I was speaking with Paul Klerck from Info Link IT last week about the new Google Caffeine algorithm. Paul has put some considerable research into what this algorithm is all about. As you can imagine I was listening with baited breath expecting Paul to reveal the answers to all my question as if I was [...]
I was speaking with Paul Klerck from Info Link IT last week about the new Google Caffeine algorithm. Paul has put some considerable research into what this algorithm is all about. As you can imagine I was listening with baited breath expecting Paul to reveal the answers to all my question as if I was about to have the meaning of life revealed to me.
As Paul explained some of the finer points to me about the algorithm, such as Google is now looking for meta keywords, images etc. I got thinking to a conversation that Paul and I had a few weeks earlier.
Paul and I got talking and both agreed on that there are so many individuals and companies out there putting out masses of junk sites that Google is clamping down on. You know, the type of sites that anyone would hate taking up room on their search engine server’s cache, delivering irrelevant results, etc.
In my opinion this sort of mass-site-generation activity in recent years has been the result of software that is easy to get your hands on which creates relatively clean sites. I call them Junk Sites. Some of these junk sites only contain content in the form of an RSS feed or two, lots of Adsense and even more affiliate links.
I believe that Google, our best friend, is likely gone back to basics and looking for all the old things that make up a “real website”. Elements such as: privacy policies, disclaimers, contact forms, images (that are on the same server as the site), perhaps a flash intro.
If you want to put everything in basic terms. Real web sites get ranked. I have had enough experience in this field to know that when you create a crap site for the purpose of ranking in the search engines or marketing your latest product you must make sure it doesn’t resemble a junk site in the slightest.
That means all the typical links across the top: about us, services, location, contact us, etc.
Google just knows which sites are the junk ones and if your site is one of those it will get dealt with accordingly in the rankings. Google is like Yahoo and Bing in respect of delivering quality content to deliver quality results to mum and dad searching at home. They have a direct interest in ensuring that the search engine results are relevant to what mum and dad consumers type in at home.
When you think about Search Engine Rankings, make sure you have all of the basic elements. I think that Google, now more than ever is clamping down on dodgy sites, promotional sites and giving favour to the old 10 page HTML sites with all the elements of a quality site.
If you want to rank in Google I suggest making a real site that functions properly. Until next time… I am off now to get my new privacy policy and disclaimer written.
Later.
