Internet Marketing Blog: Yet Another Google Update

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Wednesday, February 18, 2004

I'm posting SEO expert Sean Burns' WebmastersReference.com Newsletter #44, at it goes deep into Google's latest update:

WebmastersReference.com Newsletter #44
February 18 2004

Contents

1. Welcome
2. Main Article - Yet Another Google Update

1. Welcome

Hi again.

Google is at it again. It's only a few weeks since their last update and they are dancing once more. Things look much better to me this time around. So, this week's article gives you some more tips on getting better rankings in the "new" Google. I'm hoping that this will be the last time that I'll need to write an article specifically about Google's algorithm. I much prefer to write about profiting from the search engines than writing about how they work - you probably prefer it to.

Anyway, to sum up the article, keep adding quality content to your site and keep getting links and you will do very well. Also, focus on getting customers not traffic. I've said that numerous times before but it is one of the keys to succeeding online. I've been reading posts from people in forums lately saying how many visitors they are getting from various techniques and how much money they are making. In almost all cases I make a lot more money from a lot less "traffic".

Traffic makes your stats look good - customers make your bank balance look good.

2. Main Article - Yet Another Google Update

Following on from Google's Florida & Austin updates, they are currently dancing again. This update has seen webmasters in general a lot happier as many of their pages have come back from the dead. So, what has changed this time and are Google finished messing with us?

Basically, the new Google results can be seen here - http://64.233.161.99. These results are showing up quite often on the main Google site and they will be the results shown when the dance finishes. Overall, they are probably the best results that Google has come up with since November.

The main change is that they don't appear to be filtering out as many "good" pages as they have in the past. The number of pages dropping from the top 10 to 1000+ has definitely diminished.

Now, don't think that Google has gone back to the "old" way of ranking sites - they haven't. The algorithm is now far more complex than it was before but one SEO fact remains true - creating a useful site and getting people to link to it will work out well. If you aren't ranking as well as you were last year make your site more useful - add more content that provides value to the visitor (not junk pages).

What we are now seeing with Google is that the old features of their algorithm are still there but there are new factors that are influencing the results. Some of these factors are undoubtedly impossible to figure out but here are some things that are obvious.

1. Stemming

Google has been using Stemming for a little while but it does appear to be working much better now. Stemming basically refers to the process of a search engine finding a word within another word. For example, finding "rent" in "rental". However, Google aren't actually doing that. It appears as though they have created a database of words that basically have the same meaning.

So, a search for rent could return a site about "rentals" or "renting" but a search for book won't return a site about "booking" or "bookkeepers".

Adding some "intelligence" to the stemming process is a great idea and does appear to work quite well. How does it affect you? Well, it doesn't really except that it creates more competition for you. In the past, pages that only mentioned "renting" would not rank for "rent" - now they will. So, as I said above, you need to continue working on making your site more useful and get more links - this will help you cope with the extra competition.

In addition, it means that in many cases you won't need to try to target different versions of a keyword - your page could rank well for all of them.

Please Note: The examples used are just that - examples. They show how it works but those specific terms may not be affected.
2. Semantics

As far as I can tell, Google is using "semantics" in the results. This means that their crawler is trying to learn what words mean. I've got a post about this on my messageboard but the basics are that words that relate to a search term will sometimes help your rankings. Also, a page could possibly rank well for a word that it doesn't use if Google thinks it means the same thing.

Basically, the way to handle this is to look at the top 10 for a keyword and see if there are other words that are commonly used on those pages (and in the anchor text of links pointing to them). I wouldn't worry too much about this but if you are sitting at number 11 for an important keyword, the addition of some related words could get you to number 10.

3. Add More Content

It seems as though larger (more authoritative) sites are doing better in Google than smaller sites. I wouldn't imagine it's as simple as "how many pages you have" but adding more content to a site looks as though it will help. The added bonus of making your site an authority is that you will get more links (without having to exchange).

In the past I've always said that you should constantly try to improve your site and add more useful content but I think it has now become more important. If you have a purely eCommerce site then this could be even more important for you.

Now, keep in mind that, as I said, the parts of the algorithm that were important before are still important. Also, as in the past, some factors can make others irrelevant. If you search for extremely competitive phrases, you'll see that PR and Anchor Text is still the most important thing - by far.

So, keep getting links and keep adding useful content. Following this advice will help you in Inktomi as well. Yahoo look to be extremely close to switching completely to Inktomi results - I see them about 75% of the time.

Constantly creating better sites is, in my opinion, by far the best way to create a successful online business. Short cuts can make money but the fact is that it's the people who are constantly working to make better sites and products that are doing "really well".

That's all for this issue. Don't forget to pick up a copy of Rankings Revealed (http://www.webmastersreference.com/rankings_revealed) and sign up for the affiliate program at http://www.webmastersreference.com/rankings_revealed/affiliates.shtml.

If you found this newsletter useful, please forward it to any friends that you have who might also benefit from it.

Best regards

Sean Burns
WebmastersReference.com
http://www.webmastersreference.com

- posted by Mike Merz @ 2/18/2004 05:29:00 AM

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