Tag Archives: Google’s algorithm

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Reputation Communications

One of the most frequently asked questions online reputation management (ORM) firms receive is, why is this outdated/irrelevant/negative content showing up in my Google search results?

Ultimately, Google’s goal is to provide visitors with the most relevant and reliable information about every topic that is searched for.  AI has not changed that.

That said, AI is rapidly changing the internet in ways that impact how you and your organization appear on Google. If the results that appear in a search of your name and your organization’s look different than they did months ago, AI is why. Earlier this year, Google rolled out AI summaries of its own search results to all users in the U.S. They appear before many websites – including, possibly, your personal branding and company websites. Christopher Mims, the technology columnist for The Wall Street Journal, wrote about that and other changes in his timely article, Googling Is for Old People. That’s a Problem for Google.

But some things have not changed. Sites that have the most comprehensive and well-written information, have the highest number of visitors, and are linked to the most legitimate and high-ranking websites, are still the ones that come up the highest and fastest in Google searches (aside from those Google-created AI summaries). That’s why platforms like Wikipedia, LinkedIn, and video-based ones like Instagram rank so highly…and also why media platforms do, too.  When you strategically create SEO-rich content for those types of outlets, anchored by personal branding websites and other intentional content, you can often outrank the unwanted material that is coming up on your Google searches.  (Our comprehensive guide, The Essentials: Online Reputation Management FAQs, explains why.)

Google has long maintained a market share of around 85 percent of the global search market. Bing accounts for under 4 percent of it. Google and Bing are spending billions of dollars to utilize AI in their search results, but those stats are not changing.

As the world’s dominant search engine, Google publishes considerable, free information about what makes its algorithm tick. It also keeps the world informed every time it makes a change to its algorithm via the X site, Google Search Central (@googlesearchc). Check them out when you have time.

 
 
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Many people seeking online reputation repair hope for an instant, fast tool. For all the bells and whistles that can be promoted in this industry, here is what you need to know.

Content is the most important tool in online reputation management (ORM). It has remained so during all of Google’s many algorithm changes. The quality of material placed online, whether it is text, video or anything else, affects how Google evaluates its importance, credibility and relevancy.

Google is constantly refining and updating its algorithm, the system it uses to establish the credibility and value of a site over others. One reason is because so many efforts are continually made to game the system: to trick Google and other search engines into erroneously believing that fake content, fake websites and meaningless links (a search engine optimization, or SEO, tool) are credible and thus worth a high ranking.  A high ranking means a site is given more precedence over others. Many factors factor into it – some of which Google identifies and more it doesn’t.

Proactive Content, Strategically Placed, is a Key Strategy

Many damaged reputations result from not having erected a wall of proactive content that serves as a buffer to offset consumer-generated media (CGM). CGM includes the anonymous blog and forum comments that often form the most damaging threat to reputations. Proactive content counterbalance such sentiment, as well as negative online information that may be factual and from respected sources. When there is little content about an individual or organization online, on appropriate platforms and with the SEO that enriches it, anything that anyone posts online about that topic goes straight to the top of the list of results in a Google search—and can stay there.

Strategy Determines Best Type of Image for You or Your Organization

Effective content is information-rich text as well as videos, photographs, podcasts and any other form of information that can be placed online. Ineffective content has a junky or low-quality aspect. When you see meaningless text about an individual or organization plastered on numerous generic websites that lack a clear organizational unity or credible hosting site, you are seeing a generic ORM campaign that is mass-produced for hundreds or thousands of people and organizations. If you care about your or your organization’s image, it might not be an appropriate approach for you. What is important is intelligent, well-crafted text and other material that aptly reflects and adds value to your brand. 

To learn more, read: The Essentials: Online Reputation Management FAQs.

 
 
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Beginning in February 2011, Google began implementing a series of changes to its search algorithm that remove more low-quality sites from search results. The update, termed “Google Panda,” correspondingly rewards high-quality websites.

Google Panda 4.2 is being phased in slowly over the coming months. If you see the search ranking for your website change abruptly, the update is the likely explanation. The updated algorithm penalizes spelling and grammatical errors, as well as slow speed and redundant content. Search Engine Land provides a comprehensive guide to Panda. It will answer many of your questions.

 
 
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SEO: What You Need to Know

Search engine optimization is constantly evolving. For more than a decade SEO experts have been able to adapt many of their strategies in relation to the periodic changes that Google has made to its search algorithms. Now that one of Google’s major algorithms is transitioning to more continuous updates, SEO is becoming an even more fluid practice. With this shift, understanding both the core fundamentals and the latest factors involved in effective SEO will be more important than ever.

Google’s Webmaster Tools

With so many experts and firms out there offering a variety of services and advice, it’s easy to overlook the valuable resources that Google itself provides for free through its Webmaster Tools. It’s Webmaster Guidelines, for example, offer a concise overview of the fundamentals of SEO, dividing them into three key areas. The design and content section recommends creating “a useful, information-rich site” that has “a clear hierarchy and text links” and points to best practices for media content and rich snippets. The technical guidelines cover the basics of how Google “crawls” websites and the importance of the robots.txt file. Perhaps most important, though, are the quality guidelines, which, in addition to listing specific “illicit practices” to avoid, identifies four basic principles to follow:

  • Make pages primarily for users, not for search engines.
  • Don’t deceive your users.
  • Avoid tricks intended to improve search engine rankings. A good rule of thumb is whether you’d feel comfortable explaining what you’ve done to a website that competes with you, or to a Google employee. Another useful test is to ask, “Does this help my users? Would I do this if search engines didn’t exist?”
  • Think about what makes your website unique, valuable, or engaging. Make your website stand out from others in your field.

Planning for the future

Google’s latest algorithm updates are likely ushering in a new era of SEO. “The old linking tactics and the old junk content — they’re not part of a valuable strategy and won’t bring the results you are looking for,” Search Engine Land columnist Aaron Friedman warns. This will make the principles listed above even more vital, but fortunately they align quite nicely with good online reputation management practices. “Create good, high quality content,” Friedman recommends. “Earn relevant and solid links because of the incredible content you build.”

That echoes my own outlook back in 2012, when I wrote that “creating great content is the only long-term strategy for building page rank.” Content isn’t everything, of course. With developments like Google’s new “Mobile Friendly” ranking and the growing popularity of voice searches, user experience is also becoming a more important part of SEO—as is social media. Outdated practices will give way to these factors, but not much will change for those already employing smart ORM strategies and adhering to Google’s principles. SEO engineer Mike King put it best in a Search Engine Land post compiling experts’ predictions for 2015: “Great SEO is really no different than it was a few years ago. Terrible SEO is what’s changed drastically.”