Google recently announced that they will be adding semantic search capabilities. The SpinSucks blog wrote about this, and what the changes mean for B2B marketers. Here is an excerpt:
Two weeks ago, the Wall Street Journal reported Google will be changing its search engine (“The changes to search are among the biggest in the company’s history…”) to include semantic search. Semantic search will help the search engine to better understand meanings of words to provide more relevant search results. Not long after that article, CNET published a story about how Google plans to penalize “over-optimized” sites to make it fair for sites that produce high quality content which may not be optimized for search.
I shared the post with Tony Grass of E-Market Intelligence and asked him for his thoughts. Tony is an expert in this area. His firm is a consultancy that generates leads and sales by identifying the best prospect groups for each client, projecting ROI, and pulling them in by what they want. If you find yourself asking “why can’t I find my site on Google?” then listen up. He said:
- Do not try to optimize for traffic where you cannot deliver targeted value. Be about what you are about. Provide decisive value to the prospect traffic you most want, and can best sell to.
- When choosing the keywords to optimize with, remember “It’s not what you want to sell, it’s what they want to buy.” Your website is for your customers, not you, and the keywords are the voices of your customers telling you what they want.
- All search optimization is competitive. For example, an industrial manufacturer is not competing with Victoria’s Secret, or even Home Depot. You only have to be optimized better than your competition, and once you’ve decided on your keywords the top websites listed when you search with those keywords are your competition
- Don’t use gimmicky shortcuts. If they work, they get eliminated by the next algorithm change. Invest in ‘white hat’ methods and you will have a quality investment that keeps its top positions and gets stronger every year. The above 4 points outline your strategy. Use a full-service SEO expert (includes writing) with good business thinking, or an SEO marketing agency that understands the ins and outs of the business and can keep up with the constant changes – it’s a game won by experts.
