Coping With Algorithm Changes

The recent updates in the search algorithm of Google may have seemed too drastic if not totally devastating for many online businesses. Most of the techniques and rules that worked so well for the past many years were suddenly thrown out of the window.

Algorithm updates
The businesses that survived the cleansing proved to be not necessarily the strongest or the biggest (majority are actually small businesses). Aside from being prepared to cope to change and capable of adjusting, these resilient businesses turned out to be the businesses that have high quality contents in their websites. These contents are not only appealing and useful to human visitors but also turned out to be the type of contents being sought after by the algorithm updates.

Google algorithms have become smarter and discerning to some great degree. Although still a far cry from human intellect, the new sets of algorithms were tailored to mimic human preferences. The updates have resulted in the elimination of junk results from the first page of Google SERP. The previously high-ranking but deceptive websites were penalized, relegating them into internet obscurity.

Optimization techniques
On-site search engine and marketing techniques have become as important as off-site marketing techniques. The former algorithms have resulted to keyword stuffing, back linking abuses, and even the so-called Google bombing pranks.
Applying the old algorithms, it is relatively easy to make website rank very high given specific keywords. It is just a matter of using these keywords as anchor texts in off-site articles. The anchor texts served as the back links that were counted as votes in favor of the website being promoted.

Both the Penguin and Panda updates sought to eliminate keyword stuffing and link farming, which formerly resulted to many junks search results. The updates forced web masters and SEO experts to change their strategies. Many of the old techniques still work if they are used in moderation. For example, using anchor texts is still essential but they should not be used to over-optimize a website for a specific targeted keyword.

Keyword roles
The keyword placement and density are still important but they should be relevant to the overall semantics of a website's text content. On-site marketing or SEO strategies must be contextual and not anymore reliant on baiting robot crawlers with meta-tags and other hidden tags. The navigation structure of a website must also be tailored in such a way that it is easy to use not only for robots but more importantly for visitors and would-be customers.

Content quality
As the old internet marketing adage goes, "content is king". The volume of visitors might be determined by external or off-site marketing but the actual conversion rate will be determined by the content of the website. If it is truly interesting and useful to visitors, many of them are likely to be converted into paying subscribers or customers.




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