Google seeks to improve search results

Google has already rolled out a new algorithm for search, which aims to reduce the amount of spam results and content farms, which have weakened the user experience for the search engine. It is expected that this would be rolled out to other regions over the next few months. This is both an opportunity and a challenge for e-commerce, because sites that have not managed their content well could easily drop in the Google rankings, which are still one of the most important ways to be found on the web.

UK-based search marketing firm Greenlight suggests that business must update and judge quality content so as to gain from Google’s new approach.

According to the company, to avoid any negative impact, the content on websites should be well written. Once users land on the site, they should be kept happy through the provision of a rich experience, with as much supporting multimedia as possible and clear navigation options.

“Regardless of what Google is doing, these are all the basic requirements for almost any online business, which get at the heart of what Google algorithm updates, and indeed SEO, are all about,” said Adam Bunn, Director, SEO, Greenlight.

According to Bunn, Google could give a percentage likelihood of a page containing low value content, and then any page that exceeds a certain percentage threshold might be analysed in terms of its user click data. This keeps such data as confirmation of low quality only, rather than an indication, making it harder for content farms to abuse.

While some are nervous of Google using an algorithm to judge content quality, the search giant will be blending its data with volunteered user data collected from Google Chrome, although the company has said that this information has no impact on search rankings yet.

The message is clear. Fields of links and other manipulators aren’t the way to manage SEO effectively. Companies are going to have to look to create quality content, and to do so regularly, to achieve better results on Google.