The last couple of years have paved the way for many changes in the field and study of search engine optimization and online marketing. Social media awareness grew significantly in 2011 with many reports being released as to how companies may address new social challenges in the upcoming year. Domain names also took some heat in late December of 2010 as Google publically released information on the fact that they would reduce the benefit to ranking sites in their search engine based on keywords in the domain alone. We also saw Google encrypt search referrals, roll out Google+ which developed quickly and the changes to their algorithm in regards to “Panda” which were significant for content sites, another tweak they did last year. Google publically released that it makes in the area of 200 changes per year to their algorithm. They also claim their trying to be more transparent about the changes they do make, why and when, but of course, they’ll never expose their secret sauce.
It is very interesting to watch when Google begins to roll out new algorithmic technologies, not only for how it effects the Internet and “Search” overall, but how it effects themselves as a company and a business. When Google updates their algorithms with significant changes, they also update their patents and/or file for new patents to include claims which support new methods they develop and decide to include. As Google files these patents Google becomes the exclusive owner of these identified methods which, should, eliminate other competing search engines like Bing and Yahoo from using the exact described and claimed methods thus making it extremely difficult for competitors to utilize the exact strategies even if eventually discovered. Competitors are then left to develop their own or different ways to justify the same means which may not easily be more, equal to or even nearly effective.
Considering the many different ways that Google looks at all of the millions of documents which make up the Internet, it continually seems more evident and important that web site operators as well as business owners who wish to be available online must consistently build, market, maintain, promote their web sites in order to maintain the freshness and value sophisticated search engines like Google are looking for. Sites always need a way to generate their own new value, freshness, buzz and links to avoid being “superseded by another document”. The one and only way to effectively avoid promoting your web site as a fundamental need of doing business online would be to develop and build a web site which becomes so massively great that it does its own marketing via true reporting, user need, interest, popularity and buzz.