Whenever people talk to me about the intricacies of Google, I always state my fundamental belief that Google is smarter than anything they can possibly imagine. Google are always tweaking their algorithms and getting better and better at what they do: sorting out good websites from bad ones. And it recently got a lot better.
In November 2008, Google increased its algorithms from 128 to 200. Considering how smart it was before, that made it a whole lot smarter. A year later, SEO companies are feeling the impact of this latest blast of uberGoogle.
What this means to search engine optimizers
The world of optimization shook in its boots as statements like “backlinks no longer matter” and “rank is dead” echoed throughout SEO conventions around the world. The impact of the increased algorithms is essentially this:
1. As a result of abuse, Google is no longer putting so much emphasis on backlinks. Some optimizers report being “penalized” for backlinks, but it’s more likely that they simply lost ranking because they were relying too heavily on backlinks as other optimizers report only minimal losses in ranking.
2. Searches are now not only geo-targeted (I will get Toronto based results because I’m searching from Toronto), but profile-centred. That is, using third party cookies, my search results will vary based on what I’ve searched on in the past. Google knows who I am and what I’m interested in even if I’m not signed into my Google account. In other words, keyword ranking is fluid – irrelevant even. So how do you track SEO results? With conversions. This is forcing search engine optimizers to be marketers. I say shame on them if they weren’t already.
So what does that mean to you and your website?
If you’ve built your site for users and not for search engines, it means you’ll rank better or the same as you did before.
Remember that Google isn’t trying to mess you up. They are not trying to change the rules to keep you on your toes. They are trying to offer the best possible search results to their users. So, if you want to win, be the best search result.
The new uberGoogle is looking for “high engagement” website enhancements. Google wants to see blogs, videos, and Flash elements. These enhancements show that you’ve got a dynamic site that is rich with content that engages visitors. Made-for-ads sites, or “scraper sites” tend not to have these enhancements and so it is one more way Google is trying to filter out spam sites.
How to rank in the new Google
Keep following all the old rules – fill your site with relevant keywords and rich content. On top of that, it’s time to invest in some Flash content and make some videos. And how about finally starting that company blog? Because here’s the thing: you need the videos and the blog for an effective social media strategy anyway. And you’re all over that, right?
You mention third party cookies. “That is, using third party cookies, my search results …” Does your research indicate Google is reading other sites’ cookies?
Is this a partnership thing?
Is this a privacy violation? I wonder how many privacy policies that contravenes?
It’s not uncommon for a website’s privacy policy to mention why cookies are being set and how they will be used, but I’ve never seen a policy stating that “Google will hijack our cookies and use them for their own purposes.”
I thought cookies are supposed to be encrypted, Is Google hacking them or have they been given the code to open them up.
Or are they just setting/reading their own cookies based on users’ previous search behaviour?
One little blog post, so many questions.
A cookie is a small text file (non-encrypted) of persistent or temporary information shared between a server and a user. If you view the cookies stored by your browser, you can see that they are named after the server that set them. Web servers can only and set read cookies that they have created themselves under the their server name.
Cookies can be hijacked by “packet-sniffers” on the Internet, in the same way that any data we send or receive can be detected, even emails. This is dangerous is websites store sensitive personal data in their cookies such as passwords, or banking info.
Third-party cookies are not malicious, however, and most modern browsers allow you to turn them off if you want. When we visit a site such as blogs, there may be some google ads or some other “third-party content”. This content is served by a different server (such as an ads server) which has the right to store its own cookie for its own use. However, they cannot see the cookies of the hosting (or primary) server.
So, if the google ads server stores a cookie on our browser when we visit a site, anonymously identifying us as “a specific user”, it can make the connection to us when we visit another site with google ads. So, if we are visiting a number of wedding-related sites, or even click-thru some of the google ads on weddings, it is able to conclude that we are interested in weddings and will gear the ad content to our preferences, hoping for more ad clicks.
My understanding, however, is that these google ad cookies are used only for “sponsored links” and not for organic search results. While google search results are heavily influenced by geo-location (frustratingly so, suppose I am planning to travel away from my home town, G?), they are not so fluid as that. Also, G recognizes which searches are “global” versus “local”, as well as favouring web servers hosted in our respective countries.
Remember that google search and google ads are two separate arms of G using separate techniques and algorithms. They don’t really “talk” to each other.