Saturday 18 July 2009

Authority and Trust on the Internet

OK so a client introduced some new products. I put them on its website. So I found a relevant blog with a suggestion form and suggested that the new products were of interest.

Wonder of wonders, the blog posted about one of the products.

And then to give his post a bit of a boost, the blogger favourited it on the mindless useful comparison shopping site Stylehive. Three other people favourited it, one of them being me.

So which of the three write ups of the item does Google choose to list on the first page of its results for the brand name of the manufacturer?

The website with details of the product? The blog with an opinion about it? Or the flotsam on Stylehive?

Yeah you guessed it - it was the flotsam. Because Stylehive has got the authority and the trust.

Now I'm not that bothered for the client. It's got some good rankings for the brand name plus product type and is getting fair traffic.

But really, why would anyone care what the morons eager comparison shoppers on Stylehive are clicking on. Most of them are only promoting themselves anyway. Or saving the products of their friends who are also promoting themselves.

I know there is no point in moaning. Best to just do what you need to get the results.

But I just can't help... I mean... Stylehive? C'mon Google find a better way to measure user sentiment please.

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