Google Love Through Googling: How Much Effect Does it Have?

Can getting people to Google your business name really increase your Google ranking?  In the ever-evolving web, that seems to be a growing trend, though many experts would still argue that it won’t do much to up your rankings.  Like anything relying on Google’s “recipes,” it is anyone’s guess, but nothing makes a guess like the power of person experience. 

In another recent article on SEOmoz.org, Glenn Allsopp of Viral Marketing wrote how he put out a free eBook that was downloaded by literally thousands of people, but he had made the mistake of not linking to a website that was an essential part of the process described.  The end result was that in the first month, about 500 readers had Googled his brand over and over and then scoured through a few pages of Google results in order to find his website.

Before long, Allsopp found his site making it to 2nd place on Google, even though he had performed no other linking efforts.  It was a brand new site with hardly any links up against many older sites with legitimate linking programs.

So why would Google favor a site on this basis?  Well, if you give it a little thought, it is not much of a stretch to understand. 

Google is focused on giving users the best possible results for their queries, and it seems that would include delivering the website of a brand name that is Googled often.  So, when people continually search for a term and click on the same site over and over in Google, they are going give that site some extra love and bring it up to the first page for more relevance.

I would also speculate that it makes sense for Google to do this in the case of any keyword term, not just a brand.  For instance, if people frequently Googled a certain keyword string but everyone seemed to pick the number 10 site on Google, for whatever reason, why would Google not want to bring that up to number one where it belonged?  Remember, the sole purpose is giving you the best results, and every time someone clicks on that result, it is almost like giving it a vote. 

Wouldn’t Google want to acknowledge those votes?  In fact, Google has even admitted that their algorithms take this into account, but for many people the lasting speculation is about how much of a difference it makes. Allsopp’s experience along with the experiences of many other webmaster’s is indicating that it plays a substantial role. 

Another interesting aspect to note when it comes to this observation is the growing trend of Google personalization, which may even compound the effect on an individual level. Google now has personalized results set on its search engines until the user switches them off, something that the typical user would never think about. 

So what happens is that once someone searches for a certain term and then clicks on a certain link, it becomes a part of their personalized Google experience.  They are far more likely to get that site as a result next time they search for their term.

How can these two interesting variables be capitalized on?  One is by asking your audience to Google a search term rather than linking to it, but in the case of personalized web searches, it may be powerful enough to offer a prize or coupon for Googling.  Of course, this would work to varying degrees based on the purpose of your site and your offer, but I see some interesting changes coming to this trend in the future. I have no doubt some smart marketers will find ways to capitalize.