Author: David Leonhardt


Are You A Bill Clinton Webmaster? Post-Florida Google Pulls Back
the Fig Leaf By David Leonhardt

One of the most frequent questions I get asked about my ebook,
Don't Get Banned BY The Search Engines, is whether I amended it
to include post-Florida Google. "Florida" is the code name that
search engine optimizer wizards gave to a November, 2003,
shakeup at Google that left many webmasters covering themselves
up with makeshift fig leaves while dangling upside down above
the proverbial crocodile moat.

I am tempted to explain that, "No, I did not amend it, because
nothing has really changed." But just try telling the world that
Bill Clinton did not have "sex" with Monica Lewinski. Yeah,
right.

So I take the lazy way out and I just say, "Yes."

But the guilt has been creeping up on me, grasping at my skin,
gnawing away at my bones, chewing on my heart, mauling my
conscience, and spitting out my toenails one by one. So this is
confession time. Don't Get Banned By The Search Engine has not
been amended to include post-Florida Google.

Is this because I am peddling stale goods? Am I leading people
astray? Do I have a clue what's going on? "No", "I hope so", and
"Maybe".

In fact, nothing really has changed at Google, and webmasters
who have been following Google's guidelines can just keep doing
what they have always been doing, just as Presidents who follow
public decency guidelines can keep doing what they are doing
(until we vote them out of office for other reasons, of course).

"But I followed the guidelines, and I still took bullets in
several vital organs," I hear many webmasters say. In fact, very
few webmasters have been following Google's guidelines. Most
have been following the Clinton what-can-I-get-away-with fig
leaf guidelines.

Remember that Bill Clinton never had "sex" with Monica Lewinski.
Technically. Honest, he did nothing wrong. He followed the rules
by not having "sex" with Monica Lewinski. In fact, he was seen
in public not having sex with Monica Lewinski on several
occasions.

And webmasters follow the rules by not linking to "link farms"
or "overoptimizing". Sure, they will link to sites that have
nothing to do with their site's topic, but not to a "link farm".
And they will "exchange links", but surely that does not violate
Google's" uniquely democratic nature of the web" principle. As
long as you are not actually caught publicly stuffing the ballot
box, how could Google possibly suggest that you are doing so?

So here are my post-Florida rules:

You only link to relevant sites, because that's what you know
Google and your visitors want. Keep doing that.

You don't exchange links, because that would be stuffing
Google's ballot box – and that is NOT something Google wants.
Keep not doing that.

Your link does not appear on many useless "links" pages, where
it has to share PageRank with dozens of other web sites. Keep
not doing that.

You accept links only from relevant web pages, because you know
that's the only meaningful traffic ... and that's what Google
wants. Keep doing that.

Your links look different on different web pages around the
Internet, because that's how a democratic process would create
your links. Keep doing that.

You keep adding relevant content to your web site, because
that's what you know Google and your visitors want. Keep doing
that.

See? No change. And if there is a change, it simply means that
you were not following Google's guidelines in the past. Oh sure,
technically you might have been following Google's guidelines,
but technically Bill Clinton didn't have sex with Monika
Lewinski. Another round of fig leaves, anyone?

Google implemented "stemming" along with the Florida update, or
more likely a few weeks earlier. Since your inbound links are
varied and often unique, you probably already are taking
advantage of stemming, so it won't bother you. And since you
write meaningful copy for your visitors, you probably already
have all the stemming you need right in your copy. You are ready
to really excel in Post-Florida Google.

Google is also implementing a "communities" factor. Since your
inbound links all come from relevant web pages, you are already
part of the community. You are already well placed to succeed in
Post-Florida Google, right?

Google has implemented "penalties" for some typically
overoptimized terms. Actually, I think penalties is probably the
wrong word, but that is what most SEOs are using. Since you
write quality content, meaningful headers, and don't cut and
paste the same phrase over and over in every possible place, you
are ready to conquer Mount Google.

In other words, if you were following Google's guidelines, not
the Bill Clinton fig leaf guidelines, just keep doing what you
are doing. For the rest of you, isn't it time you dropped the
fig leaf and wrapped yourself up in something a little more
substantial that will weather the high winds of Google's next
big storm?

And, "No." I did not amend Don't Get Banned By The Search
Engines to include post-Florida Google – because I never advised
people to follow the Bill Clinton fig leaf guidelines in the
original edition.