Getting your website to rank higher on Google is constantly becoming more complicated. The search company has 500 search algorithm changes planned in 2011; so how do you stay ahead of the search engine game and your competition?

Over the past decade, search engine optimisation (SEO) has been pretty straight forward. Select keywords, add content and get some quality inbound links. Going forward, however, the search engine marketplace is far more dynamic as Google constantly updates its search results with real-time information. Google now takes updates from sources such as Twitter, uses social media to assess credibility, compares prices through Google Shopping, and presents daily local deals through Google Offers.

Sounds overwhelming? Google CEO Eric Schmidt disagrees. “This is the future and everyone will adapt,” he said at a recent Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) event in the USA. Australian businesses need to embrace the new changes and leverage the features of the new search marketplace to gain a competitive advantage.

The 500 algorithm changes from Google not only include blended search results from multiple data sources, but they are also geared at delivering a quality, customisable experience which now includes the ability for internet users to block sites from appearing in their search results. User generated and rated content now plays an integral role in SEO and writing content purely for the purposes of gaining search engine rankings will not be effective for your small business.

Pandamonium

Google’s Panda algorithm update, in February this year, devalued low-grade websites with obviously poor quality and redundant content. This is a clear indicator for website owners of the need for user-relevance and a focus on improving click-through rates, and average time on site, rather than just more traffic.

Social media presence already contributes to search engine rankings – Google has acknowledged this and recent research from seomoz.org has shown a definite correlation between good rankings and Facebook shares, likes, and comments and retweets on Twitter. Google and even Bing are understood to have assigned a weighting to authoritative Twitter users, with retweets effectively delivering more value than old school linking practices.

The huge surge in smartphone use has exceeded all expectations, even at Google. In Australia, over 50% of web users access the web through mobile devices. This means business websites need to be mobile friendly and localised to maximise customer traffic.

What should your business do?

The key is to evaluate and benchmark. Assess your current online marketing performance or request an independent evaluation of your SEO strategy versus the competition. Identify the gaps, catch up and then move ahead.

You should also try to think like your customer. Spend time on your Google Analytics data and improve time on site and the website user experience. Customise the experience and ensure visitors can find what they are looking for in two clicks or less. The key to retaining customers and margins is speed to market, meaningful differentiation and being ahead of the game in SEO.

Ewan Watt is the director and founder of SEO firm ROI.com.au

Image credit: Thinkstock.