Getting it.... what does Google really want?

[whatson]

I thought I got Google, and made sites that were best for my visitors, giving them the most informative, relevant, unique information they were seeking. I thought that [in a nut shell] was it. But I guess I am wrong. So what actually is it they want? I want to play ball, within the rules, and I thought that was what I was doing.

And one you accomplish all this how do you monetize it? Especially considering it is likely you have put a lot of effort, time and money in making a site with such great content and tools.

[jecasc]

what has being a brand got to do with quality? im not saying you're not right, but in my mind just because something is a brand doesnt mean i want the website at the top of the serps.

A brand makes quality recognizable and distinguishable. Especially for stupid machines like Google. You can compute it you can put a big +10 next to the brand name. You can put a brand on twitter, you can put a brand on facebook. You can measure the impact of the brand on social websites. You can put an address next to a brand. A brand means accountability, means transperancy. If you have 100 sites that are all the same, you can go with the brand and at least not be too wrong. A brand can give you the edge you need. A brand can mean you can put factors into a search result other can't. Like emotions. You really do not have to be a big brand. You have to be distinguishable. That's the important thing IMHO.

I also thought - I am small, I am not really a brand. Then someone told me: You are using Adwords why don't you bid on your website name in Adwords. I thought he was nuts. But he was right. I was a brand, people where looking for me. My websitename, my brand is the most important keyword in my adwords account now. Others were even bidding on it before I did.

Let's say you have 100 posts about the Panda update. You are not sure which are garbage which might carry some truth. What do you do? You check who wrote them. You take a look at the post count of the member. You take a look at the status: administrator, senior member, junior member. You take a look at the registration date. You assign trust to member names and when you see it next time you put more value on their post. Member names can be brands on webmasterworld. And even a machine could recognize and compute them.

[edited by: jecasc at 7:28 pm (utc) on Apr 21, 2011]

[walkman]

You can debate what a "low quality" site is all you want over a few beers, but at the end of the day the people that are tinkering with the algorithm that produces the results get to decide that. Its just the way it is. I think the Google brain trust has been thinking about the changes that Panda brought about for a long time.

Ya think? Can I disagree with them at least? Can I state my opinion here?

[tangor]

Some words mean different things to folks. Using "brand" can be confusing. I prefer to think of my website as "me..., my name..., my interests..." and I tend to think of the Web as a nice restaurant or club, so dress accordingly and act with respect to those I expect to meet. "My good name" is, essentially, "My Brand".

Haven't changed my mind as posted earlier in this thread: the web is becoming a more mature "place" and "business" has (finally!) begun to find ways to do commerce in this new place. When that happens the "community" will change. The "mom and pop" store in the old 'hood can't easily compete with the larger businesses which come from outside the community.

The web has changed in the last five years. Google is "mayor" of the web (after all, webmasters helped elect Google to that position) and the mayor of any community will do everything possible to bring "prosperity" and "decorum" to their constituents. And when that happens...

Just look at how towns become cities and what happens when cities become a metropolis... often it ain't pretty. :)

Mayor Google is attempting to define the bad sections of town and applied more policing to those areas. Just like in real life one of the options to deal with a bad neighorhood (activity) is to move out of the area or clean up your act.

UNLIKE real civic "regulatory bodies" Google has not been transparent as regards their "citations" (Panda, demotion, penalization, etc.) so the "public" (webmasters) don't really have a clue how to remedy their "violation" to get back into the good graces of Mayor Google.

[ken_b]

A "Brand" site can just as easily be a low quality site as it can be a high quality site.

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