But Companies Beware of the Google Smackdown
According to a recent Nielsen global online survey on Internet shopping habits, 875 million consumers -- or more than 85% of the world's online population -- have shopped online. This is an increase of 40% in the past two years. Seems like the fear of identity theft isn't slowing folks down! And when choosing which sites to shop at one-third of respondents used a search engine, while one in four relied on personal recommendations.
Nielsen's data underscores the importance of search engines -- a finding that mirrors results from Ketchum's second media usage survey, Media Myths & Realities: A Public of One. As you'll recall, the agency found that search engines were ranked as a top-three media choice for consumers and "influentials" in BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China). Search engines also ranked in the top four for U.S. consumers.
According to Nielsen, capturing online shoppers during their first interaction with a company's site is critical because consumers tend to stick to sites they are most familiar with. According to Bruce Paul, Vice President, Customized Research, Nielsen U.S., "This shows the importance of capturing the tens of millions of new online shoppers as they make their first purchases on the Internet. If shopping sites can capture them early and create a positive shopping experience, they will likely capture their loyalty and their money."
So all of this shopping online should spell good news for companies that have realized the power of a strategic search engine optimization strategy as part of their media mix, right? Well, that depends. An over-aggressive SEO plan can easily transform into a smackdown from Google they won't forget -- one that can have dire consequences to their businesses.
Google's rankings system, often called a mystery by many, has been the subject of much debate. It has a strict webmaster policy that bears reading a couple of times. It also is worth noting a recent example of the pitfalls of excessive search engine optimization. Hitwise, an Internet metrics company, recently published an overview of what happened to GoCompare.com, a U.K. car insurance comparison Web site that fell out of Google's good graces. It serves as a larger warning for other companies to beware of the Google smackdown.
GoCompare.com, like many comparison sites, seemed to be using SEO techniques to reach the number one position when Internet users searched under the term "car insurance." Harmless, right?
Wrong.
According to Robin Goad, Hitwise's research director, U.K., Google picked up on irregular inbound links to GoCompare.com's site, and -- as the saying goes -- that was all she wrote. "Since being ‘blacklisted,' [GoCompare.com] has dropped down the listing and . . . is well outside of the top 10," said Goad.
How much did its fall from grace impact visitor traffic? From the week ending Jan. 26 -- the week GoCompare.com held the number-one spot (i.e., number one "natural" position) for Google searches using the term "car insurance" -- to the week ending Feb. 9, there was an 87% decrease.
But perhaps even more telling is the window that this created for GoCompare.com's competitors. During this same time frame, its competition saw a substantial rise in traffic for searches for "car insurance": Confused.com increased traffic by 77% since the week of Jan. 26, while Comparethemarket.com tripled its Web traffic over the same period.
GoCompare.com's experience is not an isolated story, as any search will bring up other examples of companies feeling the wrath of Google. (Whether deserved or not, I'll leave it to you to decide.) The important thing to remember, however, is the cautionary tale it provides to teams creating SEO strategies for clients. As Goad said, GoCompare.com's situation "illustrates the fine balance that needs to be achieved between effective SEO and breaking the ‘rules.'"
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