The Internet has democratised a lot of markets. The number of choices available has increased exponentially since the Internet has become the primary means for making purchase decisions. Looking for Insurance? There are now more providers available to you than ever before all of which are easily comparable to find the best deal. Looking for that perfect dress for your up coming party? You now have the capability to source it from the other side of the world and have it delivered to your door.
The breadth of choice is great for the informed consumer but also presents a paradox to some, where the increased choice means they end up feeling they never make the right choice. It also represents a huge challenge to businesses looking to stand out in a cluttered market place. How do you stand out in world where your competition is not just those at your size, location, or providing identical services but every single company who could possible provide your service who are any size and anywhere in the world?
This is also the challenge facing the major search engines. How do they know that one company is going to be the best to present to you as a provider for the services you are looking for? Links and content used to be the crude measure of who they would put at the top of the pile. But does having the best SEO strategy make you the best provider?
Google is trying to do this by applying a measure of ‘authority’ to their listings meaning an authoritative site has more chance of appearing high up their results than one with less authority. This has been stated by their spoke people explicitly as recently as May this year when their Head of Web Spam Matt Cutts said in a video for Search Engine Land, “We are doing a doing a better job of detecting when someone is sort of an authority in a specific space. It could be medical, it could be travel, whatever. And trying to makes sure that those rank a little more highly, if you are some sort of authority or a site that according to the algorithms we think might be a little bit more appropriate for users.”
And it makes perfect sense. If you are a user looking for the best provider, you are more likely to trust the business which provides you with the most comprehensive information, how to guides, product reviews and other tools to help you make your decision. By providing information, tools and insight they are establishing themselves as an authority on their topic of choice.
So the challenge for businesses in the new world of digital democracy is to establish yourself as an authority in your particular arena. The way in which you do this is not by being the cheapest, or have the best website, it is by being the most useful. How to guides, white papers, video guides, product information, customer reviews, they all contribute, but they take time. They are not a quick fix and they are not going to produce great results tomorrow. But over time, through providing support, guidance and advice, and helping people negotiate the new world of choice; you will see this approach bear fruit.
The days of quick win SEO solutions which will double site traffic overnight are gone. The business that will prosper will be those that are giving something back, adding value, and establishing themselves as an authority. It is a long hard road businesses will have to go down, and some are always on that journey, so start today and you will be one step closer.
By Rob Weatherhead, Head of Search and Digital Response at MediaCom.
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