There always seems to be some kind of mild panic every time Google rolls out a new algorithm update. Either web marketers are praying that they don’t lose their rankings or praying that they move up in the search results. However, sites that have been properly optimized should see little movement in search results due to any sort of algorithm update.
Many SEOs spend their time reacting to algorithm changes rather than having carefully considered their actions in the first place. The sites most impacted from algorithm changes suffer because of web marketing decisions being made out of short-term considerations.
Good SEOs look ahead. In fact, [inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”” suffix=””]good SEO is virtually algorithm-proof[/inlinetweet] because we are doing not what the algorithms want today, but what they want tomorrow. Or next year. Or even five years from now. Every SEO decision being made today should be considering the long-term ramifications.
We can never know exactly what Google or any other search engine will do with their algorithms, but there is one constant. [inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”” suffix=””]Search engines only want to place the best sites in the search results.[/inlinetweet] The sites that their searchers will actually want. Sites that provide their users with the most value. What they don’t want are sites that do the best job of making it appear that they add value.
That means that every web marketing action you take must consider what is best for the visitor before looking for what is best for the search engine. In fact, usability issues should trump algorithms first and foremost. Why? Because eventually the algorithms will get around to giving each usability issue a preference. If not today, tomorrow. And if not tomorrow, next year or within the next five years.
[inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”” suffix=””]SEO is about the long-play. Short term gain is great, but never at the expense of long-term success![/inlinetweet]