How Algorithm Updates influence SEO

It isn’t difficult to look back at current algorithm updates from Google and evaluate how each one has altered the role of an SEO. In the simplest sense, Panda forced us to become better writers and researchers. Penguin made us alter the way we build links. Most recently, although it was less of an algorithm update and more of an communications change to Google’s core algorithm, Hummingbird asked us to consider conversational search queries in the content we produce.

Regardless of how small an algorithm update may be, the development and growth of an SEO’s tasks can be traced back through the history of updates. The fact that SEO is so dependent on updates creates quite a bit of uncertainty in the industry. But hey, as SEOs we know that the only thing that stays the same is that everything changes!

The only confidence is that things will be dissimilar tomorrow.

Saying an SEOs role has changed in the last five to 10 years is an understatement. SEOs are tasked with more each year and the definition of SEO has broadened significantly. It’s become nearly impossible to be a one-man (or woman) show. It requires a team with a number of different skills to perform quality SEO today.

How SEO has Changed

There used to be a time when SEO was strictly about getting traffic to a website. It didn’t matter how it was done as long as it was accomplished.

That was a long time ago.

Today the role of an SEO is much more than attracting visitors. It’s about conversions. It’s about building a brand, having a social media presence, and producing unique, high quality content better than anyone else in your industry.

Why is this happening? It’s simple – Google wants it. Aside from making money, Google wants it’s users to find the best search results possible. How do you weed out the good sites from the bad sites? Make it tough for the bad sites to compete. Google is accomplishing this through their algorithm updates.

This is well beyond the scope of early SEO that built-in keyword research, generic, keyword-stuffed content production, site convenience, and link building.

Staying practical beside Algorithms

The difference between great SEOs and ordinary SEOs is that the great ones have a sense of what the upcoming holds. They’re able to look into their crystal ball and plan for potential algorithms that may lie in front. What’s their secret? It’s experience. There is a good possibility that at one time or another they were penalized for their SEO practices and have a full understanding of the power of Google.

Here are a few things you can do to stay proactive:

•    Don’t have a one-dimensional backlink profile. An example would be a site that has mainly built links through guest posting. While guest posting is a great way to link build, your backlink profile is supposed to look normal. Having a site with backlinks primarily coming from one source is an obvious sign to Google that you’re trying to influence rankings. Instead make an effort to switch up your link building strategy. For every guest post you write, try to get a couple of directory links and a few blog comments as well. Some consider directory links and blog commenting outdated link building tactics but they’re still helpful as long as they’re relevant links on quality sites. select carefully where you build these links and if you’re going to leave a comment make sure you are contributing to the discussion.

•    It’s always a good time to clean up your backlink profile. If you actually want to be proactive with link building, don’t wait for the next update to get rid of bad links. We all have a few links we’re not proud of and it’s best to remove them now before it’s too late. Do you best to have these links removed by contacting webmasters and if that doesn’t work then use Google’s disavow tool. Still Google stresses to use this tool after all other attempts have failed.

•    Diversify your attach texts. This shouldn’t be breaking news to anyone but if you haven’t already made an attempt to vary your anchor texts when link building then there is no better time to start than today. This goes back to building a natural backlink profile. A site that has the best part of its links coming from one or two anchor texts is another sign to Google that your links are unnatural.

•    Be significant in everything you do. The importance of relevancy for Google isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Whether you’re producing content or building links, staying applicable to your niche is vital to maintaining ranks and satisfying Google.

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Matt Cutts Reminds Webmasters That Google Will Always Be varying

Since Google is been keenly updating its search results, it is hard for people to trust Google anymore. Should one begin focusing on getting leads from social media other than search engine results?

Google will continually be upgrading its algorithm, Matt Cutts said. It's never going to be complete; they will continue to update it as spammers find new ways to rank and as they integrate new signals or change the weight of those signals in the algorithm.

Cutts added that since the begin of the summer Google has been difficult to make it even harder for spammers to rank from black hat techniques.

"So we are always going to be updating, always going to change things to make things better, always trying to innovate the way that we record search algorithms, that's just the nature of the beast," Cutts said. "The goal is always the same, to return the highest excellence set of search results."

He said webmasters could perhaps spend their time better than trying to figure out every little nuance of the Google search algorithm."So rather than trying to figure out reverse engineering our algorithm and trying to find all the different ways to rank higher and trying to take shortcuts, as long as you're trying to make a fantastic site that people love, that's really compelling, that there are always going to, that's the sort of thing that puts you on the same side as Google," Cutts said.

Now what about getting leads from other sources, such as social media leads? Cutts discussed this type of traffic creation next.

"I'm all for having eggs in lots of different baskets, because if your website goes down and then you can always have your brick-and-mortar business," Cutts said. "If your ranking on Google is not as good, then you can have other channels that you can use – from print media advertising, to billboards, to Twitter, to Facebook. So you should always have a very well-rounded portfolio of ways to get leads whether from people walking through your door or Yellow Pages or whatever it is, because you can't count on any one channel always working out absolutely.

"As long as you have great content you should do well in Google," he added. "But you know if people are spamming or you hire a bad SEO that can lead to unpredictable results.
Matt Cutt’s main point that SEOs and business owners alike need to become accustomed in order to have good experiences with Google and other search engines.

By focusing on high quality content and a well-optimized website, instead of expenditure too much time attempting to utilize black hat techniques, webmasters can realize that Google really is on their side.

What Is The New Definition Of SEO???

The way we market, sell and carry SEO services has undoubtedly changed. Google's algorithm updates have made content marketing and social media the heart of a strong organic search strategy. So while the practice of SEO evolves, the description of SEO ought to evolve as well.
Other digital marketing plans such as email marketing, paid search and search re-targeting have very clear, acknowledged definitions. The definition of SEO, on the other hand, seems to be just as unclear as the practice itself.

Current description of SEO

Even when you Google the phrase, “description of SEO", nothing really solid is returned.
Wikipedia's official definition is, "the process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web page."

Search engine optimization is about way more than this.

Web opedia's definition is, "a methodology of strategies, techniques and tactics used to increase the amount of visitors to a website by obtaining a high-ranking placement in the search results page of a search engine (SERP) -- including Google, Bing, Yahoo and other search engines."

SEO is more than this too.

Is Web Presence Optimization the Evolution of SEO?

So what is an accurate description of SEO given the changes to the business?

Web presence optimization is an grand approach to optimizing an entire web presence for organic search including the website, social channels, blogs, articles and press releases. Where strategies, techniques, and tactics are still used, but content marketing and social media are strongly included.

What's Your Definition of SEO?


1.    SEO is the constant process of finding and discovering non-branded keywords that are driving organic search traffic and conversions, then publishing content optimized for those keywords.

2.    SEO is the process of producing optimized content that is discoverable by the aim audience as they progress through the buying cycle.

3.    SEO is about a prospect discovering a brand's content and web presence through search and social, and the owner of that content being able to recognize who consumed the content and the crash of the content across the organization.

4.    SEO is the outcome of a content marketing strategy that makes use of highly converting keywords that your target audience is searching on.

5.    SEO is the process of attractive the visibility of a brand's web presence in organic search.
SEO in the digital marketing mix is here to stay. Standardizing a definition of SEO will help buyers better understand the importance of it, the reason for committing to it, and the short- and long-term impact an SEO approach has on a web presence.