Webmasters Will Feel the Spook, As Long As Google Rules the Stage:
The Dracula, vampires, werewolves and several other supernatural creatures may give people the old-fashioned creepy feeling, especially on the Halloween eves; yet, for webmasters and search engine optimizers (SEOs), the very thought of next Google update and to which extent the websites will be hit is the most spooky thing. May be the last time you checked before Halloween, everything was great in your website, starting from visitors to conversions. And when you have come back after having a good time with friends and family, reports of the check are showing sudden and significant drop in traffic and conversions as well. Not only that, search engine ranking of your website has also dropped suddenly. Though we are talking only about a possibility, the type of uncertainty that the SEO world is going through right now, thanks to Google’s anti-spam algorithm updates, there is no knowing when these possibilities turn real.
SEO Has Changed, Only to Increase the Chances of Your Website Being Spooked:
Considering the ongoing flux that online business is facing since last couple of years, webmasters and owners know how difficult it has become for them to hold on to the niche. Today completes a month’s duration since roll out of the last Penguin (2.1); yet, the SEO world hasn’t been able to make the full recovery. In one of the previous blogs, we discussed how different optimization has become in recent times, not only due to anti-spam algorithm updates but also due to Hummingbird and several other changes that made significant impact. Clearly, in the post-Halloween phase, developing SEO strategies should happen with adequate consideration of these impacting factors. In a situation, where holiday season is nearing and chance of business is the highest, clearly, you don’t want your website to be spooked again by Google!
Steps to Develop Your Strategies For Running Online Business Without Fear in Post-Halloween
Challenge #1 – Hummingbird: Keyword centric search is not entirely dead yet but with Hummingbird search algorithm update, Google is providing unprecedented emphasis on natural language queries. It means beyond keyword specific results, now the algorithm with provide importance to every word in the query. For instance, your search query is “where can I buy Nexus 5 near my home” then the new Hummingbird results will analyze the location of your home and then provide names and addresses of the best stores, which is quite in contrast to the traditional search results that mainly used to focus on keywords, such as ‘Nexus 5,’ ‘buy’. Clearly, with this change you have the capacity to address your local customers like never before. However, before you start feeling optimistic, make sure that you are done with the necessary changes in your website.
Challenge #2 – Mobile Friendly Website: Hallowed be the Android Kit Kat 4.4 (launched on 31st Oct). The lovers of natural language search, especially when they are on a go, must be feeling this way. Android 4.4 is here to take mobile marketing and search to an altogether different level and this is, perhaps, the most important reason that Google is all set to complement the trend with Hummingbird natural language query. This factor has further been emphasized with Google indexing the app content. This effort has been put forward only to provide users with seamless experience in terms of viewing the necessary information within an app; rather than viewing through a mobile website. So, the new definition of mobile friendly website no more means only making your website Android of iOS friendly. It should be supported accordingly through an app. For your information, the global mobile phone market currently contains 1.08 billion smartphones and the numbers are counting!
Challenge #3 – Customer Support and Satisfaction: Changes that Google’s latest initiatives (anti-spam updates, Hummingbird, absence of PageRank and confiscation of keyword data) have introduced in the overall online business domain, clearly aren’t easy to deal with. For many webmasters, it is quite a complicated and time-consuming process to figure out all the possible ways, in which the website can be affected. However, the easiest way to start dealing with this situation is to focus on ensuring complete support and satisfaction to customers. This not only includes improving the overall quality and usability of a website but also delivering commendable service, even to the extent of personalization. Compared to brands, the small business owners should concentrate more on attaining these objectives. The attraction of making websites more promotional will be there. However, such attempts should not overshadow the quality part, especially in the context of delivering the correct information to customers, accompanied by timely assistance, in case of any dispute. Remember if your customers turn their backs on you, then your business will go down anyway. Simultaneously, it will be extremely difficult to get back on the right track.
Any Attempt to Outsmart the Search Engine Means Your Website Gets Haunted (Maybe Forever)
One of the most important factors behind rise of Google as the most user-friendly search engine is their capacity to develop an integral and wholesome approach. While on one hand, the anti-spam team of search giant has come up with updates (Panda and Penguin) that checks out on both quality of content and links in a website, on the other hand, they introduce a dynamic search engine algorithm like Hummingbird, with specific attention to satisfy requirement of the new-age mobile users. Furthermore, to celebrate the trend further and to offer an exquisite mobile search experience to users, Google has offered the latest version of Android (Kit Kat 4.4). Therefore, each of these changes is complementing and supplementing in a manner that not only users receive the best experience and information but also any effort to manipulate or violate such experience is caught. Therefore, whether it is traditional searchers or the mobile counterparts, any attempt to outsmart the search engine will get your website spooked. Clearly, once you are caught and hit, the mornings just before the beginning of holiday season, will not be as good as you thought. As a webmaster or online business owner, you are the best exorcist to ward off the evils that your website contains.
So, get to work today and take the potential of your business to an altogether new dimension in the post-Halloween phase.
Images Credit: Wikimedia.Org , Patrick Hoesly on Flickr