In the complex, ever-changing, ever-expanding online world, there is no single bright, shining path that leads to one simple truth for all webizens. Just the opposite; there are many competing forces at play in the vast network of networks we call the Internet.
The free world library sits alongside the global marketplace. The open web opposes the closed web. Digital marketing rights compete with the creative commons licence.
Online information, data, and commerce continuously expand exponentially. Anyone who wants to be one is an online publisher. Almost everything personal is expressed in the data pools somewhere, hopefully well-encrypted enough to keep the hackers out and the ransomware at bay.
Where in the World Wide Web?
In this extraterrestrial ocean (or cloud) of data, there are search services that work to help web travelers find their way safely out on their daily missions and back again. This enables online customers to bank and shop when and where they want. It helps them find and stream movies and music. They can message, share, upload, download and sideload apps and media and data, picking and choosing their favorites from among the countless available choices.
These different search services have their virtues, their better qualities, their own particular charms. Some focus on the ranking power of user reviews. Others reflect corporate outreach and advertising intent. But the most reliable, unimpeachable guide to the Internet, and still the virtual patron saint of all web travelers, is Google.
Google Rules the World of Search
The original indispensable answer machine that relentlessly focuses on search accuracy ahead of advertiser influence, Google was and is the defender of the free page ranking. According to Wikipedia, as of March, 2017, Google dominates the search engine marketplace with an 80% share of all worldwide Internet searches.
In this brave new world, Google also ranks as the world’s most valuable brand for the second year in a row. The 2017 BrandZ Top 100 listing is based on analysis of financial performance plus a survey of over three million consumers. Google comes out on top again as the leading example of how the “superstar technology brands in the BrandZ global top 100 are capable of abundant innovation, using their platforms to create connected ecosystems that meet multiple needs and make our lives easier,” said Jane Bloomfield, Kantar Millward Brown’s (the study’s co-producer) head of UK marketing.
Follow the Money
Sure, Google sells ads on the side, and even on the top of the search results page. But these are clearly labeled as ads, and they are not allowed to mingle with the ‘organic’ results that the collective wisdom of web users pushes to the top of the search engine results page (SERP). Despite this “restraint,” last year Google attracted the largest single share of global advertising spending at $79.4 billion.
How To Win Your Share of the SERP
So what does Google’s monolithic status mean to the business owner trying to deliver a product or service to consumers who most need or want it? How can it, or should it, change the way a producer talks about a product? Where should precious advertising dollars be spent to produce a meaningful ripple in the waves of Internet traffic flowing by?
Fortunately, Google has the answers to these questions, too. Professional SEO experts know what Google looks for and prioritizes. They know how the language of user intent carries the key to unlocking Google’s mysteries.
There are many hidden tags, titles, and descriptions buried in the HTML code that creates the pages you see on the web. If your business relies exclusively on local consumers and local exposure, Google uses these internal mechanisms to make your website respond to the online demand at the local level. If your business operates on a global scale, or seeks a piece of the worldwide market, Google can match your online coordinates with anyone anywhere based on these internal sorting criteria.
Google is not perfect. It has made marketing mistakes in its own search for corporate profits and alienated consumers from time to time. It has built glitches into some of the algorithm updates over the years and alienated SEOs and web developers. But it always manages to retool, recover, and return to favor.
The bottom line is that Google is looking for honest, ethical, interesting and useful information because that’s what Google’s searchers want. As long as your marketing team or your SEO consultant stay up-to-date with the tools and trends that are prominent in the Google domain, you can be sure that the customers you seek will be able to seek and find you, too.
For help with your Google relationship and any other search-related questions, talk to Paul or get in touch on LinkedIn and get the answers, advice and action you need.
