Google “Black Owned Business” Attribute in Google
Google recently added a “Black-Owned” business attribute to Google My Business, stirring controversy among some members of the SEO community. I wanted to take the time to be absolutely clear where I fall on the issue. Not many people know this, but my double major in college was Political Science and African American Studies, so this issue is close to my heart. Let’s Start with a Story Imagine inviting some neighbors over to play Monopoly. Three players are white, one is black. This is the 1960’s, so the white players create unfair rules: the black player can only buy property on the first row, gets randomly thrown into jail and collects 1/2 when passing go. We don’t know who would win the game, but we know who would lose: the black...
On Mathematics, Experimentation and Value
Jeff Ferguson of Amplitude Digital recently authored a piece entitled “Do We Have the Math to Truly Decode Google’s Algorithms?” on the venerable Search Engine Journal with substantial assistance from Data Analytics Consultant Jennifer (Fields) Hood. Please read the article before continuing with mine. While the article has much to commend itself, I believe that it presents faulty logic, mischaracterizations, and ultimately misleading conclusions. The answer to the question “Do we have the math to truly decode Google’s algorithms” is an emphatic No. However, the primary culprit behind this unfortunate reality is not the incompetency of industry practitioners chiseling away at the algorithm, rather the algorithm itself now...
How to Send High Five on Peloton
The search results were not specific enough so I thought I would write this out. In order to send a high five to a person on Peloton you need to tap directly on their face. Tap anywhere else and it won’t work. Apply directly to the forehead. Apply directly to the forehead. Apply directly to the forehead.
One Way You Can Help: COVID-19 Testing Sites
This pandemic has caused so much hurt, but it has also brought out so much heroism, so much love and beauty and care and compassion. Everyone seems to be looking for a way to help. Well, here is just one way more. It has been hard to cut through all the news, there has been so much, to find good information. Luckily there have been some major efforts behind reporting COVID-19 cases. However, one thing lacking in the United States has been comprehensive listing of testing sites. If you have time, I would really appreciate your help. I have put together a site called COVID Testing Sites that intends to build as comprehensive a list as possible of COVID-19 testing sites in the United States. I have already funded the collection of the first 200+ testing sites,...
A New Journey Awaits – Moving from Moz to System1
It is with crazy mixed emotions that I let folks know that today is my last full-time day at Moz. I joined Moz back in 2015 after working 10 years with Virante (now Hive Digital). As Principal Search Scientist, I saw a bright future of research, proof of concept development, and evangelization of both Moz and SEO in general. I was able to accomplish much of that with the help of some amazing people at Moz – from Rand and Sarah to my bosses Adam, Rob and Rob – from my fellow SMEs Britney, Dr. Pete and Miriam, to engineering leadership and staff (Shawn, Scott, Kshitij, Ben, Chas, Brian, Neil, David, Evan and Tony and so many many more) – from Felicia and Brittani and Mallari and Christina and Rebecca the list just goes on and on. And I hope to...
Bad Faith: GOP, Impeachment and Simple Statistics
Ostensibly, the purpose of public impeachment hearings is to collect testimony from witnesses to determine whether the President has committed impeachable offenses. Unfortunately, these types of public affairs tend to become political theater, as individuals from both parties try to grandstand rather than conduct a proper investigation. Once again, legislators have come under attack for grandstanding rather than properly questioning the witnesses. But is this a fair characterization of the Republican representations? Well, luckily we can use some fairly simple statistics to compare the behavior of the Democrat and Republican representatives in order to determine whether one is acting in bad faith. If the goal of the hearings is to extract testimony from...
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