Google Traffic - A Double-Edged Sword
As content providers, we all invest quite a bit of effort in search engine optimization, to ensure that our pages get the highest positioning within organic search results. In the business market (and most others), the bulk of that effort is focused on Google. And, as you see increases in pages crawled and indexed, it drives visitors, page views and clicks.
But what goes up can also come down. And dependence upon organic Google results leaves businesses vulnerable to changes outside their control. That happened to many sites last year, when Google rolled out its Big Daddy data center changes. And now, it's happened to Answers.com, where a change in Google search algorithm has apparently reduced traffic by 28%. While there's no such thing as a good time to see your traffic drop by a quarter, the timing is particularly poor for Answers.com, who are in the midst of raising capital for their proposed acquisition of Dictionary.com. A drop in the Answers.com stock price (the stock is down about 12% as I write this) will make the additional offering that much more difficult.
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