Ten
Questions with: Cindy
McCaffrey
Next up is Cindy
McCaffrey, VP of Marketing
at Google. Cindy talks about
Google's marketing strategy,
Google's view on search engine
marketers and how Google
are looking at new ways to
connect to the community.
Thanks for
talking to us Cindy. Can you
tell us a bit about yourself?
What is your background and
how did you end up at Google?
I started
at Google in July 1999, when
the company was still quite
small and located in a tiny
office in downtown Palo Alto,
California. Prior to joining
the Google team I held communications
and marketing positions at
several technology companies
including Apple Computer,
The 3DO Company and E*Trade.
I started my career as a
daily newspaper reporter
and editor.
I started using
Google in early 1999 when it
was still in beta and I knew
then this search engine was
something different and special.
And I knew I had to join Google
after spending time with the
company's founders, Larry Page
and Sergey Brin and the rest
of the Google team. I knew
I would be extremely fortunate
to work alongside the talented
group Larry and Sergey had
assembled and I was thrilled
by the opportunity to help
launch a marketing effort at
the company.
Google
has always had great word
of mouth and been very effective
at generating grass roots
PR. What is the future direction
for the marketing of Google?
The future direction
is to continue enhancing our
search technology, and to provide
innovative features and services
that efficiently connect people
to the information they're
seeking. We'll continue to
invest in our technology development
and to hire the best talent
across all areas of the company.
We believe this will result
in a search experience that
will continue to surprise and
delight users around the world.
When people find something
exceptionally useful, they
tell others. Our focus on providing
users with the best search
experience on the web will
continue to be the driving
force behind the marketing
of Google.
The recent
news feature seems to have
been well received by the web
community. Are you pleased
with how it's going?
Absolutely. The
feedback we've received from
our users has been very positive.
We are always looking at ways
of connecting people with information
-- this is a key aspect of
the company's mission: to organize
the world's information, making
it universally accessible and
useful. We're very pleased
with the response from our
users.
Any criticism
of this service seemed to come
from the media itself. Some
were cynical about the ability
of an algorithm to provide
effective editorial judgment.
Can you talk a bit about this?
Google
News headlines are selected
by a computer algorithm,
based on many factors including
how often and on what sites
a story appears elsewhere
on the web. Google News actually
relies on the editorial judgment
of online news organizations
to determine which stories
are are included and their
prominence on the Google
News page. While the sources
of the news vary in perspective
and editorial approach, their
selection for inclusion is
done without regard to political
viewpoint or ideology. We
believe this approach makes
Google News a valuable source
for the most current news.
Again, this is all about
connecting people to information,
and in the case of Google
News, connecting people to
the most current of current
events and news from more
than 4,000 sources.
Googleguy
has been putting in some serious
hours at WMW. How important
is it for Google to liaise
closely with webmasters?
We have many
channels for maintaining frequent
and open communications with
the webmaster community. Of
course, there's Googleguy.
We also provide specific info
on our website for webmasters,
we attend industry events for
webmasters, and participate
in forums. We are always looking
for new ways to connect with
this community and are committed
to maintaining an open dialogue
with webmasters.
You've read
the Cluetrain Manifesto, I
take it ;)
.Yes. Many of
us have read Cluetrain Manifesto.
It's a brilliant book with
very compelling ideas about
marketing in the Internet Age.
The
Search Engine Marketing world
exists in a strange place
where the relationship between
the search engine and the
Search Engine Marketer is
not clearly defined. How
do feel about those who practice
Search Engine Marketing/Optimization?
Is there a way for both sides
to see eye to eye?
Google
goes to great lengths to
maintain a positive and open
channel of communication
with all of our users, including
the search engine marketing
community. In fact, Google
engineers are always soliciting
feedback from search engine
marketers, and others to
help us build a better search
service for the millions
of people who use Google
every day.
As long
as there are people who need
help promoting their sites
on the web there will be
a legitimate role for search
engine marketers. The bottom
line is we're all part of
the web and our intent is
to work with webmasters,
search engine marketers and
the like to ensure that the
quality of Google search
results continue to be the
best on the web.
There has
been a bit of a backlash recently
on some forums, and from some
individuals, about Google becoming
too powerful. This is probably
part of the inevitable growing
pains of any company that is
very successful, very quickly.
Is it something you're acutely
aware of? How do you deal with
rumblings of discontent?
By staying
focused on what we're here
to do -- provide our users
with the best search experience
on the web. [Check out 10
Things Google Has Found to
be True at http://www.google.com/corporate/today.html.]
Eric
Schmidt was recently quoted
as saying ""This
is what we do. Is what you
are doing consistent with that,
and does it change the world?" Is
that the over-riding view at
Google? A desire to change
the world?
Our desire
is to do things that matter,
to provide a meaningful service
that helps people in their
lives.
What
other initiatives are in
the pipeline? Any new products
coming up?
Look for us to
come up with new innovations
that continue to connect people
with all kinds of information
-- in many languages and in
all parts of the world. For
a fun peek at what we're working
on in our labs, go to the Google
Labs site at http://labs.google.com/.
<end>
Many thanks Cindy.
Another connection with the
webmaster community ;)
Coming
up, we'll be talking to Inktomi
and introduce
you to the "eccentric" world
of Mike Grehan.
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