Google has long reigned as the undisputed king of search and digital advertising. By rolling out updates with or without warning, the search giant has kept SEO managers on their toes watching out for any potential changes that would affect its established table of search ranking factors. And so as businesses search for agencies to manage their website’s SEO, both the client and the SEO manager should keep in view the entire picture.
1. Google’s updates are hardly always transparent
Google did not exactly roll out the red carpet for Fred. Websites were impacted around March 7th and 8th, and Google refused to officially confirm the update. Sometimes these updates benefit a website’s rankings, other times they wreak havoc on a diligent SEO manager’s efforts. If Google really wanted to create a fair playing field for advertisers and webmasters, why keep its clients in the dark? By being secretive about upcoming updates, Google maintains its power position and keeps SEO managers on a short leash.
2. Google has a history of inconsistencies
So does Google always follow through with their threats of penalizing sites that don’t follow the giant’s every order and command? Google has previously said that websites with obtrusive interstitials, such as pop-ups, will not rank as high. However, one month into the rollout and the effects of the update have not been felt by high-ranking sites using interstitials. So the times that Google does decide to let us all know about its looming update and slap on a threat, the search giant doesn’t follow through? Doesn’t seem very big-dog.
3. Google is biased
Yes, the company touts the image of being the good cop in policing the land of the Internet. However, Google has been caught manipulating search results during the previous election season in favor of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. In September 2016, psychologist Robert Epstein published a report through Russian news agency Sputnik News detailing his comparison of searches across multiple search engines.
Through a Google search, Epstein found that Google favored positive results when users searched for Hillary’s name, compared to markedly negative results from other search engines such as Yahoo! and Bing.
In addition, Google personalizes search results and therefore wields the power to influence individual perspectives. Though the company says these “Autocomplete predictions are algorithmically generated based on user’s search activity and interests,” we can’t help question if these algorithms are manipulated by humans as well.
Google’s personalization of search results has also been accused of supporting extreme rightwing bias.
Epstein says, “What happens is they [rightwing groups] can essentially jam hashtags so densely using multiple accounts, they end up making it trending. That’s a great way for them to dictate how something is going to be covered, what’s going to be discussed. That’s helped them reframe the discussion of immigration.”
Epstein has argued that Google is even able to take advantage of the search engine manipulation effect (SEME) and rig elections. Experiments conducted by Robert Epstein and Ronald E. Robertson found that:
1. The voting preferences of undecided voters can be shifted by a minimum of 20%.
2. The influence can be much greater in certain demographic groups.
3. The presence of search ranking bias can be hidden from public perception.
So I think we can agree that this is not something SEO managers, or the general public, should be impressed with.
4. Google is a for-profit business
Well, this is a widely known fact. No argument here.
According to the report Beyond the FTC Memorandum: Comparing Google's Internal Discussions with Its Public Claims, “Google's public statements typically emphasize a lofty focus on others' interests, such as giving users the most relevant results and paying publishers as much as possible. Yet internal Google documents reveal managers who are primarily focused on advancing the company's own interests, including through concealed tactics that contradict the company's public commitments.” The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has questioned:
1. Whether Google’s updates are truly designed to benefit users
2. Whether Google engages in demoting the rank of its competitors’ sites
3. Whether Google’s algorithms are truly unbiased.
Regardless of the big dog pretending to be a guardian angel, he has a belly to feed just like the rest of us.
5. Google can’t seem to make up its mind
When you’re one of the world’s largest advertising companies and happen to dominate market share, there’s usually plenty of wiggle room to experiment. And so not all of the updates introduced by Google stay for the long-term. In 2011, Google introduced Google authorship, but three years later discontinued the functionality.
One of the reasons for the cancelled update was a low adoption rate by authors and webmasters.
Another ranking factor, link building has undergone significant changes. Previously, a website could increase rankings by commenting on blogs, posting to forums, waiting for organic links, or engage in article marketing. Google PageRank determined the value of a website and attributed greater value to its outgoing links based on the website’s ranking. During that time, webmasters took advantage of blogging networks, such as BuildMyRank.com, designed to allow users to post content and links without significant regulation. Since then, Google has devalued the authority of those sites. However, smaller blog networks are still excellent for building links.
The reality is that Google’s updates are based on user behavior and their own company goals.
And so this brings us to the final reason why Google’s advice is not golden.
The Truth is. . .
Google needs followers. Without SEO managers following its every command, the advertising and search giant will lose revenue and status. If the search giant can play around with which updates to keep or discard, SEO managers should hold a similar position. As with any news on the internet, SEOs should question and test what they read.
Though Google’s motives and practices are questionable, SEO managers should keep the interests of their clients and other Internet users top of mind.