The times they are a-changing
WHILE battered online content managers and webmasters heaved a sigh last week that Google’s new Hummingbird algorithm does not seem to have any new surprises in the page ranking stakes, its clear that major changes are afoot in the world of search engine optimisation (SEO).
The Menlo Park, California-based search giant said the biggest change to its algorithm in three years was aimed mainly at allowing Google to handle more complex and naturalistic language search queries.
However, at the same time, industry insiders said several sites had seen their page ranking plunge recently amid reports that the company had identified and de-indexed referrals from several large link schemes as part of ongoing tweaks to its search technology.
Earlier this year, Google released updated webmaster guidelines stating that the company considers any kind of ‘unnatural’ link manipulation designed to boost page ranking, as a violation of its codes for best practice.
The broad prohibitions laid out in the latest guidelines target a wide range of practices common in the multi-billion-dollar global SEO industry, and the company would be naive to think these are going to stop overnight.
There is far too much at stake, and the cat and mouse game between less scrupulous SEO operations and Google’s coders is likely to continue.
However, Google’s algorithms are getting very good at detecting the quality of links, and the improved ability to parse naturalistic language unveiled in Hummingbird is part of that. As things get more complex, an obscure algorithm tweak can wipe out months of careful and expensive page optimisation work and permanently damage page rankings.
The costs and risks of trying to ‘game’ Google’s system are rapidly outstripping the rewards.
Its a watershed moment for the SEO industry. The search marketing sector is now facing what the dot-com bubble did at the end of the nineties: the fundamental truth that clever window-dressing is not going to fool the market, at least not for long.
Responsible players have realised this and are increasingly focusing on doing what the industry should have been doing all along: producing quality content that people want to know about and link to.
Writer: Jonathan Davis