Search engines are used by most people every day without knowing how they work or why they work. Since the introduction of paid search advertising, now businesses do their best to manipulate search engines to show their websites first. But is it as simple as paying Google or Bing to put you on top? Turns out, no.
The Algorithm
This is how search engines decide who gets to be on top of the list, Google adjusts this calculation an average of 2 times a day. Google’s algorithm is extremely complicated, it takes in account as many things as possible so that it returns the most accurate results for the users search query.
I Want to Show up for These Keywords
It’s not that simple. When you set up a search campaign and bid on keywords that you want your website to rank for. Search engines look at your ad, the keywords you bid on, where you are sending users when they click on your ad, and then they decide if you are actually a good match for those keywords. And if you are not they will push your bid to the back of the line in favor of a business that matches the keywords better. Why would search engines do this? Because advertisers are not their target. They don’t care about you, they just want your money.
The Searcher is King
The person typing in the search query is who Google, Bing, and every other search engine cares about. All of their time and resources are centered around giving that person the most accurate results possible. If they don’t focus on the searcher, they will stop using the search engine, and then their whole business will suffer. So if you want to be a part of the very effective search ad world, you have to accept that you are not as important as the searcher. And you will have to adhere to a long list of rules and do a lot of work to stay at the top of the list.
Don’t Cheat, it’s Not Worth It
There are many ways to attempt to trick search engines into giving you a boost. Please understand that some of these methods still work, but Google is spending a lot of time on efforts to weed out these practices, and as they discover ways to do this, they penalize anyone they find using these less than honorable methods. So it’s better to earn your rank the right way, and not get penalized.
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