Our keyword tool is updated periodically. We recently updated it once more.
For comparison sake, the old keyword tool looked like this
Whereas the new keyword tool looks like this
The upsides of the new keyword tool are:
Beyond search Google controls the leading distributed ad network, the leading mobile OS, the leading web browser, the leading email client, the leading web analytics platform, the leading free video hosting site.
They win a lot.
And they take winnings from one market & leverage them into manipulating adjacent markets.
Embrace. Extend. Extinguish.
Anyone can argue about the intent of a particular action & the outcome that is derived by it. But when the outcome is known, at some point the intent is inferred if the outcome is derived from a source of power & the outcome doesn't change.
Or, put another way, if a powerful entity (government, corporation, other organization) disliked an outcome which appeared to benefit them in the short term at great lasting cost to others, they could spend resources to adjust the system.
When SEO Was Easy
When I got started on the web over 15 years ago I created an overly broad & shallow website that had little chance of making money because it was utterly undifferentiated and crappy. In spite of my best (worst?) efforts while being a complete newbie, sometimes I would go to the mailbox and see a check for a couple hundred or a couple thousand dollars come in. My old roommate & I went to Coachella & when the trip was over I returned to a bunch of mail to catch up on & realized I had made way more while not working than what I spent on that trip.
Brian McCullough, who runs Internet History Podcast, also wrote a book named How The Internet Happened: From Netscape to the iPhone which did a fantastic job of capturing the ethos of the early web and telling the backstory of so many people & projects behind it's evolution.
I think the quote which best the magic of the early web is
It has been a while since Google has had a major algorithm update.
They recently announced one which began on the 12th of March.
Google's original breakthrough in search was placing weight on links & using them to approximate the behavior of web users.
The abstract ofThe PageRank Citation Ranking: Bringing Order to the Web reads
Probably the single best video to watch to understand the power of Google & Facebook (or even most of the major problems across society) is this following video about pleasure versus happiness.
In constantly seeking pleasure we forego happiness.
The "feed" based central aggregation networks are just like slot machines in your pocket: variable reward circuitry which self-optimizes around exploiting your flaws to eat as much attention as possible.
Grist
Much like publishers, employees at the big tech monopolies can end up little more than grist.
Products & product categories come & go, but even if you build "the one" you still may lose everything in the process.
Wrastlin With The News
The current presidential cabinet includes a WWE co-founder & this passes for modern political discourse:
