Are Rankings A Panacea?
For the longest time now just about anyone you talked to in SEO circles would sing the praises of the No. 1 position in search results. But have you noticed that most PPC specialists – at least the ones who are worth their weight in salt – prefer to get their clients No. 2, 3, or 4 positions in the rankings? Why is that?
The truth is, No. 1 positions are the most clicked-on positions. That’s true for PPC and organic search listings. But those are not the most profitable positions.
The most profitable positions are the ones just below the No. 1 position. Why is that?
What most people don’t realize is that most searchers will click on that No. 1 position, but if it isn’t what they were looking for, then they hit the Back button and click on another search result. SEOs know this. Clients don’t necessarily know this. So everyone is scrambling to get that No. 1 position.
There’s nothing wrong with being No. 1. But you should be seeking to be No. 1 for the right search queries. What questions does your website answer? Those are the key terms you should seek No. 1 rankings for.
SEO results fluctuate. But they are also much more personal. Google now provides videos, images, and personalized results based on who your Google+ friends are your past search history. Your search results are not my search results. That makes the No. 1 position just about unattainable. Trying to get there is an exercise in absurdity.
The job for search engine marketers in today’s search climate is to produce the best content and promote it in the best places. Rankings won’t cure all your ills.
Google Cares About Sentiment?
In the old days of SEO, all a marketer had to care about was whether or not he was building good content and building good links. If you wrote great content for your website using the right keyword mix with content that helped your audience, built links from good domains and with the right anchor text, and didn’t do anything the search engines didn’t like, then there was a good chance you’d rank well for the keywords you targeted. Those days are going away – fast.
SEOMoz has a great post on how Google looks at sentiment and how that affects SEO at the local level. You’ll be amazed at the technology the search engines now have.
Using something called stylometry, Google can determine whether your link from a third-party website is a positive endorsement, a negative endorsement, or neutral. And I find that amazing. It could affect your rankings.
Get enough bloggers to link to your website using negative references and you could see your search engine rankings plummet. On the other hand, get enough rave reviews and you could rise to the top. It’s pretty easy to imagine what you need to do to improve your rankings then, huh?
No, I don’t mean buy positive endorsements. I mean provide great customer service. Your reputation is more than just a few paid-for links. It’s how you do business.
Beware The Human Reviewer
In the world of search engine optimization, the robot can be good to you or it can diss you something fierce. The human reviewer, however, is more likely to kick you square in the big one. And it could hurt.
As Jennifer Ledbetter explains, you’ll only be reviewed by human eyeballs when you hit a respectable ranking on Google.
What that really means is you did a spectacular job with your SEO. Now you have to convince the human reviewer you deserve the spot you’ve worked so hard for. How do you do that?
The first thing you should keep in mind is that searchers are doing the same thing. The difference is that the searcher can’t ruin your day by knocking you down to page 10. But you know they’d like to. If only they could.
If you don’t want that big drop to happen, then you need to learn what those human reviewers are looking for. One thing that could make you fall in the rankings is obvious spam. Just don’t do it. You’ll pay for it.
What they are really looking for, however, is something positive. Is your page relevant for a search query? If so, you likely have nothing to fear.
Will Google +1 = Higher Rankings?
Google is introducing its +1 button today. Hooray!
According to the WebProNews article, Google is saying that +1 votes will be used to determine search rankings. But will anyone use it?
I think this is an open-ended question, and will likely remain so for a while. Google has introduced many new developments that have gone nowhere. Need a list? Here are a few:
- Google Wave
- SideWiki
- Social Search
- Shared Spaces
These are just a few of Google’s attempts at social media, attempts that have gone nowhere and that are still lingering in the air. This time, Google is right up front that the effort is going to be used to help determine search rankings. That’s like an open invitation to become a spammer.
Think about it. Any time Google announces that a certain action is being used to determine search engine rankings, then everyone gets on the bandwagon. Remember link building? Or social bookmarking? Yep, the Google +1 button will likely become the next big SEO factor. All the SEO blogs will be talking about it – but they’ll be the only ones.
That may be what Google is hoping for. Call it the Google +1 trickle down theory. SEOs will talk about how wonderful the tool is for SEO. Their blog readers will take it as gospel and begin to use it themselves hoping to push their websites up in the rankings. When the rest of the Web sees the +1 button being used so much, they’ll begin to +1 sites they like and we’ll all be in search heaven.
But will it work like that? Only time will tell. Still, it’s a novel idea. I just hope it goes somewhere.
Why Web Design Is More Than Important
Your first impression is a big deal. And you only get a chance to make one. That’s why your web design has to be top notch, not just good.
There are three types of web design companies:
- Search engine optimizers who also do web design
- Companies that only do web design
- Companies that design killer websites that are SEOd well
While web design is important, it’s not so important that you should forget about search engine marketing. In fact, a good web design actually takes into consideration the latest SEO techniques and tactics with search engine rankings in mind.
In truth, it’s a balancing act. You balance a beautiful image with great rankings. When you play this balancing act well, it will show in increased traffic to your website and your web pages ranking for the important content you want to rank for. It’s a two-tiered system where both parts are equal.
Web design firms that only do web design can make your site look good, but they won’t get you ranked. You’ll end up having to hire an SEO company to make it rank, and sometimes your SEO company has to make changes to the website.
If you hire an SEO to do web design, then you run the risk of a site that doesn’t leave a good impression. There’s no reason you can’t have both good SEO and awesome web design.
Google Webmaster Tools Just Made For SEO
If you are a do-it-yourself website owner, then one tool that should be in your SEO toolbox is Google’s Webmaster Tools. Inside this array of tools you’ll find handy features such as setting a region for your website, submitting sitemaps, and even checking how many pages have been indexed through your sitemaps.
Google’s Webmaster Tools goes much further than that, especially with the introduction of new statistics available to webmasters. You are able to review how often your pages appear in search results, what keywords or key phrases are used and how often your search listing gets clicked. You are also able to see exactly where your pages rank in search results with the above data broken down for each search placement.
It can be a real eye opener to see one of your pages rank at number one for a search term and receive 1000 impressions yet only have a 2%-3% click-through while that same page may have 750 impressions and have a 10%-15% click-through – and you thought that getting that number one placement was all important.
You can see over time whether or not your search rankings are climbing, and whether or not your click-through rates are improving. If you have a low click-through rate, try rewriting your meta descriptions, then see if there is any improvement.
What makes Google’s Webmaster Tools even more attractive is that it is free. You will need to verify your website, but that too may play a small role in the overall SEO equation. Some people believe Google gives verified sites a small tick as part of it’s search algorithm. Whether it does or not is open to debate, but whether these tools are handy is not – I can assure you they are.
Are Your Competitors Really That Far Ahead?
It can be frustrating managing a business with an online presence. You have a good website, easy navigation, top quality content, and your products and services more than competitive – yet you struggle to gain that front page listing in search results. Before throwing the towel in and looking at alternatives, a little competitive intelligence may alter the picture completely.
The factors that are going in to determining search rankings are always in flux. Some factors only need time, for example, inbound links. It is also important to understand that search rankings are so flexible that two different people entering the same search may see different results. Google is one search engine that also takes into account the surfing/searching history of the user.
Competitive intelligence can give you a snapshot of where your competitors are today. You can use this data to plot their progress over time compared to yours. Often, you will find that your competitors are only progressing slowly, if at all, while you are moving ahead at a faster rate.
This leaves you with two options, to either work a little harder at improving those ranking factors, or to let time deliver the fruit of your previous efforts. Competitive intelligence is never a one off factor. By continuously monitoring your competitors, you will gain a real insight into how far they really are ahead of you. A word to the wise, however: Don’t forget to look behind at those who may be trying to sneak their way past you. Remember, your competitors are not just those who appear in front of you; there are just as many following on behind you.
Is It Okay To Break Google’s Rules?
Todd Mintz on Search Engine Journal has an interesting post on whether or not it’s okay to break Google’s rules when it comes to optimizing your website for search. I am sure that over time it will cause a little stir in the search industry, especially with his conclusion advocating this practice. In his words:
Because Google’s guidelines do not have the force of law, how you manage your site and its tactics doesn’t involve ethical decisions (so long as you aren’t violating any laws) but business decisions. You should employ any and all tactics that can and will increase your revenue irrespective of Google’s guidelines.
To a certain extent, he is right. It is your business, and Google’s rules are not laws that you ‘must’ abide by. If a certain practice is good for your business, even though Google frowns on it, then it probably makes good sense to proceed with it. However, you do have to balance the possible effects of a Google search penalty – how much harm will that do to your business?
There is no doubt that Google is inconsistent when it comes to sites breaking the rules. What is dangerous about Google’s inconsistency is the way they apply these rules. Every now and then Google goes on a spree penalizing sites left, right and center for a particular group of breaches. Twelve months or two years later, they pick another group of rules to target. The last big target was paid links, and that caused a real storm.
We are probably overdue for Google to target a different set of rules to ensure they are being followed. By breaking those rules, you could be setting yourself up for a future penalty. Ultimately, it’s your business and your website. If you want to bend, twist, or even outright break some of Google’s rules, that’s your decision. Do your research first to see if other sites are also freely bending or breaking those rules. Better yet, do everything possible within the guidelines, then only bend the rules if you really need to.
Is It Time To Target Your Search Engine Optimization
For many years the name of the search engine optimization game has been to target Google. The more articles you read the more often you will come across references to Google, Matt Cutts or Webmaster Tools. Every now and then, Yahoo! or Bing creeps into the conversation.
The theory has been that Google gets the majority of traffic so that is the place to rank. It has been a reasonable theory too and most sites find that if they get it right for Google, they are close to getting it right for the others.
Yahoo! recently announced a new search design and at the same time made a little noise about targeting people search. A search for a person will produce results which include profiles Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and FriendFeed. Their aim, to be number one for people search.
It was not so long ago that reports indicated that Bing was doing well in the travel, retail and finance sectors when it came to searches.
If the search engines are going to target certain niches, perhaps the time has come to reassess our search engine optimization strategies. If your site is based on travel, retail or finance, it may be time to focus your search engine optimization strategies on areas that will help you rank well on Bing.
Many will argue that you can optimize for all three search engines, and you can. However, we still bring the focus back to Google – perhaps it is time to change that.