Search engines have become a major advertising channel, and an SEO strategy decides whether a brand actually benefits from them. Below you will find how search developed up to 2014, a short history of information retrieval and the elements that make such a strategy work.
An effective SEO strategy is built on valuable content, natural links and a good user experience. By 2014 it is already clear that for many companies and brands, promotion in search results is becoming more important than traditional advertising such as print, radio or television. This should come as no surprise - search engines have global reach and can send a very large number of users to a specific website in a short time.
Table of contents
A short history of information retrieval
The foundations of the science of finding information (Information Retrieval) date back to the mid-20th century, when computer systems started to be used in places such as university libraries, archives, government laboratories and research institutions. Their job was to search huge databases and document collections automatically, which at the time made the work of scientists and officials much easier.
Over the following decades, search algorithms were refined with methods for analysing content and taking into account keywords, as well as citations and references (especially in academic settings). When the Internet began to grow rapidly in the 1990s and became available to a wider audience, applying these methods to commercial web search engines was the natural next step.
Popularity and references
The key principle behind search engine algorithms is the assumption that a good (valuable) document is one that many other documents refer to or cite. Traditionally, in scientific literature the number of citations is a measure of a paper’s quality - the more people cite an article, the higher its value is rated.
On the Internet, the role of citations has been taken over by links from one website to another. Search engines look not only at the number of these links, but also at their quality (that is, where a link comes from). A site’s popularity is also measured using traffic statistics - the number of visits, the average time a user spends on the site and many other factors.
Content optimisation (SEO)
In 2014 it is no longer enough to publish any content online and hope users will find it on their own. Websites that want to rank high in search results use a range of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) techniques:
- Keyword selection
Carefully choosing phrases that best describe the content of the page and match what people search for. - Metadata optimisation
Placing keywords in the page title and description (the title tag and meta description) in a way that encourages users to click the link in search results. - Link building
Getting links from valuable sources (other websites on related topics). This has to be done carefully, though, to avoid filters and penalties from Google (for example after Penguin algorithm updates). - High-quality content
The time a user spends on a page is one of the ranking factors. If the content is interesting and meets the reader’s needs, people stay longer and are more likely to come back.
Effective SEO work in 2014 therefore means delivering valuable content, avoiding unnatural practices (such as keyword stuffing or buying links in bulk) and caring about a positive User Experience.
Google PageRank - a way to measure quality
One of the best-known (though in 2014 no longer the most important) website quality metrics is PageRank. It was developed in 1998 by Google’s founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. The main idea behind PageRank is that a website is more valuable the more quality links point to it.
How the algorithm works:
- Every link to page A is treated as a vote for page A.
- The weight of that vote depends on the PageRank of the page the link comes from.
In practice, this means a link from a reputable website can significantly boost page A’s position, while a link from a little-known or low-quality site has almost no effect.
The last public PageRank update took place on 6 December 2013. Although the PageRank bar (shown in the Google Toolbar) used to be refreshed fairly often, no public updates have been released since then. On 6 October 2014, during an official Google hangout, Google’s John Mueller said that there would probably never be another public PageRank update.
Those words caused quite a stir in the SEO industry at the time, because for many years a lot of specialists had based their strategies on watching PageRank go up or down. Although PageRank still exists in Google’s internal calculations, showing it publicly is no longer a priority for the company.
Current SEO trends (2014)
- Google algorithm updates (Penguin, Panda, Hummingbird)
- Penguin (first version in 2012) fights unnatural link profiles and spam in search results. Later versions (including Penguin 2.1 from October 2013 and updates in 2014) focus on detecting abuse even more effectively.
- Panda (since 2011) evaluates the quality of content on websites. The latest versions in 2014 (Panda 4.0 in May, Panda 4.1 in September) put even more weight on unique, valuable content and filter out low-quality pages.
- Hummingbird (introduced in 2013) changes how queries are interpreted - Google tries to understand the full context of a question, not just selected keywords.
- The growing importance of mobile
In 2014 there is more and more talk about the growing number of people browsing websites on smartphones and tablets. Google recommends responsive solutions (RWD - Responsive Web Design), which make a website adjust automatically to the screen size. - Content marketing
A strategy of creating valuable content (such as articles, guides and infographics) to attract an audience and encourage people to engage with a brand. When users spend more time on a page, it signals to Google that the content is valuable. - Social media
Although Google does not officially confirm that social signals (such as Facebook likes or Twitter shares) directly affect rankings, by 2014 social media already plays a very important role in distributing content and building user engagement.
What it means for website owners and what lies ahead
In 2014 website owners need to pay particular attention to content quality and natural ways of earning links. A site’s popularity, measured not only by visits and time on site but also by the quality of backlinks and user engagement, translates directly into revenue. A high search ranking means more visits, more interest in your offer and a better chance of conversion (such as a purchase, a newsletter sign-up or a completed contact form).
Dropping public PageRank is also a sign that Google is relying on more complex factors to evaluate websites. This forces the SEO industry to look for new ways to analyse sites and set priorities.
What this means for your SEO strategy
This article from 2014 clearly shows that search engines are a powerful advertising tool with huge potential for reaching audiences. They allow precise ad targeting and drive traffic to websites, which brings real revenue for businesses.
In the world of SEO - especially in 2014 - PageRank is still talked about as a historically important metric, but other ranking factors are gaining weight every month. Google keeps rolling out updates (Panda, Penguin, Hummingbird), and their main goal is to promote high-quality content that is useful to users and to penalise sites that use unethical or low-quality SEO techniques.
Website owners should therefore invest in good content, natural link building, mobile optimisation and a positive user experience. In the long run, these are the things that will decide search rankings and online success - whether or not public PageRank is ever updated again.
Update: March 2016
Although in 2014 many people still believed PageRank might one day return in a new form, in March 2016 Google officially announced it was removing the PageRank toolbar (source: SearchEngineLand). This means we will never again see PageRank in the form we knew for years (shown in tools such as the Google Toolbar). The algorithm itself still works in Google’s internal calculations, but it has become one of many factors the company does not disclose to users.
