, the best analysis)

They all say the same thing and reference each other. (Hmm… wonder if they will take a PR hit?)

From Andy Beard:

Many of the reputable sources that have received a penalty are part of extensive blog networks, and they have one factor in common. They have massive interlinking between their network sites.

That was my analysis as well, just judging from our own internal methods of doing things. This has consumed a large part of my day with phone meetings and e-mails flying around trying to figure out how to rectify the problem. But I probably can’t talk about that yet.

As Mike said: It was Fun While It Lasted

I probably should rel="nofollow" those links, just to be safe…

10 Comments

Posted October 24th, 2007 in Web Design by Matt

New Amazon.com Design?

Is anyone else noticing a redesigned Amazon.com? Here’s a screenshot, click through for a full version.Amazon.com Redesign?

Note about my recommendations.

  • I’m very interested in Christian Theology
  • ESV is my favorite bible translation
  • I have no idea why they are recommending Casting Crowns to me.
  • I love Harry Potter

12 Comments

Posted September 20th, 2007 in Web Design by Matt

An Event Apart - Chicago 2007

I had the good fortune to be at An Event Apart - Chicago, and I used this as a place to take notes for my own personal use. Maybe you’ll find it interesting too. I suck at live-blogging, but that’s why I design blogs, rather than write them ;)

Enjoy.

Highlights so far:

Biggest Take-home of the conference

There is so much that we can do with the technologies we have at hand when they are used in the correct manner. We need to challenge ourselves to think out of the box of conventional marking up of straight text documents (though that is still important too). Never simply say “it cannot be done”.

And check out some photos from the event.

Read the rest of this entry »

2 Comments

Posted August 27th, 2007 in Web Design by Matt

Something new at Firewheel?

One of my favorite design shops: Firewheel Design is cooking up something new. Those guys are masters of hype. They are like the U2 of the Web design world :) I just hope this product isn’t “How to Disassemble an Atomic BOMB”. I’m sure it won’t be ;) Best wishes guys. Can’t wait to see.

1 Comment

Posted August 23rd, 2007 in Announcements, Web Design by Matt

Blueprintcss A CSS Framework

Any Web developer who codes CSS on a regular basis likely has conventions, official, or ad hoc, that they’ve created for themselves to save themselves time and effort. Standard style declarations for common layout or typography needs are found in many places on the Internet.

Mark pointed me to blueprintcss, a framework for css coding. It provides some structure, styles, and naming conventions that make common layouts very simple and fast to develop. The only thing I’m noticing about it, in my cursory digging through the code, is that its style declarations are not very “semantic” in nature. An argument could possibly be made here, but I still prefer styles like “sitemeta” to “column span-3″, a less descriptive naming convention.

All in all, looks very useful.

5 Comments

Posted August 8th, 2007 in Web Design by Matt

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