August 21, 2006
AOL Fires, Farecast Cool, Subdomain ™ Law, Google ♠ WP Links, Loses Share & Base Stats, MSN Spam, Cre8 B-Day
Some hot news today, but it was not crazy with search news buzzing all day. Towards the end of the day, AOL has taken action by firing their CTO, the researcher who released the data and the researchers manager. Also, Google is on record that the Washington Post Blogroll links do not pass PageRank. Farecase launched a sweet travel search engine that predicts the prices of flights for 55 cities. Google's shares drop on word that Google "reached a topping point." MSN decided to drop some spammy sites, at least they said so. Google Base serves up metrics on impressions, clicks and pageviews. We also looked a bit into the AdSense Firefox referral program. Finally, we discussed the legalities of subdomains and trademarks.
Search Engine Roundtable Topics:
- Google Doesn't Count Washington Post Blogroll Links - or do they?
- Cre8asite Forums Turns Four Years Old - oh my, growing so quickly!
- Google Reaching a "Topping Point" - & GOOG is ↓ $5.67
- MSN Search Demotes "Spammy-Looking" Pages - no spam please
- Recommending Firefox with Google AdSense Referral Product - a "good to know" post
Search Engine Watch Topics:
- Farecast Adds Cities To Flight Fare Prediction Tool - i'll use this often enough
- Google Base Adds Click & Impression Metrics For Merchants - very useful for merchants
- Subdomains Trademark Violations? - would love to see legislation on this
- AOL Fires CTO & Two Employees After Search Records Slip Up - a must by AOL
Comments
I love Faircast as well. Very cool interface. Lost of information at a glance.
Everyone wants the cheapest flight… But!
It might be the cheapest for a reason… or maybe not. Travel search engines don’t do a very good job of answering questions relating to the “Value” of the travel purchase.
Air travel is now sold like a commodity, like sand. (I need a truck-load of sand. Who has the cheapest sand?) There is “Value” tied to these travel purchases that most people don’t think about.
Is there a reason why cheapest airline is the cheapest? Are they always late or loosing bags, etc? (Do they suck?)
Is there a good reason why the most expensive airline is the most expensive? Are they just over priced or do they actually deliver superior customer service?
What are the customer service rankings as reported by the Department Of Transportation?
What kind of food is served if any? Is it nasty? Do I need to pack a lunch?
What is the age of the aircraft you’re selling me a ticket on? Is it brand-spanking-new? Or is from the mid 70’s and likely to have a mechanical issue that will cause a cancellation or delay?
All airlines & aircraft are not the same. Some are much better than others. Some of the best ones don’t have the cheapest price but wouldn’t you prefer to travel on a new aircraft with an airline that has excellent customer service? How much more would you pay to depart on time (if at all) and not loose your luggage? $5.00? $10.00? $100.00?
Most people think… A seat is a seat & the cheapest seat is the best seat. No need to know that the DC-10 you just purchased a ticket on stopped being manufactured way back in 1988.
(Northwest has been flying the same DC-10’s since 1972.) Yikes! http://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/stories/2006/06/26/daily18.html
I would happily pay an extra $10.00 to fly on a new plane versus one from the early 1970’s. Wouldn’t you?
I don’t know a single person who thinks like that about cars….
(A car is a car & the cheapest car is the best car.)
Rental car companies charge more for nicer and newer cars. Why not airlines?
What if you rented a car from Avis and they handed you the keys to a 1975 AMC Pacer? Wouldn’t you be a little disappointed since other people are getting a brand-spanking-new Mercedes for almost exactly the same price or even cheaper?
Posted by: Hawaii SEO | August 21, 2006 8:52 PM
Hawaii, I hear ya but for a 2 hours flight or less, I don't mind sitting in the back seat and not getting a lunch to save $50. For those longer flights, yea - I feel those things are important.
Depends on the individual I guess.
Posted by: Barry Schwartz | August 21, 2006 9:34 PM
True... A lot of it depends on the route. Some routes have very little traffic. In those situations, you need to take what you can get.
More than likely… If you’re traveling between two major cities, you probably have several options that are all priced about the same. If two or more airlines are matching prices for a route, how do you choose the best one for your money?
Airlines that suck use commoditization to their advantage. Quality airlines struggle to overcome the false “Apples-to-Apples” comparisons.
I guess the real problem is that most people just aren’t that interested. Who can blame them?
If you asked the average guy on the street what aircraft is better: A DC-10 or a Boeing 767? No one would know. (Or care)
They care if the flight is canceled, there is a long delay, luggage is lost or they receive bad service. However, they usually don’t realize that for almost the exact same price, it probably could have been avoided.
Posted by: Hawaii SEO | August 21, 2006 10:58 PM