PerformanceCorporate Weblog

Apparently a search engine update can go for as long as it wants to. The Google Jagger update has gone on since 9/22/2005, and affected tons of website to boot. Undoubtedly many sites went up in rankings, but many others suffered.

The biggest problem with this update has been the sheer amount of time it’s taken. With an update taking 60 days, that doesn’t leave much of the year for those who lost traffic. Of course this iis of no concern for Google, but people who make a living online are aware now more than ever of the need to diversify their traffic streams. Only a diverse traffic stream can ensure a website of success.

After a long period of time of thinking about it, I guess I’ll go ahead and give article submission a try. It probably can’t hurt you, as long as you write a specific bit of content that allows you to that is devoted to the site you submit to.

In particular this method will work if you truly are on expert on a subject, or at least appear to be so. It’s a bit easier on the internet to appear to be an expert, but like anything else in life, it takes effort. I actually am an expert on certain subjects, but my normal modesty prevents me from talking about myself….usually. I guess I’ll give it a go and report back in this space.

I’m not sure how much of what I read on SEO Forums is intentional mis-information, but there seems to be more than the usual amount of balderdash being spouted these days. The conversations are almost the same and links are now considered to be Public Enemy Eumber One when SEO’ing websites.

This contrasts greatly with what was being said in the recent past about links. For a long time, links were promoted as a cure-all for a website’s ills. “My website is number 99 in the rankings, what does it need to improve in rankings?”. The answer, without the responder ever having visited the site in question, would come almost immediatedly: “More links!”.

More links? Certainly it’s a simple answer, but it doesn’t take into account the other possibilities on why a website might not rank first for its’ category. One reason I can think of is because certain websites just suck in terms of content, usability, and design, and they won’t rank first unless you get “more links”. Recently, it seems, the cocksure cry of “More Links” is being silenced across the forum landscape.

Why the change of heart? Because it “appears” that Google has gotten much smarter (and a whole lot richer) about how it treats “links”. And now, more than ever, a “link is not just a link”. Backlinks themselves must now be of a higher value than in prior years. Or at least this is the prevailing wisdom in the SEO circuit. Is this the right answer? The only right answer with Google is, only Google knows for sure: and they aren’t talking.