Google Penalizes JC Penney, Overstock
Google has been very busy lately.. levying penalties on JC Penney and Overstock just weeks apart and making some tweaks in their algorithm which is said to devalue certain types of pages.
I have been asked about this a couple of times and if you have not read the stories; you can simply Google them, the answers are all there.
The JC Penney incident is a clear case of acquiring a massive amount of links on low value pages. There can be many interpretations of what love value pages are but in my own words, these are pages that have nothing to do with the pages they link to, and likely offer very little information and are of very little value and usefulness to human visitors, if at all human visitors do find those pages. The truth is, a lot don’t. They are merely meant for Google’s bots to crawl and find.
The Overtsock case is also another example of a site getting a good number of links but this time, a lot of them coming from a .edu site, which are said to be more valuable in worth. Not only that, Overstock was actively soliciting for those links by offering discounts to those who did link to them. In the former example with JC Penney, they were simply buying the links. Either way, both companies were clearly actively involved in acquiring links that would benefit their rankings on Google.
Google does not want its system manipulated as it strives to deliver to its users the most accurate and deserving results. Both cases are examples of active manipulation or involvement in the link building process for the purpose of improving rankings.
So if you are actively involved in spurring our link growth or managing it, should you be worried? I say, NO.We need to be actively proactive when it comes to getting links and how people link to us.. but staying within certain limits.
You want your products, services, offers, and content to be found and it will not get found if you do not manage the process of acquiring links. So to be on the safe side here are some tips.
- Quality always over quantity. The best links are always those that are found on good quality pages, that offer value to readers, related to the content being linked to, that get visitors and best of all that have visitors that click through those links over to the pages that get linked to.
- If you find sites that have linked to you and you believe they could use better phrases to use as anchor text, contact them, thank them, then ask if they would not mind changing the link to the proper text to use. Optionally you can offer something of value in return.
- When buying links.. yes it is not bad to buy links or pay for ads.. this is a good way of getting traffic to your site. But you need to ensure that the links are “nofollow-ed” so that they do not pass over attribution to the page being linked to, thus affecting how Google would rank that page.
To do well on its search results page, don’t game Google.. just work with it!
Inside Google Instant: How It Works
Google Instant is a new feature on the Google search engine that is characterized by predictive search and instant filtering of search results. This feature can be turned off and on depending on the preference of the search engine user.
Google’s goal is to quickly deliver what their uses are trying to find, by automatically filling up or completing the search phrase being typed, at the same time displaying other related keywords below.. while displaying organic search results and PPC results based on the auto-completed phrase that appears in the search box.
How Does Google Instant Work?
- search engine user starts typing a keyword in the Google search box
- search results and PPC results change as user completes typing a search phrase but the results being instantly displayed are for the phrase that Google auto-completes
- as a search engine user types a search phrase, Google guesses and auto completes what the user is typing and the organic results and PPC results change accordingly
- the way pages are being ranked remains the same, but this new feature will affect and change the way people search for information on Google
My Two Cents on Google Instant
Google Instant is essentially a search engine browsing and research aid, it encourages exploring… and is helpful for search engine users who may not have something specific or not already know exactly what they are looking.
Is is also helpful for search engine users who have already decided what search phrase to use in finding the information they want, as it allows them to drill down further and make their search queries even more specific.
Google Instant’s Impact on Google Users and SEO
The Good
- search engine users easily find what they are looking for, and faster
- search engine users are able to define their searches better
- user intentions are clearer due to more defined searches
- search engine users can do a variety of more search queries and get a mix of different results in a shorter span of time
- a possible increase in targeted traffic for sites that rank well for specific keyword searches that exactly match intentions of a search engine user
The Bad
- predictive results while offering more possible search options to the user, can be a distraction:
- may divert the user from the original search phrase they were intending on using, to a Google predicted/auto-filled search phrase or search results that catches their attention, while in the middle of typing
- may divert user from topic they were searching for altogether, for instance a user interested in one topic may click another topic as it gets displayed in the search box when he types the first few letters of his query.. for instance a person interested in lawyer, starts typing the keyword lawyer, but gets diverted by lady gaga upon reaching “la”, or clicks off to law and order when having typed “law
- a possible increase in less targeted traffic because of incidental clicks (through auto completed results)
- a possible increase in less targeted traffic for sites ranked for broad keywords or phrases of 1 or 2 word phrases because of predictive results that may catch a user’s attention
Google Instant is a double edged sword; disruptive and perceptive, ultimately dependent on the user and how he uses this feature.
The official statement goes, Google Instant is an update Google rolled out with to further develop its product for users. In the process Google also increases revenue as a result of higher ad impressions generated, as opposed to static search impressions. Its effectiveness is dependent on the user and his intentions; capable of steering a user in the right direction to find exactly what he is looking for, or distracting an unsure researcher who proceeds with a different keyword / topic and takes a different browsing direction.
Understanding Google Personalized Search and Implications on SEO
If I were to pick one word and use that same word as the sole criteria and absolute basis for how well your website is ranked on Google, the word would be relevance. Relevance of a search term to content on a page; relevance as evidenced by link popularity of that page on other web pages on the same website or on other websites and corresponding click throughs from those links; relevance as manifested in behavior of visitors that land on that page; relevance as quantified by click throughs from a website’s search engine results page (SERP) listing. The latter two, has recently recently become even more important to SEO professionals with Google’s personalized search results feature that rolled out in December of 2009.
With Google personalized search, the search results (listings) you see on Google’s SERPs will show you websites that you have actually visited in the past and spent time on because Google has factored in your previous search behavior (your act of searching on Google, clicking a listing and spending time on certain websites, and how often you visit) into the way they rank pages on your search. Google does that automatically, even if you have not activated this feature, but you can actually get search results that does not take into consideration your previous search behavior by clicking the “view customizations link” on the SERP.
So if you are a website owner tracking your rankings or an SEO professional tracking rankings because it is a key metric to gauge results of your SEO activities, then your metrics are skewed or to a graver extent, inaccurate and misleading.
Google is watching what you click on in search results and learns that you like certain sites. For example, if you often search for specific keywords, and on the top 10 organic listings on the next page there is a web page ranked on the number 9 spot, if you click that site and visit that site regularly, or search for the same keywords later or search for related keywords and you end up visiting that same website, over time Google gives that site a boost in rankings, might end up being in the top 3 or even ranked number 1, because it starts to believe that you like that website. But the ranking boost it gets are only for your results you see on your browser, and not for all other searchers and users. In other words if the site is number 1 on the Google listings you see on your browser, it is not number 1 on other users’ browsers especially if those users have not had previous interaction with that website.
So if you are tracking your rankings, if done with the personalized search feature active, you will not get an accurate representation of what your rankings actually are in general for the city/country you are in.
There has also been a question of privacy, “is Google invading your privacy by watching what you are doing and taking note of your behavior on the websites you visit?”
More information about you is actually kept if you are logged into to your Google account while performing these searches, if logged out, there is only limited data that Google collects about you and your behavior, but still it is enough to change what you see on the results page. Below is a table that shows you what they gather if you are logged in or logged out.
So is personalized search bad?
In the aspect of tracking behavior I believe Google to be walking a thin line.. as the char above shows, it appears that by logging in to your Google account, Google takes this as a sign that you allow your behavior and identity to be monitored. But, has Google informed you about this?
Second thing is, as a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) consultant, the biggest concern is keyword rankings of clients might not be credible or accurate, however this can be easily remedied by simply doing the search again without search customizations. Moreover with a better understanding of how personalized search works, SEOs can make adjustments in order to even leverage on personalized search that is active by default, and use that to get that a ranking boost for their websites. I know I have, but if asked how… I am afraid I rather keep this strategy to myself and not make it easily and publicly available.
Reference and Image Source: http://searchengineland.com/google-now-personalizes-everyones-search-results-31195
How to Use the Google Search Engine Effectively in 2010
I thought of putting together this brief video and show you how you can use the Google Search Engine effectively. If you spend a lot of time researching online or searching the internet for something you want to learn more about, you probably are familiar with Google and how it can sometimes be frustrating not to be able to find what you are looking for, instead you get overloaded with related or even non related listings, which are probably not exactly what you are looking for.
Google actually has the most advanced system in place that tries to give you a list of websites or web pages that might have what you are looking for, based on the keywords you type in to the engine. A few months ago Google rolled out with a new feature called “Search Options” which helps you find exactly what you might be looking for.
In this brief Google search tutorial video I will give you some tips and tricks on how to do searches and I will also run you through the new Search Options feature.
Here is a quick summary of what you find in the video.
- put keywords that you are using in quotes ” “, that way you get a list of web pages with your searched phrase in their exact order
- use Search Options to specifically find the kind of content you are looking for, whether these are images, videos, news, blogs, updates, books and forums; and even sort them further by freshness
- this tip is not mentioned on the video… if you want to search a specific website for a specific phrase or content you think they might have, type the following site:websitedomain.com “keyword phrase”
, for instance on a recipe site like allrecipes.com, if you want to find meatloaf recipes, just go to Google and type site:allrecipes.com “meatloaf recipes”
and the resulting page will be a list of pages only from allrecipes.com that have that phrase “meatloaf recipes” in it
Recommended Services
