These initiatives specifically move web development from tactical to strategic design methods.
1. Going Incognito in Google Chrome
Starting September 2013 Google made organic searches secure. This loss of keyword search data makes organic search SEO more challenging and requires that SEO firms have a more in-depth understanding of your practice business operations. There are work-arounds, but it just won’t be quite as simple as it was in the pass to get fast results.
2. No PageRank Update Since February
Historically, Google updated the PageRank in the Google Toolbar every 3 months or so, but those numbers haven’t been updated since early 2013. This means a year has gone by with no updates, Google says they now don’t Page Rank anymore.
3. Hummingbird
This is really a major platform change. Google has built a capability to understand conversational search queries much better than before. For example, submit a query to Google such as “show me pictures of Sochi snow board venue”, and it does.
4. Google+
This one isn’t really new but a lot of momentum has been attained by Google and there is clear impact on search, such as the display of personalized results:
It seems likely that this content sharing network helps with establishing “identities” and “semantic relevance.” Thus, its impact on SEO results is now significant.
5. Authorship
Authorship too isn’t new (launched on June 7, 2011), Google uses this enhanced program to associate new pieces of content with the person who wrote it.
Over time, this data can be potentially used to measure the strength of a specific author’s who creates content that attracts strong responses (links, social shares, +1s, comments) and give the author a higher “Author Rank”
Conclusion: your personal authorship authority matters.
6. In-Depth Articles
Google announced a new feature, in-depth articles August 2013.
Google has concluded that “up to 10% of users’ daily information needs require learning about a broad topic”. This is an important issue. It appears that over time this feature will create a new dimension to the Google search engine algorithm.
There is a Pattern to These Google Initiatives:
Historically web development has been a tactical exercise using PageRank and keywords. Removing these options makes the understanding of the six listed changes motivation for more strategic behavior.
To better understand how these changes will affect your Internet and social media results, contact a PUMC Internet marketing specialist.