Why Does Google Constantly Change its Search Algorithms and Why Should You Care?
Google is the most visited website in the world, with 62 billion visits to it globally in 2019 alone. That same year, Google processed 3.5 billion searches every day – that’s 40,000 searches every second! Most importantly for your business, once Google has provided an answer, 90% of Google users report that they will click on the first set of results.
What does this mean for you as a company? Well, to be blunt, it means that if you have any hope of your business thriving in the digital world (and let’s face it, everything’s in the digital world now, so you need to be there if you have any hope of surviving at all), you need to take Google, and thus search engine optimization, seriously.
What is Search Engine Optimization?
Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is the process of organically ranking higher and higher on search engines’ results pages. This is achieved by making your website better than your competitors’ through content that Google thinks customers are looking for when their search contains key words related to your business, industry, product, etc.
How Does Google Work?
Google’s strength as a business itself lies in its ability to accurately read, analyze, and process every website on the internet for critical information so that it can offer the highest quality results to its search engine users and maintain itself as the go-to source of information on the internet. The process it uses to do so entirely revolves around patented and top-secret algorithms. Top secret because if this coveted information was discovered, businesses around the world could easily change, modify, or hack their way into getting the all-important #1 spot in Google ranking; and if that could happen through manipulating the system rather than providing authentic information that Google’s users want, Google would lose its credibility and the business would crash, costing the company an untold portion of its annual 131 billion euro revenue.
Why Does Google Constantly Change its Algorithms?
Only Google knows how its algorithms work, but that doesn’t stop professionals from trying to find out. Learning what Google wants, in fact, is a prime objective of any SEO strategy, since learning what Google wants is the key to learning what your customer wants -which is what you are always striving for as a company anyway, right?
The difficulty in this, of course, lies in that once it becomes too obvious what Google is looking for, it becomes too easy for businesses to “hack” their way into popularity, potentially creating websites that generate a lot of content, but not a lot of quality. This possibility, coupled with the fact that Google as a brand relies on its reputation as the best source of knowledge available in the world, means that it is always looking to improve user experience with better search results, and it can only do that by constantly changing and adapting their algorithms to meet the ever-changing needs and desires of internet users around the world.
What Does This Mean For You?
Google has said that it makes small changes to its search algorithms on a daily basis. We also know that Google makes major changes a few times a year. These large changes have the potential to radically alter the way your website is ranked so they need to be taken very seriously. Why? Because Google’s search quality team is good at what they do. They understand internet users like no other and are the undisputed leaders when it comes to improving user experience, so any time they change their algorithms, it is to directly improve a specific user experience need, which means your business also needs to meet that need.
Google never describes what the exact changes to their algorithms are, but they do give insight as to why big changes occur –anything from attempting to reduce plagiarism to concerns about low word count, duplicate content, poor grammar or formatting, keyword stuffing, and other visible and/or behind-the-scenes website design or content that reduce or restrict user experience. By following their changes and implementing them yourself, your business can better understand what your potential customers are looking for and what they want out of a website, organically improving your website and thus naturally boosting your Google ranking, online presence, brand identity, and profitability.
In short, constant changes to Google’s algorithms are great for business, provided that you are willing to take pay attention to their ever-changing demands and take heed to them –one of our specialties here at Peppermint. Our SEO experts are constantly monitoring Google’s updates and recommendations to better understand what brings in the most –and the best, results across products, services, industries, locations, and more to offer your business the critical advice needed to achieve targeted results that increase your Google ranking and your revenue, often with continuously minor adjustments that require no major changes to your website, brand, marketing strategy, or business.
If you already have a website, we recommend a website audit first, which will give you a great starting point to building your SEO strategy for maximum success. If you’re just starting out in the digital sphere, that’s ok, too! Our web designers and digital marketers will happily work with you to create and build a website that you love and that sets you apart from the competition according to Google’s elusive algorithms.
Give our Search Engine Optimization team a call today to get started and let us help you grow your online presence and ultimately your bottom line.