Articles
The Google Shake-Up of 2004
By Michael Parker
Well, it’s been over a month now and many of our clients have been asking about our Search Engine Optimization (SEO) services and how the latest update of Google’s indexing algorithm impacts how we will be providing SEO services going forward. In short, it won’t greatly impact what we do.
In case you’re unfamiliar with the latest Google update, here is a quick summary: In the middle of November Google changed the algorithm or formula it uses to rank websites. Many sites plummeted from their previously high rankings on keywords that they were deriving a lot of traffic from. To compound the problem, this update happened right before the busy online holiday shopping season so you can imagine the outrage expressed by many website owners over this drop in traffic. Fortunately, we didn’t receive calls of frustration from our SEO clients who weathered the storm quite well. Google normally tweaks its algorithm on a monthly basis but this one was quite different and gives a strong signal as to the direction Google will be taking going forward.
According to many experts in the SEO community, the latest change by Google was made to stave off abusive SEO practices employed to manipulate search engine results. An example of this is keyword stuffing where the repetition of a keyword phrase occurs many times on a single page. Another, less noticeable form of “stuffing” (at least to the viewer) is the repetitive use of keywords that are hidden by making them the same color as that of the background. Though invisible on screen, search engine spiders see them clear as day since it’s the HTML code they're looking at, not what appears on your monitor. Gaining high rankings is critical to any business but you should never cross the line of best practices by using tactics that are frowned upon. Not only will you rank poorly, but you could risk being penalized and removed from an engine’s index altogether.
Most reputable SEO firms don’t utilize such practices, but you need to make sure about the one you choose by first doing a little research. Ask to see some examples of sites they’ve optimized and ask them directly if they use some of the nefarious techniques mentioned. The best SEO campaigns use honest, appropriate content and keywords to legitimately guide traffic to a website.
