MaineToday.com | Making It Happen: Google Changes the Rules ...again

Making it Happen
Lynnelle Bianco is the owner of BoldVision Consulting. She has more than 25 years experience as a leader in sales, marketing, client service and in the effective planning and execution of strategic plans and projects.

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March 30, 2007

Google Changes the Rules ...again

As if small business owners didn't have enough to fret about!! Google is changing the rules ...again!! Last night I attended a great SCORE workshop on Search Engine Optimization, lead by CS Wurzberger of Premier Web Services. She had news hot off the press about Google changing their already confusing rules about how to get ranked in their search engine.

Google no longer cares about being the largest search engine (which they are), they want to be the best. To that end, Google is now splitting their index in two; one index for web pages that will get ranked - the good web pages, and the second 'supplemental' index where they relegate all the second-rate pages - the bad web pages.

Which index is your site falling into? Go to the main Google search page and type in: site:www. and your site URL and enter. For example, for my site I would go to the Google screen and type in site:www.boldvisionconsulting.com and enter.

You'll see the pages of your site that have been indexed by Google. If you see the words "Supplemental Result" at the end of the listing, you're in trouble. From what I understand it's a big deal and you don't want to get relegated to the supplemental, aka junk pile.

I suggest you contact your web strategist. CS from Premier Web Services is a good contact. Fellow blogger, Rich Brooks, at flyte new media is also a good contact. Regardless, it's something (else) to look into.

That's the fun of being in business, right? It's always something new and BOLD coming down the pike. Visit me on the web at www.boldvisionconsulting.com

Do you want to learn how to market your professional services business? Join me for a 90 minute lunch and learn on April 10 in South Portland. You'll leave with an outline of steps you can implement immediately to generate business and increase your reputation as the "go-to" person in your area of expertise. Marketing for Professional Services Businesses 90 Minute Lunch & Learn - 12:00 noon - 1:30 p.m. $49. Call 207-221-3492 or email info@boldvisionconsulting.com for more information.

8-week BOLD Business Boot Camp, Quick Start for Small Business Growth. Begins April 25. www.boldvisionconsulting.com/events/BBBootcamp.php

Posted by Lynnelle Bianco at 11:40 AM

Posted by Lynnelle Bianco at 10:21 AM

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Comments

Thanks, Lynnelle for the head's up on the ever-changing world of website optimization. Of course, I was eager to see if my site passed the latest "google test". All is ok for this round!

Posted by Barbara
March 30, 2007 06:43 PM

This isn't really anything new. Google has been doing this for quite some time now, and there is plenty of information available on the web on how to get yourself out of the supplemental results trap. Not all of it is by Google's design either - I've seen plenty of sites - especially eCommerce sites that use the same page titles and same META description on every page - hardly the way to convince the search engines that the page's content is unique.

Posted by Randy Duermyer
March 31, 2007 08:31 AM

Excellent info ... thank you

Posted by Lyle
April 4, 2007 06:31 PM

Lynnelle,

Thanks for the props. I agree that this isn't anything to be too worried about. It has been around for years and it's unlikely to happen to you unless you're copying content from another site, or your site has several duplicates out there.

I'd only worry if MOST of your pages were appearing as supplemental.

As long as you're providing quality content at your site, targeting your audience, you'll never need worry. And I know you're doing that!

Posted by Rich Brooks
April 5, 2007 05:37 PM