The major search engines search algorithms are constantly evolving in the pursuit of relevance, their fundamental value residing in their ability to rank accurately. Relevance is the life-blood of the Internet. Relevance as defined by Google is particularly important.

E-commerce sites indicate that between 25% and 50% of their visitors (and most of their new customers) arrive via the search engines. Media sites report that users are bypassing their home pages (where ad rates are typically highest) and using the engines to go straight to the specific pages they want.

It’s impossible to clearly see beneath the bonnet of the engines of algorithm and search quality criteria (the search engine companies are far too secretive over their intellectual real estate, guarding them jealously) to fully appreciate the science and the artistry that combine to define relevance. It is possible though, to identify trends and emerging paradigms emerging form the reported half a dozen or so adjustments that are made to their vast and complicated mathematical formulas every week.

When elite engineer and Google Fellow Amit Singhai says that, “search over the last few years has moved from ‘Give me what I typed’ to ‘Give me what I want’,’’ we would be wise to take note. The inference from his comment being that these days people have higher expectations when it comes to search return relevance and users expect the engines to deliver better results. After all, for all the satisfactory search returns enjoyed by users, there are many millions of others that fail to result in finding the information that’s wanted.

The search companies building on experience and information gleaned from usage realise more intuitive interpretation of search requests are demanded to deliver relevance. Many SEOs are also contributing to the view that the switch to a more logical algorithm based on user behaviour is inevitable. Aspects of algorithmic development already impacting on search returns include elements of localisation and freshness, with future development likely to focus on page evolution, user history and topicality.

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is targeted firmly on generating high profile search returns, so it too must evolve in appreciation of algorithmic adjustments.

One of the main consequences of the recent refocusing of algorithms lies in the relationship between ‘on-page’ and ‘off-page’ optimisation.

Whereas simple ‘on-page’ SEO was once sufficient to place websites high on search engine returns, these days it takes far more than simply
stuffing keywords into various HTML tags, knocking up half a page of mediocre copy then uploading the files to draw the spiders’ attention.

On-page optimisation is now accredited as contributing only 20% towards achieving rankings.

Almost completely determined by webmasters of other sites and unlike ‘on-page’ SEO that’s vulnerable to abuse, ‘off-page’ factors are considered far more reflective of the true value of a site and the subsequent relevance of search returns it offers. Conducting underhand or spamdexy off-page optimisation methods in the hope of gaining an unfair advantage on Google is much harder.

It’s not a case of how you see yourself. These days it’s very much a case of how others see you. What esteem they hold you in is what makes the biggest difference to the search engines.

You can learn to help yourself by adopting ethical and intelligent ‘off-page’ SEO. In effect, making it as easy as possible for others to have the opportunity to appreciate you. When approaching ‘off-page’ SEO, it’s important though to realise that your ‘on-page’ house needs to be in order before you go pursing inbound links to develop ranking. For example;

• Site Performance: In many competitive areas this is a key factor for many highly competitive areas. High performance in the form of speedy page load times and minimal error returns can be the difference between life and death online.
• Bounce Rate: The rapidity with which a user clicks away from a site page can dramatically impact your overall rankings. Bouncing over 80% of the time back to the search results will see a site freefall; your site may even disappear completely. Between 50 and 60% seems to be the norm. However, if you can get the site to bounce less than 20%, you'll consistently rank well. Bounce rate is linked inextricably to quality content. Killer content means stickyness. The more useful people find your site, the longer they will remain there. Low bounce, high search positioning.

The overriding ‘off-page’ factor impacting upon rank is inbound links. Diverse, authoritative, inbound links from topically relevant websites can see your campaign fly or die.

Listed below are just a handful of the many opportunities that enable web owners and SEO professionals to cultivate a range powerful links, building reputation and ranking in the process.

• Social Networking and Community Creation - Online reputation management can be enhanced by contributing to the most popular social networking sites like Orkut, Myspace, Facebook, Linked In, Ecademy, Bebo etc., and creating a profile. Extend your online network, connect with friends, share ideas and promote your company/website to build an online reputation.
• Blogging – An incredibly powerful way to promote your website. Freshly updated comment and content, highly relevant to your industry. Be concise, be precise and be human. Build a fan base by sharing information, tips advice, wisdom and opinion. Encourage participation and attempt to establish authority in your given subject area. Turn your blog into a resource for others.
• RSS Feeds - Well worth while targeting. Google now tracks the number of your RSS feed subscribers. The magic number seems to be at least 25 for most things; however, if you can get this number well over 50, it won't be very hard to get highly competitive article themes way up in the rankings. RSS can have amazingly positive implications in terms of how your articles rank.
• Press Release Promotion – Submit and syndicate your news. Keep it concise, keep it interesting and a worthwhile read. Use Press releases to enhance kudos and evolve your reputation.
• Social Bookmarking - is another powerful way of promoting websites. Search engines like them as content updates frequently. It’s important when using popular bookmarking sites like Digg, Del.icio.us, StumbleUpon, Propeller, etc. to handle the tags properly and not spam them.

There are many other highly effective ways to conduct ‘off-site’ SEO, link baiting, CSS, W3C and RSS directories submission, cross-linking, article submission etc. For more information on how SEO Consult can apply all of these techniques as part of a successful SEO campaign for your company, contact us today.