SEO content loses rank

If you’ve searched on Google, you’ve probably noticed some changes – and how you feel about them may depend on your own business reliance on page ranking.

The Web search formula is now incorporating technology called “semantic search.” Keywords are still attractors, but Google is now striving for relevance by supplying links and information related to the meaning of those words. If you have developed your own Google techniques, this can be annoying at first – you’ve learned to game the system, but now the system is gaming you.  And if you’ve keyed your web site and online content to cater to the old search engine formula, you may be really annoyed when you find your rankings affected.

The implications are many for content marketing . At first glance, it seems much optimized content is now useless. The present algorithms are sophisticated enough that creators won’t be able to effectively optimize with the same guarantees as before.

But Google will parse content more skillfully than before, which means the focus in content creation will shift to quality over quantity. Instead of creating as many backlinks as possible and applying SEO ranking criteria, writers will need to craft highly informative content. This means we might finally see the end of those bogus keyword-babble “articles” online.

Google says this is a process, so it’s hard to say how it will all shake out in the end. (If indeed there is an “end” in web strategy.) But for now, it looks like a brighter day might be dawning for web content strategy - if marketers and business owners get on board.