One of the best things about the internet is that it is always changing, expanding, and growing. Like the flow of a river, access to newer information is available at any given time. What was new a second ago is quickly replaced, added to, or superceded.
Because of this steady stream of information and the relative ease of adding to it, one of the downsides of the internet is that a lot of unnecessary, untrue, and irrelevant information gets mixed in, making it more difficult for internet users to find what they are looking for. Instead of the river of information flowing smoothly, poorly written articles and other forms of content become rocks in the rapids that need to be avoided.
The business of internet searching is, essentially, a customer service endeavor. Search engines supply their “customers” with the information they need, as well as the information they want. Phrased another way, they supply information that is both relevant and important. Like businesses who supply a product, search engines are always striving to improve their “product” and increase customer satisfaction.
To this end, search engines are always adapting their algorithms in order to become better at providing users with the information they’re looking for, helping users navigate around those low-quality “obstacles” altogether. Most recently, Google has been leading the way with a new focus on content quality and originality over keywords and quantity. With their release of the Panda algorithm and its updates, as well as with Penguin, Google is working to measure the value of a website and its user experience.
For SEO companies helping clients improve their rankings, these updates may require a slight change of tactics. Since Google is now looking at whether or not sites add something of value to the online world, SEO specialists may need to encourage their clients to produce content that contributes something new. Plagiarizing content or writing something vague and empty for the sake of filling space certainly won’t help improve their rankings, and it may even harm them.
For the work of SEO itself, Google has published on its blog a list of questions that, when applied, may help both you and your clients come up with quality content and practices for improving rankings. When a website adheres to these guidelines, Google is more likely see them as a safe port in which users can harbor.
While many of the questions apply most obviously to web page content, including blogs posts, they also apply to other Search Engine Optimization tasks. For example, at least three of the suggested questions relate to grammar and the mechanics of writing. When link-building for clients, SEO companies can create a high standard of practice where comments make sense, follow grammatical rules, employ correct spellings, and are reread and edited before posting.
Another way that companies can do high caliber work for their clients is to post links only on quality websites. One way to easily scope out a site and ensure high quality is to look over the site and determine if there are a massive amount of ads. Is the content on the page high-quality, or does it contain a ton of links and poor grammar? Either of these red flags should warn you away from a site. You can also check a site’s PageRank and Domain Authority in order to determine the value of the site according to other sources. Both of these methods should help you stay clear of poor quality sites that do more harm than good.
With Google’s newest updates, it’s becoming increasingly clear that quality is king in all aspects of SEO. From the client’s own website to the work performed by SEO companies, quality should be the determining factor. Making quality your highest priority will result in long-term benefits, both for the client and for users navigating the wealth of information on the web.
