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The media is buzzing today with the news of Google's first major foray into retail sales with the launch of Boutiques.com. Yet one simple but common mistake on their new website means it can't be found on any search engines - not even Google.
This new website, which appears to be extremely similar to existing fashion comparison sites such as ShopStyle.com, OSoYou.com and LynkU.com, claims to use sophisticated image technology to categorise product photos and help shoppers discover new styles based on other 'looks' they like.
No doubt like many of Google's other web properties this new site will receive disproportionately favourable promotion in their search engine, generating another major stream of income for Google and squeezing out competitors.
However, for those who are worried about Google encroaching on their turf, there are signs that Google is still human - after all, they have made a mistake that hundreds of developers and designers have made in the past, by leaving this line of code in the site's header:
<meta name='robots' content='noindex,nofollow'>
This single line of code means that despite the huge public relations push that has gone on over the last 3 days, a search for 'Boutiques.com' on Google, Yahoo or Bing will bring up no result.
This code is normally used when you wish to prevent search engines from reading pages on your website - often used when trialling new content or designs you don't want the public to see or, as in this case, if you are developing something new and you don't want anybody to find it before it is ready. It is like putting a giant 'Do Not Disturb' sign on your website's door, telling the search engines to get lost.
NoThanks to Bloggers?
No doubt soon some bright spark will get over their post launch-party hangover and remove the code, but I wonder if they will also remove the rel='nofollow' link from the profile pages of the fashion bloggers and celebrities who have helped build the site by creating fashion collections of their own.
Google's own advice on the 'nofollow' tag is to use it on links where you may not trust the page you are linking to or you do not wish to advocate the content that is found on the linking page, and it tells their engine to ignore any value that the link may otherwise pass to the website in question. By adding it to the credit links on the profile pages of bloggers who have helped build Boutiques.com Google is effectively removing any benefit they may get in the search engines from working with Google.
Given links are the lifeblood of the internet, and that one of the key ways a blogger would benefit from association with a high profile site such as Boutiques.com is the authority and exposure their own writing would gain, it does appear to be a funny way for Google to say 'Thanks'!
