Google wants you to tell them specific sites to rank better. Will they listen?
With all the fluctuations in Google search results these days and many inconsistencies in those results, it is leaving many website owners feeling very frustrated with their falling rankings (despite having great content). While Google had previously advised that their last major update (Penguin 2.0) was supposed to help small business websites, in many cases it has had the opposite effect.The overriding factor we've noticed with recent updates is the sheer volume of links pointing into big business sites. (From our research, it appears that the sites that rank well tend to be large business sites with lots of inbound links). This makes it very difficult for a small business to compete, especially gaining links naturally (rather than through backlinking). This simply drives up the cost of SEO services for small business and increases their marketing spend. It does however seem as though Google is coming to the party and admitting they don't have it right, as they are giving you the opportunity to submit your small business site if you feel Google isn't giving you a fair go. I believe the fact that Google are providing this review form shows a very clear admission that they realise small businesses have been negatively affected in search results. While Google have stated that there is no promise of changing anything by doing so, it will be an interesting experiment to see if anything positive comes of it for small business sites. I look forward to future updates from Google with the outcomes. Click here to view the Google submission form.
