SEO is always changing… once we figure it out, they throw the smoke bomb.
SEO is a constantly moving target and the search engines continually change their ranking formulas so that “overly optimized” websites will not hold an unfair ranking advantage
over less optimized ones. In addition, since Google is now a publicly traded company, it is in their best financial interest to make organic SEO as difficult as possible in order to push people to using their pay per click (Adwords) service.
Recently, Google updated it’s algorithm (the Penguin update) and is now rewarding sites which have higher and more visitor interactivity. For example, a website should and/or could have a blog, message bulletin board, integrated social media plugins, etc… These components give the website visitor a place to leave comments, ‘like’ or ‘dislike’ something and post links. When you think about, this update actually helps to make a website better, as the site owner, much like a store owner, continually must now think of ways to make the site more appealing, interesting and interactive.
How does Google know what is going on with my site?
Over the last few years the development of the free Google Analytics and Google Chrome browser, the giant search engine know knows what is going on within your website– and your browsing preferences. So basically, they are getting it from both sides. Even though Google Chrome has a limited share of the browser market, a simple statistical analysis is needed to accurately determine what the rest of the Internet is doing with pinpoint accuracy.
Where is SEO headed?
Overly optimized websites with heavy keyword rich content and large number of pages are being overlooked in favor of smaller, higher quality ones with increased user activity. Inbound links (high quality) still play a major role in boosting the natural rankings, but they need to integrate into an overall strategy of internal/on site content, external/off site content, link building and website interactivity via blogs and message boards.
About the Author: Rhett DeMille, the owner of PalmettoSoft, is a leading search engine optimization consultant located in the Charlotte NC and Charleston SC areas.
Related Article:
Panda and Penguin Algorithm Updates– How Google Did it.
