Is it just me or has Google gone into overdrive? As a
professional full-time online marketer I have to keep my
mind firmly placed on what Google is doing. As much as I
try not to because Google has probably driven more people
around the bend than Chrysler and Mercedes-Benz put
together.
Like any professional marketer, I monitor my numerous
keywords on a daily basis - especially my major targeted
keyword phrases that bring in the most sales and
subscribers. For years now, I have had top rankings in
Google for my chosen phrases; they move up and down, but
mostly they don't leave the first page.
However, lately I have been noticing a lot of jumping in
the top listings. Links out of nowhere are appearing, links
being dropped and my own links moving up and down much too
quickly for my comfort. Even six months ago the Google main
index seemed to be a whole lot more stable than it is now.
Within the past months, rankings within Google have become
more dynamic, more fluid. They can change from day to day,
what some people are calling Google Everflux. This is very
similar to the old Google Dance we used to have a few years
ago...when Google would update or refresh its index about
once a month. Now Google is stepping out on that dance
floor every day.
Once upon a time, your keyword rankings in Google didn't
change that much. Every four or five months Google would do
major updates where your keywords and your site's PageRank
could have a major jump or fall in Google's index. But have
things changed? Has the whole ranking process now been
speeded up? Has the Google Index now become more fluid,
more dynamic, changeable daily? Updating, fluctuating on
the fly?
Inquiring minds want to know...
Keep in mind, Google Everflux is not a new term. As far
back as July 2002 there are references in Webmasterworld to
the Google Freshbot and Google Everflux. This term referred
to the re-freshing of the Google Index.
Unlike many SEO theories and assumptions, the Google
Everflux is the Real McCoy. That is if you can believe the
Google Guy, and there's no reason not to take Matt Cutts at
his word.
In his site or blog - www.mattcutts.com - he describes what
is happening here. In a response to a comment on his blog
on January 1, 2007, he gives this answer:
Quoting Matt Cutts: "...I'm not trying to side-step the
issue. I believe that a data refresh, which used to be
every 3-4 weeks, is now happening more like every day. So
the changes in ranking that some people were seeing on the
17th or 27th during the summer months can now happen every
day."
Even more telling was Matt's response to another person's
summary of these changes within Google.
Senaia said: "So the Index Update is what people use to
call Google Dance, when it was on monthly bases. Now it's
on daily bases and they call it Everflux.
Backlinks update and Pagerank update are also types of data
refresh.
So, the big scary updates like Florida... are Algorithm
updates?"
Matt Cutts said: "Senaia, that's not a bad summary. Florida
and Jagger were changes in our algorithms to score
documents, for example."
However, is the current Google Everflux a more souped-up
version of this re-freshing process? Google in
fast-forward? On speed-dial?
Regardless of the rate of change, Google Everflux is
important simply because Google is so important to any
webmaster or site. There's no denying that, whether you
love it or hate it, Google will deliver the most search
engine traffic to any webmaster who gets top rankings for
his/her keywords. The other search engines shouldn't be
ignored, but most of your search traffic will come from
Google. According to Nielsen Stats in February (2008),
Google had around 60 percent (58.7 - 4.5 billion Google
search queries) of the traffic on the web.
But 60 percent is not the true percentage; from close
examination of my different sites' traffic logs I know
Google gives me around 90 percent of my search traffic.
Maybe I am over optimized for Google, but even when I
manage on rare occasions to get number one rankings in all
three search engines for a minor keyword, Google is still
the one sending the most traffic.
Since this search traffic is extremely important to my
livelihood, I keep a close watch on my major keywords in
Google. Movement up or down just a few places means an
increase or decrease in my traffic. Google has changed. It
is not the same search engine it was 6 months ago. Not by a
long shot.
What does this mean to your site or keywords?
It probably means you have to put your link building
efforts into overdrive if you want to get a top listing in
Google and keep it there. It will probably mean that you
have to be constantly creating valuable content and
quality-relevant links related to your site's topic in
order to remain competitive.
This is what you should be doing in the first place, but
now you will have to work harder to keep your links in
those top positions in Google. At least this has been my
experience lately.
One thing I have noticed with my keyword rankings, links
from the so-called Social Bookmark sites (Digg, Reddit,
Squidoo...) have become very important to Google. Real
people reading and ranking real content. This is what these
social media sites are all about, and it seems Google is
placing more emphasis on these sites.
I say "seems" because with Google, nobody knows for sure.
However, I can see in my daily monitoring of my own
keywords - Google Everflux is real and is probably here to
stay.
Over time old links you had are being dropped, as Google
re-ranks their links and index. The whole fall-out from
Google's paid link crackdown is still being played out as
webmasters scramble to devise new ways to juice-up their
links. Google is firing back with new ways to keep its
index supposedly honest, an ongoing, turbulent battle that
will probably get more turbulent. As new sites and links
become important there will be a constant change in the
rankings within Google.
Google also seems to be favoring big, resourceful authority
sites for the top positions in their SERPs, giving these
sites 6 or 7 sub-headings and links - all in the top spot.
Which means it will be much harder for the smaller marketer
to compete. Of course, it is only a matter of time before
big, large corporations completely dominate all the major
profitable keywords on the web, in Google and elsewhere.
Once big business figures out what's going on and realizes
just what keyword control in their industry will give them.
That may be a little extreme, but like any valuable
resource, it won't be long before multi-national corporate
giants eat up the little guys/sites via keyword branding
and dominance. It will take some time, and since there are
millions of small niches there is still some marketing room
for small sites to cash in. But our days of glory are
numbered...
For now, if you count on Google for your search traffic,
keep building quality links/content daily and don't forget
the all important social bookmark sites... make sure you're
building some good links from them. One simple solution
that has given me hundreds of social bookmark links in the
past year is simply adding the free AddThis.com button on
my sites. Just let your visitors bookmark and build links
for you in these social media sites.
Keep a blog or blogs and tie in your site with links and
trackbacks. And make sure you tie/connect your site to the
whole blogosphere. Don't forget to add video/audio to your
site, as those formats will play an ever-increasing role on
the web.
No matter what warp-speed Google finally decides upon,
valuable content is still the key to getting top rankings
in any search engine. Adding fresh, valuable relevant
content to your sites each day will keep them in the
picture.
If that doesn't work, you can always take up speed car
racing - I heard it is supposed to be very calming on the
nerves. And I bet you one backrub none of them will have
ever heard of Google Everflux.
----------------------------------------------------
The author is now a full-time web marketer who regularly
sells 1000's of dollars worth of affiliate
products/services each day. He owns and runs numerous
websites, including two sites on Internet marketing. For
the latest web marketing tools try:
http://www.bizwaremagic.com
or http://www.marketingtoolguide.com
2008 Titus Hoskins. This article may be freely distributed
if this resource box stays attached.
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