This is major news in the world of SEO as it aids in the tracking an monitoring of search engine positions. Currently specialist tools are utilised for the tracking and monitoring of natural search positions but this change in Google referrer strings could be the beginning of the end for these tools. There is always an element of inaccuracy in position monitoring software due to the various data centres used by Google for serving search results. An update in one data centre means that users of Google would see your website in different positions depending on where and when they search. This issue has been magnified as Google has begun to introduce personalised search results and also the wiki search results for users signed in to Google services. Google has also made a step change recently to less major, more frequent updates to its algorithms which means that smaller variances in search results are more likely, but on a more frequent basis. Add in with this the introduction of universal search elements in sporadic testing stages on various results and the monitoring and predicting of positions has become a minefield and one which many softwares have struggled ot adapt to.

But with the introduction of this variable into the referrer string Google has provided users with a static, standard variable for use in monitoring SEO performance. Regardless of where you are seeing the website today, tomorrow, or yesterday you know exactly where it appeared when that particular click occurred. By including it in the referrer string with a clear indicator Google have also opened the door for analytics packages to begin including the position in their traffic reports. And you can be sure of course, that the Google Analytics team, as well as developers at all other major tracking and analytics tools, will be beavering away to release this functionality imminently.

With all the changes in SEO, and the emergence of universal and personalised search, over the past couple of years, the focus of any most professional SEO experts and companies has moved away from pure positions, and towards traffic volumes and resulting business. This move by Google follows on nicely and in a way is there way of acknowledging that your positions are going to change on a more frequent basis.  Where you see your website will be different to where your customers see it, effectively making the position at any one point in time, unimportant.  What becomes important to know in this ever changing landscape is knowledge of the position it appeared in when a click, ultimately a transaction occurred.

RIP position reporting tools, welcome the new age of SEO reporting.

A report produced by Efficient Frontier into US search spend towards the end of 2008 showed a slow down in year on year search spend, which, whilst it wasn’t directly put down to economic conditions, it could be construed in such a way.

In contrast to this the latest marketing sherpa stats show that search engine optimisation and PPC are where digital marketers saw the greatest return on investment in Q4 of 2008, thus indicating they would be the major sources of investment in 2009 also.

Nobody knows the impact of a recession on search engine marketing.  After all, it didn’t exist the last time we experienced one!  My personal opinion is that if there are any channels which are set to benefit it will be the measurable and flexible PPC and the “free” and highly profitable SEO.

According to the report 1 in 4 Britons were unaware that website owners were able to make changes to their website which would influence their position in the natural results and 22% believed that the natural SEO results were influenced by how much a company was paying to appear.

On the PPC front 1 in 3 respondents claimed to ignore sponsored links completely due to their commercial nature believing them to be “less worthy” and “less useful” than the natural search listings.

As a search engine marketing professional it is shocking to read the understanding of search in the UK is so poor but it does raise the question of what this means to the future of search engine marketing as consumers become more knowledgeable about search engine marketing. 33% of the respondents claimed to avoid PPC listings as they were less useful, but I would argue that they are less useful because the user does not understand them. I am fully aware of how PPC works but I still use sponsored listings when it suits my need. If my search is due to end in a purchase I am far more likely to use paid search listings as I know they will direct me to the most useful page and also contain details of any special offers available to me. However if my search is based around finding information I am more inclined to use the natural results as they will be less commercial.

As I also understand how natural search results work I am also more considered in how I view them. Rather than clicking blindly on the top results I take some time to read the results, check the URL and the listing content to decide which one is going to be the most useful. I am not going to rely on the search engine to decide which the best website is for me, I will make up my own mind thank you. I may even perform a second search before even clicking a link!

The results of this report suggest that consumer interaction with search engines could be changing over the next few years and companies engaging in search marketing are going to have to understand what this means to them. Is CTR going to drop on paid listings as users understand them more? Is position 1 in the search results going to mean less as people become more selective with what they click? Only time will tell.

What I found when I searched for virus protection specialist bullguard were notifications in the natural search listings marking the site which had potentially dangerous downloads and spyware potential.  The site in question was Kazaa which was listed twice in the SEO results, both listed accompanied by the message “Warning: Dangerous Downloads“.  This is the first time I have ever seen this warning before in the search results and I would be interested to find out whether it is a manual label on specific sites or if it is picked up automatically in some way.  Either way it is great for the user to see such warnings and catastrophic for the site as I certainly now I would be steering clear of clicking them.

yahoo show spyware warnings in seo results

It is a pretty basic guide though, listing basic website structure and meta implementation which should be the bread and butter of anyone claiming to know anything about search engine optimisation.  It will however be a useful tool for website and company owners who do not want or do not need expert SEO advice but just a reference point to ensure hey are doing the basics right for achieving decent listings.

It isn’t anything for SEO professionals to be worried about as it doesn’t give away any trade secrets or cover of specifics of “what happens if?” “what do I do when?” and so they wont be putting anyone out of business.  In fact it should make their lives easier, as if all websites arrived at your door having adhered to these Google tips, it would be a much easier process to get them ranking well, quickly, as there wouldn’t be the need for the site overall before the real work can begin.

SEO is an art and one which cant be picked up too easily through reading forums and help guides.  You will always come across conflicting advice and confusing technical recommendations you dont have the expertise to carry out.  In my opinion it is always best to seek out expert advice on such a complex topic and for the agencies that can provide this cost effectively there is a large market out there to go after!  It is also a market which is growing as more and more businesses move online to realise the potential it holds.

A recent poll by toprankasked 400 business marketers “What 3 Internet marketing tactics will you emphasize most in the next 6 months?”.  The results showing SEO top of the digital agenda with 149 votes, Blogging second with 134 and Pay per click third with 107.  These are pretty high statistics for a group of people who were not necessarily Internet focused and would undoubtedly be considering these channels against other offline possibilities.  It shows a growing confidence in these channels from mainstream marketeers and a growth in understanding of the benefits to the business.

Similarly Jonathan Mendez is Spitting in the Face of Pessimism regarding the recession and saying that Internet firms with a solid model should be relishing the prospect of economic downturn as long as their business model is built on the right foundations.  Suggesting that Internet advertising models which are based on return and performance are set to benefit, and even prosper in a period where marketers will be prudent with their spending.

I have to agree with these pieces, when the purse strings are tightened, the only channels which will be considered are those which can bring the least risk.  and with their measurability and accountability online channels are bound to come out on top.  What they maybe dont account for is that the advertisers businesses also have to survive in order for them to be spending money.  Many finance companies for example are cutting online budgets at the moment, not becasue the channel isnt performing, but because their OWN market is in disaray, similarly with property advertisers.  But on the whole, digital marketing should come out on top which bodes well for those involved int he industry.  Bring on the recession I say!

The full article is here and I have copied the offending paragraph below:

—  optimize your search engines

Search engines, like Yahoo! and Google, are usually the first place people will look for you. Make it easier for them to find you. Yahoo! and Google offer tools to let them know the site map structure of your Web site. Also, using clean U.R.L.s such as yourdomain.com/store/widgets instead of yourdomain.com/store.php?id=42&categoryID=widgets will increase your chances of getting indexed in a search engine. Finally, don’t waste money on so-called Search Engine Optimization (S.E.O.) specialists. Search engines are very quick to penalize sites that try to trick their filtering techniques, and once your site has been put on Google’s blacklist, it will take forever to get off.

Through working with a companies trying to break into this elite it has pretty much become a case of, if you cant beat them join them. After trying every which way to do it through effective on page work it has become obvious this isnt enough. Without spending a small fortune on inbound links it just isnt going to be achieved.

Surely this cannot be the best way for a search engine to provide the most relevant results for a user query? Obviously within this the sites will be ordered by the traditional on page factors, but by placing so much emphasis on the links google is creating tiers within the search results:

Tier 1: those with a substantial link building programme (and large budgets)
Tier 2: those with less budget but well optimised sites
Tier 3: the remainder

Without a change in strategy or finances a company will find it extremely difficult, if not impossible to break into the top tier.