With the help of MSN, recently I've been reminiscing about the Google of old. Remember those days?
http://www.jimmylerner.com - this web site is the official site of an author. Search on MSN for his name, "jimmy lerner" and his web site is the top result. Now, try the same search on Google. The top results are pages devoted to reviewing his book, book stores selling his book, a press release I sent out to announce his new site and a few times I've even seen sites show up in the top ten that simply have a link to his site from theirs and are completely unrelated. His site has been jumping from the second page to the first and back again.
This begs the question, optimization or no optimization, what, exactly, is the problem with a quality, informative web site reaching number one for a search query that is probably conducted specifically to find that exact site? Has the focus and aim of Google changed from offering relevancy to satisfied searchers to simply impeding the progress of SEOs? Is Google's main concern now, to stop individuals from helping a site reach number one? It can seem that way, can't it? And I can only say one thing about it. Bad move, Google.
I've heard a few people say that it's just a transition period. That all web sites are in the same boat, everyone's waiting to see the fruits of their optimization labour. Perhaps this is true, and perhaps over the next little while we will see changes at Google that make our jaws drop, impressed at the level of perfection we never thought possible. But I think maybe Google needs to re-focus their energies. Take the focus back to the user, not the SEOs. Get back to the near-impeccable relevancy level before I start using MSN to learn about all my favorite authors.
Courtney Heard is the founder of
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