Strategy of Google Search Engine Optimization

Behold the Google Overlord.

It’s all in hand, but the reality remains if you want your Internet Marketing strategy to be successful you must play to win on the search engines. If you want to win on the search engines, you must win on Google.

The reality is that Google controls the overwhelming majority of the search market. If your website ranks well only on Yahoo, or MSN you are losing business. Yahoo Search Engine Optimization and MSN Search Engine optimization to differ from Google Optimization. Most of the Search Engine Optimization article works on the assumption of Google Optimization, so I won’t go into the broader aspects of search engine optimization here.

However it’s good to get comfortable with the idea that you will need to pay close attention to Google and it’s changes. When Google sneezes on one side of the world, SEO‘s and Internet Marketing companies everywhere fell the Hurricanes and Tornados.

Google as a search engine is currently the most advanced search engine, it is also the least forgiving of errors. If your website is caught doing something that Google doesn't like, you will rapidly lose rank or be delisted. If you are delisted or banned, it can destroy your companies profitabiliy online.

Google Search Engine Optimization Quirks:

Review & Opinion Sites:

Google seems to give higher authority to review websites, or pages that it interprets to be offering reviews and feedback on others. I have on numerous occasions been able to promote positive reviews written online about clients elsewhere to top 5 ranking ahead of some of the companies actual competitors. Interesting.

Google also loves negative reviews. Some sites such as the Rip-Off-Report hold ranks that are difficult to understand. Take a look at this interesting blog about a Chris Bennet Article over at Seomoz.

Google on Links

Google will weigh links more heavily then other search engines from websites with the same theme. For instance a website reviewing Hyundai’s, linking to a Hyundai Dealership will be more benefitial for the Hyundai Dealership then a link from a random website that has nothing to do with cars at all.
Of course this is true of most search engines, but especially so with Google. It’s common to see websites ranking number one with thousands fewer links ranking higher then their competition simply because of the quality and authority of the sites linking to them.

Search Engines such as MSN on the other hand guage more on volume.

Domain Age:

Google will examine your whois information to determine the age of your domain. Newer websites will have a more difficult time reaching the upper echelons of the search rankings. Note I said more difficult, it’s not by any means impossible. Google does recognize good content.

Google Search Engine Optimization Negatives:

Over Optimization:

Too much of a good thing can hurt. If your keyword density is too high, Google will consider
it to be keyword stuffing. Beware of using your H tags too heavily. If your website hits every SEO good practice and then some, Google may begin to think you are “SEO Aware”.

Affiliate Sites:

Sometime ago there was a Google update called the “Florida Update”. It primarily focused on affiliate websites. From personal experience, this was painful. Several travel websites wiped out literally overnight. A small website will become penalty bait as it grows in backlinks. Spend equal time growing your website content and number of pages as you grow backlinks.

Keyword Generalization:

Don’t use keywords that obviously have nothing to do with your website. Google in particular is unkind to websites that do this. Have a website about many different topics? Use better SEO tactics to limit or avoid this effect. Use proper file structure in the form of sub-directories or sub-domains.

Linking within the same IP Block

If you have 20 websites hosted on your server, don’t bother linking them together. Google will check the IP’s of all the sites that are linking together. This form of crosslinking is simple for Google to detect and they will punish all of your websites for doing it.

If you want to crosslink your websites, be prepared to step up and buy shared accounts on different IP blocks.

Hotlinking Images:

Google doesn’t care if you hotlink and load images from someone elses server. Until they report you. Once that happens expect your rankings to fall.