As reported in the New York Times, Google announcement that it is changing its algorithms to reduce ranking of what it calls low quality sites, meaning sites with little original content or content built solely from third party sites like Demand Media. Google said that it will raise the rankings of higher quality web sites while reducing the rankings of lower quality sites.
Google makes about 500 changes a year to its algorithms and most of them are minor. However, according to Armit Singhal, a Google Fellow, who worked on this recent change, announced in an interview that users were likely to quickly notice this one. If we believe Google, this change is in the best of interest of consumers who rely on Google for reliable and original information when they go “Googling”.
There are hundreds of companies whose business model revolves around navigating Google’s algorithms and helping their customers increase their searchable rank among Google’s pages. The Times article reports that Demand Media, for example, uses software to track what people are searching for on Google and other sites, generates headlines based on those searches and pays small amounts to freelancers to write the articles. Demand Media is reported to be worth $1.9 Billion.
While this change may have some impact on Demand Media and, other companies that seek to grow their businesses around Google, what impact, if any, does it have on business-to-business companies and their web sites?
If we trust that Google, yahoo, Bing and other search engines’ goal is to provide relevant content for consumers, then those of us in marketing and branding need not be concerned about this latest Google change. We have always recommended to our b2b and industrial clients, that the best way to gain good search engine results is to have excellent content on their web sites.
If you are an expert in spring manufacturing, you serve your customer best by providing detailed information on the types of springs that you offer, the sizes, the materials, the applications for these springs, and a lot more. With well thought out and written content you offer a beneficial service to your customers and those potential customers who need information on springs.
Whether or not you make springs, gaskets, bearings, or any other product, we need to depend on major search engines like Google and Yahoo to direct users looking for quality information. It’s to Google’s credit that they make it easier for this to happen.

Bob Grant, Grant Marketing

www.grantmarketing.com
For the full article on Google in the NT Times go to:
New York Times – Google

Wael Ghonim the Google marketing executive who became one of the leaders of the youth movement to unseat Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, invoked the importance of brand, according to a recent article in the New York Times.

Mr. Ghonim had little experience in politics but an intense dislike for the abusive Egyptian police, the mainstay of the government’s power. He offered his business savvy to the cause. “I worked in marketing, and I knew that if you build a brand you can get people to trust the brand,” he said.

The result was a Facebook group Mr. Ghonim set up: We Are All Khalid Said, after a young Egyptian who was beaten to death by police. Mr. Ghonim — unknown to the public, but working closely with Mr. Maher of the April 6 Youth Movement and a contact from Mr. ElBaradei’s group — said that he used Mr. Said’s killing to educate Egyptians about democracy movements.

If a strong brand communicated through social media can topple a government, just think what it could do for growing a business.