Current Google Index - Extreme Volatility
January 15, 2007 – 7:01 amIf you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
In the stock market, one of the key indicators that investors like to look at is the volatility of a stock. They’re interested in how much it will go up or down in a day. People who love excitement will attempt to make money off the violent swings. With Google, volatility is an unwanted property, for almost anyone who runs a website. But the current Google shuffling has been a violent upheaval, not just a gentle rocking.
How do you measure the volatility of the Google index?
1) Monitor your own SERPs. I’ll bet you’ve seen wild fluctuations this weekend. I know I have.
2) Monitor the webmaster community. If there is an unusually high number of “cries of pain”, you can guess that the shuffling is being felt by many.
3) Determine if Matt Cutts is scheduled for a vacation. If he is, chances are the ride could get even wilder.
2007 promises to be a volatile year in Google
Google is one company that’s never content to rest on their laurels. They will keep on tweaking their algos, so their will be flux in their SERPs. This is an unavoidable condition. As more and more people attempt to game Google, they institute more and more filters to stop them. Collateral damage will end up being a fact of life for most.
What’s the solution to this apparent crisis?
This is no crisis. Google is free traffic. Nothing more and nothing less. It’s great when you get it, but it can not be the be all and end all of any website. The solution, of course, is to love your Google traffic but not learn to live on it. Do everything in your power to build other vibrant traffic streams. The internet has many alternatives to Google (not on their scale), that take work and deliver results. You can’t be too proud to scrape up every bit of traffic you can find, regardless of the nook and cranny it comes from.
How much of your traffic does Google provide?
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2 Responses to “Current Google Index - Extreme Volatility”
Darren,
Have you have anything I can read about CTRs ?
I read this in post on a forum.
I think CTR’s below 20% can be improved on;
• I consider CTR’s above 20% as acceptable, and
• I think CTR’s above 30% even as high as 45% are achievable.
I thought Google would ban you if you had anything over 10%
Do you have any thoughts on this?
Bill
By Bill on Jan 16, 2007
Bill,
CTRs over 20% are generally the sign of a really bad website. The user can’t find what they’re looking for (and the site design is so bad they don’t want to keep clicking on the site). In frustration, they click on an ad.
Arbitrage websites can go over 40%. They do it by disabling the navigation.
I don’t think high CTR is a bannable offense.
By Darren McLaughlin on Jan 17, 2007