89% Find Search Engines Do Good Job Finding Information, But “Noise” Is Issue

Has Google’s relevancy gotten worse? A recent opinion poll suggests not, while at the same time confirming a concern that’s been rising in anecdotal accounts — there’s too much “noise” surrounding the “signal.”

Rasmussen Reports surveyed 740 adult Americans on January 4-5 about a variety of search engine related issues. The key question that caught my eye?

“In terms of finding what information you need, how do you rate today’s Internet search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing …excellent, good, fair or poor?”
Most Rate Search Engines Well

In total, 89% found that search engines do a good or excellent job in finding information. Here’s the full breakdown:

    * 47% – Excellent
    * 42% – Good
    * 10% – Fair
    * 0% – Poor (technically between 0% and 1%, but specific figure not given)
    * 1% – Not sure

Does that mean Google itself is gaining such high marks? Maybe these are all Bing users? Unlikely. The survey didn’t ask which search engine people used, which was unfortunate. It did ask if people used more than one search engine at the same time. Few did:

“Do you generally use the same Internet search engine all the time?”

    * 78% – Yes
    * 19% – No
    * 3% – Not sure

Since Google is by far the most popular search engine in the US, it’s reasonable to assume that the overall satisfaction numbers indicated overall satisfaction with Google.

But Noise Is An Issue

If search engines are doing such a great job in general, and Google in particular, why have we seen a spate of posts recently suggesting that Google’s gotten worse? I think the answer is in another question from the poll:

“Which is a bigger problem when you use an Internet search engine – that you can’t find what you need or that your query generates too much irrelevant data?”

    * 70% – That your query generates too much irrelevant data
    * 13% – That you can’t find what you need
    * 18% – Not sure

Only 13% say they can’t find what they’re looking for. The answers are there, the “signal” that people want to tune into. They’re just surrounded by a lot of noise.
Another Poll With Seemingly Conflicting Findings

I think you see a similar frustration in a poll that Lifehacker just ran. This gathered nearly 10,000 responses to the question:

“Have Google’s Search Results Become Less Useful To You?”

    * 43.8% – Kind of/sort of, but it’s still the best way to get at the good stuff
    * 33.8% – Absolutely. The spammers have gained a significant foothold
    * 11.2% – I haven’t really noticed a change
    * 7.1% – I’d say no, or not to the point where it matters, at least
    * 3.6% – No, and actually, my results have been better and more convenient lately
    * 0.6% – Other

The headline on Lifehacker’s poll results story was “Over 77 Percent of Lifehacker Readers Say Google’s Search Results are Less Useful Lately,” which combined the two most popular responses, one that is totally negative and one that can be read either way (results are less useful, but Google’s still the best way to find things).
For more info- http://searchengineland.com/89-find-search-engines-do-good-job-but-noise-is-issue-61064

Why On Page Optimization in SEO is So Important

 

The goal is to have web pages on the top positions of search results. In order to achieve this goal you have to optimize every page. The optimization is done for particular keywords or search phrases and is divided into two categories: on-page and off-page. Off-page optimization means creating backlinks to your website. Each link will increase the reputation of your site--links (their quantity and quality) are very important for ranking in search results. But the basic element of optimization is the page itself. On-page optimization is needed to clearly describe the content of the page and to emphasize the main keyword you are optimizing for.

Optimization of any web page starts with keyword selection. You need to find search phrases that are related to the content of your website, have high search volume and low competition. In general, you should optimize each page for only one keyword. The purpose of optimization is to emphasize one particular keyword in order to tell human visitors and search engines what this page is about. But the final goal is to reach top position in search results for this keyword. On-page SEO is not a rocket science; in fact it is only an extension of optimization for normal, human visitors.

Web page SEO is done by putting the main keyword or search phrase at relevant visible and invisible (meta) page elements. The best approach is to create a nice, easily readable page where visitors will quickly find the information they are looking for. This is simply done by creating quality content that is focused around the target keyword. Quality, unique content is a prerequisite for any web optimization. Once you have the text written all you have to do is to create a page title which contains the target keyword, to add few header tags (h1, h2, h3, etc.) to label sections or paragraphs, to create right meta description which, of course, contains the keyword and finally, to check word frequency to avoid excessive use of particular word phrases.

Once the web page is optimized for normal, human visitors it will not only look clean and easy to read, but it will be automatically optimized also for search engines. This is because search engines, in particular Google, like clear pages that are informative and easy to navigate. Easy navigation can be achieved with a simple menu from which you can reach any page on the website with only one or two clicks.

The purpose of any web page optimization is simply to explain to everybody, including search engines, what the page is about.

On-page SEO becomes very simple once you start optimizing for human visitors. Optimization for search engines is only a small extension of common activities to make the page attractive.
For more info- http://ezinearticles.com/?Why-On-Page-Optimization-in-SEO-is-So-Important&id=4307553