Now enters Google. 2011 introduces their most recent evolution called the “Panda” or “Farmer” that promises to weed out low quality and shallow sites that simply wastes the viewer’s time. The new algorithm retains in their high ranks sites that sets the more modern SEO principle of mainly having original and valuable content that the audience can use, refer to or share and “buzz”. This is now applied to all English language queries worldwide and already had a measured 12% impact or effect on the searches made. This is of course continuously subject to updates for a more fine-tuned delivery of quality sites for every query.

Google has released a set of guidelines for three main areas of design and content, technical and with a special emphasis on quality guidelines that are to be followed so that a site wouldn’t be penalized or eventually blocked from being searched on Google. These guidelines boil down to an ideal site that contains good and original, if not outstanding content that is aimed for the user.

A company’s goal should therefore shift from attracting search traffic to that of providing a site whose composition should be well orchestrated and contains enough quality content that is valuable and relevant for it to be “morally” acceptable to Google standards and their new “high quality sites algorithm” as they call it.

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The key to successful SEO marketing is thinking ahead. Every SEO marketing campaign will take some time before it truly takes hold, so you need to plan every step you want to take at least three months beforehand in order to get the best results. Let’s say you want to take advantage of the increase in the number of hits for the phrase ‘best surfing beaches’, which should peak around the summer months. To really get the most out of this trend, your campaign should be in place and ready to go by the end of February at the latest.

The next step is to figure out exactly when during the year specific SEO campaigns are at their most effective. The year-end holiday season, for example, is when searches for all sorts of items and phrases reach their peak as people rush to purchase gifts for their friends and loved ones. Your website must reflect the hottest trends at any given time, a feat that is not that hard to do with the availability of tools such as Google Trends. It provides a free listing of the most popular keywords, which is updated constantly. Effective use of such powerful tools at your disposal is one of the keys to a successful SEO campaign.

Getting the keywords right is one thing. You need to fulfill the other half of the bargain by making sure that the products that you market are appropriate to the season as well. It should be fairly obvious which products sell well during the winter months of the year, such as ski equipment, and which products are more inclined towards the warmer months, such as surfboards. Updating your site to take advantage of these predictable trends a month or two in advance will ensure that your sales stay at a high and steady rate.

The last thing you need to do is know your customer, because search trends don’t always necessarily translate to high sales. For example, if you’re selling summer holiday packages, then sales should spike in the months prior to the season, as these trips are usually booked a long time in advance. By studying and adapting to similar behavior, you’ll be able to stay ahead of the trends and consistently come up with effective SEO campaigns for all seasons.

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If you type in the term “reputation management” into Google, you’ll find that near the top of the page is a link to a site that lets businesses buy positive reviews. These businesses employ “reputation management experts”, or a roomful of what are likely offshore employees who do nothing but churn out glowing review after glowing review without ever visiting the business they are writing for or trying out one of their products.

To counter the growth of fraudulent and improper reviews and ratings, Google recently revised its review guidelines, as seen below:

Conflict of interest – Reviews are only valuable when they are honest and unbiased. Even if well-intentioned, a conflict of interest can undermine the trust in a review. For instance, do not offer or accept money or product to write positive reviews about a business, or to write negative reviews about a competitor. Please also do not post reviews on behalf of others or misrepresent your identity or affiliation with the place you are reviewing.

The way review fraud seems to be picking up speed, industry analysts have begun to describe it as the new black hat SEO.

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