Don’t Get Caught In The Wrong Neighbourhood
Don’t Get Caught In The Wrong Neighbourhood….
It seems Matt Cutts has once again had to be the designated bearer of bad news to the SEO and website community. The latest Google algorithm changes have left SEO companies and many of their clients in deep water without a paddle. Specifically, stricter restrictions on inbound links to websites, has meant that many of the links that were previously doing your website good, could now be harming your Google ranking.
Google frequently changes its algorithm of search to prevent people figuring it out and taking advantage of it ( at least for prolonged periods of time), this allows Google to stay ahead of the competition. Yet one can not help but wonder whether these algorithm changes are really producing more relevant results or whether they are simply a backhanded way of driving traffic to Adwords and AdSense. To this keen observer, it seems that Google’s tactics are contradictory. This can particularly be seen with the ‘Found Agency’ scenario, whereby, a former leader of search results on Google Australia for keywords such as ‘Australian SEO’, and ‘search engine optimization Australia’ is now, nowhere to be found for any relevant keywords that would drive significant traffic to the website. This is all due to the fore-mentioned algorithm changes that Google has kindly implemented, making the value of inbound links depreciate.
The answer, lies in the fact that the Found Agency was using a slightly ‘grayish’ area of SEO to generate inbound links to their website by sponsoring a website counter. As a result, the website had thousands of inbound quality and poor ranking links from all sorts of websites (such as porn, adult sites and irrelevant sites). Strictly speaking, this is indeed an unfair way of taking advantage of the Google algorithm. Yet, the website also had some valuable content and quality architecture which somewhat justified its position in the top rankings. Its current ranking within the 40’s is undignified of the value of the website. It seems that Google is punishing a quality site, and therefore not generating the most relevant results.
The Google PR and Link Currency:
Whilst, I am in no way condoning the actions of the ‘Found Agency’, and indeed, I condemn them, as they make other, honest SEO’s trying to make it in the business look bad, I can spare a sympathetic thought for them. It seems that the bad publicity as a result of this media publication, has and will continue to lead to the deterioration of the company’s credibility, and therefore, loss of income. This leads me on to my next point, and that is the insidious introduction of the ‘Google Currency’ (if I may patent this term on the 16/05/07 ), whereby, Google is taking advantage of its upstanding reputation for providing relevant results to make hard, cold cash, which hardly seems ‘evil’, but is also very morally ‘flexible’. Ultimately, I believe that Google changes its page rank to drive businesses to advertising with Adwords, where further inflated advertising prices (due to the self motivated auctions) help Google’s bottom line. Having said this, Google has also helped to create a whole new industry of employment world wide, and has motivated people to improve their website usability, functionality and content. Furthermore, Google’s link value policy has allowed people to make small fortunes online by selling PR backlinks. Some backlinks are worth over a $1000.00 US per month for a PR 8 or 9 backlink. So whoever said that “money [was] the root of all evil”, was obviously not referring to the Google currency.
But is it still worth search Google for relevant content, I ask?
Google’s impact..
As much as it pains me to say this, Google still provides the most relevant results. This, however, is not really a complement, given the rubbish that is sometimes retrieved for certain search queries. However, I have found that Google is not the most relevant search results provider for image searches. In fact, I believe that the new Live , image search provides much more relevant and aesthetically pleasing image results than Google or any other image search engine. The mouse-over effect provides a greater functionality and enjoyment for the user searching for images. The results are also obtained in an acceptable amount of time.
Overall, I feel that the most recent Google algorithm update has caused more harm than good, with many websites losing PR value and natural rankings. On the other hand, it is this ‘envelope pushing’ that has allowed Google to stay on top and remain the leader of online search and internet marketing. This has meant that search engines such as Live, have begun rising to the challenge on search relevance and have helped to provide a more enjoyable online experience. As a SEO, my main concern remain with my customers, and ultimately, I will be in favour of any search engine that will allow my customers to save internet marketing money, and improve their natural ranking in an honest and, most importantly viable manner.
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