As anyone with even a basic understanding of Google’s ranking processes will know, things change. Frequently. In its continual quest to provide the most relevant results for searchers, Google is constantly tweaking and updating the algorithm it uses to calculate where sites rank. Most of its changes are minor, but once or twice a year, Google will introduce a major update to its ranking formulae – and inevitably, a chunk of sites consequently wake up to find their previously high rankings have fallen off a cliff.
Links in the spotlight
Many recent changes have been to do with the quality of a site’s content and have been designed to eliminate low quality ‘scraper’ sites that provide little unique or useful content. However, one of the latest changes that has had forums a-flutter has nothing to do with site quality – it’s been about “unnatural links” and SEO techniques.
Earlier this year, almost 1 million sites received a notice in their Google Webmaster Tools account warning users that they had “artificial or unnatural links” pointing to their site that could be “intended to manipulate” search results. In many cases, it appears these links came from link networks (ie blogs or content sites specifically created for link building purposes) and used keyword-related ‘anchor text’ (eg a term such as “Buy Flowers Online” that is then hyperlinked to, say, Interflora’s website). In many cases, sites that received this warning went on to suffer significant rankings drops for keywords related to the offending links.
Penalties in place
But why has this caused so much uproar? Well, in part, it’s because many previously thought anchor text containing relevant keywords was favoured by Google, and so set about carefully employing the tactic within their SEO campaign. But in the main, it’s because Google hasn’t chosen to simply ‘discount’ links it feels are “unnatural” – it’s actively penalising sites for them. In other words, it’s penalising sites based on their marketing techniques, rather than the quality of that site’s actual content.
Sites affected are being advised to remove the offending links – but this may be easier said than done. Webmasters will have to contact each of the sites they suspect have provided ‘spammy’ links and request that the links are removed. Not only is this time consuming, but in some cases it’s near-impossible. Some sites have no contact details – so all a webmaster can do is ask Google to ignore links from offending and uncontactable sites, and hope the ranking penalty that has been imposed is eventually lifted.
Open to abuse
Which brings me back the headline of this blog. Can Google’s algorithm be scammed?
Up until this point, the answer to this was pretty much “no”. In the past, algorithm changes have worked by devaluing factors which had become over-manipulated by SEOers, rather than actively penalising sites which used them. But, with this new, active penalisation, it’s surely only a matter of time before unscrupulous webmasters and SEOers start throwing spammy links at competitor sites in the hope that they will consequently be penalised for them.
Our prediction? Google may have to rethink this one. The algorithm change is too open to abuse – and with Google’s increasing battle to maintain consumer trust, the fallout from a high profile site falling victim to a competitor ambush could be catastrophic.
Let’s just hope the Search giant is one step ahead and already has measures in place to prevent the new system being scammed.
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