How Google Kills The Uninitiated

Writing by Nick Stamoulis Tweet

SEOBook has an awesome post this morning discussing how Google is propping up name brands in its search engine rankings. The first thought for some small business people might be, “Hey, that’s not fair!” But before you go that route, keep in mind that Google has said all along that its first and primary goal is to provide the best information for searchers. If listing name brands for core keywords does that then Google is doing its job. The real question for small marketers and small business persons who seek to compete with name brands is this: “How do I enter the Top 10 Club?”

While reading the post from SEOBook, I found several gems buried there that many readers likely won’t find because they’ll focus too heavily on the overall message of branding that the post conveys. But these little gems are every bit as important as the big picture. Google uses its SERPs to influence consumer behavior through its algorithms and associated keyword ranking structures. Here are a few ways that Google does this through its SERPs:

• Link Diversity – If you have a lot of inbound links using the same anchor text from like websites, all directories for instance, then you may notice that your rankings won’t do as well as your competition who build links using varied anchor text from a larger variety of website categories.
• Keyword Repetition – Many SEOs and small business marketers are still under the impression that repeating the same keyword phrase over and over again in your on-page content is the way to rank for that key phrase; the truth is you can rank for a key phrase without using it on your page at all and the key to keyword targeting is to use relevant related words to assist much the same way that a point guard can assist a good center in basketball.
• Keyword Splitting – One strategy that is often overlooked (as in almost always) is keyword splitting; this involves taking a multiple word phrase and using the words together in close proximity but not necessarily contiguously on every usage – for example, “affordable health care” could be written as “health care that is affordable” or “affordable and effective health care”.
• Focus On Traffic Benefits – Google favors high traffic website; instead of using social media to build links like so many other marketers are trying to do, why not use it instead to connect with your target market and drive targeted traffic to your website?
• Content Diversity – Universal Search has made content diversity all the more important; marketers who want to build their brands and enter the coveted Top 10 Club would do their brands a world of good by creating great marketing videos, taking advantage of Google Maps for local targeting, and using multiple verticals like Google Base, Google Books, and Google Product Search to tap into niche vertical rankings.
• Authority Leveraging – Google favors name brands and high traffic older sites with a high authority, so why not build one? Or, often even better, build a relationship with one so that you can leverage their authority for your benefit. One healthy relationship with a high authority name brand website can do your smaller site wonders in the search rankings.
• Semantic Language Optimization – Google CEO Eric Schmidt has said that word relationships are where Google is headed, and from what I’ve seen they’ve already implemented page and site analysis techniques that rely on semantic language so why not optimize with this in mind? In the future, every search engine that is worth using will utilize semantic technology to some degree and you will likely see information ranking based solely on its value as information rather than on keyword and link value.

This analysis is based on Aaron Wall’s great blog post on Google branding. To read the entire article you have to join SEOBook. I’m not saying you should do that – it’s a decision you’ll have to make – but this blog post is based entirely on the free version of the article. There is much more to learn from Google’s emphasis on branding, but if you want to enter the Top 10 Club then you would do yourself well to study Google’s idea of quality information and target your information with those techniques in mind. Gone are the days when search engine optimization consultants counted keywords.