Matt Cutts, head of Google’s Webspam team, has produced a series of videos answering webmaster questions about SEO, Search Quality and general webmaster tips. In this “SEO Myths” video Matt is covering a topic that many people question.
If you haven’t checked out the Google Webmasters channel on YouTube be sure to visit and watch the video.
MYTH: Purchasing paid ads from Google will help your site rank higher in the organic results.
No. Purchasing a paid ad through Google will not improve your organic rankings. The question as to whether money will grease the wheel to rankings is a big myth according to Google’s Matt Cutts.
From my experience, the most successful websites have a holistic view of internet and traditional marketing. They are looking to not only improve their SEO, but to also be involved in other channels such as PPC, print, Social Media and Email.
Being dependent on one source of traffic for all of your business is a limiting strategy. The more distribution channels that you can invest in, the more likely you are to reach a bigger audience.
MYTH: If you DON’T buy paid ads, your site will rank better on Google.
No. Again, purchasing or not purchasing ads on Google will have no influence on your organic rankings. This could easily be a case of correlation not equalling causation. Some sites rely solely on their organic traffic. However from a business standpoint, buying paid ads makes sense.
From my experience, websites that have both PPC and SEO working together get more leads than if they just did one or the other. You are already investing in building a great website and you shouldn’t let that wealth of information be used solely to attract organic visitors and not also to support PPC.
PPC, Email, and Social media are all sources of qualified traffic. PPC has the benefit of being able to be turned on and get immediate results. You can maximize every dollar you spend on content development by setting up a PPC campaign to each article you publish. Check out this article to get started with Google Adwords keyword tool.
MYTH: Google makes Algorithm changes to force people to spend more on ads.
No, Google is a search engine first and an advertising platform second. For Google, attracting and retaining website traffic means giving searchers the best possible results. Algorithm changes are meant to improve user experience and engagement by providing search results faster and more intelligently.
From my experience, aligning your goals with Google’s goals is the best way to ensure longevity. Google’s job is to connect searchers to the most relevant, high-quality website that matches what they were searching for. Your job should be to make sure the search terms that you are optimizing your website for are relevant, and that you have the information and website functionality to fulfill the searcher’s request.
All Myths Aside
Advertising your business on Google is a great way to increase your visibility to your target market. And the only foolproof way to get higher rankings in Google is to align your website with Google’s goals. Make sure you create a great website and the best content for your visitors. Google will in turn continue to update its algorithms so that sites like yours outrank sites using spammy and blackhat tactics.
