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Thoughts on the new Webmaster Guidelines

Google has just updated its Help Center with renewed Webmaster Guidelines. In an effort to increase awareness, a few more details are now given to webmasters.  A very welcome addition is the official positioning on the Rich Snippet manipulation, which gives an indication that this issue is being more closely followed by Google.

Besides a few clear examples of hidden text and unnatural linking techniques, the focus of the new communication was also on the need of original, high quality content in place (or in complement) of content that is:

  • auto-generated,
  • scraped,
  • or affiliate-based.

One aspect that is still a bit unclear in these guidelines is the one related to making “reasonable efforts to ensure that advertisements do not affect search engine rankings.” Since the Page Layout algorithm improvement has come into effect earlier this year, you could expect some mention of the use of advertisement on-page. Hence the rules of common sense remain as the only recommendation:

  • to not fill (especially the upper part of) your webpages with ads,
  • and to keep considerable organic content above the fold.
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First impressions of Taipei City

When Portuguese navigators came upon the island of Taiwan in 1590, they were struck by the tremendous beauty of its green mountains, which rise steeply out of the cobalt waters of the Pacific. The Portuguese navigator named the island “Ilha Formosa,” meaning “beautiful isle,” and under this name Taiwan was introduced to the Western world. — in History – Overseas Office Republic Of China ( Taiwan ) 

 

This week was my first in Taipei City. When I’m feeling adventurous, I see myself as a Portuguese Quality Assurance Officer: back to the far east to check if the “beautiful isle” still deserves its name. Most of the time though, I’m just another foreigner struggling to adapt to a crowded fast-paced city; its streets filled with a thousand scooters, food stalls, unreadable colorful signs, and the in-shop cuteness of pets and toys. Angry Birds are a huge hit here, of course.

Most streets and buildings would look similar to South America if not for the flashy, colorful street signs everywhere. But with no knowledge of Mandarin, I do feel like an alien: there is nothing to hold on to, except for sign language and kindness. Fortunately the Taiwanese are indeed kind people. They generally seem happy to see westerners and don’t overcharge you. I even got spontaneous discounts and funny appraisal. Coming from a 50-year-old man, “handsome boy!” wasn’t an awkward thing to hear, just a funny and earnest social action.

What the pictures don’t tell you is how hot it is; constantly around 30 degrees celsius with high humidity. Clouds are frequent now that the summer is ending, and some days the wind throws a fit. It’s not the awesome weather of Portugal but, after 4 years in Ireland, I can’t complain!

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Search Masters Brasil 2012

This week, I’ve been featured in an interview for the upcoming Search Masters conference in Rio, which kickstarts August 9th! Here is the original Portuguese version, and here’s an automatic English translation.

At the conference, I’ll be giving advice in the context of Google Troubleshooting and Reconsideration, while meeting a few old and many new friends and colleagues from the exciting industry of Search Optimization and Marketing in Brazil. I’m also planning a quick escape to Iguaçú Falls and FlorianĂłpolis, from where I hope to bring to you lots of exciting photos 🙂

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The Day I Quit Facebook

daytriedI woke the same as any other day
Except a voice was in my head
It said, “Seize the day, pull the trigger
Drop the blade and watch the rolling heads”
— The Day I Tried to Live (Soundgarden)

Dear $FB,

I’m sorry, but we should start seeing other people… I broke up with you before, yet this time I won’t go silently nor temporarily. Now it’s more like one of those street break-up scenes with TVs flying outta windows.

Your recent attempt to hide my email address, albeit a failed one, was the latest display that you never loved me. I knew that already, of course, because if you loved me, you wouldn’t have tried to squeeze the contacts from my gmail and smartphone…

If you loved me, you certainly wouldn’t have messed up my looks (profile) twice — once by turning my written interests into pre-defined entities that you use to build a profile of me to be sold to advertisers; and a second time by forcing the timeline on me. I don’t need tattoos, thank you.

If you loved me, you wouldn’t censor my friends, by showing only a few of them on chat. You wouldn’t censor posts from or to Google+. You wouldn’t steal content of Wikipedia pages when your end goal is commercial. You wouldn’t use my photo and information on ads shown to other people. You wouldn’t even try to track me all over the Internet with a cyber-GPS!

If you loved me, you would learn to forget… the messages and photos that I delete, instead of keeping them forever. Better yet, you wouldn’t have read all my messages in the first place.

$FB darling, I’m in love with another. And from Sunday onwards, I shall sleep on your bed no more. My account will be shut down and I will be celebrating… Portugal’s Euro cup win. (There’s always hope)

 

2015-05-29 Update: You’d think by now they would have gotten their shit together. You’d be wrong…

Not enough reasons to quit? Here are all of them!

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Euro 2012: Portugal meets Holland, once more.

Back in 2004 & 2006, Portugal beat the Netherlands with wonderful goals by Maniche, today featured in UEFA.com:

Maniche, like Rui Costa & Figo, played with a passion and humility that has rarely been seen in the Portuguese football team since then.

Today, I’m looking forward to see the new generation begin honoring that great team. But I’m watching with my arms crossed. And hoping that team play will replace the fancy tricks and hairstyles. Only then Cristiano, Nani & co. will stand a chance…