(Newswire.net — April 11, 2014) — San Diego, CA
Often referred to as the “semantic web”, the way Google and other search engines are trying to maximize the value of their displayed search engine results pages (SERP) through algorithms that are focusing increasingly on natural language and synonymic phrasing rather than link flooding and page rank. Put simply, this new approach will likely have the largest impact on Google’s SERPs in the company’s history. Nevertheless, there are further changes coming to Google that will make much of the current state of SEO obsolete due to the heightened focus on latent semantic indexing in developing various aspects of the aforementioned semantic web.
A structural difference coming to websites is the development of the standards at schema.org, which has been sponsored by Google, Bing, Yahoo and Yandex since 2011. As noted by Semantic Web Optimization Expert and Instructor at Semantic Web Training Kevin Polley, “Businesses that already use [schema.org formatting] have seen increases in visitor numbers at 30 percent.” Datasets and recent reports show that websites using schema.org account for just over 65 percent of the top search listings and on average are ranked four positions higher on the SERPs than businesses that forgo the markup technology. “I’m sure that because less than four percent of websites currently use schema.org’s practices, there will be a number of business owners who think ‘I’ve got time’ or ‘It can wait’, but nothing could be further from the truth.” He added, “Year on year from 2012 to 2013, the number of sites seeing the benefits of using Microdata –which schema.org is– increased by 330 percent.”
Additionally, in keeping up with the attention to semantics and words in general, Google is implementing text search through images. This means that when searched-for words or phrases are part of an image somewhere, the chances of that image being shown on the SERP is very high. This is further evidence of the semantic web’s transition away from what many know about SEO, which will leave stagnant firms and individuals with completely ineffective methodologies very soon now.
Similarly, location pages on a website are almost certain to pick up traction over the next few months as more people understand the power of utilizing Google maps and having a business listed physically. The benefits of having a location on Google maps is threefold. First, potential customers searching for one’s business type in the local area will have their physical location presented before regular SERPs. Second, having a physically existing location has a significant impact on the trustworthiness of a website, which in turn means higher rates of conversion. Third, Google is looking to present search users with valuable resources – by showing that a business is an actual entity, the value of a business’s foundation in reality means better ranking for a site’s pages overall.
Now, while Google is looking to effectively make underdogs more effective through their informational expertise, marketers can still embrace the semantic web and, for those who have a foundation with content creation, will likely thrive like never before.
Media Contact:
Kevin Polley
Semantic Web Training
Director of Semantic Technology
http://www.semanticwebtraining.com
kevin.polley@mutualadvantage.co.uk
1-800-878-9935
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