GOOGLE – The Rules are Changing!

The rules are changing for how you get a website ranked on Google.

A long time ago (way back in May 2007 😉 ) you could count on the basic rules of search engine optimization. 1. Create lots of relevant content on your site. 2.Build plenty of links TO your website from other highly ranked sites (they have lots of links to them) and important sites (.gov, .udu, industry associations etc.).

In the last few months Google has changed the rules. They are giving the prime natural search result position to image results, map results, video results, news results and other selected prime results. This shift has been referred to as GUS – Google Universal Search also called PlusBox or OneBox results. See samples below.

Here is a map as the top result for ‘Boca Raton Internet Advertising Agency’:

We have always counseled our clients to ‘have many arrows in their quiver’. Internet marketing will fail if you rely on just one or two strategies. You must constantly be testing new strategies and tactics that are working for other companies in your industry, and online leaders in other industries. A search engine optimization strategy based on words alone is destined for failure.

At Ten Golden Rules we have always tagged images, generated properly optimized press releases and optimally named client locations for map results. Recently we have increased our focus on optimizing images, news, video and maps.

What are you doing to optimize for GUS?

Here are some examples of GUS (Google Universal Search Results):

Here is an image result at the top of a search for ‘tiger’:

Here is a movie result:

And a stock search for GOOG (it is down a bit, and likely a good buy):