Has Google's prominence and SEO actually made the internet worse?

Discussion in 'SEO, Traffic and Revenue' started by CM30, Jul 25, 2013.

  1. CM30

    CM30 Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jul 1, 2012
    Messages:
    901
    Likes Received:
    500
    I mean, the fact they're so well known has kind of made promotional tactics about 99% dependant on Google's policies, which can't exactly be a good thing. And while SEO is something that exists for good reason, I do think it's caused a lot of people to completely lose sight of quality content or just making websites for humans rather than machines, as well as obviously about 99% of problems with things like forum spam.

    Anyone else feel the same way?
     
  2. ProSportsForums

    ProSportsForums Regular Member

    Joined:
    Dec 25, 2012
    Messages:
    529
    Likes Received:
    232
    Location:
    St Petersburg, Florida
    Yes. Their algorithm is fixed so that the sites they want to have the highest page ranks and the largest exposure do. Not coincidentally, those are the sites that pay Google a ton of money for advertising. It's rigged.
    No matter how quality my content is it will never be ahead of ESPN's.
     
  3. Gregman

    Gregman Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jul 12, 2013
    Messages:
    66
    Likes Received:
    21
    Location:
    Michigan
    There is one thing I have learned over the years. Never put your eggs in one basket. The minute Google decides to drop you on the search results traffic drys up. You should be using other methods to drive traffic and use Google as a bonus.

    Greg
     
    Big al and ProSportsForums like this.
  4. cpvr

    cpvr Regular Member

    Joined:
    Aug 14, 2009
    Messages:
    3,219
    Likes Received:
    823
    I don't believe so, it hasn't stopped people from creating high-quality websites. Competiton makes people want to work harder. I'm glad I also get traffic from other means like referrals and bookmarks. I also get a bit of traffic from Facebook and Tumblr because I sometimes post my threads there along with twitter. @Gregman is right, never place your eggs all in one basket.

    Branch out and get links from all over the place especially those sites that are related to your community in one way or another. Also, I've been competiting against a company for a while for the "virtual pets" keyword and the only way I'll be able to beat them if I get more links and content on my site.
     
  5. oldsmoboi

    oldsmoboi Regular Member

    Joined:
    Aug 3, 2013
    Messages:
    37
    Likes Received:
    8
    Location:
    Pittsburgh, PA
    I'm a far better car review writer than the hack that works at my local newspaper, but his review will be top ranking in Google where as mine will barely show. Google's algorithm will continue to favor his articles rather than mine simply because of the pagerank of his parent site.... but ignore the fact that his article are crap.
     
  6. Cerberus

    Cerberus Admin Talk Staff

    Joined:
    May 3, 2009
    Messages:
    1,031
    Likes Received:
    500
    Nope. I mean if you do not do things for money, then you would probably say yes. But, if you do things for money, SEO and Google are the bestest. I have made who knows how much over the years from SEO and Google. They have put food on my table many times. So, I hope they continue to do what they do :)

    As for having problems with them, as long as you follow the rules you should be fine. And @oldsmoboi Page Rank has nothing to do with anything now after Panda. They have site with a PR of 6+ buried in the waves of SERPS, because what used to get you PR no longer has value. Google has pushed their new algorithms towards content, and the value of said content. Of course relevant back links will always help, but they have made relevance far more important now. You can not just spam back links and get SEO value.

    All and all, I think they have done a fine job weeding out the cheaters and applying value to those who have put in the effort and time.
     
  7. wowtgp

    wowtgp Regular Member

    Joined:
    Aug 7, 2013
    Messages:
    65
    Likes Received:
    12
    I have had enough of Google's constantly changing policies and fighting for the top 10 spots rather than concentrating on quality. No more!

    For the last couple of months, I have been trying to gain more social media followers and blog subscribers. They are easier to convert into customers and you can easily have a good relationship with them.

    I am at the point where 1/3 of my traffic comes from Pinterest and subscribers while the rest comes from organic traffic. All in all, my blog is still dependent on organic traffic, but I am gradually moving away from it.
     
  8. bookreader1991

    bookreader1991 Regular Member

    Joined:
    Sep 23, 2013
    Messages:
    11
    Likes Received:
    5
    I think that it is just like real life where the product that is marketed better simply wins over the one that might be better but still isn't marketed much. Same goes for good musicians or anything good for that matter. Marketing is definitely important and if you don't understand how it works usually your stuff gets weeded out in favor of the one that is "popular". It is sad how it works but knowing this allows you to implement different strategies when you are creating your content and still come out with something that has the best of both worlds. Just my thoughts.
     
  9. oldsmoboi

    oldsmoboi Regular Member

    Joined:
    Aug 3, 2013
    Messages:
    37
    Likes Received:
    8
    Location:
    Pittsburgh, PA
    But much SEO out there isn't "marketing". It's an attempt to game the search engines so they think you're the most relevant result for the search customer.
     
  10. Arm Flailing Madman

    Arm Flailing Madman Regular Member

    Joined:
    Oct 21, 2013
    Messages:
    19
    Likes Received:
    2
    Location:
    London
    All I know is after my old site took a nosedive toward mediocrity and shut down, I thought hey let's have a chillout period and then revamp the site, bring it into the new world and include the old posts as a side note so that old users would have something to feel familiar with and accustomed to...

    Apparently Google doesn't seem to like a site that shares most of its posts with a site that shut down six months ago and now I don't even rank when searching FOR THE ACTUAL DOMAIN.

    Very displeased in general with google these days. I think eventually there's going to be a paradigm shift away from this culture of mass spoonfeeding.
     

Share This Page