The 5 Ways Google is Like God

I’m not sure who will be more offended, the religious: for my attributing divine attributes to a human creation; or the irreligious: for my talking about God at all outside of a church, synagogue or mosque. I couldn’t care less about catering to the religious (or irreligious) preferences of my readers, but both God and Google continue to command my attention because any rational being will at least entertain a passing concern about offending God – having an eternal soul and all. And if your livelihood has anything to do with the hundreds of millions of users on the Internet, paying the appropriate homage to Google seems reasonable – since Google still holds the keys to the Internet traffic kingdom.

It should be told that I wasn’t always upright in the eyes of Google. Back when I was young and reckless I found myself hanging around with the wrong crowd. Sure there was fast money to be made, but when it was all over and the dust settled, I didn’t have enough AdSense income to buy a cup of coffee and no business model to build a future on. So you Internet youngsters, learn from my mistakes and you’ll find a friend in Google. So let us begin.

1. Break the rules at your own peril. While you may benefit in the short-term, you will pay the piper down the road.There are plenty of ways to try to game the system (I’m talking about Google here). The problem is that those who are constantly trying to bend Google to their own will, are operating under a system that is fundamentally opposed to the system that has been set up for everyone’s mutual benefit (okay, mostly Google’s). So if you play by the rules, everyone is happy. We’ve all heard of the scam artist who works tirelessly to create some huge organization to swindle little old ladies out of their life savings. If he just would have turned his ingenuity toward selling them magazine subscriptions to Cat Fancy, he would have made the same amount of money and walked around a free man the rest of his life.

   Google’s not-so altruistic goal is to get as many people to use Google’s search so they can monetize all that traffic. They will continue to dominate the search engine space only if they continue to provide quality search results. If you focus on the plan and purpose of Google, you will find your reward.

2. Don’t think Google doesn’t know what you’re up to.Have you ever heard the saying, “There’s nothing new under the sun”? Well it doesn’t really apply to the Internet. There’s always someone coming up with a new way of doing things – including game Google. The problem is that by the time you ‘ve heard about it, so has Google (er, didn’t you get the idea from an ebook you saw advertised on Google Adwords?). And don’t forget, only the Federal government of the Unites States of America employs more PhDs than Google. So the combined brain-power and knowledge storage of Google – though not omniscient – is awe-inspiring. And while Google might ignore your ill-gotten first page listing this week, item #1 (see above) is still in effect.
3. Google isn’t impressed by your fancy appearance.It doesn’t matter how flashy your website is – in fact using Flash can work against you. So stop doing the big song and dance and focus on the content of your website. Remember, it’s what’s on the inside that matters. Now this doesn’t mean that you need to stop concerning yourself with a pleasant user experience, but remember that a straight-forward navigational structure and unique content is a n effective way to reach out to Google and neighbor.
4. No one fully knows the mind of Google.By “mind” I mean algorithm. We humans are delightfully predictable. If Google published their algorithm, who could resist the temptation to tweak one’s own website to maximize its Google position? Google, in its wisdom ha s kept this hidden in hopes that we would eventually forget about catering to the algorithm and start getting down to the meaty work of creating useful content. But let’s face it, as an SEO I love the challenge of pitting myself up against all the other SEOs, to see if I can get the smartest company in the world to position my work at the top of their list. Let’s just pray that humility isn’t my best virtue.
5. By patient perseverance you shall receive glory and honor.Top position for a competitive keyphrase doesn’t come to the faint of heart or the undisciplined. It takes time and a constant effort. Most anyone can at least rank highly for a moderately competitive keyphrase, if they’re willing to be faithful to the cause. I recommend you identify where your talents lie in creating content, whether video, audio, written or some other sharable format, and set aside some time every few days to create and post new content. If after a month of this type of activity you don’t see searches on some of these titles populating the first page of Google, you probably have some site structure problems or possibly some more serious transgressions against Google that may require a complete and utter repentance and conversion                                                                      Source: Network world.