With the advent of search evolution and new search technologies beckoning at the door of online business, one message that should be in the forefront of every businesses modus operandi for 2008 is “Don’t get Too Comfortable at the Top”.
Resting on the laurels of yesteryear is a sure fire-method to find your “once relevant results” that ranked as if they were the very fabric of search engines (until now), replaced by more pertinent or relevant information from a savvy competitor or sophisticated new kid on the block who are hungry for a piece of your market share.
Don’t be surprised if one day you’re checking your rankings only to find that your search results have been punted to a less than favorable position or are nowhere in sight.
With the advent of personalized search which uses an artificial intelligence like algorithm that attempts to pair search results with your search behavior and incorporates local search results, maps, videos and pages from the most trafficked online properties, those who stand still and do nothing are essentially poised for search engine extinction and have more chance of finding a needle in a haystack than finding their pages in the next generation of search.
As search algorithms change, the way we search and the search behavior that support it is also a work in progress.
Fundamentally for the majority of websites that have indelibly made their mark “as authority sites” from static pages of the past, or build their castles on outdated programming platforms. The new and improved web architecture of 3-D search has issued a new set of demands for consideration when dishing out top 10 rankings and determining who stays or who is removed from the top 10 spotlight.
For those who would rest on their laurels and abandon the entire idea of adding fresh content on a regular basis, they may surprisingly see their search results falling to the wayside to the new and improved algorithm.
Content is the deciding factor, so if your still sporting a 5 page website with thousands of links pointing at a very narrow series of keywords, you may in fact be teetering on a path of extinction as blogs, and other link friendly methods allow others to rally your message straight to the top 10 through a number of means.
It is not even necessary to have a website as web 2.0 properties with tons of inbound links make it easy enough for anyone to promote their wares. As an example, with so many ways to make your mark such as podcasts, video, social media and specialized communities Ranging from Myspace to Facebook, there is a niche for every niche.
Surprisingly, each element has it’s place and when it’s time to get down to business and you are looking for resources to hire someone for a project, find out what time your favorite movie is playing, check out the latest gadgets or conduct research for your next big article, let’s face it, search engines are the gatekeepers for the wild card queries that in a nutshell require fulfillment now.
As a result savvy internet entrepreneurs and moguls alike have stepped up to carve out a piece of the pie for their own interests. For every major keyword that is over-saturated, hundreds of less competitive long-tail phrases have popped up to funnel portions of this traffic from the lifeblood of the industry.
Specialization and compartmentalization are natural reactions when you have corporate brands, entrepreneurs and and small businesses alike all attempting to set their flags atop as many traffic bearing keywords that can increase their brands’ empire, exposure and ultimately the bottom line.
Yet, the main conclusion here is, stay busy, stay focused and above all look for more and more opportunities to leverage media and online exposure to build new bridges back to your brand. Whether it’s a blog, a local business, a gallery or a corporation they all need optimization in order to stave off the competition, which most assuredly is closing in.
If you haven’t already read these posts, here are a few resources you may consider for your reading list:
Understanding Search Engine Optimization
Local Search Engine Optimization Tips
Building Links for Competitive Terms or the Long Tail of Search
4 Indispensable Tools for Competitive Research
Authority Site Building and Leveraging Website Authority
