In
the next few weeks Google and their much vaunted search engine are changing and
you will want to be ready – or be left behind. They are making serious change
to the base search algorithm that drives results for search queries and even
though you may not remember – or for that matter you may have never even known -
how to write an algorithm, you better know how to adjust to those changes or
your business could face some seriously bad search marketing results.
According to
Kenneth Wisnefski, online marketing expert, founder and CEO of WebiMax, a
search engine optimization firm “Companies that are looking at this news and
not being reactive are going to see steep declines in traffic. Google’s change
could push high-ranking sites down and reshuffle the index for sites that no
longer meet their criteria.”
This
change is expected to be the most substantial one in the history of Google
search. But the question remains, how to best prepare for the new algorithm.
The answer is pretty straightforward and there is no algebra required,
according to Wisnefski. In a recent interview with Portfolio.com he laid out three simple ideas.
Step 1: Break from the old keyword mentality, embrace synonyms
Since Google is changing their dependency on keyword ranking to include comparable “like” words, webmasters should evaluate their website copy and brand message. Webmasters can now use similar words in context, pulling dependency away from using the same keyword throughout the page.
Step
2: Build up your FAQ page
Google
admits they will place more relevance on definitions and direct answers. This
move is an attempt to return to the end user highly authoritative responses to
questions they are searching for. Businesses can leverage this by increasing
their FAQ or “Ask an Expert” page on their website by answering direct
questions related to their products, services, company, and industry. Doing
this important step will help their page get indexed for a wide variety of
keywords.
Step
3: Don’t sell, educate
Treat
your website as much as an opportunity to educate users as an opportunity to
sell your product. If you sell seeds for flowers, educate the reader about how
to pick the best seeds for your garden, don’t just offer them tulips.
Wisnefski
also said that the changes Google are implementing are intended to make the
algorithm more human based and provide more “human relevance” in results. Right
now there is such a thing as a bad Google search. Moving important
words later in the query sequence and the results will change, or if you use a
less popular synonym and the “better” result may not even come up, or ask a
direct question and you’re likely to end up at WikiAnswers or Ask.com, and end
up sifting through dozens "best guess" answers from amatures.
“Google
is really looking to standardize search outcomes regardless of the semantic
choices of the user,” he said. “It won’t be about the term as much as the
terminology.”
In
theory, according to Wisnefki, with the new algorithm, the heart of the
searcher's interest will more readily and universally rise to the surface,
though he remains skeptical that Google may still favor some of its own
content.
"Google
could be proving their power as the dominant leader in online search by
completely rewriting the rules," he said in a statement prior to the
interview. "This move could also be an attempt to further distance them
from rival Microsoft (Bing) and illustrate their strength in relation to
Facebook in the online community."
Regardless,
effective SEO and website optimization can take anywhere from one to three
months, so there’s not much time to prepare.
“Google
gave us a three-month warning of these changes," said Wisnefski.
"Thus the call to action is now to evaluate and improve your webpage to
make sure you can remain highly ranked or even surpass those that are
well-ranked above you that are not going to make changes.”
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