Google’s SEO for Their Websites
We already know what search engine optimization is, but Moz defines it as the balance between quality and quantity of traffic through organic search results []. Google is the final arbiter on whether your website will appear on the first page of search results, and their algorithms have gone through iterations to ensure that no one can trick them into ranking higher than they deserve. The best SEO companies always need to keep revising their knowledge about SEO every time Google brings out a new iteration of their algorithm. But how does Google deal with SEO on their own pages?
Google Doesn’t Make Itself an Exception
As the final decider on search engine results, it would be easy to think that Google would exempt its own pages from the strict ratings that it has applied to the rest of us. There’s an entire list of guidelines published by Google that advise webmasters what is and isn’t acceptable for search engine ranking. The thing that sets these guidelines apart is that it may mean less work for website owners who follow them to the letter. Algorithm updates and other changes to the search engine protocol won’t affect the core value proposition that these suggestions help to make a reality. The aim is to provide value to searchers through results. These algorithm updates serve as watchdogs to ensure keyword stuffing and other unsavory practices don’t take over.
photo/ Simplu pixabay user
Technical Audits and Constant Iterations
Google’s sites go through constant content audits to determine how their core audience responds to them and whether anything should be done to improve them. The sites themselves don’t need to be edited with each new algorithm update, meaning there should be less work. But minor improvements happen throughout the lifetime of the site. Google’s push towards value-based search results has made these audits necessary to ensure they’re meeting users’ needs according to the standard they hold other businesses to.
Embracing Change is Crucial
As with most technological changes, SEO algorithm shifts can be scary. Unfortunately, we don’t have the option to roll back to an earlier time, and thus we have to deal with it however we can. Using the core tenets that Google advises for developing websites can help them weather change and ensure that fundamental changes aren’t going to be necessary every iteration. The design of this system is brilliant since it rewards websites with developers who pay attention to the company’s guidelines while creating the site and punish those that try to patch problems that the algorithm update exposes.
Author: Jacob Maslow
