Google is Constantly Changing Ranking Factors, Making SEO Frustrating

Everyone and anyone with a business or product wants to be found on search engines. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is key, and there’s always lots of talk about the importance of SEO. From content to links to tags, there’s so much to consider when everyone’s goal is to get a website ranked highly on the almighty Google.

What you won’t hear much about from Google is what exactly its ranking factors are. And there’s a reason for that. While Google has claimed in the past that its famous ranking algorithm is based on 200 ranking factors, it’s nearly impossible to maintain a running list of said factors for one reason – they change … constantly. However, knowing the intent of Google is a helpful guide. Google’s intent is to rank relevant sites, and that ranking does have a lot to do with relevancy and  recency – great content that changes often.

According to a 2010 interview with Google CEO Eric Schmidt, “We’re always changing, and if we started saying here’s how the black box works, then all of a sudden huge incumbencies would come out about this change and that change, and we just don’t want that pressure.” The changes are certainly beneficial for the searcher, but they can seem complicated when trying to make certain a site is optimized the right way to garner those much sought after rankings.

For an example of how things change in the SEO world, this video from SEOMoz illustrates the evolution of the ranking algorithm for local businesses.

So, no, there’s no great go-to checklist when optimizing your website for the search engines. However, true SEO professionals stay on top of Google’s numerous algorithm changes and can largely deduce what will get you higher in the rankings and what “black hat” tactics to avoid to keep your site from being blacklisted. Getting blacklisted on Google is not something you want your business to have to suffer, and, it is difficult to get off that black list, once it occurs. Asking for forgiveness is not a position your business wants to assume when it comes to search engine rankings.

The other factor to consider is that ranking is a ”zero sum game”. Home care and home health agencies across the country continually clamor to compete with local as well as national entities in the search engines. Knowing what tactics and what words work best to keep a site ranked ahead of the others is the key. Keeping ahead of the curve and ensuring a website gets listed as high as possible is something that corecubed has been doing since 1998. These 15 years make us  specialists in getting aging care services websites ranked well. We know what works and what does not work for the elder care business looking to capture leads from their website.

The SEO experts at corecubed can keep your site up-to-date on proper SEO tactics, allowing your business to stay ahead of the ranking curve. Contact us today to get started.