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SEO InformationGoogle manipulates search results: A boost for small business?
by:
Glenn Murray
As more and more businesses strive for a top ten Google ranking, it's becoming harder and harder to achieve. This is especially true for smaller businesses that just don't have the budget for a big link quality
campaign. But hope may be just about the corner. If a top ten ranking for your primary keywords has been evasion
you, then see on!
Google manipulates the results
Google is trialing an 'enhancement' to the way it displays its results. Instead of showing the top ten results for the exact words you enter, in the trial Google suggests three related results that you strength
want to check out. Wherever
does it display these suggestions? It shunts (or replaces) results 6, 7 and 8 !!!
In this article, I refer to these results as 'intruders'.
To see several 'intruder' results in action, search for "piggy bank". Results 6, 7 and 8 are actually 'intruder' results; they're the top three results for the more specific, less popular search, "piggy bank lyrics". Google assumes that folk searching for "piggy bank" wish probably be interested in results of a search for "piggy bank lyrics".
On 1st impressions, it's tempting to think that this does it harder to get into the top ten (because now it's actually the top seven, and the last two results may be easily overlooked). But it may actually do it easier - especially for smaller businesses. Let me explain why...
The advantage for smaller businesses
It all comes down to who can rating in the top ten for the most popular searches - like "computers", "cars", "doctor", "pets", etc. For anyone in these industries, a top ten ranking for these keywords is the holy grail. Unfortunately, these sorts of searches are presently dominated by big corporations with hefty search budgets. Most smaller businesses don't even as try to compete. Instead of focusing on these heatedly
oppose
keywords, small businesses tend to focus on more much specific keyword phrases - like "computers boston", "second hand cars ohio", "female doctor new england", "discount pets for children", etc.
But Google's trial may change that. Remember, it's exchange results 6, 7 and 8 of a popular, broad search with results 1, 2 and 3 of a less popular, more specific search. If the trial becomes a standard feature, a search for "computers" strength
well include three 'intruder' results from a search such as "computers boston". As discussed above, results 6, 7 and 8 are likely to belong to big companies, whereas results 1, 2 and 3 of the more specific search are more likely to belong to smaller businesses. Therefore, once
the switch occurs, it's out with the big and in with the small!
In principle the sweetening appears to activity in favor of small businesses:
1) Big business dominates popular / general search results
2) Smaller businesses have a greater chance of dominating less popular / more specific search results
3) General search results are replaced by specific search results
4) Big businesses are shunted out of the top ten by smaller businesses
Now I hear what you're saying: "Why wouldn't the big companies just start optimizing for the more specific searches?" Granted, this is a possibility; but for most big companies, it would-be be a monumental task. Big companies tend to service a large geographic region, and they typically offer many
products and services. Even as a hefty search budget would-be be stretched to the limit if it was required to bankroll optimisation for every single product, every single service, and every single location. And this is what would-be be required to dominate all of the more specific results, thereby gaining back their number 6, 7 or 8 position. It's far more likely that they'll just try harder for a position in the top 5 of the popular/general search. This approach would-be be less complex and probably more rewarding.
The fine print
Of course, wherever
Google is involved, nothing is ever that simple. I've oversimplified things above to do the trial a little easier to understand. In reality, the situation is a bit more complex because of the way Google chooses which search the three 'intruder' results move from. Take the "piggy bank" search for example. Google assumes that most users who search for "piggy bank" wish likewise be interested in results from a search for "piggy bank lyrics". This assumption is based on the fact that thousands of else folk are searching specifically for "piggy bank lyrics" - in fact, it's one of the most popular searches containing the innovational term "piggy bank". And that's why it gets the nod.
In else words, the persona non grata results move from popular searches (less popular than the original, but still popular). This means you'd already have to rating extremely
in a really popular search before you'd become an intruder. So, in reality, the above "computer" example is a little simplistic; the persona non grata results for "computer" are more likely to be from a search for thing
like "computers ibm". In reality, the top three results for "computer peripherals boston" are more likely to appear as intruders in a "computer peripherals" search.
Conclusion
The important thing to remember is that if this trial becomes a standard feature, it wish be enforced
on all searches. And the more specific the innovational search, the easier it would-be be to become an persona non grata in that search. In theory, it has great potential to help smaller businesses reach the next rung of the search engine ladder.
Other examples
Here are several further examples if you're interested:
Search for "add url"
Search for "on demand"
Happy shunting!
Just about the author:
* John john glenn Murray is a website copywriter, SEO copywriter, and article submission and article PR specialist. He owns article submission service Article PR and copywriting studio Divine Write. He can be contacted on State capital
+612 4334 6222 or at glenn@divinewrite.com Visit http://www.DivineWrite.comor http://www.ArticlePR.comfor further details, more FREE articles, or to transfer
his FREE SEO e-book.
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