Developments In Search For Better Digital Marketing Campaigns

Many old timers would remember the first time they used Google, landing on the website through top search engines of that era, like AOL, Excite, or Altavista. At that time, they might have been truly amazed by the search experience offered by Google.

The young digital marketing whippersnappers of today might often wonder what factor swept audiences away from Yahoo towards Google. Well, there are basically two reasons. The first was the simple interface offered by Google in a portal-dominated, banner-flashing environment. The second reason was because Google worked much better than other search engines of the time, providing highly relevant spam-free results. Google's search algorithm seemed immune to spam tactics by digital marketing gamers of the day, and helped users find exactly what they were looking for.

And this is where the problem lies. In recent months, Google has been taking a lot of flak from digital marketing experts for throwing up ever-increasing amounts of irrelevant results on its search result pages. Adsense websites and content farms have sprung up, flooding the Internet with low-quality spam content, designed to fox Google's algorithm, and get high search engine rankings. This has made it harder for searchers to find good quality content on Google. Even after Google made changes to its algorithm to stop spam, there seemed to be very little improvement in search results.

In such a situation, it is quite possible for searchers to turn to other search avenues. This is where Blekko comes into the picture. Blekko is a small Internet start-up that claims to offer searchers a better online search experience. In March 2011, Blekko came into the digital marketing spotlight when it blocked more than a million sites, which its editors had determined to be content farms churning out regurgitated spam content. Blekko announced that their search results were based on human inputs, rather than the machine-made algorithms on which Google's search function depends.

This was considered to be a good move by digital marketing pundits who believe that humans are a better bet than search algorithms, when it comes to differentiating between relevant content and spam. The main advantage of Blekko is its search methodology, which uses 'slashtags', spam reporting features, and open ranking methods, to effectively keep out spam content. Digital marketing experts believe that the relevancy of the search results on Blekko will increase, as more people begin to use the system.

Is it possible for black-hat digital marketing professionals to 'game' Blekko? Yes, it is, and it would only take an investment of a group of people, who could be paid to 'like' spam websites. Though it is still too early to tell if Blekko will be the next Google, it offers a useful search model that we all need to watch.

Qudos Digital is a leading digital marketing agency and can be contacted on 020 8891 2077 or info@qudosdigital.co.uk.

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