What has made Google into the undisputed search engine champion of the world for the last several years? Is it their innovative products? Their unique atmosphere and corporate culture? Their ability to inspire mediocre buddy comedies starring Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson? Their motto of not “being evil?”
All of the aforementioned things have probably contributed to the runaway success of Google, and its continued stranglehold on the search engine market. Somehow, Google has managed to retain control of a two-thirds market share, despite the best efforts of Bing and Yahoo to dethrone it. Part of the way it’s accomplished this is by excelling in the one area that should really matter the most: search results.
Yes, Google does many great and interesting things, like provide a wildly popular email service and create cars that drive themselves, but it’s still a search engine. The reason Google remains atop the tech world is because most Americans use its search engine by default. It’s why “Google” has become a verb in the modern lexicon (e.g. Can you Google that for me?), while no one ever asks you to “Bing something.” And it’s continued to excel as a search engine because of its proprietary search formula.
The Google search formula is made of multiple algorithms that take literally hundreds of different factors into account. Because these algorithms are the equivalent of McDonald’s “special sauce” (hint: it’s mostly mayo, mustard and relish), they are kept under wraps and closely guarded. But we can still understand how to cater to these algorithms, even if we don’t know exactly what they are.
But to answer the question posed in the headline, yes, we should expect Google to change its algorithm sometime in the near future; however, there is a major caveat with that answer. The truth is, Google tweaks its algorithms all the time. Just as the internet is like a never-ending river, ever-flowing and always changing, so too does Google’s algorithm update constantly. But if you’re wondering if Google will alter its algorithm drastically, then the answer is no. The algorithms will still make every effort to prioritize the best, most relevant results in every search.
But what makes results relevant and accurate? That is also changing on a regular basis, and that’s what causes Google to tweak its algorithm. Whenever there is a change to how Google provides results, there’s usually a name associated with the change. The most recent update was referred to as “Mobilegeddon” by SEO’s. This update placed a heavy emphasis and priority on websites being mobile-friendly.
So how do these algorithm changes impact you as an inbound marketer? Well, as we’ve discussed on this blog before, Google owns your marketing strategy. If you want to have success as an inbound marketer, you need to focus on getting content to the top of Google’s search results. Therefore, you should always be aware of changes that Google makes to its algorithms, and tweak your strategies accordingly.
Regardless of what changes Google does or doesn’t make to its algorithms and formula, the most important thing is to always keep the search engine in mind when preparing your content. Making it easy for potential leads to locate your content is one of the keys to inbound marketing success.
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