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The service we provide is the content of your sites.
The payment we receive is both real (traffic - think "physical product or service") and perceived (PR - "think image / branding").
There have been a lot of posts where people view Google as the enemy, or "big brother" and they gripe and moan about the way Google operates.
People look for ways to "trick" Google, by spamming the index or by artificially increasing PR.
But the truth is that we (website owners) are all competing for Google's business. We are climbing all over each other to be Google's number one!
It's that proverbial once in a lifetime contract that pays the bills and secures your business for years to come.
And what makes it great - what makes it sooooo attractive - is that anyone can do it. Anyone can achieve success. On the web, the contract doesn't need to go to the multinational with the glossy sales pitch. On the web it's an open playing field.
Quick question on customers:
How many people on this forum deceive their customers into parting with their money (ie defraud them)? None (I hope! ;)).
But how many people would happily deceive Google into thinking they were number one? Probably not everyone, but certainly a few.
The problem is that scamming people out of money is clear cut - you do it and you know itīs wrong - thatīs just the way it is.
But with Google, the "rules" arenīt so obvious, so thatīs where personal ethics and morals come into play (but letīs not go into that! :)). Each to their own set of values.
The point of this long winded post is an explanation of my own view on the matter.
You run a good business by following the number one golden rule - give the customer what they want!
This is central to good marketing - in customer service (customers WANT good service), in advertising (customers WANT to see that your widget will make them better / more attractive / richer / smarter / whatever), in branding (customers WANT a product that fits in with their percieved lifestyle), etc, etc.
This can be carried on to the Google analogy.
Google WANT sites that are content rich (and by that I mean are actually content rich, not just padded with keywords). Google WANT sites that are useful to their users. Google WANT sites that are accessible. Google WANT sites that link out and have plenty of inbound links.
In my own experience, following that one golden rule when designing sites has shown me more success than any other single SEO / SEM technique (granted a lot of others a good for acheiving this). Keeping in mind though, that Google is not our only customer - other SEīs, directories and different varieties of users also need to be cater for.
I believe that by keeping this as a central focus to your site, you can easily fit all other aspects in accordingly - from SEO to Advertising to Sales conversions, etc.
But, if your focus is to trick Google (be it spam, or "just business"), then your focus will have negative long term impacts on your business. An analogy could be that you could focus 90% of your time on sales, but if your product isnīt up to scratch then your efforts have been largely wasted (or rather, they havenīt fufilled the potential they could have).
I have my own personal views on certain techniques and other aspects of SEO, and i would rather not start a thread on whatīs right and wrong (that would just go nowhere).
Instead, I would like to hear what others feel on the subject of Google as a customer.
Scott :)
Hehe sorry about the length of the post - itīs a public holiday here and im being made to <ahem> work. ;)
Most times SEO's dont realize that Google was not designed for them. I was designed for the adverage surfer on the net. Google does not owe any of us anything...at all. It's their business they neither need to consult us, make it more friendly for us to get listings, provide any services, respond to our emails, include our "pages" into their site, or anything else. Its their business to run how they want not how we think it should be run.
On several occasions people here post that their pages were dropped and they want an explaination. Two things; first Google does not need to give you what you want and second its their perogitive (sp?) to drop your pages because its their choice. After all if you look at their definition of spamming the engine we are all guilty of doing it for our own gain. So when you try to trick google your site should be dropped.
My guess is that google and other engines are in the business is to make money providing the best search results. Since that is the goal of most businesses, well search engines, I dont think google is any different.
Any how where are you located and what public holiday is it?
You points there brought an analogy to my mind:
What if individual websites started griping about the PR loss of us dropping them from our link pages?
Would we give a dam?
No. Because we did it for a reason that fits in with our business ideology.
It perhaps has a lesser effect than dropping from Googles index, but the principle is the same.
If you want someone / something to include you in what they are doing, then you have to play by their rules.
Scott :)
It just goes to show that persistance is the key.
