Google Updates and Your Site
Dear Reader,
Welcome to Performance Marketing, the monthly newsletter for online marketers looking for results.
I am pleased to announce the acquisition of eVisibility, a search engine marketing and advertising agency based in San Diego. eVisibility is one of the top ranked SEO companies in the country. For more than 12 years the company has successfully achieved electronic visibility for a diverse roster of clients using a core set of Internet marketing services including search engine optimization, reputation management, pay per click management, online media buying and web development.
We look forward to being able to extend our suite of services with the expertise and talents of this exceptional team. In this newsletter contains an interview with eVisibility CEO Danny DeMichele, prominent SEO strategist and entrepreneur, on changes to Google's algorithm and how they could affect your site's ranking.
All the Best,
Daniel Laury
Founder, President and CEO
LSF Interactive
Feature Article: Google Insights from Danny DeMichele
What is your SEO philosophy?
I believe the best SEO is one that looks the most "naturally aggressive." This means creating good content that is useful and interesting to people and will naturally be indexed correctly. At the same time you need to be well informed. It makes sense to build sites and pages in the most SEO-compliant way without crossing the line into techniques that Google views as unacceptable -- overly aggressive or deceptive practices. Google's goal is to weed out and drop artificially ranked campaigns. If you base your SEO on this, you won't have any issues in the future when it comes to major Google updates.
How often does Google change its algorithm?
There is a myth that Google changes every month. Google does roll out small updates all of the time, but 99% of them never affect your business. I hear over and over again from other SEO consultants that you have to "stay on top of it" because the Google algorithm changes dramatically every month. Major changes occur 1-2 times a year tops, and most people are never affected by these changes as long as they are doing SEO correctly.
What are some recent Google algorithm changes?
There was a big algorithmic change named "Victor" last year and I think we are now seeing the effects of that on anchor text in a link and exact-match domains. I noticed that when clients did a spot check with any of their main keywords, they would typically notice many big companies in the SERPS. But recently, smaller companies, with very basic profiles, are making it into the SERPS. If you did a back link check on a couple of select large websites, you will notice that the BIG keywords that they rank for hardly show up in the anchor text of their link profiles. 90% or more of their links will say either a version of their company name, or "Click here." This goes against every SEO's way of acquiring links. Last year, when this release was done, most of us just chalked it up to a "Big Business" algorithm. I think it is something much different. I believe they have incorporated it into their filter.
One other significant item that backs up my claim is the fact that exact-match domains end up showing up very well in the rankings. Again, most of the theory was that Google provided weight to the exact match domain. If my theory is true, the domains are showing up because the link is more naturally presented (Brand name, Click Here, Domain in anchor text, which looks natural, and by default gives you the ranking you want).
What can companies do to look "more natural?"
I believe Google is putting more weight on what looks more natural in a link campaign, and then ranking the pages of a site based off internal link structure and content. It is simply not natural that 90% of an inbound link profile is rich-keyword based. It is more natural that the weight is on the brand or domain phrase anchor text links.
It is critically important that companies gradually start using their company name, brand name, and exact URL in their linking. This goes for authoritative link acquisition, article subs, press releases, etc. We will continue to analyze this shift and implement our best recommendations going forward.
Which is more important: good content or good links?
There was recently a really good post on SEOmoz.org [http://www.seomoz.org/blog/debating-the-value-of-great-content] on the topic of links vs. content for search engine rankings. The consensus was that content alone won't produce rankings, which is 100% accurate, for now at least.
If you purchased a domain today, and wrote a 400-page paper on how to cure cancer, it would not rank in Google unless other sites with authority linked to it. No SEO in his right mind can contest this fact. Ranking in Google still largely depends on link votes (page rank) as the main factor. However, without content on the other side of a strong link campaign, you will be hard pressed to get the rankings you are after. In my mind, content is a necessary ingredient for links to get you ranking. It is like the garlic in a spaghetti sauce, without it, it is just tomatoes.
I do believe the content/link weight ratio will change with further development of the semantic engine behind Google. Links are too easily manipulated, while good content is not. To better their search engine, they must have a better content/link weight ratio. So building good content now will hedge you against a major filter in the future.
About Danny DeMichele
As founder and chief executive officer of eVisibility, Danny DeMichele created one of the largest and most experienced online search engine marketing and social media firms in the country. DeMichele has built and sold several successful health, e-commerce and Internet marketing companies over the past 10 years and now focuses on providing cutting edge e-business strategies to clients including McDonalds, Fidelity Title Company, Active.com, Lamps Plus, Hurley Int., Chicago Title, Zipweb, Pala Casino, and The Prudential. He is co-founder and chairman of the board for Buy Online Inc. and a board member of the Online Reputation Management Association.
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