What is Google Waiting For?
Throughout the years, we have witnessed certain features we believed Google would either change or alter. Question is, why has it not happened yet? Here are six things marketers believed Google would change but has not!
1) The Importance of Links
To SEO companies and marketers in general, it seems like a common rule to always add relevant links to a website for high ranking. However, there is no significant data which proves Google views “on topic” links as more important than “off topic” links. Remember that “on topic” means the link is relevant to the content on the specific website and “off topic” means that the relevance is low compared to the content. Now, why would Google defer in considering the importance? For one simple reason, sometimes the more relevant link is not the popular one. Maybe mass popularity comes from a completely different perspective in the world of, let’s say, botanic gardening. Google likes the more popular approach, even preferring it due to the broad view it gives the searcher.
2) Anchor Text Influence
We all knew this one was coming. For a while now, SEO companies were pretty sure the significance of anchor text would decline in coming years, but it still has not. Some possible reasons is that Google sees the value in anchor text. Anchor text inside a link has the possibility to be more important than generic text. With the increased ranking power, websites still use anchor text to rank higher in search engines. Thus, it seems as if anchor text still remains a pretty influential part of SEO practice.Although anchor text regularly is used to manipulate rankings, better results are generated with it than without it.
3) One Redirect Location
Although this one is inevitable, Google is not planning on changing it anytime soon. SEO companies know that by now, all redirects should have just become a permanent 301 redirect. These include 302 and any other redirects in the 300’s. So, since this change is not happening as of yet, it is still very important to get all redirects correct when working on a website.
4) Rel= Canonical
By now, we would have thought Google would have made rel=canonical more of a hint and less directive. While you put some on a page, Google will not index anything that is directly on the page you have issue the rel=canonical. Why? It is because it is hard to interpret that page of a is now on b. So, make sure you deindex a lot of pages easily so you can get a higher ranking.
5) Importance of Social Accounts
Today, social media sites Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter, and LinkedIn are huge when it comes to sharing your brand name and gaining more leads. However, ever since Google broke the partnership with Twitter, social media in no way makes an influence towards website ranking. Shares, likes, and tweets still bring no importance than a larger audience to search engine ranking. Why? Well, Google knows that more popular social media shares will generate more links or be mentioned later, which will therefore help them their rankings regardless.
6) Taking Out the Trash
Since Google is seen as a referee in search engines, we would expect that by now they would take care of all the web spam and other unmentionables.
Contact Branded Innovation if you have any questions or comments regarding Google’s latest changes.
