Google has changed a lot over the years. Once upon a time, it was a directory which compiled websites to make them easier for users to access. Since then, use of the internet has exploded, resulting in over 1.1 billion websites existing today. Not all of those websites will be useful, so there’s been a much greater demand for curated search results and algorithms which can refine websites by their quality.
However, the algorithms which sort the good websites from the bad also seem to reward bigger companies more than independent ones. This creates an unfair playing field, giving powerful companies even more power. How are independent companies and publishers meant to defeat these digital Goliaths?
This is a question that the guys at HouseFresh had, and we’re going to dive into everything that unfolded since they published a groundbreaking investigation into digital Goliaths and how they game the Google algorithm.
Does Google Have Space For Everyone?
It’s no secret that large corporations and media giants have been given more space on the internet. The most recent Google algorithm updates have continued this trend, seemingly giving them even more dominance in the search results. Successful independent publishers HouseFresh have been vocal about this, and penned their deeply insightful article about how some of the so-called ‘digital Goliaths’ are gaming the system. Their article is something we would highly recommend reading, and helps to shed some light on what seems to be trending in the marketing sphere nowadays.
Product Review Powerhouses
HouseFresh are a popular website dedicated to providing information about home air purifiers. This includes independent reviews of air purifying products. You’d think that their popularity and clear expertise on a relatively unremarkable subject would leave them ranking at the top of the search results for those kinds of queries.
However, after a few Google algorithm updates, users were finding a clear bias towards digital Goliaths such as Reddit, Quora, Forbes, BuzzFeed and even Rolling Stone. HouseFresh had reduced visibility, despite their commitment to providing unbiased and genuinely helpful content.
This shows that Google massively favours powerful publishers over independent ones. But why?
The Death Of Independent Websites
Perhaps the problem isn’t Google, it’s how sneaky strategies are able to game the system. Google is not perfect, nor do they claim to be. But a system which can be taken advantage of by publishers with enormous power is inherently flawed. This effectively punishes independent websites which are posting genuinely useful content.
This is what HouseFresh’s article highlights. Previously, their website ranked well for their niche. Now, it’s overtaken by spammy, lower-quality articles with far less expertise and unbiased opinion. What are Google going to do to fix this problem?
Why Are Digital Goliaths Ranking Outside Of Their Niche?
A question on a lot of independent publisher’s lips is why they’re being outranked by large corporations who don’t specialise in their niche. If Google’s algorithm is meant to favour high quality content with personal experiences and expertise, it makes no sense for HouseFresh to be outranked by websites such as Forbes and Rolling Stone.
The fact that the digital Goliaths are ranking so well outside of their niche gives credence to the theory that backlinks improve website authority. Large household name companies are likely to have huge backlink profiles. As well as that, there will be more positive social signals, including more followers on social media, more hashtags using their company name, and more people discussing their products.
The Power Of Presence
It does make sense for backlinks and social signals to indicate how trustworthy a website is. After all, an organic backlink is usually an indicator of good content. However, it’s also easy to abuse. This is particularly true if a company has a lot of online power, and wants to use that power to eliminate their competition across as many keywords as possible.
Big companies are given an unfair advantage over the likes of HouseFresh, because backlinks and social signals indicate to Google’s algorithms that Rolling Stone might have more content which users will find more useful – even though they are definitely not experts on air purifiers like HouseFresh are!
This begs the question – are Google even able to promote niche content anymore? With what seems like a clear bias towards massive websites with huge authority signals, indie websites simply cannot compete.
Swarming
The process of creating articles with the sole purpose of outranking smaller competitors is known as swarming. Big names will put together content outside of their niche to knock other websites out of the game. This ensures that they remain hyper present online, and means small companies have next to no chance of succeeding.
If you thought that competing against one large competitor was difficult, you’re about to be given a reality check. Brace yourself for what’s to follow.
A huge amount of the internet’s most popular websites are owned by just 16 companies. That’s right, 16. This means that all of the sites that those big companies own are able to work together to truly dominate the search results for some terms. There is almost no chance at all for independent publishers to stand up against digital Goliaths when they use their combined powers to their advantage. In fact, the study linked above showed that websites owned by those 16 companies ranked on page one for 85% of terms across a large range of niches.
This, unfortunately, is happening more and more. HouseFresh are not the only victims to this, and it would be impossible to determine exactly how many niches this affects. Until Google are able to determine the quality and trustworthiness of content without giving bias towards websites which are already hugely popular, the algorithm will remain flawed.
Reddit & Quora
If you thought that 16 companies dominating the search results was bad enough, things are about to get worse. The remaining spots in the top search results are now taken up by two more huge brands: Reddit and Quora. You’d probably be hard-pressed nowadays to find a search which doesn’t include results from these two companies in the results pages.
This has divided the opinions of searchers. Although forums do throw up more results which include unbiased and individual opinions, they aren’t always the most trusted results. There have been some circumstances where Reddit is prioritised for inappropriate searches – medical questions, for example.
Because of this, we think that it’s likely that the abundance of forum results will change throughout the next few months. Ultimately, Google’s goal is to provide useful, helpful results that don’t harm their users. Forums can provide extremely useful content if users are looking for independent reviews and opinions. However, it could be dangerous to show unmoderated results that include dangerous or false information. It’s almost certain that Google are committing a lot of time and resources to ironing out how and when forum results appear for certain queries.
What Can We Learn From The Digital Goliaths?
This is an enormous topic, and we’ve only really scratched the surface in this blog. To wrap things up, we want to share some positivity.
The digital Goliaths are powerful, and unfortunately they are in a position to outrank a lot of high quality websites. We would encourage you not to accept defeat. Although there are many search terms that are harder to rank for because of these giants, there will be plenty more that are accessible.
Keyword research is more important than ever. Make sure you know what your audience are searching for, and write appropriate content to meet their needs. As long as your website is helpful, reliable, safe and optimised for your audience, you’ll be in the best position to welcome in new traffic.
Written by Alice Farley
