5 things I would do if I were Google

Dave Naylor recently wrote an article on 5 things he would do if he were Google. At the end of his post, he asks what we we do?

Before I start, though, I will just add some thoughts on Dave’s comments, particularly those relating to pagerank.

1) Completely agree with him on his point ‘Stop displaying Pagerank it only drives link buying and selling’. Personally think many SEO’s (probably the more junior SEO’s) get very hung up on pagerank at the detriment of their SEO. Doing something like this may encourage better linkage with people focussing more on relevancy, and research as part of their linkbuilding.

2) Show showing site:… Got to say I slightly disagree with this. I can understand (and agree with the points he raises at the end of this point) - however in my opinion there are a alot of instances where having such a command is very useful. For example, if I were doing some initial research on a client, this would be one of my first ports of call in terms of establishing the current website from an SEO perspective.

3) Regarding redirects - Completely agree

4) Subdomains - To a certain degree agree here - however in certain instances I do condone the use of subdomains and as such, perhaps such a ‘hardhitting’ solution would be a step too far.

5) Displaying adsense on non indexed pages - Again probably needs some further thoughts - i can see where hes coming from - but I have in my head certain reasons - as to why I wouldn’t want a page indexed but would want adsense on it.

Anyhow enough of adressing Dave Naylors point’s, its only fair I provide some of my own points (and let Dave have a bash at mine)

1) More open long term strategy. Mentioned this on my previous post regarding Paid Links - however currently Google is addressing Paid Linkage, before it was Recipricol Linkage. There is only one type of link building tactic left - free, however since it is the intention Google is interested in (ie artificially affecting SERPS by link building for SEO purposes), it probably is only a matter of time before this is targetted. However by the mere fact linkage is part of the algorithm and there is potential ROI to be acquired online (and thus visibility on search engines important), then the business sector will always be interested in ensuring they are as high as possible in the search engines.

In my eyes (and maybe in my eyes only), perhaps rather than looking at origin and intention - focus on better link building - ie relevancy. I can’t help thinking that by targeting the quality and relevancy of the linkage rather than how it was sourced, would improve this scenario and surely this would be more in line with Googles mindset and quality driven approach.
2)  Closer interaction with Search engine marketing specialists

Please note search engine marketing specialists not just seo specialists. I am not by any means saying this should be a howto session on influencing algorithms, just perhaps closer intergration with the industry, perhaps looking down a quality driven approach. I can’t help thinking that the search engines have a part to play in developing the perception of search marketing. At the end of the day, there is no getting away from the fact that Search Marketing and SEO are here to stay (in real terms- is it realistic that Google think that every company is going to have someone specifically designated to working on their own sites - surely not and at the end of the day SEO’s are just outsourced search marketing specialists.)

If we can work on the quality however of the people within the industry - not so much the top tier - more the small organisations. I personally have read a number of ‘my seo did this, my seo did that and it got me banned” type stories from new clients, which then affect how I work with them. We personally look at a holistic approach to our online marketing and as such, a client coming in from SEO may be cross-sold Paid Search (PPC) or Affiliate Marketing services as well depending on their requirements/targets.

Therefore the initial negative perceptions they have of SEO could affect how they perceive search marketing as a whole. Anyhow back on track - Google’s accreditation of such activity (along the lines maybe of their analytics experts ‘accreditation’) surely would give clients more confidence of not only who they are working with but search marketing as a whole.

3) Link: Really is this worth keeping. A snapshot of inbound linkage to your site. Personally can’t think of the last time I used it - and I would suggest it confuses things from a client perspective rather than helps. Either improve (ala site explorer and incorporate into WebMaster Tools) or do away.  (PS maybe webmaster tools could get more advanced features based on above accreditation - ala adwords)

4) Expansion of webmaster tools - Potentially such a good tool from a search marketing perspective. OK this isn’t likely to make them money by adding to it - but surely they could offer Google Webmaster Tools Gold - which gives you increased functionality/reporting/analysis etc. Functionality then such as expanding SERP positioning, link reporting etc could then be incorporated with a ROI for Google.

5) Noindex/Nofollow and Robots.txt - Again mentioned this before - but perhaps this does need review. Noindex and Nofollow were great for Backrub but surely Google 2007 is a long way from that model. Nofollow for the use of paid links surely is not right symantically never mind anything else, so perhaps such functionality needs to be reviewed. This possibly is a conversation bigger than merely a quick refence on a post - but further though and discussion regarding robots use for search engine purposes is required particularly given the advances in web related technology over the last couple of years

Just a couple of thoughts, feel free to give me some feedback on the above.

PS. Dave N -  if you do read this - are you going to the SEO Manchester do

2 comments September 12th, 2007