4 ms·

I guess an obvious exception is that there is an entire industry (SEO) built on google's platform.

by ojbyrne 16y ago

InclinedPlane 16y ago
A lot of practical (i.e. not just gaming the system) SEO tactics are valid for almost any search engine, not just Google's.
- staunch 16y ago
  Even so, almost every business built on SEO would go under if they lost their Google traffic.
  - InclinedPlane 16y ago
    If you're not providing services to others and all you do is SEO then by definition I think you are gaming the system. So yes, that's almost certain to be very closely coupled to Google specifically.
- ojbyrne 16y ago
  How much of that is due to other search engines copying Google? I'd guess that Excite isn't a big focus for SEO companies.
  - InclinedPlane 16y ago
    A lot of it is fundamentals, stuff that would still apply if every search engine were wiped out in a plague and were replaced with clean-room substitutes. Stuff like using semantic html as much as possible, using sensible text for urls and hyperlink text, ensuring the most useful content shows up with javascript/images/css turned off, ensuring important links can be reached other than through search, etc.
staunch 16y ago
Or building your business on your government's "platform". At some point the stability, openness, and size are enough to reduce the risk to a very low level. I'm sure it's safe to bet on: Windows, OSX, and Google. I really don't think Facebook is there yet. Not given how quickly we went from Friendster -> MySpace -> Facebook.
- allenp 16y ago
  I think the key here, besides stability, is really whether you own the users or not - similar to the iPhone, the rules can change pretty fast and it is easy to be left holding the bag on a lot of time and energy with nothing to show for it.
chrischen 16y ago
It's no exception. We're always building on platforms. It just depends on how risky/unstable/new the underlying platforms are. Without platforms, we wouldn't be able to build skyscrapers.

I guess an obvious exception is that there is an entire industry (SEO) built on google's platform.

by ojbyrne 16y ago

I guess an obvious exception is that there is an entire industry (SEO) built on google's platform.

A lot of practical (i.e. not just gaming the system) SEO tactics are valid for almost any search engine, not just Google's.

staunch 16y ago
Even so, almost every business built on SEO would go under if they lost their Google traffic.
- InclinedPlane 16y ago
  If you're not providing services to others and all you do is SEO then by definition I think you are gaming the system. So yes, that's almost certain to be very closely coupled to Google specifically.
ojbyrne 16y ago
How much of that is due to other search engines copying Google? I'd guess that Excite isn't a big focus for SEO companies.
- InclinedPlane 16y ago
  A lot of it is fundamentals, stuff that would still apply if every search engine were wiped out in a plague and were replaced with clean-room substitutes. Stuff like using semantic html as much as possible, using sensible text for urls and hyperlink text, ensuring the most useful content shows up with javascript/images/css turned off, ensuring important links can be reached other than through search, etc.

staunch 16y ago

Or building your business on your government's "platform". At some point the stability, openness, and size are enough to reduce the risk to a very low level. I'm sure it's safe to bet on: Windows, OSX, and Google. I really don't think Facebook is there yet. Not given how quickly we went from Friendster -> MySpace -> Facebook.

allenp 16y ago
I think the key here, besides stability, is really whether you own the users or not - similar to the iPhone, the rules can change pretty fast and it is easy to be left holding the bag on a lot of time and energy with nothing to show for it.

chrischen 16y ago

It's no exception. We're always building on platforms. It just depends on how risky/unstable/new the underlying platforms are. Without platforms, we wouldn't be able to build skyscrapers.