Small Business Website - Where Do I Start?
Then again, maybe you haven’t even heard of Google Caffeine? Which wouldn’t be surprising, based on the relatively limited Internet resources about the subject. However, that’s about to change. Because starting sometime after the Holidays, Google Caffeine is reportedly going to be fully operational on all 50 acres of their massive servers.
But don’t take my word for it. You can read a Blog entry (dated 11/10) by Google Software Engineer Extraordinaire Matt Cutts - in which he states:
“I know that webmasters can get anxious around this time of year, so I wanted to reassure site owners that the full Caffeine roll out will happen after the holidays. Caffeine will go live at one data center so that we can continue to collect data and improve the technology, but I don’t expect Caffeine to go live at additional data centers until after the holidays are over.”
So with this in mind. I’m going to share with you some specific changes, improvements, and possible adversities that I believe will occur when Caffeine is fully launched.
The ultimate goal of Google Caffeine:
“Caffeine, which is new technology that improves our indexing infrastructure.”
Translating Google speak, and invoking common sense, this directly relates to improved user search experience. Improved user search experience means more search business for Google. More search Business for Google means more paid advertisers using the likes of PPC and Adwords, as well as other related ventures. More paid advertisers and other related ventures means increased revenue. Increased revenue translates into the ability to continue staying ahead of the competition. After all, Google is like any business. It‘s goal is to deliver the best possible product to it’s clients. Because the end result is growth and prosperity.
1 Content is King! Content Content should be relevant to a site’s core message, products, or services. It’s also important if this content is original, or presented in an original manner. A shotgun approach makes a site harder to index. A hard to index site does not help create an accurate search! And accurate relevant searches are the bread and butter of Google. It’s what keeps people dedicated to using their service. This same logic should always be applied to your visitors and target market. So think of it this way. Google’s actually helping your website and business become more prosperous.
2 Meta Title and DescriptionTags Very important due to search relevancy and ease-accuracy of indexing the site. Which results in better Search Engine Result Pages- SERP’s. Once again, Google is aligned with your best interests. Why? Because if you’ve done searches, you realize how frustrating it is to see a list of websites or resources that don’t do a very good job of Describing what they offer!
3 Site/page download time is an important factor. Why? Slow loading sites frustrate visitors. Frustrated visitors look elsewhere for their needs. They will either back click, or close the search altogether. As such, slow loading sites are expected to return poorer rankings. On the contrary, fast loading pages enhance user experience. They allow visitors to easily explore your website, gather information, and make an informed decision. See a pattern here? What’s good for Google, is good for your website’s visitors! See release about Y2K-T2 testing and slow loading pages.
4 Fresh and updated content: It was requested, and it’s hoped, that the new searches will give poorer rankings to sites that haven’t been updated in quite some time. As logic will dictate, a site that hasn’t had fresh content added is either out of date, or has been abandoned! I think we’ve all experienced this phenomena. Not the most user friendly search result. And an accurate user friendly search result is the basis of Google’s newest algorithm, and best for all of us.
5 Quality links: As most SEO experts will tell you. There are high quality and low quality links. Indications are that Google has been giving better weighing to high quality links for some time now. However, it’s believed based on testing this summer, that High quality alone won’t be the only important factor. Emphasis should, and probably will be placed, on High quality links that are relevant to the site’s core subject or service. It’s one thing to add a High Quality link to a site that ranks the same or higher than yours. It’s a completely different matter if that site doesn’t relate to what you offer. So outbound links to sites that contain content that’s relevant to your site, is something that should be emphasized anyway. After all, it provides the best possible user experience, for both Google and the visitors of your site! Once again, Google nailed it.