The recent Google algorithm change brought fear and doubt over all of the Internet marketing community. Hundreds of forum posts, blog posts and tweets were shared, and the deaths of several forms of advertising have been proclaimed. All of a sudden the rules of SEO seem to have changed and it will for sure take some time until the dust has settled. But what has really happened? What does the change mean to you as an Internet marketer?

First, let’s look at what Google said in their official blog post. The basic goal of the search engine remains the same: Google wants to deliver the highest possible quality in their search results. This is especially important as their competitors are gaining market share on the search engine market. With their latest algorithm change, Google wants to reduce the rankings for low-quality sites. How are those sites defined? In their own words those sites are “sites, which are low-value add for users, copy content from other websites or sites that are just not very useful.”

So, what can you, as an Internet marketer, do to adjust your strategies to this new situation? Was article marketing your only source of traffic? Maybe it’s time to rethink how you do your article marketing. Instead of blasting out your article to thousands of directories, you should focus on putting a bunch of very high quality articles on a few specialized article directories.

Also, if you see your auto-blogs drop on the search engine result pages, it’s recommended that you re-evaluate those. How many of those blogs really do bring you profit? Doesn’t it seem to be a better solution to have only a few, but very high-rated blogs, that you either write the content for yourself or outsource this task to a professional ghostwriter? Yes, it will take an initial investment of time or money, but once you get organic, unpaid backlinks from forums and other authority sites, your sites will spread without putting any more work on your shoulders.

What Does the Recent Google Algorithm Change Mean for Internet Marketers?
What Does the Recent Google Algorithm Change Mean for Internet Marketers?

Did you buy your articles by the hundreds, maybe from some very cheap writing company? Those times seem to be over now. Google only wants to direct its users to high quality websites. If you don’t have the skills or the time to produce quality content yourself, then let a good, experienced article ghost writer do the job for you. You may have to dig a bit deeper in your pocket to get decent writing, but think about how much money it costs you to lose sales because of visitors clicking away from your low-quality content or your site falling on lower positions on the search engine results pages.

So, to sum it up: Google made it clear that they want their search engine to return quality results for any query, and that is why they prefer high-quality websites, which are focused on as few niches as possible. The best way for you to respond to this change is to build up your reputation as a real authority, and the search engines will reward you. Serve original, high-value content and don’t rely on cheap spun articles to get it. Not only will you become more resilient to search engine algorithm changes, but also build up trust with the visitors of your site. And that trust is the most important factor when it comes to converting those visitors into customers.