Google is forever updating and rolling out Google Updates it is hard to keep up to date. I’ve been working since 2006 with Google, or perhaps I should say at the same time as Google.
In the early years before they floated on the stock market I felt they were a partner, now its more cat and mouse!. Having to change things to cope with their latest updates. Sometimes their changes are good and aimed at improving quality.
Sometimes I feel at other times they appear to push our updates which have the affect of pushing users to use Adwords rather than to market and develop their sites as they wish.
Google Updates
Now the SEO community has taken to giving the Google update names, such as Panda, Penguin and the like, whilst this adds an element of humour and interest it belies the fact that often these updates put companies our of business and destroy lifes and lifetimes of work.
My Approach
Now my focus is on my end users and if Google brings or sends me traffic then that is a bonus.
My strategy can be summed up as follows:-” I now favour ignoring Google and instead to focus on quality and my users and their experience.
If that aligns with Google all the better if not .. so what!”. Here are my main aims:-
Design – Create the best Design you can.
Functionaility – Create the greatest features you can.
Links – get other great sites to link to you. If people visit the site the backlink is on and like it then any visitors that come via that route will likely be focussed.
Also direct visitors are likely to interested in what I offer so there is a chance of a sale”
Ignore Google updates where possible focussing instead of my own users.
Hopefully That ticks all of Google’s boxes anyway, there is something wrong it it doesn’t
Personally I only use Bing now whose results I really like. But of course Google has a monopoly on UK and mostly USA traffic so can’t be ignored.
The main reason is that I like their news orientated home page, and to be fair more or less similar results appears in the search.
Google filters out a lot of the smaller players these days, which I don’t like as I am one of those, so I prefer Bing results as they remind me of the way Google used to be.
Back in the good old days! Oh how I miss those times.
