As an individual who works in the Internet advertising industry I am always seeking to understand how Internet visibility and websites work and perform. You may have heard of Google’s “algorithm” before, but may not exactly understand what it means. Basically, by simple definition, it’s a way for Google to assess the relevancy of a website for a given search term. Different parts of this secret equation are weighted, and that weighting changes constantly as technology, human behavior and different types of media evolve. Clear as mud?
I recently launched a blog to showcase my clients, send them “link juice” to increase their relevancy for certain search terms, and… honestly… to create my online professional identity and brag book. I took care of 3 professional necessities in 1 shot… winning! If you choose to visit www.inlandempirelawyers.wordpress.com, pay attention to the way I’ve titled, phrased and tagged my blogs. This is the digital world advertising has evolved to. Page authority, Domain authority, authoritative links, keyword density, H1 & H2 tags… it’s enough to make a person go crazy. At this point in time, inbound linking (quantity and quality), is roughly 40% of the algorithm weight. Think of inbound links as a popularity vote, the more you have the more search engines see you as relevant. The more you have from the jocks, preps and cheerleaders, the better. Media rich unique content, social media, blogging, proper site coding & tagging and about a dozen other factors determine how a website will rank… and the rules & weights change daily.
I love the show Mad Men… I sometimes think that was a time I should have been in advertising for. Slick taglines, fedoras and scotch… lots of scotch.
Why do marketers & businesses need to pay attention to this? Recent polls suggest that as many as 85% of Google users stay on the first page of results, and only about 10% will even grace page 2 with a click. Think about how you search… how many times do you click to page 2? Or do you just search again with a more targeted term like me?