If Think You Can Fool Google You’re Only Fooling Yourself!
Almost every week I read about how a company or individual is trying to fool Google through some new and “guaranteed” SEO method. Will they ever learn that you just can’t fool Google? Why would you even try it with the risk of being banned from search results in what is clearly the biggest search engine in the world? Many people seem to try just because they wonder if it can be done. Perhaps these individuals may get away with something for a little while, but in the end it will almost always nip them in the bud and the crying begins.
There are some instances which individuals think they have tricked Google. They believe that something that they have done has rocketed their site to the top of Google’s search results listings and they truly believe that they have managed to “stick it to them.” However, 99% of the time when his happens they either performed an SEO procedure that Google allows or even endorses or they just happened to fill Google’s criteria better than other sites in their category without even realizing it. That’s the funny thing – they probably will net be able to duplicate their actions. Nevertheless, once in a while someone will actually come up with a way to fool Google or simply thread a loophole that hasn’t been plugged yet. They will enjoy a high spot on Google’s listings for what may turn out to be maybe several weeks or months. Eventually a Google moderator will make a “visual” visit to the site and they will recognize that some how the ranking has been cheated. In most cases these sites are removed from the index for no less than six months; and sometimes permanently!
The fact is that these people don’t understand the power that Google has. Anyone with a real interest in having an effective presence on the web must consider that getting banned from the search engines effectively negates any small gain you may get from duping the search engine giant. They don’t have to let you back in, and they don’t have to give you any right to respond – and unfortunately you’re entirely at their mercy.
Aside from the fact that Google will remove you from its index, there is another incentive against trying to fool Google. If you fool Google, you are fooling your clients, and yourself. There is no reason to try to lure visitors onto your page with the expectation of getting something. This is a terrible way to conduct business and more often than not it will cost you a valued customer.
If you want your website to be found in categories that don’t apply to it, try purchasing ads on pages that are listed towards the top of the Google listings in these categories. You can actually increase your sites reputation in Google’s eyes rather than hurting it by adding another link to your site. This is an excellent form of marketing because it allows you to reach out beyond your market simply by dishing out a few dollars a month.
Recently it has been discovered that Google is sending out ‘cloak bots’, disobeying robots.txt files in order to find out whether sites are ‘cloaking’ – serving a different page to search engines than what visitors see. These ‘cloak bots’ are controversial but seem to have some positive effects in Google’s eyes.
Unethical methods make it difficult for people who are trying to do SEO the proper way, which is one of the reasons why it needs to be monitored so carefully.
If people stopped trying to find ways to manipulate the system, it would be much easier to keep up with what’s going on and the web would be a place with a level playing field.
Google Search Gets Personal — The Jig is Up for SEO
Over the course of the past few months I have been anticipating this post. I recall that back in March of 2011 many of us internet marketers wondered whether Google’s algorithm update backfired because search results were splayed and scattered about like a hurricane had come through the search results. Many websites suffered the wrath of Google’s campaign to minimize or eliminate content farms with low quality content. Little did we know then that this was all part of a bigger picture that Google was focusing on.
Although backlinks still appear to be one of the primary factors in ranking sites in the search results, it appears that the source of backlinks and authorship play a larger role in the weight of backlinks and how Google applies this data to any given site ranking. The biggest change that I have notices is time.
I remember the days of optimizing a website to rank for a keyword or phrase, and I could implement a couple of changes with results showing up in days. Some times it would take longer to see the results, but back then 3-4 days was typical. It was rather nice, actually, because you new whether something was working to your benefit or detriment, and you could quickly make changes if necessary. SEO’s and Internet marketers don’t enjoy that privilege any longer as results can now take up to several weeks or even a month. It appears as though site filtering has been implemented, as well as the quality of the content that a given website author publishes.
As many of us know, local search results have been plentiful as Google has made attempts to provide users with results that serve them based upon geographical location. The introduction of Google +1 has been paving the way to yet another highly relevant factor, and Yesterday Google pretty much let the cat out of the bag as to their sole intent of how search is going to be from this point forward. With their release of “Search, plus Your World,” Google is clearly indicating their intent of local based search, not only geographically speaking, but in the sense of our personal circle of friends and online sources that we frequent daily.
Can Google Eliminate the Backlink Ranking Factor from Search Results?
I do believe Google may have found their way around the SEO cheats in cyberspace without taking backlinks out of the equation, but I certainly wouldn’t lay hold to the idea that high page rank backlinks will always be the medium of search results ranking. As a matter of fact I’m going to predict that 2012 is going to be the year that search results ranking based upon high page rank backlinks will have little or no value as personal and local results slowly consume the results we see. I may be wrong, but the days of purchasing high page rank backlinks to boost a website up in the search results are coming to a close, and soon we will all be competing on a level playing field when it comes to ranking websites.