The moment that 'Googling' replaced 'searching' as a generic descriptor of the process of looking for something on the internet, also marked search marketing's coming of age.
Google's dominance in the marketplace is such that many people are unaware that any other engine exists. Moreover, the way that it and other search engines operate when it comes to returning results is often considered impenetrable by those without an intricate knowledge of how the internet works. The reality, however, is rather less complicated.
Search engines now run on an algorithmic search as opposed to the directory-driven variant that was the norm in the mid 90s. These algorithms are based on a variety of rules that search engine optimisation (SEO) expert David Viney, author of the book Get to the Top on Google, likens to the world of acadaemia.
'Google realised that you could rank websites by a similar standard as academics,' he says. 'With an academic, the guy who has the most footnotes referencing him is likely to be the leading expert in that field. So Google works by looking for links from relevancy in terms of quality and quantity. That's really the key to its success.'
The rules - or 'best practice' - are simple: stay true to a brand's core proposition and don't try to outfox the search engines.
This has not stopped unscrupulous SEO firms from trying to con the engines using a variety of methods. The two most common are using link farms, a group of sites that exist solely to link to one another, and 'stuffing' keywords, whereby a web page will include words not directly relevant to the site's subject matter. Neither has the approval of search engines.
'Littering your site with words that have no relevance is definitely frowned upon,' says Dan Cohen, head of search at MSN. 'It only serves to make our job more difficult to try to identify the true content of that page and its topicality. There are a number of things, which in the past have been called "grey hat" techniques and there are certain disreputable SEOs out there who try to "trick" the system.'
Cohen reveals that, should a site undergo a manual review by a search engine and be found to be using such methods, there is a good chance that its ranking will be detrimentally affected, or that it will even be removed from the index completely.
'Using link farms depends on your objectives,' says Cohen. 'I wouldn't advise any company or brand that was serious to go out and buy links. In fact, there are moves in the search engine community to discover these farms and deprioritise the links, or even ignore them altogether.'
That advice is also heeded by the agencies. 'You can go to websites that are directories; for $30 they'll give you a link in a certain category,' says Jamie Riddell, director of innovation at digital agency Cheeze. 'I'd be wary of labelling those tactics as illegal, because they're not. It's just bad practice. SEO is not governed by any law, but Google has the power to make sure you don't get included in results. Basically, a brand runs the risk of being hindered in its SEO if it doesn't play by the rules of the game.'
Therein lies the lesson - search engines are in control of the visibility of a brand's site. However, that control is not of an untoward nature, as it is machine-governed.
'Algorithmically-driven search is about mathematical equations and watching user behaviour and trends with an intent to try to understand what the majority of users are looking for when they type in a given query,' says Cohen. 'The democratisation that algorithmic searching has brought ensures that the results are high-value content.'
The algorithms do change, but not on a formalised basis. 'The Google algorithm has never really changed,' says Viney. 'All Google really does over time is make the algorithm do its job better. Sometimes it takes steps to catch out people who are trying to trick it.
'When I hear people say "the algorithm's changed and my site's disappeared (from the top)", it usually turns out to be the case that they have focused quite narrowly on a particular tactic to get themselves up there, only so they suffer disproportionately.'
Adam Wilson, SEO specialist at PriceRunner, has found that creating a blog has helped keep the price-comparison site high in the listings. 'Historically, search engines used to have huge index updates every few months. These days the changes are more incremental and can happen as frequently as daily,' he says. 'Universal search means that the results now contain a blend of results from Google's different verticals - images, shopping, local, blogs, YouTube and news, rather than the 10 traditional results. Targeting these verticals simultaneously is the way forward for savvy search marketers.'
Cohen agrees that certain tactics will have a positive effect on site rankings. Including features such as blogs and making sure that a brand correctly tags its images will have an impact. 'There are things you can do around presenting the content that you publish in ways that are easy to understand,' he says. 'Site mapping and XML site mapping is a technique that many optimisation companies use to present that content to the engine to inform them to newly published content.
'Blogging is a good way to communicate with your users and to keep the engines informed with new and unique content, which is what they place the highest value on.'
One thing that is impossible to guarantee is a high ranking in the listings. There is a school of thought that being number 11, the top of the second page of listings, is better than sitting at number 10, as users' eyes tend to stay focused on the top of the page.
Cohen is unconvinced, however. 'Potentially, position 11 means you're at the top of page two. However, as search becomes more of a rich experience, other types of media are returned in the results page,' he says. 'So your position is actually slightly slipping in terms of importance, as you can no longer rely on the position that you think you had.'
A major part of the evolution of search engines is reliance on recommendations and the understanding of human behaviour. If a user were to type in the word 'puma', for example, how does a search engine know whether they are referring to the animal or the sports brand? That intimate knowledge of user behaviour is the biggest challenge for search engines and marketers alike, and means that the rules that govern this particular game are likely to keep changing.
HOW SEARCH ENGINES WORK
All search engines send a 'spider' out across the internet, which then looks for keywords that match the search a user has entered. The spider seeks out fresh content, links and keywords; these are found in the copy on the page and in its HTML coding and URL. Mapping of a site is also a factor. The spider will examine the site's structure and how many internal links it contains. The higher the score that a site achieves, the higher its position in the rankings will be.
FIVE TIPS TO GET TO THE TOP
- Relevance: Do you have content that is relevant and are you buying the keywords that people will be searching for?
- Technological capability: Do you have the technological set-up to allow search engines to easily understand your site? Are you optimising your code correctly?
- Popularity: How popular is your site on the internet? Are people linking to you? Are the right people linking to you?
- Structure: Is your site easy to understand? Does it go very deep? Do you have to click eight times to access a piece of content?
- Industry knowledge: Understand what is going on in the search market. Read blogs and engage agencies or your in-house team.