Every site owner and webmaster wants their content pages to appear on the first page of Google’s search results. As Google moves from a links-based algorithm to a usage and traffic based algorithm, the SEO business is going to change – big time.
Every site owner and webmaster wants their content pages to appear on the first page of Google’s search results. The business of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) revolves around this concept. Good SEO ensures great traffic to a site, since most visitors find the site from the first page. This is called good Search Engine Results Page (SERP). Lots of money is spent on understanding Google’s search engine algorithms, and building links between sites to positively affect (manipulate) the SERP results of a website.
From Google’s point of view, this type of manipulation is bad for business. Google’s long term viability, depends upon delivering the best results possible on the first page. Manipulating SERPs results, via artificially building links, can often lead to poor results appearing on the first Google search page and loss of users and advertisers. So, in order to ensure continued leadership in search results, I believe that Google is slowly transforming the fundamental nature of its search algorithm, moving away from using links and moving toward actual usage statistics to determine search engine results.
Google has been a great success story for three reasons:
1) It has built a search engine that quickly and efficiently mines all forms of information on the Web and presents the information in a form that users find useful. The Google search engine is consider the best, because of its unique search algorithms which are at the heart of the search engine technology.
2) It has successfully, via its Adwords and Adsense business, monetized the business. Adwords is most successful because Google does the best of job matching ads with the advertiser’s target audience. Google cleverly combines its knowledge of page content with ads, to ensure best targeted ad placement. Thus, Google can rightly claim to deliver the maximum bang for the buck to its advertisers.
3) By systematically spreading Google Analytics and Google Toolbar throughout the Internet, Google has been able to build a unique database of usage statistics. This proprietary database of website usage information has now become a major technology moat, that even giants such as Microsoft will find near impossible to hurdle. It certainly presents a barrier to any new entrant into the search engine marketplace. Google’s long term leadership seems to be assured.
Using that data that Google has gathered with Analytics and Toolbar, Google’s search engine can know precisely which sites are getting the most traffic, which pages within these sites are most often visited, and how much time visitors spend on each of these pages. This last point is key, since visitors are voting with their time on which pages provide the most useful information for each type of keyword search. Voting with time, is much stronger, than voting with links.
Not only does usage information augment the quality of search results, but it also allows Google to present to advertisers information that advertisers want and need to know – i.e. who is seeing their ads, how often they are seeing them, and are the ads being converted.
It appears that search results based upon usage data will ultimately supplant links, as the way of determining SERP. While links, to a certain extent, can still be valuable (e.g. a link from a trusted website), they are a weak step child to the information that Google continuously collects, in real-time, of what the consumer is doing on the Internet.
The results of this change will be profound. Search engine optimization (SEO) will have to change from building links to building traffic. This is fine with Google, since one of the best ways, though one of the more expensive ways, is to drive traffic via Adwords ads. This means, of course, lots more revenue for Google, as SEO experts turn to ads to support their clients. This is not a bad business model. Not bad at all. Talk about symbiotic relationships between technology provider, advertiser, and publisher.
Going forward, there will be much more emphasis by Google and webmasters on traffic and advertising conversion. Not dissimilar from the TV business model. Can anyone expect to compete against Google long term? Maybe niche search engines, but broad-based search engines will have a very tough act to follow. But I will be looking for new search engine technology and companies that I think may be able to compete and will report back to you.
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