Google’s Search Engineer Matt Cutts is in the game of informing webmasters, SEOs and marketers of future search signals that could impact companies’ bottom lines. Fortunately, he’s taken to video once again to cover 10 points every internet marketing professional should expect from Google in the coming months. This week’s primary question Cutts sought to answer: “What should we expect in the next few months in terms of SEO for Google?”
Brafton outlined the 10 points he touched on and put a content marketing spin on each.
1. Penguin 2.0
Cutts recently noted that Penguin 2.0 is still weeks away, and he reiterated in the latest video that the refresh will have an even greater impact than the first version. SEOs must take a moment to evaluate their current backlink profiles to see where improvements can be made before Penguin 2.0 comes out.
2. No more ads, please
Google will also look to take a firmer stance against advertorials disguised as custom content. This threatens the black hat side of native advertising, but also encourages content writers and other marketers to dig deeper into their creative kits in order to generate compelling campaigns.
3. Say goodbye to spammy queries
Cutts also hinted that Google will eliminate spammy queries in general, like searches for “pay day loans” and other mature themes.
4. Next target: link networks
Google has already targeted websites with low-grad link portfolios, and it will continue its fight against bad links by going after wider networks. The search company engaged in this practice in the past, but it’s ongoing efforts remind SEOs to remain honest in their efforts to increase visibility in search.
5. Sophisticated link analysis
Google’s head of search noted that Google’s ability to identify weak links has advanced rapidly. Portent’s recent study also highlighted this trend, showing how Penguin has evolved over time to target sites with backlink woes.
6. Protection for hacked sites
Google is also working new features to detect when websites have been hacked. This should help business owners maintain their customers’ privacy, and perhaps limit events like Twitter’s recent White House debacle.
7. Brand authority
While Google won’t introduce Publishership for brands to help rank authority, it will look to push credible resources toward the top of search results. Content marketing remains the sure way to earn higher rankings in search.
8. Panda forgiveness
Cutts also suggested that the search engine company will soften Panda’s impact on websites that are on the cusp of avoiding potential search penalties.. Businesses that suffered from initial updates may see their organic traffic rates rebound in the near future.
9. SERP clusters
Google will even the search playing field by removing site clusters from SERPs. Instead of seeing several links leading to one domain for a given keyword term, Google will bring unique web content to the front page of search.
10. Webmaster communication
Cutts also emphasized Google’s ongoing push toward becoming more responsive to webmasters’ needs. The search engine company will improve their communication with these professionals.
Google has its sights set on a brighter search world in 2013, and Cutts shows the company’s goals clearly have end users in mind. Content marketing and SEO professionals must keep their practices honest in order to benefit from any new update by the engine, as one small slip could push online content further down in search engine results pages.
