The Secret Equation

June 4, 2007

Okay so maybe I haven’t blogged about Google in maybe… 3 posts. The New York Times recently had an excellent article about Google and the way they go about making sure everyone gets the best search results possible.

Of particular interest to me was how they note “broken searches” and out of a simple complaint of a broken search for “teak patio Palo Alto” turned into a change in algorithms that made it easier for hometown businesses to be found online.

There is also the QDF (query deserves freshness) because the engineers discovered that not every searcher wants “the freshest” results – some want the old information they may have seen or heard of before. So there is now an algorithm for that.

It’s amazing that the people who work in “Building 43” at Googleplex are so adept at figuring out what people really want based on search queries. They are also amazingly aware that there are companies who try to “trick the system” and produce artificially inflated results.

Being a high-ranking site in Google is more important than ever – the sheer amount of time and research Google devotes to quality search results is enormous. And it’s even more straightforward than ever to gain high rankings (although not easier).

To quote Seth Godin’s blog:

“It seems to me that in the SEO arms race, shortcuts have a shorter shelf-life than ever before. Building 43 is obsessed with them, and they outnumber whoever you might hire to beat the system. Organic success, on the other hand, is a clear path. If you want to be on the front page of matches for “White Plains Lawyer”, then the best choice is to build a series of pages (on your site, on social sites, etc.) that give people really useful information.”

This is something all of the legitimate search enthusiasts have known all along and this knowledge is based upon the actions of the searchers as they are tracked coming in and out of our client websites.

Following Google’s lead in meeting the expectations of searchers is the best path toward internet marketing success.

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