One of the most changing things in Internet marketing isn't how sales letters are written. It's not how videos are made or press releases submitted. It's how often Google changes its mind. One day, you're on the first page, and the next you may be nowhere to be found. It used to be that SEO (search engine optimization) people could just get links from anywhere in any quantity. Like, you could go out and buy a hundred links all on the same site and the search engines would think it was OK. That was then.



When things changed, it was about getting links just in your DMOZ category, the Open Directory at http://dmoz.org. But that still meant that if you were in the health niche, you could get links in beauty, even if your site was about mental health. Paid linking was still OK, too, as long as you didn't buy those 100 links all on the same site or 100 links on different sites that all popped up at once. Google didn't like that. Not at all. But things were humming along in the Internet marketing world until...

In may, Google decided that it didn't like all the link trading going on to boost rankings and started to penalize sites for linking schemes. What that meant was the reciprocal linking sites and paid link sites went scrambling. Now, all Google wants to see are natural links, meaning they want one webmaster to find something exciting on another webmaster's site and just link to it without being asked, naturally. Google no longer wants to see "links" pages, either, added just for the sake of adding reciprocal links. We had to take the links page down from our blog because we went from #4 to #536 overnight. When we ferreted out what the new algorithm meant, we took the page down and our site went back up to #4 the next day.

So, what's Google want today? Content. It's all about great content, which makes it pretty easy, when you consider it. All you have to do to get great search engine ranking now is to provide great content for your Internet marketing niche via articles, press releases, videos, audio, and even pictures. It's still OK to get links in the important directories, but linking like mad people from other sites isn't that big a deal anymore, so don't waste your valiant Internet marketing efforts in that direction.

Google has a new idea of what search should be, and are slowly phasing in what's called "universal search." That means that all the different forms of content mentioned above will soon be finding their way onto your search results pages. Since it's Google's job to give the best search results possible, is that a big surprise? No. Of course not.

Google leads the pack right now because they provide the most relevant search returns out there, and its good for our Internet marketing businesses because their visitors also convert to buyers better than all the other search engines combined.

Here's the thing: Give Google what Google wants. Internet marketing is going to become more about filling your site with great content that your visitors will love, regardless of what niche you're marketing in, be it Internet marketing or poodles. Add an articles directory to your site, and get some articles into directories. Just don't promote duplicate content. Google only gives credit for that to one site, remember? But make videos that demonstrate a product, audios that give product reviews, and be sure to include pictures with "alt" tags that are keyword rich. Not only will Google love you for all this great stuff, but so will your clients. Happy clients means repeat visitors, and visitors that respect your recommendations and buy your products or services. That's what it's all about in Internet marketing, isn't it?