Having witnessed a busy few years in terms of the way websites are ranked (and also displayed) in organic search results (SERP’s), it’s anyone’s guess which way the tide will turn next. Part of being an accomplished search engine optimisation company is sustaining a high level of industry knowledge, and this equates to persevering with each and every Google update.
In 2010 the SEO industry witnessed a broad range of amendments to several important ranking factors. On the 17th January in 2010 we blogged on the new instant indexing from Google, the base for the Caffeine system we all now know. Faster sites were given a higher status and began to rank better, meaning user experience was the core message from search engines- as technology (especially multi-media) and connection speed improved further.
PageRank still featured heavily as SEO’s continuously tried to measure the value of and track the progress of the PR Toolbar. We also saw Twitter Internet searches surpass those via Yahoo and Bing, further evidence of the deposition of the 2nd and 3rd ranked engines (US and UK).
In 2011 no SEO firm expected any respite from evolving ranking factors, and rightly so. 2011 will forever be known as the year of the Panda, with numerous large-scale algorithm innovations causing shock-waves for umpteen uber-websites such as Ciao and Gumtree. The Google Panda betterments encompassed authority related alterations. In Lehman’s terms: be mostly unique or incur our wrath. Duplicate content on-mass became an over killer of websites which had previously enjoyed massive visibility.
The launch of Google Pages for business should not have a direct influence on rankings, but the related +1′s will have an impact, especially (according to the search giant) regarding conversions via the SERP’s. Whether the + social network will have the same impact on social media is still a long way from being established, but initially it looks like Zuckerman’s fortune is safe for now.
Voice search was introduced, implications being we may begin to use different phrases which would certainly affect SEO efforts. Integrated to the search results around May 2011 was social search, offering individual comments on phrases relating to social news.
Webmaster Tools has undergone many changes, with the addition of both extra analytical data and social impact statistics. July saw the 3rd version of Panda rolled out (2.3), again further emphasising the importance of page updates and new content (word on the street is that 80% unique is a minimum moving forward).
Most recently in 2011 the Google Fresh update pushes SEO best practice further down the route of regular topical updates, highlighting the commitment to increasing the quality score for end-users. Matt Cutts talks about how frequent updates can improve the search results.
2011 still has a couple of surprises due I am sure, but what for 2012? Any dramatic and earth changing updates to the way in which we optimise our content? Ethical practice is still the only method if you want to be certain of not falling foul of sweeping updates. By trying to champion the Google cause and following their ethos of improving the quality of results, the core focal-point for any SEO is to maintain the principles of hard work which seem to work best. Interesting and smart user content, high quality link building. To be continued in 2012!
