How to Soar in Your Search Engine Marketing, in the Post Google Era Part 1

By Kamau Austin
Posted Thursday, October 7, 2004

The Three Part Series on the Tao of Search Engine Promotion

"I Wonder if Google will Essentially Ever become Again what it Once Was?"

It is causing a shake up in web marketing circles, and the SEO industry is in chaos. Its Google's Florida and subsequent updates, that have many of us in the web marketing industry taken by storm. Google's latest series of updates has totally dismantled certain niche markets, delivering sparse results in relevancy, not to mention a display of deference to research sites.

At one point during the Florida Update using Google had become ike a throw back to a researchers tool, akin to the old days of the scientist and professors exclusively using the Internet. While Google is once again featuring ecommerce sites in prominent positions, in its search results, it is obvious that the search company wants an online world where commercial interests bid for top search placement.

The Limits of Search Engine Advertising

Google and other search engines have a real problem with the reliance on search advertising, because they have obvious limits for their desired advertising inventory. This is precisely their predicament, because after the first 2 or 3 pages of Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs), search users usually stop scanning the results to launch a new and more specific search, or at worst to abandon their searches altogether.

While allegations swirl about Google's unconventional IPO and the need to force traditional SEO sites into the Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising mainstream, Internet gurus continue to speculate, postulate, and become apologist for Google's erratic updates. I wonder if Google will essentially ever become again what it once was? Google simply was once a great search engine, doing what great search engines do - find the information you are looking for fast and easy.

"Has Google Become the Web App of Filters and Updates Eroding its Relevancy?"

Search is one of the Web's Killer Apps. Google is certainly the dominant player in this market. However, with so many strong arm tactics employed to curtail SEOs and search engine spammers, has Google become the web app of filters and updates eroding its relevancy? Recent reports from widely reported online sources and in the Emarketer statistics email show that Google is losing market share to Yahoo! Furthermore studies have shown that by 2005 Yahoo! search will over take Google in market share.

It is ironic that Yahoo!'s algorithm seems to respond well to traditional on the page optimization.

More ironic is I find it easier to retrieve relevant sites on upstart Search Engine Teoma, with its HITTS ranking algorithm, than Google and its purported off the page PageRank™ algorithms. I realize this has a lot to do with the win at all costs "Black Hat SEO" tactics of many SEOs. Moreover, its loss in relevancy has to do with Google's stop SEO spam at all costs counter measures. I would opine that Google has never seen a SEO who isn't a spammer in their book. This is why I think they toy with the SEO community with esoteric concepts like PageRank™. Google gives these concepts high visibility to SEOs (like a PageRank™ feature on its toolbar) so we SEO's devote a lot of time building our PageRank™. While it is obvious PageRank™ is only a portion of its ranking system.

"Is Google's Promotion of the PageRank™ Algorithm Really Just Bate and Switch Tactics to Marginalize SEO ?"

Google's claim to fame was the use of PageRank™ to garner its trademark relevant search results. However, given the fact that some of Google's management considers SEO a technical form of alchemy or black magic, is Google's promotion of PageRank™ really just bate and switch tactics to marginalize SEO? We hear rumblings that the next leap in search engine relevancy will be the semantic web. Do we know if the looming semantic web will be an enhancement to Google's algorithm?

I know search engine spam must stop, but has Google's solutions become even worst than the problem? I know many "White Hat SEO's like Jill Whalen of High Rankings.com and myself whom advocate creating the best possible content on a web site. Therefore, if Google uses every chance it gets to filter, ban, or de-rank optimized web sites, it will adversely affect its ranking relevancy as well.

For example stopping email spam at all costs has made it almost impossible to run an email business? Email another major killer app on the Internet has been rendered almost totally unreliable for any business communications by the aggressive filtering of egregious and deleterious spam by major ISPs. Most legitimate e-marketers deplore the use of email spam, but the only solutions major ISPs have given to stop the spam problem are filters and self serving toll charges to send email. Will search become another casualty in the war against unethical spammers?

Is Google, in a similar fashion, throwing out the baby with the bath water, or killing the golden goose with its bias against ecommerce sites using some measure of SEO Strategies?

In the following parts of this series I will share with you the SEO strategies I have employed to keep my rankings high with the aggressively influx Google Algorithm, top rankings with Yahoo!, and even top rankings with the new Microsoft search algorithm. Until next time stay tuned for Part 2.

About the Author
Kamau Austin, helps small and minority business make more money, by creating, search friendly web sites. He is the owner of (http://www.Ebizbydesign.com) , (http://www.Einfonews.com) , (http://www.carolsartshows.com) and the creator of the Free Search Engine Promotion Tele-course at: (http://www.SearchEngineplan.com)