Inc. magazine have just reported on How Google Is Killing Organic Search.
That lead me to the excellent graphic by Wordstream, Google Ads and the War on Free Click. Like many infographics it’s too wide to reproduce comfortably here but it is worth looking through.
The war on organic search has been going on a while, and it’s going to get worse for small business.
- The agressive placement of ads on above content on a search itself
- Colour of the background of ads to look the same as the content for most screen types – on a LCD screen it’s often nearly impossible to see the pink / orange background of the adverts unless you adjust the screen angle
- The cannibalisation of the SERPs to promote their own properties
- Removal of search data from referrals so sites need to purchase more adwords
- No customer service for organic problems
- Apparently arbitrary bans, filters and penalties with no debate or warning
- Promotion of “big brand” over niche in Organic leading to greater adword bidding by niche sites
How long will it be until there aren’t any organic results on the first page?
Due to most people abusing the Google algorithm the SERPs are mostly filled with companies who manipulate the results.
Like you commenting on a blog with “Seattle Marketing” as the author for the link rather than the company name?