The new face of search engine optimization

So we've all been through numerous updates in search algorithms this year and the fact remains that attempting to predict what and how to adjust your website to the changes for better rankings is almost futile. A Google quality rater's guide was leaked out a few weeks ago and according to this document quality, perceived in terms of information and value to the general public, is what will determine how high a website will rank.

In terms of search engines, there are thousands of every type of business on the internet. So to have a website about a business isn't enough. For example, if you have a website about lawn mowers and you talk about what kind you sell and you've got repair services etc. That's no different then the next guy who sells lawn mowers. The "quality" of the two is exactly the same so there is no way that one will rank above the other.

There are several factors that influence rank like number of legitimate incoming links and page title, but everyone can meet the search engine expectations along those lines. No difference between competitors again.

In the new age of "quality" it is important to have unique, informative content. This is clearly outlined in the Google quality raters guide.

How do you go about getting unique content for your website? First -- don't buy it! If you pay a service to randomly put content on your website then you'll end up with poorly written, highly duplicated articles that will do nothing but lower your page rank or have you booted off the search engine altogether. The way ensure you've got unique content is to write it yourself or help someone write it for you (give them the topic, have them write something up, you review for accuracy and add any personal thoughts).

What to write about? For our example we could have information like "how to maintain a lawn mower", "simple service repairs", and "buying the right replacement blades." For a windshield repair shop articles might include, "when is a chip just a chip," "cold weather and cracks," and "is driving with a cracked windshield illegal?" The bonus with all this content is that invariably you will be including key phrases that people will likely use to find your website.

If you are having a hard time coming up with unique content for your website do some research about what other companies feature on their sites and use the idea to kick off your own take on the subject. Caution: do not duplicate or plagiarize any part of someone else's content -- it will result in penalizing your own site and / or possible lawsuit for copyright infringement.

So get your thinking cap on, show the world how much you know about your business and think like an expert. Sharing information will not only help with search rankings, it will also bring you one step closer to doing business with your visitors.

Want 3 article topics for your website? Email me with the subject "Give me 3" and I'll reply with 3 ideas for you :) tj [at] myideagirl [dot] com

Search Engines, Social Media - Time to Adapt

Times are certainly changing when it comes to

search engine optimization. The days of simple

SEO are most definitely gone. It used to be that you just put the right elements in the right places on a web page and Google gave your site due attention and fairly good rankings for a variety of terms. As Google has continued on their quest to serve up the most relevant information the ability for webmasters to pinpoint the magic formula for high rankings is a

moving target at best.

Add to that the fact that Google is being investigated for violation of Anti-Trust Laws. The hearing brought out some very important points like Google places their listings above the legitimate organic listings and people are unaware that the first few listings are not organic. This also results in the first organic listings being pushed down the page, even below the fold and onto the second page of search. It's a pretty common fact that only about 20% of people will search past the first page so this has affected many companies by greatly reducing traffic from the search engine giant.

At the Anti-Trust hearing, Google Chairman, Eric Schmidt could not give a solid answer as to why they were presenting search results in this way, his statement, ""We run the company for the benefit of consumers and frankly not for the other websites." But aren't the businesses that own websites also their customer? His lack of clear answers didn't satisfy members of the Senat committee.

So let's talk about Panda. Is this Google's attempt to purify the search results or is it the way Google decides for you what you want to see in the results? Around the office we've noticed several things, most important of which is the fact that Google's results seem to be less intuitive than they would like to believe. We've even gone to the point of changing search engines to get a better search engine result page. Clients have noticed that their listings are quicker to appear in higher positions on Bing than on Google.

None the less, Google is trying to produce results based on actual web content, not having the SEO elements in all the right places. So as always, strong original content is king but it's more than just that. You've got to totally rethink your online strategy because rewriting your title tags and descriptions isn't going to make the difference you need to stay ahead of the competition.

If you haven't already done so, you must get involved with social media. The results of social media on our client sites puts them in the top 5 sources of web traffic. Talk to your customers and have them give reviews on your website. Keep in contact with customers through social media, email and reaching out to them personally.

Also, spread your SEO efforts. Bing has a pretty good search engine and their results are certainly different than Google. Optimizing for Bing may give you a better reach when you have both search engines working for you.

What used to work in the past is not guaranteed to work in the present or the forceable future. It's time to adapt or fade away.