What, you didn’t know they changed something? A lot of internet business marketing types get all upset anytime Google changes (or noticeably changes) their ranking algorithms. The truth is Google tweaks their rankings on a regular basis, sometimes they make public some of the changes, other times they do not. Below is an official link detailing some of the changes in this latest update that has a lot of Internet Marketers in a Tizzy: Google Search and Search Engine Spam
As for me, I’m happy!
Why? Because as I’ll show you, a lot of my sites have improved in ranking. The ranking for this blog has suffered in recent months, not because of anything Google has done, but because I’ve not been posting on a frequent basis like I used to, and that matters in a competitive environment.
So why are some people complaining and reeling while I’m happy? Because I practice what I preach, and I preach what I practice.
Google and other search engines are in the business of dishing up what people are looking for. Give Google garbage to dish up and you’ll get slapped. Maybe you will get your garbage ranked well for a while, but eventually you’ll get ranked where you should be and that’s way back in the pack.
This latest update dealt with garbage and getting it out of the search results.
Recent months have brought the spotlight on Google for some questionable search results in some areas. One person who sold eyeglasses had found if he treated his customers with distain and anger, practically stalking them in some cases, he would get enough bad posts and comments that it kept his rankings high… and kept business pouring in… not exactly what Google set out to create.
Other items that were getting bad press were sites that were automated sites that “scrape” or copy content from other sites. These sites are generally not very human usable and low quality.
There’s nothing wrong with copying content – a huge part of the benefit of the Business of the Internet is the ability to do just that. In fact, at the end of each of my blog post is a statement specifically giving you permission to copy and use this content – provided you keep the source, author, and link back intact.
A lot of high quality, very helpful sites copy content from other sites, either in whole or in part. It’s all about quality and value to the user.
And that’s the secret to maintaining good, consistent rankings: it’s all about quality and value to the user. There are a lot of other factors too, but without a quality base you’re open to being slapped around a lot.
Sometimes people follow bad advice (either free or paid for) and end up turning what would have been good work into something that gets flagged as spammy by the search engines. For example, if you’re worry about keyword density while writing your web or blog content, then you need some better advice.
Here’s one example of a site that is a small site, has unique, quality content… look at the jump in ranking position for Google on 1/27:
| Date | Yahoo | Bing | |
| 2/3/2011 | 11 | 38 | 185 |
| 2/2/2011 | 11 | 37 | 187 |
| 2/1/2011 | 11 | 37 | 308 |
| 1/31/2011 | 12 | 38 | 313 |
| 1/30/2011 | 13 | 38 | 315 |
| 1/29/2011 | 13 | 30 | 301 |
| 1/28/2011 | 13 | 30 | 169 |
| 1/27/2011 | 13 | 30 | 196 |
| 1/25/2011 | 156 | 31 | 280 |
| 1/23/2011 | 165 | 31 | 181 |
| 1/22/2011 | 163 | 31 | 166 |
| 1/21/2011 | 163 | 31 | 140 |
| 1/20/2011 | 163 | 31 | 157 |
| 1/19/2011 | 165 | 32 | 126 |
| 1/18/2011 | 163 | 32 | 148 |
| 1/17/2011 | 163 | 32 | 142 |
| 1/16/2011 | 176 | 32 | 135 |
| 1/15/2011 | 169 | 32 | 130 |
| 1/14/2011 | 190 | 31 | 123 |
| 1/13/2011 | 185 | 31 | 123 |
| 1/12/2011 | 191 | 31 | 87 |
| 1/11/2011 | 191 | 32 | 88 |
| 1/10/2011 | 195 | 32 | 83 |
| 1/8/2011 | 188 | 31 | 82 |
| 1/7/2011 | 190 | 32 | 82 |
| 1/6/2011 | 189 | 31 | 82 |
| 1/5/2011 | 187 | 32 | 77 |
| 1/4/2011 | 179 | 32 | 81 |
| 1/3/2011 | 187 | 32 | 86 |
| 1/1/2011 | 177 | 32 | 89 |
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Until next time,
Fred
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