Is Your Company Prepared to Handle Google’s Next Big Change?
By Michelle Greer, August 14th, 2009
The Google algorithm is about to change. It’s changing significantly and it will affect how you can shape the relationship you have with your customers online.
That’s a pretty drastic statement. Can you explain why this is?
Everyone knows that sites listed highly in Google get more traffic than those that don’t. This can be achieved through search engine optimization. Search engine optimization at its base level is fairly simple. Sites listed highly in Google are 1.) relevant to the keyword a searcher types in 2.) linked to heavily by other sites that are relevant to that topic and 3.) archived frequently, which means Google’s crawlers have repeatedly “viewed” what is on their pages.
In a new shift in how websites are indexed, Google will soon be moving more towards a “real time” web. To what extent we are not sure about yet as Google doesn’t reveal its methodology, but they have a test site where you can check how results will differ.
What does this mean?
It means that fresh content, both by you and about you, will take a higher level of precedence over content that has simply been there a long time.
Why does this affect how my company interacts with customers on the web?
If a customer complains about your company in social media, it has the potential to usurp your own website in Google search engine result pages much faster than it used to. If he or she gives a glowing review, this could also be the case. As someone who is monitoring your company’s reputation, competitors, and your industry online, you have the potential to help shape how this dialog unfolds and affect how your site is listed in Google. Brand managers will have to act more like customer service reps than ever before.
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Tags: Biz360, Community Insights, google caffeine, monitor brand online, monitor brand web, monitor keywords web, online reputation management, real time web, reputation monitoring, web pr monitoring
I think this is great, Old stagnate sites get ranked too high now, I’m often time finding old sites with outdated content just because they have had the same article on a subject since 2002. Technology moves too quick to keep this old content indexed above relevant content.
An article on website development in 2002 isn’t going to do much good in 2009/2010