Google keyword encryption and the impact on inbound marketing strategies.
There’s been a lot of chatter in the online marketing community this week about Google’s recent decision to encrypt all keyword data related to organic search. For the laymen and laywomen out there, this means that Google is now blocking the information about which keywords your site visitors used to reach your website.
For data-hungry online marketers, this is akin to the sky falling. Without keyword data, they say, how will they be able to evaluate the effectiveness of their keyword strategies? Some of this information will still be available for paid search, meaning you can see the keyword performance of terms used in your Google ads, but the loss of the organic, or unpaid, search is a catastrophic event for many in the SEO and inbound marketing business.
At SMO Pros, we take a different viewpoint. Yes, the loss of this data is inconvenient, but a fundamentally sound online marketing program should function just fine without this data. Online marketing is part art, part science. Yes, data on things like keyword performance are helpful in fine tuning programs and determining ROI. However, the more important objective for today’s businesses should be forming real, genuine connections with their customers. For too long, inbound marketing experts have been laser-focused on super specific metrics, basing entire programs on statistics about keywords and Web traffic sources, rather than figuring out how to communicate with customers in a meaningful way. For many, it became more about peppering people with keywords than producing content that was useful and relevant.
Google saw this happening years ago. They saw their search engine being manipulated by tricks like keyword stuffing and disingenuous inbound link programs. So over the past couple years, they’ve been systematically dismantling the traditional SEO industry as we knew it, eliminating the backhanded techniques that marketers used to game the system. It didn’t take an oracle to see this coming. This wasn’t Google being vindictive against people who’d made a living by tricking its Web crawlers; it was Google trying to return the integrity to its search engine results. It was Google trying to make sure that its users were getting the most relevant results for their searches, rather than being channeled to spammy sites through cheap SEO gimmicks. And, let’s be honest, it was Google encouraging more people to pay them for ads, rather than doing an end-around the system.
So what can you do to market yourself effectively online today? How can you play nice with Google and the other major players in online search? At SMO Pros, we believe in an integrated system that combines relevant content about your business, genuine relationship-building on social media and above-the-board best practices for search engine optimization. We call this social media optimization.
What does this mean, exactly? It means thoughtful, professional content production for things like business blogs, social media campaigns, videos, e-newsletters and Websites. It means optimizing pages on your website and in your online communications using best-practices as dictated by Google Webmaster Guidelines. It means connecting to your customers in a genuine way to form longstanding relationships.
Does it mean that keywords are no longer relevant? No. Keywords are still highly relevant; they just need to be implemented intelligently and as part of a larger effort to communicate in a real way with a specific audience. There’s still and art and a science to this field, and those two elements need to work in concert for your online marketing to succeed.
As in life, there are no easy shortcuts in the world of online marketing. To do this right, it takes time and diligence. But the results are proven and quantifiable.
SMO Pros provides targeted social media optimization, branding packages and integrated online marketing. To learn more about SMO Pros services or to receive a free assessment of your online presence, contact us today.