Bob Sakayama

Bob Sakayama is known as the CEO of TNG/Earthling, Inc., daily leading his crew of merry internet experts into the fray of the existential technical obstacle course placed in front of every online enterprise by the nature of the technology. In Bob's world, seemingly unsolvable mysteries are opportunities for experimentation, with a chance of eventually getting paid back with the rewards of new knowledge and a problem solved. He runs lots of experiments.

Most people know Bob Sakayama as an expert in search, someone who can get high rankings in Google using technical knowledge related to how search engines and the internet function. He has been optimizing sites since before Google launched in 1998, when the most popular search engines were Lycos and AltaVista, really before seo became an industry. And as someone who experienced the gradual, but massive changes in the world of search he views Google as an unaccountable evil, capable of destroying a business or a person by virtue of what they publish or omit from the search results. The once honorable "do no evil" mantra has not been repeated lately. Google forces businesses to pay for search, either by having to pay for seo services, or pay for Google Ads, because their claim that a democratic search could not be influenced by money left the building long ago. Big players, global brands, giant websites all have an edge in Google's search results. He is often hired to counter these advantages of size and scale for the smaller competitor.

Others know him for his work in children's music. Bob created Childrens-Music.org as a showcase for performers and their recordings, including his own 5 cd contribution: Baby Growlers I-V. He also wrote and recorded imagination inspiring children's audio like the 4 episodes of The Growler Tapes, or the 27 episodes of Growler Radio available in libraries everywhere, on the app Tales2Go.com, and on growler.com. These listening adventure series feature sophisticated storytelling told by blending unusual voices, music, sounds, drama, and high end audio production values. All the stories are free to stream from Youtube as well as on growler.com

In the development world, he's known for TNG/Earthling's search enabled cms, Protocol, currently running on thousands of websites. Among the unique features is on the page editing - unlike most content management systems where edits are made on a completely separate page, Protocol enables the webmaster to view the published page and the edit tools in the same window. Search compliance automation prevents webmasters from making inadvertent errors that could damage ranks. Bob's team customizes Protocol installs to suit the business. The cms collects metrics on visits, search queries, ips, etc. as part of the default install. Protocol has been road tested under very rigorous conditions - used on 25,000 websites during the rollout of DotCoLaw's platform. All of TNG/E's sites run on some version of Protocol.

Media creatives in NYC may know him for his music, his recording studio, or the programs scored at TNG/Earthling's facility on the Upper West Side. His productions aired daily on the media powerhouses like ABC, CBS, NBC, WPIX, WNET, WABC Radio, as program themes and logos. Advertising agencies, film and tv producers, and broadcasters were his clients.

Bob is also known as the originator of the concept he calls SEO recourse, a way to use seo skills to empower victims of bad actors via the search results for their names and businesses. If an unscrupulous client stiffs you for work you did, unless a crime is committed, law enforcement can do nothing, and your only recourse is to file a civil case. Even if you win your civil case, it's very likely you'll get nothing, or what little you settled for was made even smaller with legal fees. Bob devised a way around this problem by using the power of exposure in Google's search results to incentivize payment. He has recovered hundreds of thousands of dollars inappropriately withheld or misappropriated by deadbeats, unscrupulous business owners, banks, etc. by optimizing truthful posts describing the unethical behavior and having those posts dominate the search results - 9 out of 10 on Google's page 1 - for that person's name or business. Public shaming can be a powerful ally when done legally. He tells the story of his 91 year old father in law, who had been advised to put his savings into a guaranteed certificate of deposit, one of the safest investments you can make, at his local Citizens Bank in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. But while making his request, the bank representative convinces him to buy into a front loaded fund instead of the CDs. A front loaded fund is one in which the fees are paid up front - so the bank immediately benefits by selling a riskier investment. The bank refused to change the investment or return the money when contacted by family members. Bob posted this story and ranked it #1 for searches for the bank branch. The bank voided the transaction and placed his money in CDs within the week.

To summarize: After graduating from Brown University with an Sc.B. in chemistry, he worked doing graduate research in fused salt chemistry at Rutgers before moving to New York City teaching math and physics at Collegiate School in NYC and composing/producing music. At 23, he was hired as the staff producer and director of artists and repertoire at Paramount Records where he recorded and evaluated talent for Gulf & Western's 12 record labels. He then formed TNG/Earthling, Inc., initially launched as a music publisher & production facility, but it simultaneously became a hub for other technical projects. Fast forward to the world of technology, the internet, search engines, software development, website development, and Bob's myriad experiments he uses to uncover the secrets that until revealed remain part of the meta mysteries that never end. This is Bob Sakayama's world.

Mary Wells
mary @ indiconews.com