In my world, I am seeing a ton of chatter about how Google has changed EVERYTHING. I see emails and articles that shout if you don’t understand Google’s algo changes, your website’s rankings will drop like a stone.
I’ve read these doomsday articles before, and they have always turned out to be wrong, at least, when it came to local businesses. But with the advent of AI, I thought maybe this time there really is something new. After all, Google can’t be the leader forever.
After a few scary missives, I read a checklist of things website owners should do to ensure their rankings stay strong.
Guess what?
The recommendations are essentially the same as the past ten years!
The list primarily includes items like …
- Write Winningly for Your Customer
- Write with Authority for Your Customer
- Research Keyword Phrases
- Use Keyword Phrases in Content
- Use Keyword Phrases in Tags (Title, Description, Alternate)
- Link to Other Pages
- Blah. Blah. Blah.
Honestly, when I read the list, after a bunch of scary hype, I thought why did I fall for it again?
Don’t get me wrong. There are noticeable changes in Google listings. Over the years, Google has moved organic results lower down the page. Advertisers and Map Listings get the top of the page. And, now, Google is starting to put AI results at the top of the page, too.
One could argue they are diluting the value of top organic rankings.
I could be wrong. But I suspect that if there are any significant changes, they are probably affecting large websites that depend on blogs. I think local furniture companies are pretty safe, as long as they stay the course and continue to do the basic best practices for web content and search engine optimization.
Easy Web Tip 354: Don’t let the “Google is changing everything” hype scare you.
