As the latest round of Google’s algorithm changes take the Internet by storm, SEO marketers around the world are wondering what effect these changes will have on search results. Google’s primary metric, PageRank, named after its inventor, Larry Page, is extremely complex. The Wikipedia entry for PageRank demonstrates the lengths to which many great minds have gone to try and reverse-engineer the algorithm to figure it out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PageRank.  But, each new algorithm tweak Google reveals new hints about how it all works.

The latest update is called Caffeine and includes several new layers of complexity for the algorithm. It is rumored that caffeine will be taking into account website age and loading time. This will benefit those sites that are more established and faster, and will hurt newer and slower sites. Evidently, Google aims to reinforce good quality, reliable content, optimized for speed and built over time. This is consistent with Google’s mission of improving the overall search experience.

According to Wikipedia and Mashable, there are two key changes to consider:

1) Caffeine includes a massive speed increase. Search results will now be returned twice as fast as before.

2) Search results will be “blended,” including information culled from a wide variety of sources—press releases, images, video, news—along with traditional results.

While, as a marketer Google’s constant changes might drive me crazy, as a searcher, I appreciate the egalitarian nature of much of what they do. If marketers had the inside scoop, there would, undoubtedly, be millions of dollars invested by those who could afford it to manipulate search results to their own ends. This would be great for those businesses but, in the long run, it would ruin the user experience. When I run a search, I’m not looking for results paid for by wealthy companies, I’m looking results that best match my search terms. As our collective information bank, our massive online reference library, Google has a responsibility to the information above all else. As much as the business people among us might wish for it, as soon as money starts getting in the way of our free access to information, we no longer live in a free society.

After quite a few stumbles, the website is up and running! It was a lot harder to get from step two – designing the site – to the finished product. My biggest problem was choosing the best website design software. I started with What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG), which was not the best choice for a first time website builder. There were no templates in WYSIWYG – so I basically had to build it from scratch. I jumped ship pretty quickly and tried out PageBreeze. I liked PageBreeze quite a bit. I made the homepage of www.savethacherpark.com first. Here, I put a picture of Thacher Park, and then links to other related sites and to other pages of the website. I had media, rally info and action pages. I finally finished it up and uploaded it to the server. I looked at it online and it did not look like how I designed it. The fonts were messed up and the picture was not appearing. I spoke with my supervisor, and she thought I ought to give Adobe Dreamweaver a shot. It was by far the best design software. Luckily, the site was up just in time for the Thacher Park Rally.

My supervisor, Anneke, joined forces with the Parks and Trails NY Campaign Director, Sean, and together they organized an amazing rally. To prepare, they had a pizza and poster making party the Sunday before. This had a good turnout – about 20 people showed. Hundreds made it out on Wednesday to protest and lobby for Thacher Park. Veterans, Senators, elementary school children, senior citizens who had fought for Harlem parks in the 60s, and many other park loving people came to Albany to fight for this cause. The anger was palpable and their voices were heard. In fact, quickly after the rally, New York State Senator Serrano issued a press release stating that he would push to block $11 million from the budget cuts to keep the parks opened. Thanks to the hard work and passion of a few individuals, the beloved parks have a chance to stay open for everyone’s enjoyment. Make sure to check my site, www.savethacherpark.com, often to learn about more fun events and Thacher Park’s status!

Overall, the site-making project went really well. I’m keeping it updated and recent with new information and links, and have had a great response from the public. The main lesson learned here: if I can do this, anyone can! Save the park!

Abbey Connick
Intern