Last few years have witnessed some remarkable algorithmic changes in search engine arena, which depicts that search engine optimization is not merely confined to what we call on-page optimization. Rather it has been upgraded to a level where each and every activity of webmaster is being recognized by search engine and they reward webmasters on the basis of these overall performances.
Hence you can say that now the job of a webmaster or search engine optimization has increased to a status where we should call it “Web-strategist”.
But why should we call search engine optimization process more or less web-strategy rather than calling it SEO, what are the changes that compelled us to think this way. With this article we have come up with our own experience about what makes us think this line of search engine optimization. So, let’s discuss those changes one by one and here we go.
Panda Update:
Panda is the latest update rolled out by Google in last few months. This has created nightmares among search engine communities and even websites like Hub-pages, ezinearticles.com, e-how those used to rank high in the SERPs have been pushed down along the SERP ladder.
With this Google is frowning up on duplicate contents and content farmers. A single line of duplicate content may create nightmares for webmasters as they are not going to tolerate this behavior.
To achieve this Google has created a filter known as “Quality Raters” in its content processing mechanisms. Quality raters are human and not machine who segregate and sort good quality contents with bad quality.
Fig: Google quality raters
Once the contents are given rating by quality raters then they are ranked by machine. So, if your website is static and you are not updating your website with new and fresh content, stop there! You need to rethink. Or if you are farming contents then it is not going to work anymore. This is one of the greatest changes brought out by Google in last few years.
Inclination of search engines towards social media: Search engine like Google is no-longer dependent on the signals and metrics from publisher. In-fact these metrics and signals have been so abused and manipulated by users that compelled Google to move towards user generated signals and metrics. For example if your content is getting more traction in the social media space and people are sharing your content in social channels you are likely to be appraised by Google. Each comment, each face-book like, each tweet, and each +1 will be considered as vote and if you can manage to get all this you will rank high, even if you have not done proper on-page optimization.
Google Vince updates:
However it is not confirmed whether Vince update was rolled out by Google or not still there is apperception among webmasters that Google is a bit biased towards brands compared to generics. Means Google has designed and adopted its search algorithm in such a manner that it ranks brands higher than generics. So brands that are already established in the market are getting an edge from Google which is a factor of concern for webmasters. Because most of the clients we work upon are newcomers or start-ups and hence that have to struggle a lot while ranking their website high in the search engines.
Local search and mobile search getting more traction:
With the advent of high generation mobile technologies and handheld devices Local search is gaining more traction from users. The higher demand of local search has compelled overwhelming increase in local search /web portals like Google maps, Bing maps, Yelp, City search, urban spoon and Foursquare. Businesses which are targeting local market need to be optimized differently from those who intend to market across globe.
So, webmasters tool need to be more conscious about search engine optimization and the same strategy may not be worth it for these two searches.
Fig Google maps.jpg
One thing that is very clear by aforementioned discussions is that each and every activity that you are doing on the online world is going to have an impact on your overall search ranking. Gone are those days when you are painstakingly working on your meta tags and asking for link exchange. The above changes show that webmaster should now work as a web-strategist and not merely a search engine optimizer.
