layout: post title: Google is a deaf user that loves reading metadata created: 1101251065 categories:

• Personal Publishing
• Web Development
• Search Engine Voodoo

Going through my aggregator, I saw Marc crying out for any sort of structured information, any sort of meta-data:

What's your excuse why you'd flow structured data through RSS 2.0 and lose it's structure? I gotta understand why that is a good thing? Marc's Voice: But WAIT! I am NOT an rdf Zealot

And then I read that Google is deaf:

What if a deaf user sees a topic that interests him or her, and wants to know what these subject-matter experts have to say about it? Should he or she go without simply because the moderator thinks it would disrupt the natural feel found in the panel’s voices? bestkungfu: Google is a deaf user

Too true. The best way to design sites is to think of search engines as one of your primary visitors. A visitor that can't see graphics, can't hear podcasts, and doesn't know what to do with a bunch of Javascript.

And as Marc says, let's not get mired down in format wars, or stop implementing and innovating because of format wars. Agree on open standards and APIs, stick more data in there, and wait for "cool stuff" to happen.