Google updates have such cute names. The last big one, back in 2007 was ‘Florida’ – yep, Disney World’s cutesy home was also the name of the Google update which downgraded directories and overnight changed the face of SEO.
It’s some five years later and Google has done it again with their Panda update which, in some circles is also called Farmer. Google updates are like storms. The cuter the name the greater the damage and this one is pretty damaging.
I can tell you the technical side of it but you can check this out in the SEO Tips. In the blog section I try to give my opinion and tend to use the kind of English we’d exchange somewhere warm, over a cup of iced coffee, so really here’s what’s happening:
The web used to be a wild place, almost anything went. Heck, just having a website was enough to get you visitors and the people who had one were so few and far in between that they became local, and sometimes global, celebrities. Then they discovered eCommerce and anyone who could put some HTML together found some means of selling something and suddenly the world had no borders and bricks and mortar stores seemed so passé.
Then money started talking again and the big boys (the bricks and mortar dinosaurs) saw the opportunity and muscled in. Their expertise in running a business, their organisational skills and deeper pockets soon started to tell so that eCommerce in the web pretty much split into three camps: those who knew what they were doing and pulled in millions, those who were new and carved out a niche market and made a sizeable amount of cash with little or no competition and the complete amateurs who were in it for pocket money.
SEO was what gave the ‘little guy’ a chance. But SEO cost money and deep pockets and organisational skills (yep same bricks and mortar behemoths) told again. While the little guy with his website and his SEO knowledge was the lone gunman the big boys could hire lots of guns and soon the web was controlled by them again.
A lone gunman still stood a chance however.
Then the game plan changed again. The Panda update does not just require hired guns it requires quality shooting which means you need some pretty expensive rifles. So deep pockets win again, (I know it’s a surprise).
Personally I understand all this but I also do not want to see the web totally emulate the bricks and mortar world of last century. SEO can still give you an edge provided you know what you are doing and here’s where my blog comes in. At the moment, despite the fact that the web is becoming more corporate, it can still be the place where a good idea, some organisation and planning and a little bit of knowledge can still give you the edge you need.
All you need to do right now is heed all this and go out there and be successful. The more successful you become as a webmaster the less are the chances that the web will one day be controlled by the same corporations which run the offline world. Go to it!
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I’ve led the discussion on how social media and SEO are changing the processes we use to work and live, online, with the publication of my book ‘The Social Media Mind’. I combine experience in journalism and blue-chip corporate management with a penchant for explaining complex issues in simple terms. Contact me for media interviews, presentations and panel discussions
