How Google Creates Barriers To Entry And What You Can Do About It

Writing by Nick Stamoulis

Google is the Internet. Those of us who have seen the Web grow in various directions understand that Google has remade the Internet in its own image. Google founders were the first to introduce the importance of back links into ranking models and developed a web spider and algorithm to measure the back links of websites for ranking purposes. It is this algorithm that forms the basis of all search engine algorithms today, with a few minor exceptions. Just about all of the search engines consider back links important to one degree or another and the leader in search technology, Google, still considers back links to be very important.

Google And Its Algorithms

Over the years, the algorithms have changed. Every so often, at least a couple of time per year, Google changes its algorithms to place more emphasis on one aspect of search or another. Over time, however, search technology has morphed into what it is today, a system that favors older websites over young and therefore larger businesses over smaller.

As more people go online to start new businesses or to establish a Web presence for their existing business, they will meet with more and more challenges than previous start ups and existing business that made the migration. The reason is because there will be more older sites. Older webmasters, or more experienced, will always have an advantage over new ones. Google’s primary concern is to create better search technology for searchers so anything that will assist searchers in getting the information they are looking for is in the search engine’s best interests. However, further changes will mean more work for webmasters with new webmasters entering the game a lap behind.

Barriers To Entry And How To Overcome Them

Every business has its barriers to entry. Some are natural and some are created by government agencies, bureaucracies, or the market. The barriers to entry in search marketing are created by the search engines whenever their algorithms favor older websites more than newer ones. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it helps to understand it. Because a website’s reputation is based largely on the recommendations (back links) it receives from other websites, with recommendations from websites with higher PageRank (likely older sites) being considered more important, it only makes sense that new webmasters will have a disadvantage. It is a disadvantage, but it isn’t an unreasonable one nor is it one that is difficult to overcome.

This barrier to entry can be overcome through knowledge, education, and the proper relationships. You must educate yourself to the rules of the game. Google has done a great job, and continues to do a great job, of analyzing links to judge whether they are good recommendations from highly respected sites or links designed to game the system and seek artificial respectability. By ferreting out the bad links, Google can ensure that searchers get the best information for their queries. Your job, as webmaster, is help Google do that better. Therefore, you need to learn Google’s standards so that you can meet them.

Preferably, you’ll do that before you build your website. Nevertheless, don’t expect to rise to the top of the search engines overnight. Good SEO takes time. You may not see results for months or years down the road. Don’t give up. Learn the things that make successful SEO, work toward continuous improvement, and adjust your long-term strategies to meet the future trends and the direction of search marketing rather than old information. If, in your research, you discover information about search marketing that is more than a year old, it is likely outdated. Seek current information from the best sources and stay on top of changes as they are made. In time, you’ll be one of the old webmasters and you’ll be teaching the others.