Change is something the human race does not always welcome. We get set in our ways, even the bad and nasty habits; we are used to them so let’s keep it that way. The internet has revolutionised how business is done. This of course brought new opportunities for the unscrupulous and amoral amongst us to try their tricks to cheat for quick profits.

Recently there has been loud squawking and lamenting about the new changes Google is putting into practice. The SEO world was up in arms about the new trust factor coming into the equation. It is worth thinking about exactly who the individuals are who most argue against this change. Google does not always have very flattering things to say about the practices of SEO.

Change is needed

Google’s intentions are to see all online businesses and websites take a proactive approach with branding. They want to root out people who cheat the system and cut corners. When unethical practices are used to manipulate high ranking, the search results turn to chaos that is making searchers mistrust everything. Too many people have taken the unscrupulous path to generate as much revenue as possible. That is when you get websites that are smothered in affiliate ads that are of no help to anyone.

Ethical SEO efforts have an important role to play in all this. They can be compared to the scavengers that sift through the garbage piles and clean up the mess. What is left behind for Google is clean search results to work with. What is happening is that websites need more and more of a trust factor to be able to rank high in the Google search results pages. The brilliant thing is that this trust factor happens naturally when a diversified online approach to branding is used.

New mindset

The aim is to develop the same mindset to online advertising as applies to offline advertising. Offline marketing involved paying for any advertising; this included TV and radio. There is no scope for cutting corners in offline advertising. This is what the search engines are trying to achieve; you do it by the book.  You pay for your advertising and you promote you business in all areas of the internet. Too many website owners put ranking above everything else and for some this becomes an obsession. They will do anything, even if it is unethical, to get that coveted ranking.

Quality above all else

The search engines are evolving and making life very difficult for anyone involved in black hat optimisation efforts. The trust factor has now been added and the algorithms will keep changing and tweaks will be added to rid online marketing of the parasites. What this all boils down to is to keep your focus on the website visitors. It is all about their user-experience. The much-used saying of content is king is fact. Stay away from giving visitors garbage in the form of keyword stuffed content that is meaningless. Keep your website providing quality information and make sure your website is completely scam-free. This will ensure that all the factors fall into place.

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