Are You Allied with Google's Enemy?

 

Seo Experts – The modern day cowboy/girl

In case I’ve attracted the wrong audience by accident, and you’re interested in reading an article about the life of an actual ‘modern day cowboy’ check out this fantastic, but irrelevant article!

Now that we have that sorted, let’s discuss the analogy.

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. Search Engine Optimisation involves the practice of optimising a website so it can be listed highly in Google's search rankings.

SEO experts are Google's enemies, in fact, some of Google’s greatest enemies.

At any time, clippings of Google’s algorithm could be discovered by this band of merry men/women – who ultimately intend to take advantage of Google’s secret TrustRank system. (shhhh)

This TrustRank system contributes significantly to how high a particular website listing ranks in Google’s search engine.

Of course particular individuals would be willing to take advantage of this system and - as guns for hire - improve the rank of their client’s websites.

So, just like the Cowboys and Cowgirls of the past, both white and black hat types exist.

 

 

White hat types generally contribute to a website increasing its rank through ‘natural’ means; while on the contrary, the black hat type takes direct – and undesired - advantage of trends in Google’s TrustRank system.

And so brings the birth of a multi-decade old conflict.

In order for us to appropriately understand the reasons behind this ongoing conflict, we must first understand Google’s intention.

 

Google’s Righteous Intention

 

Google understands that to make money through a new age business platform, the platform must be developed best for the user as number one priority.

If Google’s purpose is to help the everyday man/woman find what they’re looking for, what they would never want is a system which leads the user to a source which seems legitimate on the cover, but in actual fact is simply and utterly low quality.

So how do they stop low quality listings from pretending they’re important?

Google has spent the majority of its existence developing their underlying algorithms to assist with determining whether a websites mechanism for obtaining TrustRank is deemed ‘natural’.

There’s an endless list of reasons for why a website's trust earning methods would be deemed ‘unnatural’, and for this reason, I will not be covering this area in detail.

You might want to check out this article if this subject is of particular interest to you.

Now, let us continue with our cute, little narrative.

 

 

The Conflict

 

We have established, or at least began to explore that ever since its reign, Google has been in conflict with SEO Experts.

In the early days, black hat SEO Experts would adopt methods of internet traffic gain which ultimately provided them and their clients with relentless benefits.

These black hat SEO strategies damaged Google’s system and brand.

In case you’re wondering what these strategies included, here's a short list.

-          Content Automation

-          Doorway Pages

-          Keyword Stuffing

-          Reporting a Competitor

-          Purchasing Links

 

So what did Google do to combat these manipulative fiends?

Google changed its algorithm, and began to adopt trickery as a device of misdirection.

Some of the more famous algorithmic changes introduced by Google which flipped the SEO industry upside down include: The Penguin and Panda updates.

 

 

Notice the innocent names branded to these updates – Penguin and Panda - but don’t let them fool you. Many strategies that had been used by SEO Experts for over a decade were made redundant, and in some cases would even backfire on the site’s PageRank score.

I have swapped from the term ‘TrustRank’ to ‘PageRank’ in the previous sentence for one important reason.

Many SEO Experts believe PageRank was the initial important numerical figure which identified a websites rank performance. In light of major algorithm updates, many SEO Experts were bewildered when their sites had a high PageRank score, but weren’t even close to being listed on page 1.

Google had adopted trickery as a device for misdirection.

No longer was PageRank the import numerical figure, but a new, secret ‘TrustRank’ score system was suspected by SEO Experts to be the new determinant.

Interestingly, Google continued to emphasise priority on PageRank score. The PageRank page analysis tool bar was still promoted with importance. They now had a score system as a front to conceal actual practice, which would hopefully catch out the less careful SEO Experts – and hence rank their sites on the later pages of search results where Google believes they should be.

 

 

Moral of the Story

 

Be careful about who you hire, and what promises they make.

For all you know, you could be hiring Google’s enemy.

And if there’s one thing I believe we can all agree on, is the fact that Google usually squashes its enemies.

White hat SEO practice is greatly respected, and essentially can provide traffic opportunities to a website entity at a fraction of the price of alternative avenues of traffic gain.

Rather on the contrary, black hat SEO practice can not only damage your site’s rank, but will also likely drain your funds, rendering a particularly uncomfortable situation.

Search Engine Optimisation is an avenue of specialisation that every serious business should consider.

Do your research and understand the difference between white and black hat SEO Experts.

At all cost, please do not hire the latter.