Digital Biographer™

How to get to Page 1 on Google in 24 hours - and get paid for it. July 27, 2008

Posted by David Petherick in : 2.0, authors, commerce, knol, search marketing, share, social media ,

The Google Knol I created on the 24th of July entitled ‘How to Read the Russian Alphabet in 75 Minutes‘ was already appearing on Page 1 of a Google Search for “read russian” with 12,300,000 results following, just a day later.

I have updated the title within Knol from the one showing in the Google index, but that’s still a pretty impressive result for content that I created and put online only the day before.

And Google say they’ll pay me from any adsense revenue the page generates. This is part of the reason why I was interested in Google Knol from December last year when it was first announced. We’ll see how it develops, but it looks like a fairly effective way to share your knowledge, get good search positions, and also perhaps make some money. Until someone pinches your content… (to be fair, Google allow content to have three copyright models - the two popular Creative Commons licence types, and one of ‘All rights reserved’.

You may be interested to joing a Ning-powered discussion group that I created when first hearing about Google Knol, and which is now beginning to gain members and become active: Knol Roll on Google Knol .

View my page on Knol Roll

PS: You may also want to see Search Success for details of getting yourself to Page 1 on Google.

Google Knol arrives: Fountain of Knowledge, or Spurious Source? July 25, 2008

Posted by David Petherick in : authors, commerce, googlicious, knol, search marketing, share ,

I first wrote about Google Knol when the topic was first aired in December 2007 on Google’s Blog, in my article “Knol is on a Roll: Google’s new economy for online authors?“.

A knol is a term Google had created for a ‘unit of knowledge’ and the announcement created a great deal of interest and speculation, as much for the lack of details as for the excitement at what it might evolve into. Many commentators called it ‘Google’s Wikipedia killer’ but as I said then, that was simply a lazy and incorrect generalisation - but there was little very specific information. And today, many commentators are again likening Knol to Wikipedia - see related links below.

Today, Google has announced its public beta of Google Knol, defining a knol as “Knols are authoritative articles about specific topics, written by people who know about those subjects.” So from today, you can start to add your knol, or knowledge. This is a beta version, so of course there are rough edges, and Google will be looking to get feedback on many aspects and issues. (I for one found that I could not log at all in using Firefox on my Mac, but have had no problems with Camino or Safari.)

Some positive features are what Google calls ‘moderated collaboration.’ “Any reader can make suggested edits to a knol which the author may then choose to accept, reject, or modify before these contributions become visible to the public.” Nice.

Google, why I can’t verify my identity?

However, one issue that seems a very basic oversight is that ‘Name Verification’ (so you can verify that you, as an author, are who you say you are) is only available for those based in the USA. The systems available for those Knol authors in the USA are via Phone or Credit Card checks. Pardon me for pointing out the obvious, but there are telephone directories and credit cards used all over the world, Google. The raised credibility that Google cites arising from verifying yourself is therefore, at present, reserved exclusively for you only if you live in the USA.

So if you live anywhere outside the USA, do not send to know for whom Google knols, it does not knol for thee. (Apologies for that play on words to John Donne)

This is not the sort of even-handed approach you’d expect from a global player like Google - and the fact that there is no mention of OpenID or even Google’s own identity systems like Google Checkout or Adsense strikes me as a missed opportunity, even for a beta-stage development. The fact that one can share revenue with Google by electing whether or not to show Google Adsense Adverts on one’s Knol content makes this a very strange omission, and I fear, one that may open Knol up to a lot of spam entries or gaming.

I managed to log in and add a Knol to Google this morning entitled ‘How to read Russian in 75 Minutes‘ (I’ve proved that this works in a 75-minute lecture in 2005, by the way) but at present, my Knol on Reading Russian only appears in a search when I am logged in with a Google login (the login I use for Gmail, Google Reader etc), but it the knol is reachable with a link, whether or not I am logged in.

However, the range of ‘Featured Knols’ as samples that appeared on my screen today had me speechless - they covered Diabetes, Lung Cancer, Toilet Clogs and Tooth pain. Wow. Maybe that’s Google’s way of encouraging you to add better content - or at least, to add more cheerful and uplifting content!

UPDATE: The Google Knol I created yesterday entitled ‘How to Read the Russian Alphabet in 75 Minutes‘ is on Page 1 of a Google Search for “read russian” with 12,300,000 results following. I have updated the title from the one showing in the Google index, but that’s still pretty impressive.

Knol is on a Roll: Google’s new economy for online authors? December 15, 2007

Posted by David Petherick in : Uncategorized, authors, commerce, googlicious, knol, search marketing, social media ,

Google. They keep doing this. Coming up with a large-impact, hard-to-predict, and rare events beyond the realm of normal expectations…

So, here is the next Black Swan from Google:- a highly improbable event that is unpredictable, will have massive impact, and which, after it has happened, we’ll all pretend we could have seen it coming. This is Google Knol - encouraging people to contribute knowledge.

Many mainstream media observers see this as Google’s a direct challenge to Wikipedia - a vandal-proof version - but this is a very blinkered viewpoint, and rather too easy for hack journalists to regurgitate: Google launches Wikipedia rival. I’m surprised the ‘For whom Google knols…‘ headline has not been coined yet. Oops, it just has been.

No, too simplistic. Knol is, and it is not a Wikipedia rival, because it is something different - it is, typically for Google, a whole new ball game. Authors will share revenue from the Ads that surround their content - but what content is found is likely to be that which is most popular, with content also measured by reader review. Unlike a Wiki, where the author is invisible (and often multiple) in a Knol, the identity of the author, is central to the authority of the content, with the author’s affiliation being cited in an early Google mockup.

From The Official Google Blog: Encouraging people to contribute knowledge

“The key idea behind the knol project is to highlight authors. Books have authors’ names right on the cover, news articles have bylines, scientific articles always have authors — but somehow the web evolved without a strong standard to keep authors names highlighted. We believe that knowing who wrote what will significantly help users make better use of web content. At the heart, a knol is just a web page; we use the word “knol” as the name of the project and as an instance of an article interchangeably. It is well-organized, nicely presented, and has a distinct look and feel, but it is still just a web page. Google will provide easy-to-use tools for writing, editing, and so on, and it will provide free hosting of the content. Writers only need to write; we’ll do the rest.

A knol on a particular topic is meant to be the first thing someone who searches for this topic for the first time will want to read. The goal is for knols to cover all topics, from scientific concepts, to medical information, from geographical and historical, to entertainment, from product information, to how-to-fix-it instructions. Google will not serve as an editor in any way, and will not bless any content. All editorial responsibilities and control will rest with the authors. We hope that knols will include the opinions and points of view of the authors who will put their reputation on the line. Anyone will be free to write. For many topics, there will likely be competing knols on the same subject. Competition of ideas is a good thing.”

The news came out on the Google Blog on the 13th Of December, with no major media announcement or fanfare. It just appeared, but it immediately was caught by my antennae, and by that of several commentators of note. Today, the mainstream media are picking this up, and there is a definite buzz in the blogosphere.

I think this is a very significant development, and I have set up a Ning Social Network to discuss Knol at http://knolroll.com - just don’t ask me where it will lead - but do join the network, and let’s find out for whom the bell knols…