Googles search engine and Android phones

I often get asked what I think the future of SEO will hold, sometimes I go off on a rant other times I try to let people see what I see.

So let's break down what SEO used to be for a long time :

1. Build a website that was SEO friendly, this meant keywords in the URL or in the URL structure then add a keyword in the title tags, H1 and body
2. Add some links to landing pages
3. Win!

Today there are so many hidden factors and signals that we can't influence yet. Take Android, I know it's a just Google mobile phone but in the last 3 months I have had to switch off this:

https://maps.google.com/locationhistory/b/0/dashboard

But when I want to use Maps I need to turn on the share data crap, but what's odd is I have had to turn this off the same number of times:

https://history.google.com/history/

So now Google knows I like rugby and my Home address… Btw I never told them that was my home, they also auto marked my work address too, so what difference does this really make? Well I get personalised results even when I'm not logged in at home and in the Office nothing new there really, but Android is turning web history on in the office and work place, it's almost like Google has a Virtual DNA imprint of me in its system. In fact I'm 90% sure if I bought a new laptop and turned it on at home without signing in, Google would know it was me…

But it's the way it affects the results and Google really wants me to turn on this option and when I do I get map data and not web data…

So Google loves data nothing new there either, but they want all your data and I do wonder how many people have had this super service:

https://developers.google.com/chrome/mobile/docs/data-compression

So Google will route all your chrome browser traffic through its own proxies and when you have 54% of the Mobile market place that's a lot of search and map data , you see Google want to just make your life easy for YOU (and I do mean them). I mean it makes sense when I'm incognito searching at work or Home for Rugby Google would give me Ripon Rugby:

But this causes issues and opportunities, you see if Google is going to give me "Local Results" (yes I can almost turn it off, but it does not pass the parent test), are we going to see much more of this stuff ( yep I searched for "glass replacement Ripon" it wasn't ranking first page )

Or this kind of stuff where a brand that delivers to every town, city and village in the UK need to create a page of every town, city and village…

http://www.interflora.co.uk/flowers-florists-delivery-north-yorkshire/county/

And if you feel that maybe Google has a problem with the brands that are creating Gateway pages, and the lead generators that are hitting it hard, we then have the "Super Brands" to contend with "Every Little Domain helps"

www.tesco.com is 1st for the search term DVD, 5th for Wine
www.tesco-tyres.com in 4TH for the search term Tyres
www.clothingattesco.com is 3rd for the search term Clothing and 5th for school Uniform
www.tescophoto.com in 4th for the search term photo printing
www.tescobank.com/loans in 4th for the search term loans and 5th for Car insurance
If I had time and the inclination I would go through the 100 Tesco domains I found crossed linked together and see how they are ranking but I just don't have a lifetime to waste on this as will Google ever get round to fixing it.

Also when I think when Matt Cutts said they had something to fix the Payday Spam, this really wasn't the fix to the Payday Loan Serps I thought they would have made, but it did make me laugh though.

If you want to see what a great job they did just look at how they are handling the searches related to payday loans

When all said and done it does feel like SEO today is

1. Build a website that is SEO friendly this means keywords in the URL or in the URL structure then add a keyword in the title tags, H1 and body
2. Add some links
3. And don't step on a Google Mine…

Dave