Is the Influence of Search Engine Rankings Over Our Content Access a Good Thing?

Dick Singer recently wrote the post, Pay Attention to Search Engine Rankings: Top 3 Spots on Google Get 58% of Clicks, on Social Media Today.  He notes that, “Optify (via Searchengine watch) carried out a study, which showed that websites at the top of Google get an average of 36.4% of clicks, those in second place 12.5% and those in third 9.5%.” and adds, “That chimes in with an earlier Chitika study, showing that the no 1 spot on Google gets 34.35% of traffic.   Optify also says that being any further back than page two has no real business value for you at all.” The write works for a social media agency and beleives in SEO.

I am not sure this is a good situation. Now I have to admit that at Darwin Ecosystem we also play the SEO game also. It is a necessity if you want to get your content noticed. If you do a Google search on the term – awareness engine – you will find the Darwin Awareness Engine™ generally in the top six spots. I also turn to Google to find things when I know what I am looking for such as the latest Red Sox game score.

However, this situation means that those who can afford an agency to help them with SEO or possess that skill themselves will get their content on top.  There is a skill between people and content that is not related to the content. This was the situation in the middle ages when scribes controlled the production of content. The printing press opened things up but of course you still needed a printing press or the money to hire one. The Web was supposed to further open things up with user-generated content. To a certain extent it has but you still need to find things and search engine algorithms are the new scribe’s pen that stands between you and the ability to get ideas noticed.

With the Darwin Awareness Engine™ we try to go beyond search engine algorithms to let the content self-organize by using algorithms based on Chaos Theory rather than variations on popularity.  When I want to find useful articles and breaking news in a specific topic, I now turn to the Darwin Awareness Engine™ rather than Google. I use it to find things for my Twitter feed and for this blog and other blogs I write for. That is how I found Dick Singer’s post. I doubt if I would have found it through Google, at least not so easily. 

 

Comments

[Kimberlee Morrison]

This is exactly why Google is an advertising engine rather than a search engine. Anyone who has the money or savvy can game the system and get to the top of the search rankings. Sometimes the information is relevant, but a lot of times it isn't. Reminds me of that old saying: Caveat emptor. It applies to search engines just as much as it does to consumer goods.

[ZuSmart Drc]

So, we must be number one in SERP of keyword that we shoot. Then, we will get many visitors.
http://ahomeinfo.net/

[bill Ives]

Kimberlee Your comments are spot on. This is also why I have to constantly delete spam from blog comments. Thanks. Bill

[Joseph Arduini]

I can understand your point of view, but I think that the current structure of how we recieve our information is different and businesses must adhere to that. SEO is just a piece of the marketing pie. If you opened the yellow pages when they were still relevant, some businesses paid more to have their ad in bold or even a full page - SEO isn't much different in my opinion. I also disagree that SEO is only for businesses with enough wealth to afford an ad agency, anyone can teach simple SEO practices and put them into practice.

[bill Ives]

Joseph - You make excellent points. Your Yellow Page analogy is relevant. I certainly practice SEO myself without spending any money on it. I have even helped some of my consulting clients with it so it has been a source of revenue for me. However, it adds no real value to business. It is just a necessary means to an end that is artificially created by the nature of current search engines.

[Core Drills]

It is an excellent post..Thanks for sharing the information with us..It was worth reading..I have practiced SEO by myself and am managing many projects..