Friday, February 23, 2018

The Beginning of the End of Organic SEO?

This AMA article covers a lot of ground, and I won't address all of the issues discussed, but it is worth reading in its entirety.

It comes as no surprise that Google has chosen to focus on its revenue generating streams, AdWords and Google Shopping, and as a result, the impact of organic search results is greatly decreased.

Again, while not a surprise, this severely impacts the way the internet as a platform for the smaller voices, smaller companies, without large budgets. It gives Google a LOT of control over what is seen, and who is heard. No amount of keyword stuffing will gain the effects that a paid search return with an image or rich snippet can provide.

One of the more interesting and playfield-leveling factors to come out of these changes affecting the Google Search algorithm is RankBrain, which seeks to promote the honest websites, those with honest product reviews, and the use of normal language, with the intent of providing the most relevant content to a search. The more authentic and qualitative a site is, the higher it will score with RankBrain.

While the exact inputs that affect RankBrain's website score is unknown, it does show Google's interest in maintaining some kind of order to the internet, as it benefits them and their users. As soon as you can't find what you're looking for, you stop searching on Google. Obviously, that won't work for Google. Assuming people continue to scroll past the paid section of the search results, trying to please RankBrain with an authentic, quality website, in addition to leveraging social media and other online platforms, smaller internet players have a chance at being found.

No comments: