I have been writing consistently on search, seo, sem, Google, etc for over six years now. It is a long time, but there are others who have been writing about search consistently longer than I have. By consistently, I mean, really never stopping in the six year plus period. All together, I have written over 20,000 blog posts on search between the various sites I write/wrote at, i.e. Search Engine Roundtable, Search Engine Land and formerly Search Engine Watch.

I started this in 2003 as just hobby, as a notebook for my own SEO notes. It turned into a lot more. It doesn't drive much of my income, but it does have some financial perks. If I didn't have a solid job with my company, RustyBrick, I doubt I would be able to do this. Plus, my wife is very understanding. ;-)

In short, I really enjoy the search industry and I don't do the blogging for the money. I do it because I feel like I am helping the industry out. Sometimes, it feels very routinized and boring - but when I get a thank you from people, even the smallest email, tweet, letter - it means a lot.

Last night, Sebastian tweeted something that really made all of 2009 efforts worthwhile. Yea, less than a 140 characters and I feel that 2009 was not wasted. He wrote:

Then it got at least two retweets, one from a Googler, JohnMu (who rocks, btw) and another from an AdWords specialist, @EdWords.

Amazing what 140 characters can mean to someone.

Thanks!

Posted at 9:18 AM | Permalink | Category: Buddies , Daily Grind | Comments (2)

The Chanukah treats have been somewhat slim this year but yesterday I received two packages. One from Oh! Nuts and the other from a vendor of mine. Here are pictures...

Before:

Couple minutes after:

Nice when people send stuff, especially for what I do at the Search Engine Roundtable. Makes me feel people get something out of it when they send me thank yous like this or via email.

Posted at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Category: Buddies | Comments (2)

For those that want to friend me on Facebook, so that I can annoy them with updates, you can now reach me at facebook.com/barryschwartz.

I don't use Facebook like a good Facebook citizen, I use it like a spammer. So I warn you.

I don't post useful pictures there. I don't talk to friends on there. I'll ignore your Facebook messages. I won't reply to Facebook IMs. I am the evil Facebook user.

I only go on to /reqs to accept friend requests. I pretty much accept everyone, so no one gets insulted.

Posted at 10:08 AM | Permalink | Category: Buddies | Comments (0)

In my last Search in Pictures column, I showed off a Google Baby Hat, and then tweeted that I would love one of those for my baby. Well, Adam Lasnik of Google, sent over a Google onesie and baby blanket. I assume it is from the Google search quality and webmaster central team - so thank you all!

Adam, I know you tried to get the hat and I appreciate that. I am sure my wife and the baby will prefer the onesie and blanket over the hat. Here is a picture:

Thanks so much!

There are many of you who actually sent me gifts. I didn't blog about most of you, but trust me, thank you. I may blog about some of the other gifts, like the Chocolate Bassinet from Oh Nuts or Best of the Web onesie and some of the other wonderful gifts the search industry sent.

Thank you all so much!

Posted at 11:31 AM | Permalink | Category: Buddies , Family | Comments (1)

I know prospects and clients read my personal blog, even though I go out of my way to not tell most of them about it. In fact, I blogged about the risks of blogging when clients or prospects read my blog.

I did not tell you that I found out, that over the past months/years, that kids are reading my blog. Not just any random kids, but my nephews, nieces and kids in the community.

• My brother-in-law on my wife's side told me a few weeks back that his oldest daughter goes to my blog and reads it every now and then.
• My nephew (Sisters kid) told me that he reads my blog and so do the others.
• A mother in my community who goes to the same synagogue as I do told me his son reads my blog every day.

When I hear stuff like that, I first thing --- I hope I didn't write anything not kid appropriate. There is a lot of risk knowing what you write can be seen by kids, and not just any kids, but family and kids you know.

I guess if there was anything I said that was not appropriate it would be more up to the parents to know about it and stop their kids from reading my blog or any site that they don't feel is appropriate. But at the same time, then I have parents and family thinking that what I do or write is not kid appropriate, which can be bad.

All in all, I don't think I have that issue on any of my blogs - so keep on reading!

Posted at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Category: Blogging , Buddies , Family | Comments (1)

Purim is Monday night and it is customary to give gift baskets to friends on Purim day. Oh Nuts sent me a Ocean Mist Purim Basket, which I received today. Here is a picture:

Oh Nuts traditionally gives me stuff during the Jewish holidays. I really think it is incredibly kind of them. I don't expect it and it is totally not necessary but it is always nice to get one or two around the holiday season, from readers that want to say thank you.

I feel bad writing this, because I feel like this might be considered a paid link. But honestly, when I received schwag in the past, even from search engines I included links to them or to the products they sent me, thanking them.

Posted at 3:41 PM | Permalink | Category: Buddies , Religion | Comments (1)

Guys, a couple of hours ago, some guy or gal registered the the id "rustybrick_" at Twitter. He/She then began going around to those who follow me and following them. In return, this rustybrick_ now has 36 followers, thinking they are following me and they are not. Then this person posts a single twit, about some service he/she is selling.

Please do not be fooled by this impersonator. My Twitter id does not end with an underscore, it is http://twitter.com/rustybrick with no underscore at the end.

This is not the first time I am dealing with an impersonator. I had someone acquire the Gmail address web.rustybrick@gmail.com and try to sell SEO services under my company name. It was a kid from India who just messed up and he gave it up, but this seems more serious.

Seems like I am not the first to be impersonated on Twitter. Is there any way to fix this and kill this fake account?

Posted at 12:24 AM | Permalink | Category: Buddies | Comments (11)

Small chat these days is basically the following conversation. So, how is everything? Are you doing okay in these economic times? Business good? How you dealing with it?

It is like the same convo I have with different people that I haven't seen in a while. I guess it is like talking about the weather. But who cares how cold or wet it is outside when we are in a really bad recession.

Heck, I even hear kids (elementary school age) talking about the recession.

I guess it is good to talk about it, helps people not worry as much...

A little over a month ago, I asked, Are you worried about the economy? The 44 results included 36.36% are worried a little, 27.27% are very worried, 22.73% are just worried and 13.64% are not worried at all. I wish I was part of the 13%. :)

I am a worrier, that is just me. Well - I don't worry about everything, just what I consider valid things to worry about and with this recession and running a company, with employees, families and other companies depending on the company, I feel pressure to keep on ticking. Now, my company is doing well - we are doing just fine. But I still worry based on hearing all the economic data every day on the radio or via Internet. I worry when I hear that hundreds and hundreds of well known retailers will be closing their doors. I worry when I hear financial institutions are failing. I worry when I hear about job reports.

I can just hope it passes soon, not that I expect it to. I just hope that my family, friends and people I know are not impacted by the recession too much.

In any event, if you have not taken the poll, it still should work - go take the poll. And here is a new poll. How soon do you think we will start seeing a recovery.

Personally, I think it won't be until some time in 2010.

Posted at 10:10 AM | Permalink | Category: Buddies , Daily Grind | Comments (1)

Blogging and building iPhone apps have really been interesting in terms of people I reconnect with over the years.

Way back in 2004, I reconnected with a friend from High School. We reconnected after learning he was working at Did It, back then. His name was EliFeldblum and he now runs a successful SEO company in Israel. Has a family with kids and everything. We haven't talked for about 10 years and then bam, all of a sudden, we are now connected again. We now touch base regularly, via email and so on.

This happens every now and then. In fact, Danny just blog about how this happens all too often in the Facebook World. I am sure, almost everyone on Facebook has experienced this.

But what I find very interesting, now that we have built a niche for ourselves in iPhone Apps for Jews, well, mostly. So through these apps, I am connecting with people who know people that I know. But I am also reconnecting with folks I lost touch with. First it was someone from Baruch College, that I took a bunch of classes with. Then it was a few others. But recently it was someone I went to elementary school with and haven't really seen since.

Eliyahu Fink has recently started a blog and wrote about the iPhone Siddur. Eliyahu Fink was the son of my elementary school's principle. He is in law school right now and is also a part time Rabbi for the PJ Center in Venice, California. We connected via the iPhone stuff and through blogging. I spoke with him for a bit the other day and it was nice to catch up.

Blogging, development and the social aspect of the web not only helped me with business, and making new friends but has also helped me connect with old ones.

Posted at 11:30 AM | Permalink | Category: Buddies | Comments (1)

Posted at 4:14 PM | Permalink | Category: Buddies | Comments (1)

I make a lot of friends, tons of them. Heck, I have 500+ LinkedIn Friends and over 500 Facebook Friends. So I am a popular guy ;-)

In any event, I was looking at my instant messaging client a minute ago, and I noticed the list was incredibly long. So, like I did ~ 2 years ago, I counted them. I had just under a 100 active buddies (approximately, cause people came on and off while I was counting). Last time, I counted 80+ active buddies, but I guess I know about twenty more people.

To be honest, I only chat with a dozen or so people in my buddy list. I really should clean up this list, but I have been wanting to do that for years.

FYI, I don't use Apple's iChat or AOL's IM client, I use Adium X to chat.

Posted at 3:30 PM | Permalink | Category: Buddies | Comments (0)

Danny Sullivan, I am disappointed, disturbed and a bit ashamed to hear you had a change of heart.

Time and time again, both on the radio and via personal and private communication, Danny told me he would not be getting an iPhone. Not until it gets a keyboard and/or you can tether.

Danny, the iPhone can not do either of those things yet, I hear via Twitter, you will be getting an iPhone. And I quote:

dannysullivan heaven help me, i think i want an iphone of my own now. 04:15 PM July 14, 2008 from twhirl

dannysullivan @sugarrae i know! but with 3G, the phone seriously makes sense. and crash nitro cart. and twitterific is awesome. and safari's cool. and and 04:18 PM July 14, 2008 from twhirl in reply to sugarrae

dannysullivan verizon kindly offered to cut my termination fee in 1/2 to port over to at&t so nothing stands between me and my iphone tomorrow. cept stock about 1 hour ago from web

But this is the same Danny who said he won't be getting this phone. Why do I care so much? I don't - I just want to rub it in, because I told him I would when he gets one.

Honestly, I thought it would take at least 3 months to convince him. But 4 days! Only 4 days!

I told Danny, and I quote:

when u move, ur so getting an iphone

In reply, Danny said:

nope

I then replied:

i give u 6 months from when u move

I was so wrong! 6 months! This is 4 days!

So Danny, you are now the ultimate fan boy...

This post is just a joke, meant to *rub it in* as an "I told you so. I am sure Danny will pay me back some day. In reality, I am very happy he is getting an iPhone. It should make my life a bit easier, in terms of the blogging we do together.

Posted at 5:46 PM | Permalink | Category: Apple Macs , Buddies , iPhone | Comments (3)

Why I was sitting in the You&A With Matt Cutts session at SMX Advanced a couple weeks ago, I twittered "mattcutts so reminds me of my older brother." Matt then asked me about that twitter the next day - but I couldn't really give a good answer. The other day, I was thinking about it...

Before beginning, I am not sure how Adam, my brother, is going to like this post. I doubt he will mind, but I am sure he won't like to be the spotlight of a blog post here. So, I am sorry in advance.

Adam, my older brother, is a Rabbi in Israel. He works with teenagers who are not exactly on the right path. In a sense, he is somewhat of a social worker or guidance counselor. From what I know, he balances the line of being part of "the law" and at the same time, being friends for these kids. I know there is a line, but from what I understand, many kids trust him and go to my brother for advice and support.

Adam has learned over the years how to speak with these kids. He uses words that reach out to them and it is his hope that they use his words in daily practices. Kind of like a "moral compass" but not exactly.

Just picture how careful he has to be with his words. He can't jump down these kids throats or else they won't trust him and won't come back to him for advice. So when talking, he kind of has to be somewhat of a diplomate and be sure not to touch on sensitive points in the wrong way.

Matt Cutts, the famous Googlers, who deals with webmasters and SEOs all day - is kind of in the same position. Each day, he has to be careful how he words things, as to not harm his relationship with the webmaster community. Matt has earned the trust of many webmasters. He, like my brother, has earned the respect, trust and friendship of many of those who practice actions that are not in accordance with Google's terms of service (TOS).

When Matt talks to webmasters, either publicly or one-to-one, I hear that same out reaching voice of concern. When it comes to certain tactics that webmasters can deploy to trick Google or the searcher, you can hear it in his voice. You can hear how his appeal is genuine, genuine to the industry and to the betterment of the searchers world.

Matt has to balance his speech to make sure he draws that line in the sand, that he is "the law." But at the same time, he wants to keep the line of communication open so that there is a healthy dialog between webmasters and Google. This way, he act as the "moral compass" in his venue.

I am not sure if this makes much sense. I really think it is about the tone I hear in their voices when they both have to balance on that line. They both know that line is easy to cross over and once they cross over it, it is really hard to get back on it.

Posted at 9:12 AM | Permalink | Category: Buddies , Family | Comments (4)

When it comes to sharing my gadgets, I am a bit of a germy. I just don't like people touching my laptop, my iPhone or any of my gadgets. I am very possessive about them and I admit, it is a bit selfish.

Why don't I like sharing my gadgets?

(1) I am very protective over them, very (see my cartoon above, it has my bag, I always have my bag of stuff with me).
(2) Fear of breaking it
(3) Fear of losing it
(4) My life is on my gadgets
(5) I need to always be able to use my gadgets at any time, even if I won't need it a 100%

Last week or so, I found a study that shows I am not alone. Spotted via Science Blogs reports that Mac users are way more possessive then PC users. Yes, I am a Mac user and I guess I fit in that group.

The poll found "there's a dramatic and statistically significant difference between how much PC and Mac users let friends try out their new devices."

So TUAW posted their own poll:

How willing are you to let others use your new gadget?

• They must not touch said 389 Mac users (12.3%)
• They can hold it, but not press any buttons said 159 Mac users (5.0%)
• They can try it out for a few minutes while I supervise said 2166 Mac users (68.5%)
• They can try it out for up to an hour, unsupervised said 362 Mac users (11.4%)
• They can borrow it for a couple days said 65 Mac users (2.1%)
• They can have it -- I didn't really want it anyway said 20 Mac users (0.6%)

I replied "They can hold it, but not press any buttons."

Posted at 2:43 PM | Permalink | Category: Apple Macs , Buddies , Computers , iPhone | Comments (0)

So I caught Matt Cutts of Google talk about watching porn.

This is to tease Matt. It actually is part of Matt talking about his SafeSearch filter, which removes porn from image search. So again, just a Matt tease.

Posted at 8:24 PM | Permalink | Category: Buddies | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (1)

I currently have 430 friends at Facebook. I am a friendly guy, I guess. Honestly, all I use Facebook for is to click the add button when I get a friend request.

But I have been recently getting these friend requests from old friends, outside of the search industry. Like people I grew up with and went to school with. Also, some family members have been friending me, so they are on the list.

What I totally forgot about is that my Twitters have been automatically posting to my Facebook status section. So whenever I post to twitter, it is updated on Facebook.

Not only that, I automatically post my personal blog posts to my Twitter account. Which then will automatically post that twitter (my blog post title and URL) to Facebook. It seems I am a very very active Facebook user, when in all honesty, I only login to Facebook to accept friend requests and decline everything else.

What is pretty funny is that when I first added the Twitter to Facebook application, I wrote about it. I named the blog post Another Way to Annoy People Using Twitter. So, I knew it would annoy people on some level.

This weekend, I spoke to a few of these normal Facebook users (non-SEOs) and they mentioned (two of them did) that I am very active on Facebook, but in a weird way. I.e. I post these short things, often with URLs at the end, and sometimes I tell people I am going to the bathroom. I then remembered that my Twitter account is hooked up and it might be annoying real Facebook users who don't understand that.

So I asked both of those people I was talking to. One on Friday night the other one last night at a nice BBQ if I was being an "annoying Facebook user." They both said no, but I think they were being nice.

People are much more frank via comments. So go ahead, be deadly truthful. Am I an evil facebook user? Feel free to be anonymous with your comments.

Posted at 2:17 PM | Permalink | Category: Blogging , Buddies | Comments (6)

I've praised Greg Sterling before, but he deserves way more praise, especially from me.

Greg is an outstanding writer and works way harder than I do. First, he posts his insights at Screenwerks and blogs a heck of a lot at Search Engine Land as the contributing editor. You can read his impressive bio at this page.

So why does Greg totally blow me away and make me look lazy? Well, all this time I just assumed he was based on the east coast, but then I remember over the weekend he was based on the west coast. Why is that significant?

I get up at 5:40am (EST). Greg is always with Danny and I in the AM morning search news rush at about 7am or so. But Greg is on the west coast, so that is 5am (PST). He is often up at 3am (PST) getting work done. That is 2.5 hours earlier then I get up. That is crazy devotion.

After he is done with the blogging he then does 'real work' all day. Real work for Greg are constant calls, meetings, and emails. I wonder what time he goes to sleep. :)

Greg, we at Search Engine Land could not do it without you! You deserve huge credit for the SEM industry!

Posted at 9:21 AM | Permalink | Category: Buddies | Comments (0)

Last night, for the first time in history, my wife met Danny Sullivan's wife.

Danny is in for the AdAge conference and he cleared one night off his schedule to go out for dinner with my wife and I. Danny's wife came in with him, so it was the first time my wife met Danny's wife.

My wife always wanted to meet Danny's wife. She had questions for her, such as:

• How do you put up with him?
• Do you use the Internet
• Do you like his hours?
• And other questions one wife of a blogger might ask an other

During dinner Danny and I rarely pulled out our phones to check feeds or email. I did show the popcorn and goldfish iphone tricks but that was pretty much it.

I won't share all the details of the night but I would like to thank Danny and wife (that is what we call our wives) for dinner - it was really nice.

Posted at 10:04 AM | Permalink | Category: Buddies | Comments (3)

So Danny and I are both up at 4ish this morning, he twitters me at 5am asking if I would take a break with him to get a diet coke. I initially did not think it was wise but Danny convinced me otherwise.

So we meet in the lobby and buy two diet cokes. We walk towards the conference area and see another UKer (blanking on her name but she is a MySpace expert). We walk and drink and then Danny decides to do breakfast at the hotel and convinces me to sit with them. I say only if I can ignore you guys and blog my stories. They said okay.

So we all get our laptops and sit down for breakfast (I don't eat, not kosher). All I can say is I hope my stories make sense because it is not easy blogging and talking at the same time.

So the 15 minute diet coke break turned into almost three hours. But yes, I blogged stories at SER, SEL and even now over here.

The funny thing is the woman asked if I would blog this. I initially thought no, but then said "maybe," actually, "probably."

Posted at 11:09 AM | Permalink | Category: Buddies | Comments (8)

There are some people who have a lot of history in the industry and there are some people who have made a huge impact on the industry. Patrick Gavin in one person who has both in the SEO industry.

Patrick Gavin the co-founder of Text Link Ads (TLA), arguably the most well known company in the SEO space, has written one of his first personal blog entries at PatrickGavin.com named History of TLA. Patrick has come a really long way, from working in his family's brick restoration company to now being the President of Display Advertising at MediaWhiz, who now owns TLA.

In Patrick's post, he takes us through how TLA got its start and where it is today. I am proud to say that RustyBrick, my company, has a part in it. I won't get into what we have done, Patrick explained that, but I would like to add some personal notes.

To see a man like Patrick and his business partner Bill Fish see so much success within a short period of time makes me so happy. I know Patrick and Bill for a long time. On both a personal and professional level, I can personally say, they are honest, respectful and most importantly caring people. They are both good old fashion people and to see that with two individuals who have seen such change in under five years, that is something to look up towards.

Let me tell you a little story. Back during SES NY 2005 I think, I forget now... I invited a bunch of people out for dinner. The list included, and I hope I don't leave anyone out, Patrick Gavin, Chris Boggs, Ben Pfeiffer, Gary Price, Jim Lanzone (old-CEO of Ask), and Matt Cutts of Google. Besides for having all these smart people in one room, eating a nice meal together - there was some tension.

Even back then, there was this tension between Google and Text Link Ads. The people behind those companies were Matt Cutts who represented Google and Patrick Gavin who represented Text Link Ads (so the tension might have been perceived as between those two individuals). I can tell you that I was a bit nervous about the two sitting at a table together, just because of all the history there. But the thing is, both Patrick and Matt are stand up guys who have hearts and care about people. Let me say this, there was zero tension once we all sat down and had dinner. The conversation was excellent, there was fun chat and exchanges of ideas. There was no fighting, arguing and so on.

I just wanted to add that tidbit to TLA's history post. Not that it made any difference in TLA's history, but it is a point in TLA's history that will always stand out to me.

It is great to see guys like Patrick, Bill and Matt (with Google's IPO) all see such great success in the ventures they set forth in. They are all such good people and deserve all the best.

Posted at 2:40 PM | Permalink | Category: Buddies | Comments (2)

Remember I told you I was penalized in LinkedIn earlier this week? Well, I submitted my request to be 'unpenalized' and they granted my request today. I did not really submit a "reinclusion request," but rather a confirmation that I won't try to connect with anyone and any soul that is on LinkedIn. Kind of sad, because I am like the most social person in the world and being connected is all what I am about (people who know me will laugh by that statement).

As you can see from the screen grab below, I can now befriend without having people's email addresses:

Whoo hoo! Doh! But I have to make sure not to go crazy and make sure I connect with only people who won't report me.

Don't forget, you can connect with me and I will approve it, no questions asked.

Here is my reinclusion request:

I now understand this policy... I am sorry.

Nothing sophisticated...

An email from LinkedIn telling me I am back in and what not to do:

Thank you for agreeing to our terms of service. It has been our experience that some LinkedIn members may not recognize the name of other members they have casually met or have had passive business dealings with. This prompts them to click the "I don't know this person" button. In many cases, the reconnect restriction is easily avoidable simply by doing one of the steps below:

1. Editing the body of your invitation to prompt a recollection. This can be done when you arrive to the "invite page". At the bottom, you have the option to add a "personal note" which may be edited to reflect your personalized message.

2. Click on the "Get introduced through a connection" link if this person is connected to someone already in your network.

3. Add a photo of yourself so that members who may not recognize your name but would certainly remember what you look like.

We thank you for agreeing to comply with our policies and know that together we can maintain an outstanding website for all of our members. I have unrestricted your account and full functionality has been restored.

Thank you!

Posted at 4:12 PM | Permalink | Category: Buddies | Comments (0)

How sad. I just noticed I was penalized in LinkedIn!

Every time I try to add a new contact, I get this:

Please note: You are now required to enter an email address to send invitations from this page because several recipients of your invitations indicated they don’t know you. This safeguard is in place to prevent users from receiving unwanted invitations from people they don’t know. Customer Service can remove the restriction at anytime once you indicate that you understand this policy.

It happens to be that just the other day, I added like a 100+ connections. I suspect it has to do with that. Who rejects connections? I guess people do... In any event, I will now only request connections from those that I know really know me. If you don't know me, then I won't request your LinkedIn connection - but I will accept your invite, so don't worry.

So if you still want to connect with me, you can do so via this link.

I put my appeal in with LinkedIn, wonder how long it will take to remove my penalty. :)

Posted at 4:37 PM | Permalink | Category: Buddies | Comments (3)

Wanted to wish all of you a happy, healthy and successful new year!

I went out to buy a few dozen donuts for a little thing I am having at my house for a few friends. My wife is cooking up some foods. Something small - since you all know how much I hate to "party."

What are your plans?

Are you going to be wearing a party hat?

Whatever it is, do it safely and see you all in 2008!

Happy New Year!!!

Need some reading? Well, I refuse to do a 2007 in Review Post - it is way too common of blogs to do that. ;-) Plus I do it for anniversary blog posts instead.

Gary has the Fast Facts about New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day that can keep you busy.

Posted at 2:51 PM | Permalink | Category: Buddies | Comments (3)

Here are some, not all, of the holiday cards I got from various companies in the search space.

The cards above come from Ask.com, Google, Yahoo, Indeed, and Debra from Alliance Link.

All of them were personally signed except for the Google card. Yahoo's card is the most interesting, in that you can actually plant it and it will grow. Yes, really. The card is made from "seeded paper," so I can rip it up and stick it in a pot. Then it will grow over time. In fact, I already stuck the envelop in a pot.

A lot more green when compared to Yahoo's yodeling card from last year.

Happy holidays guys and thanks for the cards!

Posted at 9:55 AM | Permalink | Category: Buddies | Comments (1)

Li Evans has this great series of articles named Women of Internet Marketing at her Search Marketing Gurus site.

In her last column, she interviewed Vanessa Fox. Vanessa earned her popularity when she worked at Google to create what is now known as Google Webmaster Central. She was one of the most influential people on bridging the webmaster community and Google together. Since then, she worked at Zillow to launch some sweet projects and now she is at an entrepreneur in residence for Ignition Partners and also the Features Editor at Search Engine Land (yea I write there also).

In any event, besides for Vanessa being incredibly popular and fun to work with, she said something really cool about me in her interview. And I quote:

Q: What's a typical day like for you, since you are also an editor at Search Engine Land? A: I don't think I've had a typical day yet! I normally check in on what's going on in search in the mornings. Barry is amazing at news coverage. I don't think people realize just how hard he works at making sure he knows absolutely everything that goes on all over the web. When I have time, I pitch in on news coverage.

And...

Q: You are in charge of recasting *drum rolls*... BUFFY! *going to go with Season 3 here*, which SEO's do you cast as the following? Xander: I think Barry's a bit like Xander. As I mentioned earlier, I don't think people realize just how much he does, but his contributions add a lot. Sort of like Xander in "The Zeppo" when he managed to save the school from a bomb created by the zombie football player, Walker, Texas Ranger fans and no one ever knew.

Now honestly, you know you have watched at least two episodes of Buffy!

Thank you so much Vanessa - comments like these really make it all worth while! Those words are even more special coming from someone like you!

Posted at 11:20 AM | Permalink | Category: Blogging , Buddies | Comments (0)

Every Friday night sundown to Saturday night stars up, is the Jewish Shabbos. Orthodox Jews hold the laws of Shabbos and do not do "work" on Shabbos. It gets a bit complicated, you can read an introduction to the Laws of Shabbos at Aish.com, but in short, for people like Gary and myself, it means no using computers or Treos or iPhones on Shabbos - a whole 25 hours or so.

I do this every single week, so it is not a big deal for me. But Gary has never done this, since he is not an orthodox Jew, he does not hold the same things as I do. After Gary married Lisa, I invited them to come spend a "Shabbos" with us. They took us up on the offer this weekend. It was really nice to show Gary and Lisa our Shabbos routine and customs. But it was even nicer to spend time with the both of them without the distractions of a computer.

I can't imagine how hard it is to turn everything off for 25 hours. I mean, I do it every week, but if I had to do it once when never having experienced it before - that sounds hard.

In any event... Thank you Gary and Lisa for coming - it was really special. Hope to have you guys back soon!

Posted at 8:18 AM | Permalink | Category: Buddies , Religion | Comments (4)

Tamar, besides for loving to blog, also really loves Schwag. She is the girl who runs around the exhibit halls with huge duffles collecting tons of free Schwag.

She decided to start a blog presenting all her cool schwag. The blog name is Schwag Addict!

Great idea Tamar. It should land you some new neat schwag!

Posted at 12:36 PM | Permalink | Category: Buddies | Comments (3)

Jim Lanzone, the CEO of Ask.com, is a great guy. He is fun, hard working and really smart. We used to be more chatty before he became the CEO, but now he is flying all over the place with his new responsibilities. In any event, it was great to feature a picture of him, hanging loose at the Ask.com Year End party this year.

Now, Jim, why wasn't I invited? :-)

Posted at 1:23 PM | Permalink | Category: Buddies | Comments (0)

Shimon Sandler tagged me on When I'm NOT doing SEO...

Well, if you read my personal blog, I guess you are. You know all about what I do when I am not doing SEO.

But for a hobby, I love playing basketball. I play three times a week, when I can. I have been bad the past few weeks, missing nights because of work. But I love playing ball.

Read about some of my sports adventures in my sports category.

So now I need to tag others...People who are SEOs but not at the search conference... tough one...

- Joost De Valk
- Donna
- Kim Krause Berg

There ya go.

Posted at 10:57 AM | Permalink | Category: Buddies | Comments (3)

It has been a while since I attended the IM NY events, but last night I was able to make it.

It was held at Le Marais Steakhouse in Little Italy. A bunch of SEOs were there, including Tamar, Greg, Frank, Todd, Tedster, Kevin Heisler, Chris and two girls. One girl was, I think, Frank's friend and the other I just don't know her name.

Anyway, I ordered some chicken dish, it was excellent. Tamar got this duck Moroccan thing, looked weird to me. Frank's girl was a veggin - yea, seriously. It was the first time I met Kevin - nice to meet you, too bad you sat on the other side of the table... An SEW vs. SEL thing?;-) Anyway...

I am pretty sure Frank is to thank for the bill. Thank you Frank - see image above. It rocked and I sure want to come again!

That was the start of the night. I left first, b/c I wake up way too early...

Posted at 10:33 AM | Permalink | Category: Buddies , Travels | Comments (3)

Man, such a small world. Years ago, when I first started going to the search conferences, I felt like I was the only orthodox Jew to be found at them. Soon after, my old high school buddy, Eli Feldblum began going to the conferences. I think I first saw him at SES San Jose back in 2005? Maybe? It was nice to see a familiar face at the conferences, which he continues to go to until today.

Anyway, today, him and his business partner at Rank Above (the picture at the top is Eli with his two business partners, aka couldnt find a picture of them) stopped by to say hello. Well, technically, they flew in from Israel. Eli founded Rank Above about a year ago, after moving to Israel from New York. He is one of the many Jewish people to "make aliyah" or move to Israel after living outside of Israel. He was able to successfully start a company, an SEO company, that employees 13 people now. Very impressive, after only one year.

You might remember Eli as being the one who helped orchestrate the synchronized swimming event at PubCon a year or so ago. A picture might remind you:

Still doesn't ring a bell? Eli also worked at Did-It before that. A picture for that also:

Anyway, now he is running a successful SEO company in Israel. He supports 13 families, including his wife and his newish, cute baby girl.

Thanks for lunch Eli and RankAbove! My treat when I go to Israel in February.

Posted at 3:26 PM | Permalink | Category: Buddies | Comments (1)

Google continues to impress Wall Street, just check out these headlines. Profits over profits over profits, more money they know what to do with.

But back when Google opened the ipo bid request form and priced their stock at $85, I thought it was over priced.

Now, $560 plus later, I look back and shake my head... Oh how I was wrong about this stock.

My business neighbor who does some stock trading for fun asked me what I thought back then. He didn't get into the IPO, who knows if it was because I told him I thought it was over priced. He then bought plenty of shares after the IPO to make up for it, I guess. But even today, I tell him, I don't think it is worth that much money.

Why? Their business comes from pretty much one thing. A blue link.

See the above picture, see the things labeled "sponsored links"? If you stop clicking on those, Google wouldn't make money. I am not kidding. 90% plus of their revenue comes from those ads.

Oh well, what do I know.

Posted at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Category: Buddies | Comments (3)

Wanted to reach out and say a special congrats to two special people and companies in the SEO space.

(1) Big congrats for SEOmoz getting $1.25 million richer today. In Rand's post, Big Changes Afoot at SEOmoz, Rand shared with us that he secured a VC, but a kind VC, for his company. Will it change the company? Rand says, only for the better. Big congrats Rand! I can say I knew you when you were just a baby SEO. ;-)

(2) Lisa blogged one-thousand times. Well, not 1,000 times herself, but a 1,000 blog posts have been published at the Bruce Clay blog. In Lisa's post, Bruce Clay, Inc. Blog Marks Its 1,000th Entry she writes about the big landmark.

Congrats Lisa. I always enjoy reading your posts. It honestly lightens up the day for me. Your summaries add humor, wit and a personal touch to the search news. I really appreciate your efforts!

Posted at 2:15 PM | Permalink | Category: Buddies | Comments (4)

Before the day ends, I think it is appropriate I say a word or two on 9/11.

Where was I during 9/11?

When 9/11 happened, I was not in NYC, I was home. It was a Tuesday, I was off from school that day. I think I only had classes on Mondays and Wednesdays. That Tuesday, I was off, so I stayed home. I went to Baruch college which was on 23rd and Lexington, not extremely far from ground zero.

I remember hearing about it on the Internet. I then ran to check the TV and saw the second plane fly into the second building. It didn't look real, it was TV. But it was real. I was IMing with my brother-in-law who was on 20th street and the only means of communication was IM. Phones, both landlines and cell, all eventually went dead. But the Internet was still on.

I then noticed that most the channels went out, I was using an antenna for the TV and most antennas in my area were powered by the Twin Towers. Some were powered via the Empire State building, so some channels worked.

That is my word on 9/11, a sad day, sad sad day.

Gary Price complied an excellent resource on 9/11, for additional reading.

Posted at 5:00 PM | Permalink | Category: Buddies | Comments (1)

There is this guy named Steve that I see at almost every search conference I go to. He typically is on the same flights from New York to the conference city that I am on. I think, more times than not, he is on my flight, which is a bit creepy - if you think about it.

We always did some small chat but this last trip, we chatted a ton on the way back to New York from San Jose.

Steve runs this company named Farlex, but it the company's products that are cool. The two main products include:

- The Free Dictionary which provides not just dictionary items, but it is a huge portal, that you can customize to your liking. Check it out.

- The Free Library which provides tons of syndicated articles from tons of sources. The articles have social media buttons within them, plus commenting and much more. You can translate any page and more.

Good stuff.

In any event, Steve and I chatted a lot. He is buying a new house and I am also. He gave me so many helpful tips, so many. It was a fun chat and I hope all goes well with your house as you finalize the remaining details!

Posted at 11:13 AM | Permalink | Category: Buddies , Travels | Comments (1)

Ok, which one of you out there is messing around with my Wikipedia page?

Of course I subscribe to the revision history via RSS.

And just an hour or so ago I notice a line that looked like this:

It was done by this IP, 65.191.86.69. That same IP made changes to the Limeade page and the Yangtze River page. But those changes were normal.

Mine was out to get my attention. The IP resolved to a RoadRunner ISP, in Herndon, VA.

Ok, so what do you want? :)

Posted at 4:10 PM | Permalink | Category: Buddies | Comments (1)

A couple weeks ago, I joined Facebook to test an integration tool. Since then, I have about 20 friends.

So now, I figured, why not tell people I am there so you can befriend me.

My Facebook profile is at http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=528950782.

There is not a lot of information there, yet. Who knows, maybe I'll get into it.

Posted at 12:49 PM | Permalink | Category: Buddies | Comments (2)

Recently, Ronnie here, flipped on the OpenDNS site filtering option. We use OpenDNS for our internal network here at RustyBrick.

When I went to visit Wolf Howl, run by Michael Gray, it would not let me go.

It told me the site was an adult site.

So let's help out Michael and go to http://www.opendns.com/contact/afp/?url=www.wolf-howl.com and click on the "This is not an adult site" button.

Posted at 11:24 AM | Permalink | Category: Buddies | Comments (2)

Typically, at SEO/SEM conference, Matt Cutts of Google is swarmed with SEOs and SEMs. They have been named Cuttletts, for Matt's groupies.

Here is a picture from Danny's personal blog showing a typical swarm of the Cuttletts.

But at today's SMX Conference I spotted Matt with only two Cuttletts around him before lunch.

Now, where did all the Cuttletts go? Well, Vanessa Fox of Google just got off a panel and she was swarmed with her own form of Cuttletts. Hmmm.. should we propose a name for her groupies? I won't dare, but you can.

Posted at 4:59 PM | Permalink | Category: Buddies , SEO Tips | Comments (9)

Benjamin Pfeiffer of RankSmart.com and the Senior Editor of the Search Engine Roundtable, and co-host of the Search Pulse has come to New York to visit us.

That is a picture of us. Yea, I know, I look bad. But I didn't have time to shave in the past three days. Sad, but true.

What are we doing? Well, we do some business on the side, outside of the blog. So we are discussing those things.

Posted at 10:54 AM | Permalink | Category: Blogging , Buddies , RustyBrick , SEO Tips | Comments (5)

Remember my post on Why I Blog? The main reason was to potentially help people. Well, I think I may have helped one person.

Patrick Sexton (aka feedthebot) has wrote a touchy story about how he became an SEO.

He describes how he had no money except for $20 from selling "paintings on the street" earlier in the day. He then took that $20 and put it into a "video poker machine," where he won $750. That night he flew to Honolulu where he burned through the rest of his money while staying in Waikiki.

In Waikiki he had a few days left for his room at the hostel he was staying at and spotted a "sign that said that you could work for a few hours a week instead of paying rent." So he did that.

In the hostel was a computer, which he used frequently during his stay. He spent a lot of time there learning about making web sites and how search engines work. Here is the kicker for me..

Okay, I wasn’t even aware of the term SEO yet, but by goly, I had an honest to goodness website to play with now. I began researching SEO heavily, very very heavily. The first thing I did was read every page of Barry’s RustyBrick.com . My first two memories of SEO were his tool page and an image that showed the inter-relationship of search engines that I am not sure if it was on his site or not, but I remember that image.

That was my first SEO research which led to me discovering an enormous amount of resources that were out there. The website of the hostel was eventually redesigned and has enjoyed top ranking for years, and I made some good money out of it. That was my first SEO “job”

So Barry, thanks and I look forward to meeting you and saying hello at SMX.

A true touching story. Thank you Pat, thank you for sharing that with me.

Truly made my day.

And I hope to see you at SMX as well!

Posted at 10:05 AM | Permalink | Category: Blogging , Buddies , SEO Tips | Comments (1)

As I told you, I was honored to be invited to Gary & Lisa Price's Wedding that took place yesterday. My wife and I tripped up to Chicago for the weekend. We spent the "shabbos" with Yisha's friends in Chicago and then went up to the wedding Sunday morning.

I spotted Gary about 11am as he was walking into the Ketubah signing room. We took a quick picture together.

Then after some explanatory and technical matters I was privileged to sign Gary and Lisa's Ketubah. Here I am doing that:

My signature came out pretty well. I signed in script but this is how it looks like in print.

ברוך יעקב בן אריה יוסף שוורץ

Then after I signed, others signed as well, and then we moved to the ceremony part. Everyone in the family walked down to music.

There is Gary and Lisa under the chuppa (aka canopy) getting married. They read some things, read the ketubah, say the 7 blessings, Gary gives the ring, they drink a bit of wine, then Gary breaks the glass and they are married.

Gary and Lisa go out, they hide for 18 minutes or so while the friends and family go to the reception area.

Then Gary and Lisa join us. The bride and groom are kings on this day and should be treated as such.

There were plenty of search geeks at the wedding, including a number of Ask.com folks and librarians. But so was Danny and Chris.

Let me just tell you, Gary looked so calm and relaxed. He looked incredibly happy. I am so happy for Lisa and Gary!

Mazol Tov!

Posted at 10:36 AM | Permalink | Category: Buddies , Religion | Comments (2)

My good buddy and mentor, Gary Price will be the one asking the question this Sunday and not answering them. This Sunday, Gary will be getting married. In the Jewish world, the man asks the woman if she will marry him, the woman does not ask the man. So Gary will be asking the questions this Sunday and not answering them (but trust me, he will be answering a lot of questions in the future).

Gary, who got engaged to Lisa back in August of last year is going to finally, finally get married!

For those who don't know Gary, a post at the Ask.com blog has a great short bio.

Regular Ask Blog readers may know Gary Price as Ask.com's Director of Online Information Resources. Reference and information junkies may know him as the founder of ResourceShelf and Docuticker. SEO acolytes may know him from his book The Invisible Web (co-authored with Chris Sherman), or his recent interview in Search Engine Watch. And he's known to librarians and educators worldwide as an expert on search and research techniques.

I am honored to be signing Lisa's Ketubah or wedding contract. What an honor!

I fly out tomorrow morning to Chicago and spend the "Shabbath" with friends of my wife in Chicago. Then Sunday morning, I trot over to the hall to celebrate with Gary and Lisa.

More about Jewish weddings here

Posted at 4:37 PM | Permalink | Category: Buddies | Comments (4)

I track the links pointing to my sites in for my Daily Link Finds write ups. And one link I found disturbed me a bit...

Technorati Widget Survey Enlightening by Jason Dowdell, someone I have known for a few years now, scared me..

He wrote:

I've learned a lot about Barry in recent months by simply watching his profile automatically update with the song he's currently listening to. That simple widget (if you will allow me to call it that) has given me insight into Barry's love of Southern and Classic Rock-N-Roll and it has come about from automation.

What! Stop watching me!

In fun, you could have learned the same by just reading this blog. ;-)

Jason, hope all is well!

Posted at 8:47 AM | Permalink | Category: Buddies , Just Weird | Comments (2)

Last night was the guys night out thing. Last time we had it, I wrote Blue Lips, Smurfs & Kosher Shushi Boats.

We went to the same place, a shushi place in Teaneck, NJ. I don't like shushi, which some of you may know.

On the menu, they had a vegi burger, so I decided to give it a try. Big mistake.

It came to me, and it looks pretty good, presentation wise...

taken on treo

But when you open the lid, it is pure green!

taken on treo

It tasted so bad. I don't like green things. I don't like vegetables. I am a chicken and potatoes type of guy. Give me chicken, give me potatoes and I am happy. I eat plenty of things but not shushi, not vegi burgers...

Some of the other guys tried to eat the so called burger and they failed. Even those who claim they enjoy vegi burgers said this one was incredibly bad.

I did eat the fries and the bread (which seemed whole wheatish). The fries were a bit extreme, very spicy but a bad spicy, not a good one.

At the end of the meal, I thought to myself. Did I just eat that? Oh no! Well, I didn't. I didn't finish the vegi burger, I didn't finish the fries, I didn't finish the salad on the plate. And for me to not finish the food on my plate --- well, that is a rare sight.

I am putting my foot down. Next guys night out, we are not doing shushi. If you want shushi, go with your wife on a couple night out. Leave the shushi to girls. We go to a steak and chicken place next time and eat like men!

I am still feeling the pain from that vegi burger...

Posted at 8:37 AM | Permalink | Category: Buddies | Comments (2)

I walked into the office one day and notice the handle of my MarketingSherpa Best Blogger 2006 mug, that I won, was broken off.

Pretty sad...

All the effort I put into blogging, to only have all that I have to show for it, break!

Just kidding.

One day, I will just glue it back on... If I remember.

I guess I will have to try hard and win the 2007 mug...

More on the awards we won at our awards page. Honestly, this is a huge reason why I blog. It seems people care and think we are good at it. So it keeps me personally going. Maybe it is sad that I need this, but it is nice to know people care.

Thanks for reading!

Posted at 2:06 PM | Permalink | Category: Blogging , Buddies | Comments (3)

So it looks like I am going to keep the PlayStation 3 I ordered a couple weeks ago. Honestly, I haven't played all that much, but I intend to play Saturday nights more often.

Sunday, I picked up Resistance: Fall of Man and I played a little. After getting accustomed to many of the controls (took several minutes) I really started to enjoy the game. The graphics are wow! The actions and controls really put you in the game, which makes it incredibly exciting. I am playing the game offline first, this way I can hopefully learn all the features and get even more accustomed to the controls. Then, once I beat the game, I plan on playing it online.

What about Madden? Well, that too. But for some reason, I have yet to figure out how to save a game mid-way through so that I can pick up later. Resistance is easy to save and pick up later, which is important, since I frequently have to stop playing throughout the game. But I hope to get a Madden league going with the guys and then possibly join an online league (but not yet, because that requires commitment).

In any event, Resistance rocks, I am glad I got it. Nothing like killing aliens to relieve stress from the week.

Posted at 10:16 AM | Permalink | Category: Buddies , Computers , Homey | Comments (13)

Last night I went out with "the guys" to a sushi place. First things first, I don't like sushi, but I went anyway and ate a noodle dish. The other eight guys ate sushi, they ordered up about $250 worth of it, and it mostly came in this pirate boat. Wish I would have taken a picture, but it looked like one of these. The boat sat in front of, let's say, a zimmer-man.

The guy on my left totally demolished the boat, I was very impressed. I was a bit upset, because I sat their like a girl on a diet, eating my noodles. I was unable to show the power I have over food and scarf down 15 hot dogs or ten hamburgers, in one sitting. So I am hoping to lobby for the next guys dinner night out be at a place with man food and not sushi (yes, I just did ding on sushi).

So how do the smurfs get involved? Good question. :)

When I met my wife later, she asked me my lips were blue. My wife asked if I kissed someone blue. I told her, there were no smurfs at the restaurant...

So you tell me, how does one's lips get blue after eating noodles at a sushi place?

Also, how funny is that picture above of Smurfs on a subway. :)

Posted at 9:36 AM | Permalink | Category: Buddies | Comments (5)

I am crazy, I know. I actually purchased a PlayStation 3 Saturday night and had to go to a different store to find a sold out Madden 2007.

The graphics are very nice, very. Thing is, I don't have much time to play.

I think I am going to set up a "Game Night" at my house for a few of my friends. Maybe a Saturday night. I joked with my wife that the wives can cook up food for us while we play.

I played a couple of games with my favorite team, the Jets. Wow, I am so bad. But I assume that will improve over time.

Will I keep this device? Totally depends on if I have time to play. I can return it within 30 days. I am not the type to return things. But this was expensive and if it just sits and collects dust, I think I will return it.

Posted at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Category: Buddies , Computers , Homey | Comments (6)

Remember when I asked and a ton of the SEO community asked for you to vote yes for my super proposal idea? And then vote again at AdWeek? Well, the guy behind the proposal idea is Rand Fishkin of SEOmoz.

He proposed to his long time girl friend last night. Pretty cool Rand!

This is the video proposal:

But if you want to see the 3 minute reaction, wow, check it out here.

If I would of shown my wife's reaction to my proposal, wow, well, I would have been in big trouble. Thanks for sharing, it is classic.

Rand and Geraldine - from Yisha and I, we wish you a happy and healthy long life together!

Behind the scenes, Joe Morin, did a ton of the work getting the word out on the Super Bowl idea. It did not come through, but it is just amazing how much publicity he got around the idea. That is the SEO community, Joe and a bunch of us - helped out as we could, to promote the idea. You can see a longer article on it at Seattle Pi.

Posted at 6:47 AM | Permalink | Category: Buddies , Buddies | Comments (0)

Remember when I asked and a ton of the SEO community asked for you to vote yes for my super proposal idea? And then vote again at AdWeek? Well, the guy behind the proposal idea is Rand Fishkin of SEOmoz.

He proposed to his long time girl friend last night. Pretty cool Rand!

This is the video proposal:

But if you want to see the 3 minute reaction, wow, check it out here.

If I would of shown my wife's reaction to my proposal, wow, well, I would have been in big trouble. Thanks for sharing, it is classic.

Rand and Geraldine - from Yisha and I, we wish you a happy and healthy long life together!

Behind the scenes, Joe Morin, did a ton of the work getting the word out on the Super Bowl idea. It did not come through, but it is just amazing how much publicity he got around the idea. That is the SEO community, Joe and a bunch of us - helped out as we could, to promote the idea. You can see a longer article on it at Seattle Pi.

Posted at 6:47 AM | Permalink | Category: Buddies , Buddies | Comments (0)

So, the other week, I told you that Ask.com added me as an RSS Smart Answer. I was hoping they add this blog, my personal blog, to the list of other blogs that came up for a search on barry schwartz. Today they did!

You know what that means? A search on cartoon barry blog brings up this blog as an RSS Smart Answer (I am told "cartoon barry" as a search will work next week).

Thanks Ask.com and Gary!

Posted at 10:54 AM | Permalink | Category: Buddies , SEO Tips | Comments (0)

The My Super Proposal guy is at it again, he wrote that AdWeek is running a poll on the right hand side of their site, named "OPINION POLL".

You can vote for "That marriage proposal guy," he is currently the last in the list for me.

But he is leading the list with 35% of all the votes. So let's give him even a bigger edge and vote for him.

Go to AdWeek and vote.

Posted at 8:10 AM | Permalink | Category: Buddies | Comments (0)

I had a dream last night, I don't remember it 100%, but I do remember the theme. Matt Cutts was leaving Google in my dream. It was weird. It seemed to be based in a camp setting, like a camp with wood lodging, but a camp for kids - but adults were there.

For some reason, Matt decided to cook up a storm, even though the camp had cooks. He made this weird egg thing, but a ton of it, enough to feed the camp - but only he ate it.

Then Matt went on a quick trip, I don't remember where.

But when he got back, he crossed out a big sign that had his plans on it, his future plans. It showed that Matt would be leaving Google.

I got serious issues: (1) Dreaming about search stuff. (2) Dreaming about an other man.

Why do I share this? Well, he did take an extended vacation and this time, unlike last time, Google's relevancy wasn't doomed. So does my What If Matt Cutts Left Google? article still apply?

Based on my dream - not as much.

Am I prophet? LOL - no. But how crazy would it be if Matt announced his retirement this month?

Posted at 7:03 AM | Permalink | Category: Buddies , SEO Tips | Comments (7)

The folks over at Play65.com (not sure if I can or should mention names) sent me a sweet backgammon set while I was away on my honeymoon. When I got back, it was waiting for me in my office. I used to play backgammon a lot when I spent a school year in Israel - I think Israeli's like the game. In any event, I printed out the game rules and I hope to play with my wife this weekend. I used to love this game. Here are pictures:

Thank you guys!

Posted at 9:26 AM | Permalink | Category: Buddies , SEO Tips , Travels | Comments (2)

This is me on my knees begging you! Well, I tried to put Cartoon Barry on his knees, but I am not that good at photoshop.

Search Engine Journal is having a contest where you can vote for your favorite blog and blogger over here.

You can vote for Search Engine Roundtable and also me, personally, Barry Schwartz.

I hope my contributions show in this vote, but who knows. I love blogging and about 20 posts per day, it shows, I hope.

More details at Search Engine Roundtable and please vote for me and SER over here.

Thank you all!

Posted at 5:42 PM | Permalink | Category: Buddies | Comments (5)

Over the years in the search industry, I have met a lot of people. One person I consider myself very lucky to know is Gary Price. As many of you know, Gary Price stepped down as News Editor at Search Engine Watch and I did my best to come in to fill a bit of that role (more on that here). Gary began working at at Ask.com to make search better and he is doing a great job.

In any event, I consider very lucky to have such a close relationship with Gary. It is a true honor to be able to talk to him on a daily basis. Exchange ideas, discuss search trends and talk personal stuff.

I was shocked to find out that Gary bought Yisha and myself a Chanukah gift. Yes, Gary is also Jewish, just not orthodox, but very traditional and knows a heck of a lot about orthodoxy. Gary got us a nice gift certificate to one of my favorite restaurants in NYC, the Prime Grill.

Gary - thank you for such a great gift and thanks for being a great friend!

Posted at 2:26 PM | Permalink | Category: Buddies | Comments (1)

Over the years I have accumulated hundreds and hundreds of instant messenger buddies. I have added new ones, deleted old ones, and so on. In fact, AIM used to (they still may) restrict the number of buddies you are allowed. So I sometimes have to delete old buddies to make room for new ones.

Today I looked over at my buddy list and saw it was scrolling. Now that is a bit crazy, since my screen is pretty big. I calculated the buddy list, it was about 1,100 pixels up and down. To make things worse, when I picked the style for my chat client, I picked one of the smallest fonts and styles you can pick. Why? I don't like having a scrolling list. But during mid-day times, my list still scrolls, it is about 80 active buddies that are needed to make the list scroll.

Honestly, I probably chat with about 15 people per day. So I am sure I can clean this list up to less than 40 people. But that, in itself, is a lot of work. Plus, you never know when you want to say hi to someone.

To annoy you, I included a full size image of the buddy list. Of course, I smugged out the names. It messed up the other entries on the front page, so I made it small, feel free to click on it to see the full size image.

I use Adium for my chat client, as an FYI.

Posted at 3:13 PM | Permalink | Category: Buddies | Comments (0)

Marcus of SEO FM created this awesome soccer jersey for me. On the front it says "SEO All Stars" and on the back it says "RustyBrick" with the number 13 and SEOFM.com.

Here is a picture:

Marcus is a very cool guy, just check out his personal blog at mediadonis.net and you will agree. Oh yes, he has worn lederhosen in the past and is proud of it!

Posted at 3:18 PM | Permalink | Category: Buddies | Comments (4)

So you all know I went to Yahoo! Monday and Tuesday. Heck, they gave me all this great Yahoo! shwag but it is important for me to tell you how wonderful they treated us. Let me break it down for you...

Pre-Trip:
- Ask if I am interested in going and what dates work best
- Follow up to make sure I am still interested
- Ask what is the best time for me to leave and come back
- They provide booking options from a few airports
- They provide a detailed schedule from point A to point B emailed several days prior to leaving

The Trip:
- I land in LAX
- Driver is waiting to take me to Yahoo!'s headquarters
- The receptionist is expecting me and calls over Yahoo! rep
- Yahoo! rep and a few other Yahoo! reps welcome me
- They take me to a conference room and other Yahoo! reps great me
- They give me great Yahoo! shwag
- They help me get Internet connection (stealing an ethernet port from an open computer)
- I have full access to Yahoo!'s network (ouch!)
- They bring in glatt kosher food for me at lunch
- Plenty of caffeine throughout the day
- They have a limo waiting for us to take us to the hotel
- The beautiful and comfortable Graciela Burbank hotel was outstanding
- They invite us to a sweet and expensive restaurant for dinner (i didn't go)
- After dinner, they went bowling
- I spent $30 for a 10oz Diet Coke and bag of pretzels
- I realized there was a super market next door
- Limo waiting for us in AM to take us back to Yahoo
- We are greeted again by receptionist
- Yahoo! feeds us again
- We go to new room and we get net access (sharing ethernet cables)
- Feed us again
- Give out more YPN invites
- Give us invites to a party coming up
- Driver waiting to take me back to LAX
- Flight on time

They treated us so well. I am not sure if I am allows to mention names here. But a huge thank you to all at Yahoo! You treated us all so well and we appreciate it. I cannot imagine how much time and effort you put into this. But it definitely shows.

I just feel bad walking around at Yahoo! all day with the Ask.com Timbuk2 bag. Towards the end of the meet, I got smart and placed my "Yahoo! Passport" entry card on top of the Ask.com logo. I still love you Ask, dont worry, just being respectful. :)

Thank you Yahoo!

Posted at 4:34 PM | Permalink | Category: Buddies , Just Funny , Travels | Comments (0)

Shoe, I pinged ya, it appears your site, ShoeMoney.com has been hacked! If you visit it, it looks like this now and then redirects you to http://www.kp89reunion.com/bilder/.

It prompts me to trust the security there, of course I didn't. I am not sure if there is any malware, etc. on that site, so if you have a PC, stay away for now.

Posted at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Category: Buddies | Comments (0)

Just got a wonderful gift from my friends at Ask.com, I believe Gary Price is to thank for this, so thank you Gary...

I got this wonderful Ask.com Water Bottle...

Which came in this neat Ask.com Tote Bag...

In the tote bag was an Ask.com T-Shirt and Ask.com Hat, which I am sporting here...

And the coolest Ask.com Schwag, is this Ask.com Messenger Bag...

Thank you Gary and Ask.com - Jim, did you have any part of this?

Update: Yes, I took the pictures with my web cam, iSight. Yes, I was too lazy to reverse them in Photoshop. No, Photobooth does not have a mirror image option. Yes, that is a Timbuk 2 Commute bag.

Posted at 2:09 PM | Permalink | Category: Buddies , Just Funny | Comments (3)

Let's play the where is Waldo Game... Andy Beal has posted that he is departing Fortune Interactive. Ok some history for you.

Andy first founded KeywordRankings, then KeywordRankings was bought by WebSourced, WebSourced changed its name to MarketSmart Interactive. Andy left WebSourced, many bad rumors buzzed through the SEM community. Then Andy started Fortune Interactive. And now, ten months later, he is leaving the company he co-founded.

Got that? Phew... Spinning here...

Oh, when he left WebSourced he wasn't allowed to keep his popular blog, the Search Engine Lowdown. But with this departure, he can keep Marketing Pilgrim.

Good luck Andy!

Posted at 2:00 PM | Permalink | Category: Buddies , Daily Grind , Rambling | Comments (0)

Gary Price has proposed to Lisa (leaving out last name for privacy purposes) last night, and she of course said yes. I have known Gary for years, he is a very smart individual who has a big heart. I met Lisa, when they came to my wedding in August. They go well together and I know that they will have a long and happy life together.

Yea, I know I blogged this three different times. Here, SER and SEW but I am just so happy for the both of them.

I can't wait for the wedding. Mazol Tov Gary & Lisa!

Search Better with Gary: http://www.ask.com/web?q=gary+price

Posted at 12:13 PM | Permalink | Category: Buddies | Comments (0)

Weekly, I help my buddy, ShoeMoney, out with his show Net Income. I do what he calls, The Money Minute, where I give a roundup of some of the most popular topics in the search community, all within 10 minutes.

The show begins at 6pm (EST) and runs for about an hour every Tuesday.

Well, why do I always leave right after I give the Money Minute?

I also play basketball Tuesday nights at 7:30PM (EST). So I need some time to get home from work, change, eat a quick bite and say hello to the wife - before getting to my ball game that lasts typically until after 10PM (EST).

Hope that answers the question some folks have been asking me via email and in the chat room.

Posted at 1:42 PM | Permalink | Category: Buddies , Daily Grind | Comments (0)

As a wedding present, a group of my friends, who I play basketball with, bought me the Brinkmann Pro Series 4400 Gas Grill. The thing is huge, it has four burners and then an extra one on the side for a pan. Here is a partial spec:

• Four cast iron 15,000 BTU burners
• 60,000 BTU main burner output
• 630 square inches or primary grilling area for a total of 810 square inches
• 12,000 BTU cast brass side burner
• Stainless steel and aluminum construction
• Porcelain coated cast iron cooking grates

I used it once, couldn't fill up the grill, it was so big. But when I invite the guys over for a BBQ, then I know I will use all the space on this puppy.

Thanks guys for the grill! It is really sweet!

Posted at 9:56 AM | Permalink | Category: Buddies | Comments (5)