To quote a post I read the other day about the state of what we know now about Google’s Florida update; “one word - themes.” This is something that has been coming for a while and harkens back to the old mantra of content is king.

Here is a great piece on the idea of a theme for a website: Search Engine Theme Pyramids. Check it out.

If any of you have found your Google rankings suddenly not what they used to be - you’re not alone. On November 15th, 2003, Google implemented the so-called “Florida” update. Needless to say, rankings and rants have been all over the place. Theories vary and tempers in the Search Engine community are rampant. What I can advise is that we should all hold our breaths until after the first of the year. There are those who feel that this is a “bug” in Google’s algorithm.

Here is an article by Leslie Rhode: A Statistical and Experimental Analysis of Google’s Florida Update. He has some interesting theories and analysis on what happened.

Also, you can watch WebmasterWorld.com’s forums that are hot on this topic. Here’s a great one for an overview: What The Early Research is Showing - Florida Update 2003.

As much as I promote Google, there are some strange things happening at this popular search engine. Some of you may have noticed that your search positions can vary from day to day - otherwise known as the ?Google Dance?.

Currently, Google is in the middle of a fundamental shift in the way it catalogs the web. In the past, Google has sent out its GoogleBot to catalog a majority of the web once a month. Then guys like me anxiously await the new results. They were posted about three weeks after we saw GoogleBot come into our websites. The key in the search engine game is to monitor that window of opportunity and make sure that your changes were made between the times the results were posted and when GoogleBot came back.

Now, Google has moved into a totally new direction ? a constantly updating index. What does this mean to you? It means that Google is reading your website every couple of days. And, their search results are changing EVERY day. It also means that Google has changed its ranking algorithm to reflect this ever-updating catalog.

Here is what we are seeing:

• Google has made several public statements that incoming links, or backlinks, are hugely important to their rankings. And, with an ever-growing index, these links to you from other sites have never been more important.
• Google is trending toward looking for the freshest content on any particular subject. This means that if you haven’t changed your site in a while, you will be penalized or viewed from Google’s perspective as stale.
• The size of your site has a big impact on your rankings at Google. Therefore, you need to continually increase the number of pages within your site.

Search engine optimization has never been more important. Everyone is getting better at building sites for higher rankings. Plus, many of the other search engines are giving Google a run for their money. In any case, make sure that you have the best content possible by continually updating your site, promoting it across the web and soliciting links to your site from other websites.

I stumbled onto an interesting FAQ this morning. It was at Google and it explained some interesting things about their technology. First, PageRank is mostly based on the number of links first and the phrase second. This is very important for you out ther trying to win the search engine game. Here’s the link: Google Technology

Nearly 80 percent of first-time website visitors find those websites through a search engine. In fact, search engines have surpassed television advertising as the top means of customer acquisition, according to the Direct Marketing Association.

Most companies and websites have failed to incorporate basic search engine programming, a.k.a. “search engine optimization,” into their marketing mix. With a couple of modifications, websites can realize their quest for a top 10 rank in key search engines like Google. Here are some keys to know:

• Search engines like text links. Therefore, switch all navigation/menu to a text-based system. Fancy graphics are nice, but search engines cannot interpret graphics or pictures of words on your site. While you’re at it, get rid of that Flash introduction. Search engines can’t read content using Macromedia’s Flash technology either.
• Make sure to use page titles correctly. Every page on a website should have a title indicating content and containing as many relevant keywords as possible.
• Think high school and become popular. Many of the search engines use what is called “link popularity” to help rank your website. Link popularity is the number of links from other websites to your website. Your ranking will rise if you can get all of your friends, associates, vendors, partners and clients to put a link to your site on their website. In turn, you should kindly reciprocate the favor.

How many times do you find yourself searching for something at Google? Most of the time you are satisfying a need. And, most of the time you aren’t necessarily familiar with the company whose goods or services you’ve found to fit your need.

This is exactly the same case for your potential customers in cyberspace. You have no idea when they are going to require your services. Plus, nearly 80% of first time website visitors find those websites through a search engine.

However, I am still amazed at how many companies and websites I see who haven’t incorporated a basic search engine program into their marketing mix. They aren’t aware of the keywords and phrases that their potential customers might type in to find them. With a little digging and some robust online tools, we now can actually see how many times certain words and phrases are searched upon at the search engines.

If you will make a couple of modifications to your website, you can ensure that your quest for a top 10 rank will come easier. First, switch your navigation/menu to a text-based system. The search engines cannot interpret “pictures” of words on your site. And, any content using Macromedia’s Flash technology can’t be read by the search engine either. The text in the blue underlined links is the best way to tell a search engine what a page is about – which is what they want to know.

The second technique is to title your pages correctly. Every page on your website should not have the same title. They should reflect what information is on the page and have as many relevant keywords as possible.

And the third technique is one of the most often overlooked – get as many other websites as you can to link back to you. Many of the search engines use what is called “link popularity” to help rank your website. It will make a huge difference in your rankings if you can get all of your friends, associates, vendors, partners and clients to put a link to your site on their website. In turn, you should kindly reciprocate the favor.

Traffic is the lifeblood of a website. You cannot convert your website visitors into customers without it. Search engine optimization has been proven time and time again to be one of the best marketing tactics for driving website traffic. Putting a sound search engine program in place is relatively easy and can be facilitated by working with a reputable search engine optimization expert.