1. POLEMIC
D I G I T A L
@badams POLEMIC
D I G I T A L
The Google-shaped Web
A Tale of Cats & Parasites
Barry Adams
Polemic Digital
June 2014

2. POLEMIC
D I G I T A L
@badams
About Barry Adams
• Freelance SEO consultant
 Polemic Digital (July 2014)
• Dutch (yes, really)
• Twitter ranter: @badams
• Lecturer on SEO & Digital Strategy
• Editor & blogger for StateofDigital.com
• Also blogs at PolemicDigital.com

3. POLEMIC
D I G I T A L
@badams
In The Beginning...

4. POLEMIC
D I G I T A L
@badams
Web Search’s Symbiotic Contract
“We scrape your content, you get free traffic.”

5. POLEMIC
D I G I T A L
@badams
Google’s Version
“We scrape your content and if we like it enough,
we’ll keep your traffic too.”

6. POLEMIC
D I G I T A L
@badams
How did we get here...?
• Google was the first truly dominant search
engine
• As a result, webmasters do whatever they can to
get in to Google’s good graces
• Google realises that this can be used to its
advantage...

7. POLEMIC
D I G I T A L
@badams
“Power corrupts. Absolute power... is kind of neat.”
- Donald Regan, US Chief of Staff, 1987

8. POLEMIC
D I G I T A L
@badams
WWGD – What Would Google Do?

9. POLEMIC
D I G I T A L
@badams
Google recommendations
Stuff Google likes:
 Optimised titles & meta
 Unique, plain text content
 Human-readable URLs
 Responsive websites
 XML sitemaps
 Structured data
 Nofollowed links
 Disavow files
 SSL
 ...
Stuff Google dislikes:
× Bog-standard content
× Shockwave Flash
× Content embedded in images
× Active link acquisition
× Separate mobile sites
× Unrestricted linking
× Content in (iPhone) apps
× More than 3 ads on a page
× Spam (whatever Google says it is)
× ...

10. POLEMIC
D I G I T A L
@badams
UX vs GX
User Experience <> Google Experience
• Most of Google’s recommendations are good for
UX too
• But some are purely for the benefit of Google
• And these latter ones are becoming more
frequent

11. POLEMIC
D I G I T A L
@badams
Google decrees
Stuff Google likes:
 Optimised titles & meta
 Unique, plain text content
 Human-readable URLs
 Responsive websites
 XML sitemaps
 Structured data
 Nofollowed links
 Disavow files
 SSL
 ...
Stuff Google dislikes:
× Bog-standard content
× Shockwave Flash
× Content embedded in images
× Active link acquisition
× Separate mobile sites
× Unrestricted linking
× Content in (iPhone) apps
× More than 3 ads on a page
× Spam (whatever Google says it is)
× ...

12. POLEMIC
D I G I T A L
@badams
The inevitable end result...
Rather than Google adapting to the way the web
is evolving...
... the web is evolving the way Google wants.
The free & open World Wide Web is becoming
the restricted Google-Shaped Web.

13. POLEMIC
D I G I T A L
@badams
Wait, It Gets Worse

14. POLEMIC
D I G I T A L
@badams
First, a biology lesson

15. POLEMIC
D I G I T A L
@badams
Toxoplasma Gondii
“A convincing body of evidence now exists to indicate that the
ubiquitous protozoan Toxoplasma gondii can cause permanent
behavioral changes in its host...”
“Such behavioral alterations appear to be the product of strong
selective pressures for the parasite to enhance transmission from its
intermediate host reservoir, primarily rodent, to its feline definitive
host...”
Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2526137/

16. POLEMIC
D I G I T A L
@badams
In layman’s terms
1. Toxoplasma gondii infects a rodent and alters
the host’s brain patterns & behaviour;
2. The rodent becomes more active and prone to
exploring open areas;
3. As a result of this behaviour, the likelihood of
the rodent being eaten by a cat increases;
4. When a cat eats the infected rodent,
Toxoplasma gondii infects the cat – its definitive
host.

17. POLEMIC
D I G I T A L
@badams
Sound familiar?

18. POLEMIC
D I G I T A L
@badams
Google has infected the web
• Google is both parasite and cat;
Google’s recommendations are memes it uses to
infect us
• We are altering our behaviour to make our
information more easily accessible to Google
• This enables Google to prey on our business
models and take over profitable niches

19. POLEMIC
D I G I T A L
@badams

20. POLEMIC
D I G I T A L
@badams

21. POLEMIC
D I G I T A L
@badams

22. POLEMIC
D I G I T A L
@badams

23. POLEMIC
D I G I T A L
@badams

24. POLEMIC
D I G I T A L
@badams
“Good artists copy.
Great artists steal.”
- Pablo Picasso

25. POLEMIC
D I G I T A L
@badams
To end on a cheerful note...
“Toxoplasma gondii is the most common protozoan parasite in
developed nations. Up to 80% of the population may be infected,
depending on eating habits and exposure to cats.”
“When infected human adults were compared with uninfected adults
on personality questionnaires or on a panel of behavioral tests,
several differences were found.”
Source: http://schizophreniabulletin.oxfordjournals.org/content/33/3/757.full

26. POLEMIC
D I G I T A L
@badams

27. POLEMIC
D I G I T A L
@badams

28. POLEMIC
D I G I T A L
@badams POLEMIC
D I G I T A L
Thank You
barry@polemicdigital.com
www.polemicdigital.com
twitter.com/badams