Google changes mean brands need to increase focus on content
Last week saw major changes in the way Google looks, and in the results it produces. In this guest posting, Andrew Hughes argues that Australians brands will miss major opportunities if they do not make use of the new tools it offers
Almost every internet user in Australia will now have seen the updated Google search results pages known as the “Jazz interface”, and will no doubt have their own thoughts on how it will change the way that they search the web.
With the more prominent News, Blog, Videos and Image search options, there are now more opportunities for users to refine their search results, based on their unique search preferences.
Since the end of last month, a major update of Google’s search infrastructure has also been taking place, with the roll-out of the much awaited changes known as the Caffeine update. These changes should enable Google to improve the search result relevancy through the greater understanding of website authority, reputation and at the same time will enable the deep indexing of content where previously it has been limited.
With the new results pages live, and the roll out of the improved systems architecture, Google can index more web content and better match this content to user searches through improvements to their relevancy matching. This reinforces the need for organisations to publish content in a variety of formats, optimising to support their brand, product and corporate message.
News, video, image and micro-formats are driving the new search results and without a blended search optimisation strategy that takes into account the changing search environment, many companies will only ever be present in the paid and traditional organic search results – missing the opportunity to reach new and wider audiences, simply because they are not providing search engines with the correctly formatted information about their site and rich-media content.
A major feature on the new “Jazz” blended search results page is the increased presence of AdWords, and, this along with the changes to Google Places (formerly Google Local Business) over recent months, has resulted in a number of new format ads being available within the Google Sponsored listings, including maps and directions, video and click to call.
The continued personalisation of search results means that individual search preferences and online behaviour will further influence the search results pages. With real-time search and blog search evolving rapidly, the opportunity to optimise trending real-time topics through quick content creation and the distribution of this highly relevant content through social media channels and news feeds to maximise exposure is becoming more relevant than ever before.
The consequences of all of these changes is increased diversity in the search results, but many businesses are missing opportunities to generate traffic to their sites, simply through not utilising search tools correctly (if at all). Specifically: not using the new localisation tools now available with Google Places and AdWords: Not optimising video, news and images by correct use of sitemaps and site-feed formats, resulting in poorer performance compared to competitors adapting to these changes.
Changes that you can implement immediately:
- Publish as much relevant content as possible on your own website rather than just to third party sites
- Link Google AdWords and Google Analytics to improve search engine marketing reporting
- Link Google AdWords and Google Places – use AdWords enhancements to improve Sponsored Links
- Install Google webmaster tools (WMT) on each web property (site/blog/forum)
- Fix and resolve any errors and issues that WMT highlights with your websites
- Create and submit news, video, image website and mobile sitemaps through WMT
- Where possible use micro formats within your site to enhance your search listings
Website owners should implement the recommendations outlined above to reinforce their search presence, ensuring that all digital assets are performing optimally in the search space. Search optimisation is an “always on” activity, and without long term commitment and an understanding of the changing search environment it is possible for businesses to find themselves to quickly be left behind.
- Andrew Hughes is Senior Consultant for SEO and social media optimisation at Reprise Media, part of Interpublic Group’s Mediabrands operation in Australia. He will be talking about social media metrics at tomorrow’s Digital Citizens event in Sydney
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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Good update and good checklist. Places is quite a powerful upgrade. And another thing is that I think outsourcing these updates wouldn’t be too expensive and would produce a good ROI. (No, we don’t do this work, not a plug just a thought.)
Walter @g2m
http://xeesm.com/walter
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Great tips Andrew, I think companies assume their SEO begins and ends with Adwords and don’t even consider their content or site infrastructure
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Thanks for helping “non search” people . Your #1 is especially interesting … wondering if that will mean less people will want to guest post on blogs/other sites. Also what will it do to cross posting the same post?
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Thanks for the feedback. Glad that it has been useful.
@Mandi – most people miss that if a brand is present in both AdWords & Organic Click-Though rate increases by 7% according to Google. (a “combined click-through rates are 5.1% higher when paid and organic listings are present simultaneously than when only the organic listings are present.” according to Nov. 09 Study by New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business)
@Toby – I think that publishing first on your own website (even though Google says that they can work out who the originating author is) and then building Canonical Authority/Links back to your site is advisable:
http://googlewebmastercentral......omain.html
/y0z
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Isn’t it weird how quietly Google introduces product upgrades. Every other product I can think of makes a big deal about the smallest thing (“NOW!!! In new FAMILY size!!!!!).
Google pretty much just slides ’em in.
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