The Declining Influence Of Page Rank On SEO

Over the last eighteen months, Google and Bing have made significant changes with regards to how social signals influence the way content is presented in search engine results. Google has implemented its’ notorious “Penguin” and “Panda” updates to tackle internet spam, which has meant that the quality of content now has a big impact on SEO (search engine optimization).

Essentially, the Google Page Rank is a system of balloting that compares one website to other related websites, to determine the relevancy and quality of a site’s content.

Google employs Page Rank to offer webmasters an indication of a web page’s status. It is a numerical value that represents the web page’s overall importance. The quantity of inbound links pointing to that page, along with the relevancy of these links, determine the ranking. Thus, this tool gauges a website’s popularity on the internet, and ranks it appropriately.

Webmasters report that Page Rank focuses on incoming links and their quality. Consequently, in order to achieve a better Page Rank, many webmasters concentrate solely on building high quality incoming links.

Nonetheless, recently, many people have speculated that the Google Page Rank algorithm is becoming increasingly less important. More and more, signals from social media platforms, like Google Plus, are starting to counter the impact of Page Rank. Notwithstanding, online marketers should not fret about their Google Page Rank and focus more on SEO, social media promotion and content creation, which is helpful for their customers.

Appearing in the top Three Google Search Results

Traditionally, the top position in the search results was thought to attract the most attention. Marketing research was said to indicate that websites in the number one spot get more traffic, compared to the websites underneath them. However, recent studies suggest that positions one, two and three get roughly the same quantity of clicks.

Nonetheless, it is worth bearing in mind that different users will experience different search results for identical keywords, based on their geographical location. Thus, your position in the search engine results will vary from one customer to another. Take heed of this advice to improve your chances of appearing in the top three Google results:

1. One factor that can influence the number of clicks a search listing will get is content author verification.
2. If each listing in the top three has relevant descriptions and titles then, if the first and second placed listings are just text and the listing in position three has an author image, this listing will be more attractive to internet users.
3. Try to set up a Google Plus account to verify the authorship of your website content.
4. You will need to upload a portrait photograph of yourself to complete your profile – this is what will show up next to your listing in the search results.
5. Increasingly, it is thought that webmasters with a Google Plus profile will have a big advantage over those who do not.

The position you rank in is important, but webmasters still need to make the most of every opportunity to stand-out from the crowd. Google is trying to encourage everyone to share their content via their Google Plus platform. This trend is set to continue and webmasters who have their accounts in place will have a much better chance of finding favor with the big G.

Why Focusing on Social Media, SEO and Content can Enhance Your Internet Presence

Historically, SEO has been very centered on optimizing website content to gain an edge in the search engine results. This focus used to be more on search engine placement, as opposed to improving the search experience for the customer. However, primarily, recent SEO best practices are centered on connecting websites to their intended audience, with a real emphasis on the search journey. Search engines exist to find good content, and good content fuels social media engagement.

These days, search engines are looking beyond just incoming links and web page text as the factors to determine their results listings. Both user experience and social media now affect how visible your online content will be. Try following these tips to enhance the social media presence of your online brand:

1. Like/Follow people and other brands/websites that are in related niches to yours on Twitter and Facebook. Usually, once you Like or Follow someone, they will like or follow you back.
2. Comment on other people’s profile pages, and make sure your comments provide useful information. This will help to attract more followers by positioning you as an authority in your niche.
3. Regularly update your profile pages with interesting posts.

The more of a social buzz your content generates, the more Google will like your website. Essentially, Google wants to see that your website has an existence that is independent of the search engines. Therefore, it is now more important than ever to understand the concerns of your customers, and to create a consistent flow of useful and relevant content that they will react to and appreciate.