Google Updates - could be interesting

[Guard Dog]

Not sure how many have seen this article yet, but it sounds like websites that are 'over-optimizing' could see a drop in rankings while websites doing absolutely no SEO could rise. Very interesting..

Google is preparing to crack down on websites that are “overusing” search engine optimisation techniques, in order to level the playing field between sites that use these methods and others that rely on using fresh, relevant content.
The comments have sparked more debate over what exactly causes websites to be ranked higher in Google’s results – a subject that continues to elude many SMEs – and experts say they should be ready.
“Over the past few years there have been more techniques appearing that have been about the math rather than about what Google is trying to achieve,” says StewArt Media chief executive Jim Stewart.
“And that’s what they’re trying to change here.”
Google’s Matt Cutts, part of the search quality group, said at a panel the company will attempt to “level the playing field”.
"We try to make the GoogleBot smarter, try to make our relevance more adaptive, so that if people don't do SEO we handle that,” he said, according to Search Engine Land.

“And we are also looking at the people who abuse it, who put too many keywords on a page, exchange way too many links, or whatever else they are doing to go beyond what you normally expect. We have several engineers on my team working on this right now," Cutts said.
Cutts also hinted these changes could be introduced within the next few weeks, or within a month. But other than that, there’s no further information.
While the lack of details may be alarming, Stewart says businesses that are working on fresh, relevant content shouldn’t be too worried about their rankings.

“What Google is talking about here is those sites that work on formulas, using metrics like the percentage of keyword density rather than just focusing on how relevant they can be.”

Stewart says sites that are using a significant amount of backlinks are going to be affected, especially if those links are from low-quality sites.
“Originally having a link to your site was a ‘vote’ for your page, but if you’re buying backlinks and putting them on less relevant sites, then Google is going to have to crack down.”
“I’ve come across plenty of pages on a site that have backlinks, and yet have no relevant content. What Matt Cutts is saying is that they’re aware of what’s happening there and there will be some changes.”
Stewart says businesses that are focusing on reasonable SEO techniques should be fine, and won’t have to change anything. It’s those sites that are going above and beyond what it is reasonable that will be targeted.
“If you were one of these companies a few years ago that were using these techniques, and you haven’t updated them, you might find you’re in for a change.”

 

[casdir]

It's going to be very interesting to see what happens after this change. I predict a lot of the top sites for big keywords are going to drop significantly. It almost sounds like link building isn't that important anymore. Maybe the new ranking factor is having a high quality website with good content.

 

[slotsaff]

I hope so - been writing content like mad recently. Hopefully the big G will notice it and give me a much needed boost

 

[ThePOGG]

I feel that in the next 5-10 years there are going to be major changes in the SEO world. I think search engines will get better and better at detecting cheats and that buying/swapping links is going to become more and more difficult. This is especially important in an industry where natural linking is very rare and could seriously jepordise the existence of small affiliate who don't have service driven sites. There are also large swaths of gambling related sites that primarily make their money out of providing links to other sites - i wouldn't like to be in that market without a backup plan.

 

[Online18Casino]

So.. Did anyone else see a big change in what there sites rank for? I did, it looks like google had updated about 3 days ago.

 

[ThePOGG]

On my main keyword i took a drop a few days ago, but have climbed right back up now.

 

[BHL]

I've read a bit about it on another forum. Sounds good, hope they take it all the way. I wish they didn't talk so much about it though, so the owners of the low quality highly seo optimized sites had no clue about it. But I'm glad google is dominating this industry rather than bing/microsoft. They keep throwing money at bing and it's still a mess..
In google we trust

 

[WCD Admin]

Changes look good to me.

"Poor quality" link gaining will be penalized.... if you're just trying to gain links, ouch!
Thin / non-original content is what is being penalized.

Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: Another step to reward high-quality sites

 

[inspiration]

not really, its more about duplicate content and having too much keywords in titles / descriptions and content
second : questionable links and linking to affiliate programs brands that could have become b a d neighbourhoods

 

[onlinegamblingwriter]

SEO is always constantly changing, I think links will be around for a while and remain the top SEO optimiser. Matt Cutts from google has some great videos on you tube check them out.

 

[Ukjeff]

Just my 2 cents worth on SEO.
Regards links to sites, make sure you are not passing on any link juice to your casinos; all these do follow links just get them pushed up the results ladder in front of you and me. Remember we are all competing against them for position, All site links should be "no follow" and this is what Google wants too, you don't have to do this for banners as G has got this worked out. Just Add the rel="nofollow" tag to the link code.

 

[SuperBetting]

interesting

 

[michael26a]

I definitely agree. I nofollow all of my casino affiliate links. There is no way I'm giving them a free link I can already see some actual casinos coming up in the results, and I certainly don't want them to take my organic traffic.

 

[Ukjeff]

Michael yes you are 100% right on actual casinos coming up above us Affs. Google still rank backlinks as a big factor in rankings. Even if they don't make any money from us all those free backlinks is what they want anyway. I notice that many affs give them free link juice for nothing. You will notice that they never give us any backlinks, funny that !