In Designing Search, Greg Nudelman explains that one of the most overlooked places to help users who can’t find information is the page that appears when no search results are found. Greg writes, After the system indicates that the no search results condition occurred, it must now help the customer recover. Whenever you display a no search results page, always provide a helpful way forward … more »

In my last post, I argued that making content findable in search engines requires you to understand how your search engine algorithm ranks and sorts the content it indexes. Not all search engines work the same. Some rank content through links, others by date, others include index keywords, and so on. You have to be familiar with the search algorithm so that you can maximize … more »

Google Custom Search can dramatically improve the search results for your WordPress blog or any other site. WordPress is a great blogging platform, no doubt about it. But the built-in search feature is terrible. As I’ve searched for keywords from past posts to respond to reader questions, I would continually come up empty-handed. As a solution, I incorporated Google Custom Search, which is a free … more »

Ever wondered what the business model is behind Goog 411 (free directory service)? It’s “a test bed for a voice-driven search engine for mobile phones.”

With all the talk about latest trends and avoiding extinction as communicators, and integrating web 2.0 and wikis, blogs, podcasts, and other interactive social media into help, it’s a good time to look at how Google — practically the leader of the web — does help. Last week Google released Google Voice, a service that allows you to integrate all your phones into one number … more »

Google Voice. The help content for Google Voice is pretty cool — just a list of basic tasks (about 20) with short instructional video clips. I don’t know why the scripts to the video tutorials aren’t made available, but it’s a good example of how to do video tutorials for help content. Usually Google knows what it’s doing, too.

Quick Tips for Google Reader Power Users.

Ash Buckles presented on “SEO tips for Your Blog” at Wordcamp Utah. Here are my notes from Ash’s presentation. Strategy and Purpose Ash says, You need a strategy with search engine optimization (SEO); otherwise you’re just pinging content all over the place. Everyone has an agenda, a strategy, or a reason – or should. If you don’t have a reason, you should shut your blog … more »

Zoho: The Little Engine That Could (Take on Both Microsoft and Google) – ReadWriteWeb. Hat tip: Thanks to Sarah O’Keefe for pointing out this article.

Technical Writing at Google | Shanghai Tech Writer.

The Google Chrome comic – why it didn’t work

In Publishing 2.0, Tim O’Reilly says Web 2.0 is “any network effect that makes a system better the more people use it.” Web 2.0 isn’t just user-generated content; it’s harnessing the collective intelligence of your users to make your system better. O’Reilly’s definition is intriguing because it’s the opposite of the natural law of use. Your car doesn’t get better the more you use it. … more »

I attended my first WordPress meetup yesterday. Here’s a 20-second video that Brad Baldwin of Rocky Mountain Voices took at the event. My wife and I appear at the very end, engaged in conversation with a couple of seasoned bloggers who make their living from a quotations page that gets 200,000 hits a day. (By the way, I found this video on Janet Meiners’ site … more »

In this three-minute STC Atlanta podcast, Judy Glick Smith says she’s tired of trying to convince sales people of the value of documentation. She says she’s “tired of fighting the good fight.” No doubt as a technical writer you’ve heard the phrase, “No one reads the help anyway.” They let out a small chuckle to indicate that they’re only kidding, although deep down they’re being … more »

In this iinnovate podcast, Marissa Mayer — Google VP of Search Products and User Experience — talks about the innovation and methodology behind some of Google’s products. What’s most interesting is the story behind Gmail, specifically how Marissa almost killed its ad integration. Apparently one of the coders — despite the request from Marissa to stop trying to integrate ads — stayed up all night … more »