In 2023, most people have a basic understanding of what search engines are. If you use any device to look for information or a product to buy, you’ll use one. Google, Bing & Yahoo are the ones we all know best in the West.
There are many factors determining how search engines deliver search results, but they all have one ultimate goal: to deliver exactly what you requested. Yes, it is that simple.
Navigating the SEO Industry
What’s not so simple for anyone wanting their product or information to be found is competing with the other million businesses and individuals who want the same thing – to be found and clicked on, and before everyone else!
This is where it gets tricky, and what has birthed the digital media and content industry, namely SEO and content marketing companies, all ready to help you get found; improving your website’s visibility.
“We never accept payment from anyone to be included in search results.” Google.
But you can’t pay your way to the top, not unless you’re paying an army of creative writers to produce more quality content than everyone else, and someone who knows a bit about Metrics, keyword implementation, and the fundamentals around search engine optimisation.
Billions of results, thousands of pages. But most people will only scan the first one or two because they can usually find what they need – thanks to Google’s commitment to ongoing improvements to Search.
I’ve watched how search engines have evolved over the past 20 years.
Like anything which can make people money, it was manipulated in the early days, with various (black hat) techniques used to influence the results so companies hit the top page.
Are there any search engine listing shortcuts today?
Today, and over the past few years, these tricks are seriously frowned upon and the bots pick up on it pretty quick, penalising site owners with their equivalent of a red flag, often omitting them from results and placing data associated with it on a type of watchlist.
In the past, these websites generally had lots of incoherent keyword strings, delivered no value to users, and existed purely to drive traffic to sites promising to improve your life if you click on a button, the button links often led to things like adult websites, dodgy property sales sites, and anything unsavoury you can imagine.
Search Algorithms and Bots Keep the Trash Out
Similar techniques were also packaged and sold to legitimate professional businesses by these black hat companies, and it worked for them initially. Until the bottom fell out, and Google changed its algorithms again and struck off the culprits. Be cautious today of any company promising to deliver you to the top of the results page.
do it through producing creative content and using SEO best practice
Finding exactly what you need online and in the real world has never been easier. A great way to help create more authentic content for your website or social media platform is to put yourself in the driving seat, and imagine what it is you type and ask for when you search for things (a search query).
This is how search results are delivered, algorithms constantly enhancing its process based on real-life search queries, and then delivering what they want – starting with the best match, and so and so forth, sometimes for thousands of pages.
With fairness in mind, by design, Google gives everyone a shot at the top – but no one is guaranteed to stay there.
Of course, there are other factors involved and the game never stays the same; keywords can change weekly if not daily, technology and the IoT (internet of things) in general is definitely moving into another era and we wouldn’t have enough time in our lifetime to keep on top of it all.
We touch on what’s important through some of our blog posts and articles, and there are plenty of tech nerds across the web going deep on the rest.