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Predicting
Search Engine Algorithm Changes
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With
moderate search engine optimization knowledge,
some common sense, and a resourceful and
imaginative mind, one can keep his or her web
site in good standing with search engines even
through the most significant algorithm changes.
The recent Google update of October/November
2005, dubbed "Jagger", is what inspired
me to write this, as I saw some web sites that
previously ranked in the top 20 results for
extremely competitive keywords suddenly drop down
to the 70th page. Yes, the ebb and flow of search
engine rankings is nothing to write home about,
but when a web site doesn't regain many ranking
spots after such a drop it can tell us that the
SEO done on the site may have had some long-term
flaws. In this case, the SEO team had not done a
good job predicting the direction a search engine
would take with its algorithm.
Impossible to predict, you say? Not quite. The
ideas behind Google's algorithm come from the
minds of fellow humans, not supercomputers. I'm
not suggesting that it's easy to "crack the
code" so to speak because the actual math
behind it is extremely complicated. However, it
is possible to understand the general direction
that a search engine algorithm will take by
keeping in mind that any component of SEO which
is possible to manipulate to an abnormal extent
will eventually be weighted less and finally
rendered obsolete.
One of the first such areas of a web site that
started to get abused by webmasters trying to
raise their rankings was the keywords meta tag.
The tag allows a webmaster to list the web site's
most important keywords so the search engine
knows when to display that site as a result for a
matching search. It was only a matter of time
until people started stuffing the tag with
irrelevant words that were searched for more
frequently than relevant words in an attempt to
fool the algorithm. And they did fool it, but not
for long. The keywords meta tag was identified as
an area that was too susceptible to misuse and
was subsequently de-valued to the point where the
Google algorithm today doesn't even recognize it
when scanning a web page.
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Another early tactic which is all but obsolete is
repeating keywords at the bottom of a web page
and hiding them by changing the color of the text
to match the background color. Search engines
noticed that this text was not relevant to the
visitor and red-flagged sites that employed this
method of SEO.
This information is quite basic, but the idea
behind the aforementioned algorithm shifts
several years ago is still relevant today. With
the Jagger update in full swing, people in the
SEO world are taking notice that reciprocal links
may very well be going the way of the keywords
meta tag. (i.e. extinct) Webmasters across the
world have long been obsessed with link exchanges
and many profitable web sites exist offering
services that help webmasters swap links with
ease. But with a little foresight, one can see
that link trading has its days numbered, as web
sites have obtained thousands of incoming links
from webmasters who may have nevër even viewed
the web site they are trading with. In other
words, web site popularity is being manipulated
by excessively and unnaturally using an SEO
method.
So with keyword meta tags, keyword stuffing
within content, and nöw link exchanges simply a
part of SEO history, what will be targeted in the
future? Well, let's start with what search
engines currently look at when ranking a web site
and go from there:
On-page Textual Content
In the future, look for search engines to utilize
ontological analysis of text. In other words, not
only your main keywords will play a factor in
your rankings, but also words that relate to
them. For example, someone trying to sell NFL
jerseys online would naturally mention the names
of teams and star players. In the past,
algorithms might have skipped over those names,
deemed them irrelevant to a search for "NFL
jerseys." But in the future, search engines
will reward those web sites with a higher ranking
than those that excessively repeat just "NFL
jerseys." With ontological analysis, web
sites that speak of not only the main keywords
but other relevant words can expect higher
rankings.
The Conclusion: Write your web site content for
your visitors, not search engines. The more
naturally written sites can expect to see better
results in the future.
Offering Large Amounts of Content
This can frequently take the form of dynamic
pages. Even nöw, search engines can have a
difficult time with dynamic content on web sites.
These pages usually have lengthy URLs consisting
of numbers and characters such as &, =, and ?
The common problem is that the content changes so
frequently on these dynamic pages that the page
becomes "old" in the search engine's
database, thus leaving searchers seeing results
that contain old information. Since many dynamic
pages are created by web sites displaying
hundreds or thousands of products they sell, and
the number of people selling items on the
Internet will obviously increase in the coming
years, you can expect that search engines will
improve their technology and do a better job
indexing dynamic content in the future.
The Conclusion: Put yourself ahead of the game if
you are selling products online and invest in
database and shopping cart software that is
SEO-friendly.
Incoming Links
Once thought to be a very difficult thing to
manipulate, incoming links to one's web site have
been abused by crafty SEOs and webmasters the
world over. It is finally at a point where Google
is doing a revamp of what constitutes a
"vote from [one site to another]" as
they explain it in their webmaster resources
section. Link exchanges are worth significantly
less nöw than ever to the point where the only
real value in obtaining them is to make sure a
new web site gets crawled by search engine
spiders.
Over the years, many web sites reached top spot
for competitive keywords by flexing their
financial muscle and buying thousands of text
links pointing to their site with keywords in the
anchor text. Usually these links would appear
like advertisements along sidebars or navigation
areas of web sites. Essentially this was an
indirect way of paying for high Google rankings,
something which Google is no doubt trying to
combat with each passing algorithm update. One
idea of thought is that different areas of a web
page from a visual point of view will be weighted
differently. For example, if a web site adds a
link to your site within the middle of their page
text, that link should count for more than one at
the bottom of the site near the copyright
information.
This brings up the value of content distribution.
By writing articles, giving away free resources,
or offering something else of value to people,
you can create a significant amount of content on
other web sites that will include a link back to
your own.
The Conclusion: It all starts with useful
content. If you are providing your web site
visitors with useful information, chances are
many other sites will want to do the same. SEO
doesn't start with trying to cheat the algorithm;
it starts with an understanding of what search
engines look for in a quality web site.
About The Author
An expert at organic SEO, John Metzler has held
executive positions in the search engine
marketing industry since 2001. He is the
President of FreshPromo, a Canadian-based SEO firm, and
services American clients through SEOTampa.com.
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© 2006 1st Internet Marketing Solution
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