Dancing The Google SEO Dance
When it comes to search engine traffic and SEO, most people speak about Google first and foremost. This is because they possess a majority of the market share when it comes to searches conducted on the Internet. No other search engine comes close in terms of the sheer volume of people that use the site or the number of searches that are done. Google arguably offers the best search experience to users and this not only means better results for searchers but it means more stringent guidelines for webmasters.
Google Algorithms
Like all search engines, Google relies on the use of algorithms to help it create search engine results pages. These algorithms consider hundreds of factors regarding a web page and they help determine whether that page is relevant for a specific search and, if it is, then how much value it provides users compared to other relevant web pages.
A Google Evolutionary Tale
The Google algorithms change and evolve regularly. What might be considered a useful search engine optimisation technique today may basically be outlawed tomorrow. Reciprocal link building is one example. Links are considered a vote of popularity and a sign of quality by Google so webmasters have always been on the look out for ways to build links quickly and easily. Reciprocal linking means one page linking to another in exchange for a link back to the original page.
The Death Of Reciprocal Linking
Google perceived that there needn’t be any value in a page for it to receive a reciprocal link and so any value that was once given to a two way link has all but been removed. And so search engine optimisation changed and one way links became even more important.
The Google Dance
Sometimes, Google will introduce minor changes and these may not effect a site or its position in the search ranking. On other occasions, major algorithmic changes may be introduced and these can cause massive differences from one day to the next. The Google Dance has caused controversy, argument, and probably a few failed websites in its time but Google will continue to do this as long as they attempt to offer value to their users.
Search Engine Optimisation
Search engine optimisation needs to be ethical and it needs to be effective. Building links can be done naturally and pages should be optimised not just for the benefit of search engines but for the benefit of human visitors too – receiving tends of thousands of visitors a day is useless if they find no value in a website. Do your website seo / search engine optimisation right and you can build traffic and improve conversion rates.