How To Market Your Website Without Relying On Google

by Herman Drost

o Are you relying on Google for all your traffic?
o Have you experienced a drop in rankings, traffic and sales?
o What marketing alternatives are there to Google?
o What steps have you taken to prevent your site from suffering future search algorithm updates?

Many online marketers experienced a sudden drop in rankings, traffic and sales following the latest search algorithim changes from Google. Two of the major factors that prompted these changes were websites containing thin content and using techniques to to boost their rankings in the search engines.

Let’s dig deeper into the Penguin and Panda algorithim updates and see how they affected websites:

Google Penguin

This code name refers to a Google algorithm update announced on April 24, 2012 which affected websites that used keyword stuffing, cloaking and unnatural linking techniques. For example blog spam refers to posting your article on one blog then re-posting it automatically to all the other blogs in the same network.

Unnatural links refers to building your links in an unnatural pattern. For example if you suddenly receive 1000 new links to your website in one day instead of acquiring new links over several weeks from different web properties.

Google Panda (also named Farmer)

This code name refers to a Google algorithm update announced on February 2011 which lowered the rankings of sites containing low quality content and rewarding sites with high quality content (ie higher rankings).

What is a high quality website?

Here are some questions you can use to assess the "quality" of a web page or an article. According to Google Webmaster’s Central Blog "these are the kinds of questions we ask ourselves as we write algorithms that attempt to assess site quality".

[ ] Would you trust the information presented in this article?

[ ] Is this article written by an expert or enthusiast who knows the topic well, or is it more shallow in nature?

[ ] Does the site have duplicate, overlapping, or redundant articles on the same or similar topics with slightly different keyword variations?

[ ] Would you be comfortable giving your credit card information to this site?

[ ] Does this article have spelling, stylistic, or factual errors?

[ ] Are the topics driven by genuine interests of readers of the site, or does the site generate content by attempting to guess what might rank well in search engines?

[ ] Does the article provide original content or information, original reporting, original research, or original analysis?

[ ] Does the page provide substantial value when compared to other pages in search results?

[ ] How much quality control is done on content?

[ ] Does the article describe both sides of a story?

[ ] Is the site a recognized authority on its topic?

[ ] Is the content mass-produced by or outsourced to a large number of creators, or spread across a large network of sites, so that individual pages or sites don’t get as much attention or care?

[ ] Was the article edited well, or does it appear sloppy or hastily produced?

[ ] For a health related query, would you trust information from this site?

[ ] Would you recognize this site as an authoritative source when mentioned by name?

[ ] Does this article provide a complete or comprehensive description of the topic?

[ ] Does this article contain insightful analysis or interesting information that is beyond obvious?

[ ] Is this the sort of page you'd want to bookmark, share with a friend, or recommend?

[ ] Does this article have an excessive amount of ads that distract from or interfere with the main content?

[ ] Would you expect to see this article in a printed magazine, encyclopedia or book?

[ ] Are the articles short, unsubstantial, or otherwise lacking in helpful specifics?

[ ] Are the pages produced with great care and attention to detail vs. less attention to detail?

[ ] Would users complain when they see pages from this site?

Placing all your eggs in one basket (the Google basket) is a recipe for future disappointment. Google doesn’t care about your rankings or whether you're making any money. They are in the business for themselves and want to remain the leading search engine for providing the most relevant search results.

RSS Feed

 Follow @Stephen Bucaro

 Web Design for Marketing
 General Web Marketing
 Newsletter Marketing
 Search Engine Optimization
 Marketing by Writing Articles
 Marketing by Writing Copy

Social media continues to evolve at breakneck speed, and the savvy marketer needs to keep up. This bestselling guide to social media marketing covers the newest vehicles, including Groupon and Rue La La, location-based services like Foursquare, and new social networking sites like Google+ and Pinterest. Checklists, case studies, and examples will help you decide the best places to spend your marketing dollars, and you'll learn about valuable social media tools and analytics methods that can help you assess the success of your efforts. It is the perfect guidebook for the social media strategist, website manager, marketer, publicist, or anyone in charge of implementing and managing an organization's social media strategy.