Where is Google Headed?
Posted on Friday, Jan 21, 2011 in "SEO / SEM"
A main topic in web communities is should SEO’s be focusing on where Google is heading in the future? The answer is yes. Wasting time on ascertaining short-term holes in Google’s search engine algorithm is not smart. Just as soon as you figure it out, the algorithm will change again. Therefore, most publishers focus on the direction Google I heading. One idea publishers should be aware of is the transition of Google into an answer engine.
The Answer Engine
For web publishers this can be a major issue. An answer engine is one that answers any questions or inquiries directly from Google properties. For instance, if you are looking for a definition and input “definition baseball” into the search bar, an answer engine would have the definition immediately available from their database at the top of the page. This indicates all subsequent websites below the answer will have less traffic.
Unlimited Resources
Since Google is such a large corporation, it has resources everywhere. From searching for flights to finding dinner reservations, Google is connected to all of these databases; they are the internet. This technology advancement is fantastic for Google, excellent for the user and not good for web publishers and internet marketers. With Google providing the answers, there is no need for the visitor to click on any other website.
Review Sites
Google has slowly been headed in this direction for many years. In 2010, Google furthered this process by making inroads for commercial searches like mortgage rates. Their most recent advancement is the aggregation of reviews on various topics from review sites.
The Savior: Brand Loyalty
Unfortunately the days of being an affiliate with no branding strategy is coming to an end. Affiliates will never disappear completely but there will be less of them because of the extra competition with Google itself. A final word to the wise, create or build a branding strategy now to prepare for the Google takeover.
