Is it just me or has Google gone into overdrive?
As a professional full-time online marketer I have
to keep my mind firmly placed on what Google is doing.
As much as I try not to because Google has probably
driven more people around the bend than Chrysler and
Mercedes-Benz put together.
Like any professional marketer, I monitor my numerous
keywords on a daily basis - especially my major targeted
keyword phrases that bring in the most sales and subscribers.
For years now, I have had top rankings in Google for my
chosen phrases; they move up and down, but mostly they
don't leave the first page.
However, lately I have been noticing a lot of jumping
in the top listings. Links out of nowhere are appearing,
links being dropped and my own links moving up and
down much too quickly for my comfort. Even six months
ago the Google main index seemed to be a whole lot
more stable than it is now.
Within the past months, rankings within Google have
become more dynamic, more fluid. They can change from
day to day, what some people are calling Google Everflux.
This is very similar to the old Google Dance we used
to have a few years ago...when Google would update or
refresh its index about once a month. Now Google is
stepping out on that dance floor every day.
Once upon a time, your keyword rankings in Google
didn't change that much. Every four or five months
Google would do major updates where your keywords
and your site's PageRank could have a major jump or
fall in Google's index. But have things changed?
Has the whole ranking process now been sped up?
Has the Google Index now become more fluid, more
dynamic, changeable daily? Updating, fluctuating
on the fly?
Inquiring minds want to know...
Keep in mind, Google Everflux is not a new term.
As far back as July 2002 there are references in
Webmasterworld to the Google Freshbot and Google
Everflux. This term referred to the re-freshing
of the Google Index.
Unlike many SEO theories and assumptions, the Google
Everflux is the Real McCoy. That is if you can believe
the Google Guy, and there's no reason not to take Matt
Cutts at his word.
In his site or blog -- http://www.mattcutts.com -- he describes
what is happening here. In a response to a comment on
his blog on January 1, 2007, he gives this answer:
Quoting Matt Cutts: "...I'm not trying to side-step
the issue. I believe that a data refresh, which used
to be every 3-4 weeks, is now happening more like every
day. So the changes in ranking that some people were
seeing on the 17th or 27th during the summer months
can now happen every day."
Even more telling was Matt's response to another
person's summary of these changes within Google.
Senaia said: "So the Index Update is what people use
to call Google Dance, when it was on monthly bases.
Now it's on daily bases and they call it Everflux.
Backlinks update and Pagerank update are also types
of data refresh.
So, the big scary updates like Florida... are Algorithm
updates?"
Matt Cutts said: "Senaia, that's not a bad summary.
Florida and Jagger were changes in our algorithms to
score documents, for example."
However, is the current Google Everflux a more souped-up
version of this re-freshing process? Google in fast-forward?
On speed-dial?
Regardless of the rate of change, Google Everflux is
important simply because Google is so important to any
webmaster or site. There's no denying that, whether you
love it or hate it, Google will deliver the most search
engine traffic to any webmaster who gets top rankings for
his/her keywords. The other search engines shouldn't be
ignored, but most of your search traffic will come from
Google. According to Nielsen Stats in February (2008),
Google had around 60 percent (58.7 -- 4.5 billion Google
search queries) of the traffic on the web.
But 60 percent is not the true percentage; from close
examination of my different sites' traffic logs I know
Google gives me around 90 percent of my search traffic.
Maybe I am over optimized for Google, but even when I
manage on rare occasions to get number one rankings in
all three search engines for a minor keyword, Google
is still the one sending the most traffic.
Since this search traffic is extremely important to my
livelihood, I keep a close watch on my major keywords
in Google. Movement up or down just a few places means
an increase or decrease in my traffic. Google has changed.
It is not the same search engine it was 6 months ago.
Not by a long shot.
What does this mean to your site or keywords?
It probably means you have to put your link building
efforts into overdrive if you want to get a top listing
in Google and keep it there. It will probably mean that
you have to be constantly creating valuable content and
quality-relevant links related to your site's topic in
order to remain competitive.
This is what you should be doing in the first place, but
now you will have to work harder to keep your links in
those top positions in Google. At least this has been
my experience lately.
One thing I have noticed with my keyword rankings, links
from the so-called Social Bookmark sites (Digg, Reddit,
Squidoo...) have become very important to Google. Real
people reading and ranking real content. This is what
these social media sites are all about, and it seems
Google is placing more emphasis on these sites.
I say "seems" because with Google, nobody knows for sure.
However, I can see in my daily monitoring of my own keywords
-- Google Everflux is real and is probably here to stay.
Over time old links you had are being dropped, as Google
re-ranks their links and index. The whole fall-out from
Google's paid link crackdown is still being played out
as webmasters scramble to devise new ways to juice-up
their links. Google is firing back with new ways to keep
its index supposedly honest, an ongoing, turbulent battle
that will probably get more turbulent. As new sites and
links become important there will be a constant change
in the rankings within Google.
Google also seems to be favoring big, resourceful authority
sites for the top positions in their SERPs, giving these
sites 6 or 7 sub-headings and links -- all in the top spot.
Which means it will be much harder for the smaller marketer
to compete. Of course, it is only a matter of time before big,
large corporations completely dominate all the major profitable
keywords on the web, in Google and elsewhere. Once big business
figures out what's going on and realizes just what keyword
control in their industry will give them.
That may be a little extreme, but like any valuable resource,
it won't be long before multi-national corporate giants eat
up the little guys/sites via keyword branding and dominance.
It will take some time, and since there are millions of small
niches there is still some marketing room for small sites to
cash in. But our days of glory are numbered...
For now, if you count on Google for your search traffic,
keep building quality links/content daily and don't forget
the all important social bookmark sites... make sure you're
building some good links from them. One simple solution that
has given me hundreds of social bookmark links in the past
year is simply adding the free AddThis.com button on my sites.
Just let your visitors bookmark and build links for you in
these social media sites.
Keep a blog or blogs and tie in your site with links and
trackbacks. And make sure you tie/connect your site to the
whole blogosphere. Don't forget to add video/audio to your
site, as those formats will play an ever-increasing role
on the web.
No matter what warp-speed Google finally decides upon,
valuable content is still the key to getting top rankings
in any search engine. Adding fresh, valuable relevant content
to your sites each day will keep them in the picture.
If that doesn't work, you can always take up speed car
racing -- I heard it is supposed to be very calming on
the nerves. And I bet you one back rub none of them will
have ever heard of Google Everflux.

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