As the world wide web evolves and changes, so too does the keepers of the internet, the search engines. With this latest Google page Rank updates, we've learned that Google has begun to change what it perceives as important in determining the order of a SERP (Search Engine Results Page). It's a Search Engine Optimization professional's job to stay on top of these variables, constantly analyzing and testing, and figuring out what factors are most important in getting a site higher in the rankings for a SERP.
Many of the factors in SEO have been known for a very long time. But the question is, with the internet shifting to an architecture more conducive to social marketing, how much has Search Engine Optimization really changed? What do we know that's new? Here's a list of my top five factors in Search Engine Optimization there weren't necessarily very important just a few years ago.
New SEO Factors To be Aware of
1. Evidence of Selling links - Probably the biggest change in Google's algorithm in 5 years or more, it is now confirmed that they are strongly penalizing sites that they suspect are selling text links. There's been a huge outcry from webmaster across the internet that have had their sites completely dropped from Google altogether. If you are selling advertising on your sites, make sure you remove all mention of it, just to be on the safe side.
2.Outbound Links without the 'no-follow' Attribute - As Google attempts to monopolize advertising on the internet, they've begun to penalize sites that appear to be selling links without using the 'no-follow' tag. That is, of course, unless they are from AdSense, then they are perfectly ok. They appear to be justifying this by saying that these sites may be selling links. That is, of course, unless the links are from AdSense, then they are perfectly ok. We advise you to use the no-follow attribute often unless the links are actually embedded in content.
3. Overuse of Outbound Links - Once upon a time, it was safe to have a dozen or more outbound links in the footer or blogroll of your site without repercussion. Now, it looks like Google is beginning to penalize sites with too many outbound links, especially if you link to sites that are questionable or unrelated. Keep your outbound links to a minimum, and outbound links without a no-follow attribute to even fewer.
4. Inbound Links from Paid Directories - I know directory owners will hate to hear this one, but in Google's holy crusade against paid links, they are not only discounting inbound links they suspect were paid for, we have strong evidence that they are actually penalizing not only the directory, but the sites they think purchased the links. Don't use any of the massive paid directory submissions. In fact, I now recommend that clients avoid directories, except the really good ones, altogether.
5. All Inbound Links using the Same anchor Text - This one is kind of interesting. As Google continues to force webmaster to link to sites more naturally, they are beginning to discount inbound links that always have the same anchor text. It's a good idea to very the key phrases in your anchor text. Vary the capitalization, order of words, and substitute synonyms occasionally so your links look more natural.
Post new comment