eConsultancy recently posted a three part article on the “Vince” or “Brand” natural search update, concluding that human intervention was behind the changes. Although I do not rule out the possibility of Google manually meddling with the search results, I do not agree with this particular prognosis. The effects were just too widespread. In particular they had a dramatic impact upon the commercial search verticals.
The Increasing Role of Advertising in Natural Search
eConsultancy’s analysis did include a comparison of “brand” metrics, but it omitted the greatest unifying factor of the websites benefiting from the update, marketing spend. Although online advertising has previously held an indirect bearing upon rankings because of its effect upon traffic and brand searches, it now appears to be a direct factor in the equation.
Is Google now feeding Adwords data straight into the natural search algorithm?
My own experiences of the last few months certainly suggest so. Since the update I have witnessed several sudden jumps in rankings accompanying sharp increases in online advertising, particularly hikes in Adwords spend. Of course investing in paid search does not guarantee high natural rankings, but in highly competitive markets such as finance, it might be enough to be the differentiator.
Why would Google do this?
The move creates a double boon for Adwords investment. It rewards Google’s biggest spending customers with an increase in both natural and paid search traffic. At the same time it promotes new investment by companies that invest relatively small budgets in paid search as well as those who have suffered drops in rankings looking to regain market share.
Conclusion
There have long been rumours of a secret link between SEO and PPC optimisation, but it appears that there is now sufficient evidence to prove a connection. Are we are now in a situation where PPC and SEO algorithms have converged? With this update and the recent changes to paid search, such as the inclusion of deep links in PPC listings, the lines between paid and natural search in Google appear to be increasingly blurred.
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