The chorus line of vertical aggregators below is still jumping for joy
(click to see), because all the marketers (clients of SEO consultants) who want their individual web sites to be on that first SERP can't easily and inexpensively compete with them. Why, because most vertical aggregator web sites have large amounts of quality content, many inbound high quality links, and deep pockets of owners who continuously update and add quality content. These things enable them to block out most of the individual company web sites from the "organic top 10" listings on the 1st SERP.
"Vertical Aggregator Creep" to me, many SEO's, and many B2B & B2C online marketers, is more annoying than "Ad Creep". I have read in forums where an SEO said that their clients have to compete in both organic and PPC arenas for good ranking. In fact, these "unfair advantage" competitors with huge content & huge financial resources, that are sometimes known as directory aggregators, cause the SEO to spend more time, and be more aggressive (maybe even ""Black Hat SEO") in their SEO tactics. These extra costs are passed on to the client who is also forced to invest in PPC just to get on the first SERP.
Even though Google doesn't do paid inclusion as Yahoo does, one SEO Consultant (Mary Ann Wells of Web-Kare.com) in a forum posting said that: "At the rate that Google is favoring these directories, it seems that there's little reason for anyone to go to Google to search - just go to 'anonymous.com' if you're looking for 'anonymous' goods and services (which is, of course what 'anonymous.com' wants). The question now becomes, 'Is this what Google wants?'"
I know from personal experience that some of my better informed former clients suspected that if a vertical directory pays millions in PPC money as a Google AdWords advertiser, that Google would probably give them preferential treatment in algorithm updates (see "everflux"), whether that was true or not. Some suspected that Google may even "look the other way" in dealing with borderline aggressive SEO tactics. I'm sure Google would deny this, but constant high rankings of these vertical aggregator directories make people suspicious, even when they know that "content (huge and relevant) is king".
How do these vertical aggregator web sites, that many times dominate the first SERP, affect you? My next post will suggest a specific plan to implement Mary Ann Wells's suggested solution to what I call "Vertical Aggregator Creep".
Animated image courtesy of www.artie.com.
Comments