Hey guys, I was surfing around on Google last night and noticed they are experimenting with a new feature in regards to their organic search results.

In my opinion, this is a move towards letting actual user input influence their organic search results — and I knew it was only a matter of time that this would happen.

Here’s a blurb straight from Google’s mouth:

“This experiment lets you influence your search experience by adding, moving, and removing search results. When you search for the same keywords again, you’ll continue to see those changes. If you later want to revert your changes, you can undo any modifications you’ve made. Note that this is an experimental feature and may be available for only a few weeks.” Continue reading.

When you think about it, it makes sense. Google’s job is to deliver search results that are accurate and helpful — and by letting users “vote” on the search results, it gives Google the data they need to tweak their algorithm.

What does this mean for us Affiliate Marketers that rely on SEO?

Well, assuming this new experiment takes off and makes a big impact, having a good website with good content is going to be more important than ever. If your affiliate site’s design and content is poor, but you’ve managed to rank well in Google, it’s very possible that your website will slip in ranking.

Think about it. A visitor searches for a new laptop and lands on your affiliate site. You’ve got no real design, the content is lacking and poorly written and you’ve got affiliate banners all over the place. I would say there’s a strong likelihood that the person will click the “X” button next to your listing telling Google that they didn’t like your website.

If enough people do the same, I can’t see how this wouldn’t influence Google’s algorithm. This is all speculative on my part of course, but I honestly believe it where things are going.

So let’s see what happens. It probably can’t hurt, however, to start making improvements to your website(s) — this is a smart business move anyway.

Let’s use this blog as an example. I wrote a post a little while ago about investing in a paid theme.

Well, I decided to make the change in phases. I took advice from Nick’s comment and found a designer on Digital Point’s forum to create me a new logo — it’s a small, inexpensive way to enhance your website or blog’s image — and then down the road my final phase will be a whole new paid theme.

My new logo should be live tomorrow or Wednesday.

Please feel free to leave your thoughts or comments below about Google’s new search experiment.

Cheers,
Ryan

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Tags: Google, Search Engine Optimization