Quality Leads and Search Engines - Part Five - Addendum
I would like to add an addendum to the
foregoing discussion. Several months
after finishing the foregoing article, I
came across a Web Site -
Searchking.com (you need to be on line)
which operates from a perspective that
reflects much of the philosophical
orientation underlying many of the
issues, criticisms, questions and desires
introduced at various facets of my article
- although it does so in a way that differs
from the "solution" proposed by Gamut,
About. com and Suite101.com.
The Webmaster for Searchking.com is
Bob Massa who works out of Oklahoma
City, Oklahoma. Interestingly, if not
ironically, enough, Bob earns a living by
serving as a consultant for those who are
seeking to gain more visibility in search
engine and directory rankings.
The source of the aforementioned irony
is that if Mr. Massa is successful in his
Searchking.com venture, this will
undermine, if not bankrupt, his present
consultancy business. More specifically,
Searchking.com is a search engine which
is based on principles that try to create a
fair playing field for anyone who cares to
submit her or his URL address to Bob's
search engine, and as such, it throws out
the virtual window all of the techniques,
technical gimmicks, and tricks that tend
to be used these days by those who wish
to gain a competitive edge over others.
Searchking.com attempts to accomplish
this by giving those who submit Web
Pages for listing - as well as those
surfers who are seeking quality, accurate
leads - an opportunity to freely shape the
search engine data base in a way that
will provide honest feedback for both
other surfers along with those individuals
who have submitted a Web Page to be
included in the data base of
Searchking.com.
Bob believes in the importance of giving
Webmasters an opportunity to be honest
in the way they describe their Web Pages
and the keywords which they use as
relevant suggestions for how surfers
might find a way to the information
contained in such Pages. He further
believes that if people are given the
chance to be honest and not have to
become entangled in all of the search
engine ranking tricks and misdirections
that currently are practised, then the vast
majority of Webmasters will be
forthright and sincere in the manner in
which they describe their Pages,
including the keywords used to index
those Pages - something that will be to
everyone's advantage.
However, as a safeguard to protect the
integrity of the search engine against
those Webmasters who might wish to
continue the games of dishonesty
presently being played in relation to
many search engine submissions,
Searchking.com provides surfers with a
way to "vote" on how relevant and
accurate the descriptions and keywords
are that are being used by various
Webmasters. In effect, those
Webmasters who play the submission
game honestly and who have something
of quality to offer surfers will tend to be
rewarded with much greater visibility
than those Webmasters who either are
not honest in their descriptions and
keywords and/or who have little quality
to bring to the surfing public.
Naturally, every system has its
limitations. They cannot be all things to
all people, and, consequently, no search
engine, directory or URL collection
conceived to date (including
Searchking.com, About.com. Suite 101,
and Gamut) is able to solve all of the
user-interface problems which arise
when those seeking to be noticed (i.e,
Webmasters) try to link up - in
productive, constructive and useful ways
- with those who are seeking to notice
(i.e., surfers) things of interest and value.
Nevertheless, one of the essential
principles guiding Searchking.com is the
desire to try to ensure that the Internet is
as equitable as possible for everyone
concerned. This encompasses the "little
person" who wishes to waste neither the
money nor the time just to become
another Missing-In-Action-Casualty
during the great wars of deception
currently being perpetrated both by most
current search engines/directories, as
well as by many of the Webmasters who
are submitting URLs. Bob Massa, of
Searchking.com, firmly believes the
Internet has the potential to be one of the
great equalizers in society and a force
for democratizing the way we
communicate with one another - a belief
that is fully consonant with the vision of
the individual who helped bring the Web
into being.
I share Bob's convictions, and I applaud
his effort to work toward creating
alternative models for helping
Webmasters to promote their Pages, in
addition to assisting surfers to find the
quality information they are seeking with
a minimum of frustration and wasted
time. I wish him success and so should
everyone who cares about the future of
the Internet.
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