I had a lot of fun at Search Engine Strategies last week and apparently, so did Loren McDonald, VP of Marketing for EmailLabs.com, who says he also enjoys WebProWorld and
WebProNews coverage on Google and reads the newsletters regularly.
After I interviewed Loren on
email marketing, we discussed the recent changes at Google. He gave me his perspective on what's going on.
"Google is a client of ours and our account representative was clueless about the changes going on [even though] we spend quite a bit of money on our premium sites. Maybe she was feigning ignorance, but I'm shocked that she wasn't hearing anything."
According to Danny Sullivan, if you're complaining about lower rankings, you should buy paid advertisements with Google so at least you'll have someone to talk to on their end. Even the practice of buying paid advertisements doesn't guarantee higher organic ranking, but at least you'll have a voice at Google.
I didn't get any real solid information from Google representatives regarding the algorithm change, other than the statement that Google is obsessed with user experience.
"We use
Digital Point, a free tracking service where you enter keywords and a URL and track Google API automatically. For all of the lesser important ones we are ranking at number one but not the most highly-searched. We basically saw no movement but for the most critical and competitive sites, they disappeared. We were in the top twenty or top forty but we went off the top two hundred. Now, we're back to forty-five when we were at seventeen. We're moving back up but I haven't been able to figure out why the less prominent sites retain the top spot. It's very interesting."
Money is a big reason for why they might have dropped rankings for many keywords. Personally, I don't see the value to Google, and neither does Loren.
"I'm a big Google fan," Loren says, "but the one thing that impressed me over the last couple of years is their focus on the end searcher. As an advertiser, I've gotten screwed several times, but it benefits me as a searcher and as a user. Everything I've seen Google do is focused on the searcher. It's part of the Google brand. It's why they're so great! It pains me sometimes, but I value it as a user and I respect it. I could be wrong but I don't think they're doing this for the money."
What's going on then? So what's Loren's theory on the recent changes? "They're all about the brand and building relevance. They're fanatical. What we've seen over the last year is they goof up occasionally and correct it in about thirty days. They're tweaking their algorithm because they know we're figuring it out. Nine months ago, I tried figuring it out and it worked for me. But they're keeping us on our toes."
Loren brings up a good point. Google want organic results and relevancy. He believes they are "trying to scare all of us into toning it down so that it would level the playing field." It's true that there is no free ride in Google right now, but I think it's been a good opportunity for everyone to look at other alternatives. Google isn't the only search engine out there.
Another theory. Another theory is that Google is trying to get people to optimize their sites based on the old rules, and once that's done they'll slam the door on them and then people who make adjustments based on the new algorithm will lose PR forever. I've heard things will get back to normal by the 19th of December, but we're still watching that. I'm just curious to see what will happen.
EmailLabs Talks Google
Linear Mode
