Dealing with the aftermath of Google update Jagger
OK I know Im not the first to announce this but lets face it boys and girls SEO (search engine optimisation) as we currently know it is dead. Its time to ditch those antiquated techniques that all SEOs cling on to and focus your online marketing efforts on online brand optimisation OBO for short!
So whats the difference between SEO and OBO
Think about the searcher not the search engine!
From a strategic perspective online brand optimisation (OBO) is all about optimising your site and online marketing efforts for the searcher, the end-user that seeks out your site via whatever means he or she chooses. Whether it is via a search engine, a content portal or even a forum. Your goal is to deliver what youve promised and help that searcher fulfil his or her online goal. If you dont do that then youve failed in achieving your key online objective.
Rankingitis!
SEO for most seasoned optimisers is about getting to the top of Google. The vast majority of SEOs become obsessed with checking their rankings in the SERPS (search engine results pages) on a daily basis and even across every possible Google data centre (DC). Checking rankings soon becomes an addiction for many SEOs and believe you me I know, I have been there. But I did come to my senses and Ive realised that there is more to life than being no 1 in Google for a plethora of key phrases. Ive also realised that in todays search environment you cant rely on the search engine to always deliver you targeted prospects that convert.
You may have read about the multitude of search marketers that have recently been hit badly by the Google Jagger update. For many, their site has completely dropped out of the rankings and as a result they are now in an extremely vulnerable position. They solely relied on Google to drive visitors to their site and with no new prospects coming in; their business is starting to feel the strain of being dumped into the harsh terrain that I like to call the Google Desert! As we all know no one ventures out onto page 127 of the search results!
Build a brand (a bit of a no-brainer!)
So what can they do to help rectify this The best solution for many of them will be to clean up their site, create new compelling content, get rid of any unrelated link partners and focus their strategy on building a respected brand, not on building top positions in search sites. Dont get me wrong Im not saying that good search engine visibility isnt an important element of any online marketing campaign. Im just saying that it shouldnt be the only one and it should not drive your overall strategy, it should just simply support it.
For your organic search engine market efforts to work they need to be interlinked with other non-search related activity. Search engines like Google are complex beasts and they analyse your site in so many different ways. They not only look at what content you have and who you link with but there is also evidence to suggest they measure other off-site factors such as how many mentions your site gets on other authority sites, how people interact with your site when they land on it and so on.
The simple fact of the matter is that if you want to do well in Google you need to build a strong online brand and that involves promoting your site using a multitude of online and offline channels not just search. Like I said everything is interlinked and if you have a site with a strong brand behind it then it will make its way to the top of Google.
Dont get banished to the online desert
Building your business model around a search engine is very risky and not a smart thing to do. Why Because you have no control over the search engine. If you solely rely on the search engine to provide you with leads and customers then youre doing far worse than putting all your eggs in the one basket youll end up in the online desert with tumbleweed blowing through your site. Remember search engines dont owe you anything; they dont care how great your site looks. What they do care about is what your target audience think and we all know that weak brands never make it to the top!
Damon Lightley is a search engine marketing consultant at Site Visibility Ltd. Site Visibility is a UK based search engine marketing companythat helps clients increase online customer acquisition and retention using search engine optimisation, pay per click and online marketing campaign measurement techniques.
A few nights ago I was asked by a regular in a bar I frequent: what is this pub doing with a website Somewhat bemused, I replied that it receives substantial hits to its website and that it is listed on all the Bangkok portals. More importantly, they have consistently remained at #1 on Google, Yahoo!, MSN and the other major search engines for well over a year. Visitors the site, although not verifiable, must convert into a lot of money. He looked slightly bemused, shrugged his shoulders and muttered something about not knowing much about search engines.
That is where we stand on building websites: our philosophy is based on making the web work for our clients; in providing them with a new revenue source. We dont just deliver tastefully designed websites, we also provide detailed research which we convert into accurately anticipated keywords likely to be used by potential visitors when searching for a source of information.
With this knowledge, we optimise our clients web pages and register it with sites we know will boost its rankings. This strategy has been successfully employed on sites based in Thailand, the UK, Germany, Australia, France, Austria and France.
But there is another option to be seriously considered: commercial search. It is by far the most dynamic and fast-growing industry segment now, estimated to extend beyond $5billion by 2006. Pioneered by Overture (now Yahoo!), pay-per-click was created in response to three fundamental issues concerning internet search: poor quality results; random ordering of listings; and a weak advertising revenue model. It solved these problems by creating a real-time market for keyword bidding.
Recently, however, it has spawned a series of bidding wars among a growing number of marketers wanting their ads displayed alongside the top search results, and the demand for placement now seems to have reached an almost critical level. Highly popular search terms can easily get you involved in a cost escalation dynamic: extend your bid to the top spot and theres a good chance that, within hours, #2 will outbid you. This process can go on indefinitely until the actual market space for these search terms is inflated beyond reach, which can take several weeks to stabilise and return to some kind of equilibrium.
Also, whilst pay-per-click can be the best marketing tool on the web if conversion rates are high, there are four fundamental objectives to be recognised:
1. The content of your site must exactly match the keywords you intend to bid on;
2. All of your keywords stand no chance whatsoever of being listed in the top ten positions on the major search engines;
3. The cost of bidding will be more than recovered, as visits to your web pages will convert into quality leads or actual sales;
4. The more popular the search term, the more expensive.If you think its worth the investment, then take the plunge.
In the main, robots index websites, and few people look beyond the first 20 results. This has driven Google, Yahoo! and now MSN to devise a more specific search trend: e-marketing driven by localised search advertising, personalisation and increased specialisation. When fully operative, these initiatives will narrow the scope of the problems inherent in generic search results.
In the meantime, V9 will continue to provide our clients with optimum results: we have the expertise and proven credentials in providing Thai- and foreign-based businesses the opportunity of profitable expansion.
Media Director of V9 Design & Build, providing both local and outsourcing web and SEO services: we provide both brochureware and custom-designed websites, with tasteful design and branding, professional design and build, proven and successful SEO and e-marketing, e-commerce-driven database integration and content management systems.