When it comes to Google’s algorithms for their search engine there’s a definite air of secrecy. The elephant in the room includes Google’s newest announcement regarding their algorithm. Google Panda, an algorithm designed specifically to combat the growing spam concern online, will now be part of their “core algorithm”. Google insists that nothing will change and that Google Panda will not act as a means of changing SEO. That is good news, but it begs the question — what does change it?
More important, can someone improve their SEO results, or are they forever doomed to have Google pigeonhole them into select categories for searches? Aaron Friedman’s article tries to explain it all.
Google, The Proverbial Judge
The article discusses whether Google is in fact akin to that one co-worker who sits in the corner of the lunch room, shooting you shady looks over your lunch choices or how often you are late. While you may not like that co-worker, it could turn out that they are the one who helps decide if you get a promotion. Instead of reciprocating shady looks or ignoring the co-worker, try something else. The people who get promotions are the ones who figure out how to effectively “work” that co-worker to their advantage.
Keeping with the co-worker analogy, your co-worker runs like Google or Youtube. They are full of all the information and visual images about what you and other have done in recent months, recalling them with a simple search into their memory. The first thing that pops up will probably be that time you were really late coming back from your lunch break. You might have cleared the air with your boss, but that doesn’t stopped your co-worker from remembering it during an interview panel for a job promotion.
Google works the same way. Google remembers everything, especially the big moments that everyone else remembers too. The same issue exists — how do you stop the search engine or your co-worker from remembering that negative or irrelevant moment first? To take a page from any good publicist, you have to change the story and get in front of it.
Lawyers do the same thing. In the courtroom, every jury member will hear three witnesses state that the defendant was reputed for starting fights with people. Instead of acting like it is not going to happen, have a strategy in place to change the story. Get three witnesses to say he was practically a saint. Suddenly, people will doubt wether or not the defendant is violent.
In an SEO context, this means understanding how people search for you or your product. If your company is called Toad Enterprises, for instance, that sells jet skis and other aquatic equipment. Anytime someone searches “Toad,” it will likely not provide traffic to your business’ website. If someone searches Toad in Youtube, it will show results for little toads hopping about or a documentary about a near extinct toad species. These results will pop up especially if the searcher is a science teacher. The science teacher regularly searches and reviews animals. Google and other search engines remembers what the science teacher usually searches for. If the teacher is looking for a business that sells jet skis, Toad Enterprises will never show up on their radar.
Optimization is all about strategy. If you want people to come your website (and not by a happy mistake), then the best way to do that is change how you are marketing the website.
As the article points out, having quality content on a site is coveted, but the way site creators often use their content affects their SEO. Friedman eloquently states, “Content is about creating an impression that enhances the brand in the viewer’s mind.” That is huge. Content meant to fill up website space is great, but will it bring you more traffic?
Refering back to the lawyer analogy. If a lawyer stands up in court and spouts off information about how his client paid all his bills on time and never mistreated a cat, it is creating a form of content for the jury. It is all well and good, but does it matter? Any juror, regardless of education level, is going to look at that information, and say, “What does this do for me?” In truth, useless or irrelevant information will do nothing to help the lawyer show that his client was a peaceful man who would only resort to violence to defend himself.
Likewise, if you want traffic to your website, the content must be focused on the goal. If the goal is to attract more users to your blog about cooking on a budget, the content should have keywords about inexpensive cooking and the content should invite visitors to share on social media platforms.
Switching Your Strategy
Lawyers hire specialists who train them on how to pick the perfect jury. Those seeking job promotions hire coaches or read training books to train them on landing the job. Those who seek out external advice have a better chance of getting the whole picture in order to get the most out of whatever endeavor they are seeking to conquer.
SEO is the same. Professional help not only helps you achieve your goals, but also exceed them. An SEO professional will know what to look for when evaluating your situation. Internet Marketing Team is a group made up of those very same trained professionals. By zeroing in on your current SEO strategy, we will make your brand grow.
If you need of a serious evaluation of your SEO strategy or have a new website that needs an overhaul, contact Phoenix SEO services to hear more information about how we can help.
