The frustration of Google SEO

I guess you could call this a moan / rant or similar.

It is getting almost impossible to optimize your websites for competitive markets in Google. There seems to be a growing consensus that tried and tested methods such as relavant links, article submissions, content is king, directory submissions and certain areas of on-page are all being devalued.

I have to wonder whether this is a strategy by Google to blur the field and make it more difficult for SEO to exisit. Google seems to see it as a war between us and them, us trying to beat them to top rankings and them constantly trying to beat us back down again. But they don't realise that good websites employ SEO's and that commericial industries need to operate, and will not gain 1000's of links because some scruffy git in his bedroom is blooging about the latest air con system.

Why are Google on a mission to end SEO? Are Google on a mission to end SEO? I look at websites in my field and the rankings are random and sporadic. Websites with many thousands of links do not perform as websites with a handful. Websites with spammy pages out-do well crafted on-page jobs, websites with no article submissions cane those with, websites with 5 pages of content out-do sites with thousands. There is no form to it anymore.

As you can tell - I'm thoroughly fed up with Google and SEO. What I really dislike is Google playing God. They are not in the position to decide what is best for searchers everytime. As it stands, in my particular field, we have applegate and ciao directories outranking leading industry players with big names.

What a bloody mess. And I think it's deliberate. But what's the point?

 

P.S - What I forgot to add is that we now also have Matt Cutts roaming around messageboards picking up link sales. Eg. - W3. Ace! No offence Matt.

 

Deep breathe, sir. Call it a day- raise a pint and get back to it manana.

 

I agree. there is room in the field for competition, and it will appear, but how?

Who will have the courage to listen to the new leaders trying to create something better? (I will listen, if I'm exposed to the right message, delivered properly, and you just delivered it ) Are you ready to compete with the King? When you are I'll hop on board.

 

No offense, but I think you should stop thinking about google and positions and put more time in your website and or products.

1. it makes your life easier
2. It will make your readers/customers happier
3. you will get more traffic
4 it makes your life easier

I must say google also almost tricked me into getting obessed with seo too but I realised it took me away from what I really needed to do.

Market, enhance, and in my case make, my product...

Inform your audience.
Do some onpage optimization but do not take it to the extreme.
Add content when there is something new to tell.
Spend money to enhance your product.
advertise in magazines trade a link here and there in exchange for a paragraph in their newsletters.

Stop sending your money to people who make you believe you need SEO advice. You really do not need that, you need to get focussed on what you do and leave google alone.

[hint]if you rely on google your wife or husband will eventually leave you... [/hint]

just do the normal stuff with your site. and realise it takes time to get good positions, if you do not get good positions your website has nothing to offer.

relevant content, and quality.

not just content written by article writers or links gotten from link builders who know nothing about your niche. that's not quality that's trying to get rich quick and there is no such thing. It's like betting on horseraces you might win one or two but in the end you'll loose it all again.

 

i highly doubt cutts is manually searching for link sales...

 

I have a theory that Google is still doing a lot of testing. You have to realize that Google has only been around for a couple of years. There are people constantly trying to manipulate the system, so Google make minor adjustments here and there which sometimes hurt good websites.

I think if you stick with a solid long term strategy of ethical SEO and quility content, your site will be rewarded. Remember, it's still the wild west on the internet. Not everything is figured out, and there's a lot of opportunity if you have the long term vision.

 

I appreciate your comments Keone - but none of them apply to me or what I'm doing. We are not selling widgets here! We are talking multi-million pound companies, big products and famous brands. Of course we are focused on our products, lol.

I'm sure you'll appreciate that, unless you product fits Googles model of "whats marketable", it's a difficult job. A company with 15 million + turnover, is bound to invest and be product orientated. What I'm talking about is getting those products advertised via the internet - which means SEO.

 

I've stopped submitted in directories. Now I'm looking for high traffic reciprocals instead. Don't have time to lurk with google anymore.

 

I still think if your company relies on google you are doing it wrong.
No matter what your business is.

I see and know a lot of companies that do not show on the first pages of google or other se's but they still show a healthy growth.

Keep your website simple (and I'm sure you understand what I mean here)
and you will do fine on the internet too.

life is simple it's people who make it difficult...think about it

 

I've come to realize that you should never rely on Google 100%. Because my most profitable site tanked in Google during that evil June 27th problem and it's still tanked to this day. I recently submitted a reinclusion request though so I hope I see some light again on Google. My main focus now is Yahoo as I have competitors who get of very good amounts of traffic from Yahoo.

 

I think Google is trying to offer quality results and relevant ones in his search results. So only the best will resist

 

Man, if i relied on Google for anything then i would never get any traffic. I'm mwaiting for MSN to take off again. It seems that I can get top listings in there before anything. they still care hehe

 

I do understand what everyone is saying about relying on Google, but I am not relying on Google. It's not as if our entire marketing strategy revoles around Google.

It is part of the marketing mix that's all. It's the part that I am mainly responsible for and i'm getting frustrated with it for the reasons I mentioned above thats all.

Objective: When people look for products that we sell on the internet - they need to find us and not A B Competitor. It's that simple. I call that SEO and it has to be done cos the majoriy of people use Google to find what they are looking for. If we are not there, we miss the business.

You can't get much simpler than that! lol

 

google takes up a huge chunk of the market, if you dont work on getting ranked in google you will be missing out on a lot of potential sales and because of this most people will have a love/hate relationship with the big G.

 

but will they still be #1 in 5 years?

 

Sure, unless Bill Gates decides to get back in the game and merge with Yahoo and AOL.

Well, yea maybe they will.

 

I understand your frustration very well William, and I'm gonna be the first to agree with your rant.

Playing Google is not an easy task, but if you are open to taking some chances, there ARE things to do. I have found linkbuilding through networks is the quickest way to get top positions, espesially for those less competitive phrases.

Have a good look at the networks. Some of them DO work wonders in the serps.

 

5 years are long time Gemini. The fact is NOW google sends twice as much traffic to my sites than yahoo for same possitioned keyword ranks and thats why people feel concerned about google.

William, I agree with your rant, because I somehow feel in same way.
But from my experience if your site is not doing well in google, check for silly li'l mistakes. I am saying this because I encountered such situations.

But as we all know that Google is broken(Almost: after 'The Big Disaster Dady') right now, but they are resolving issues. I noticed some of sites are comming back to SERP, while some new sites are picking up.
So, All we can do is, keep patience ..

 

I think in coming years individual and freelance SEO professional may be unemployed. Google will get cleverer and cleverer. No matter, how many backlinks have you managed, how much you optimize your page for a search engine, Google will find out if your site is worth anything or not. It will come up and redefine more criterias for better rankings.

I see big companies with big analytical teams getting in to this arena. Admit it, small time SEOs wont be able to keep abreast of Google's tactics. It will get more and more frustarting for SEOs.