I read a very interesting article a couple of days ago about how user-generated content is threatening organic searches.  Tim Daly talks about how during a routine search for a gift for his significant other Wikipedia was always amongst the top search results.  Why would that be the case when looking to purchase a gift or any consumer good?? Well because of the user-generated “linking farm.”

I tested this theory myself and every time I searched for anything from which diapers are the best to researching top graduate schools, Wikipedia was surely one of the top choices on Google’s list.  So what does this mean for organic searches?  Well according to Daly, it means that the search results are not accurately producing results based on relevant content.  And because of this, users are beginning to shift towards paid search results rather than organic ones.  That sounds good for anyone running a PPC or any paid-advertising campaign, but what about those who have worked hard to get to the top of the search engine results with quality site content?  Well there are a couple of options:

1) If you haven’t already, it’s time to consider paid search advertising.  The first and most obvious benefit is that searchers automatically gravitate towards what’s popping out right in front of them and tend to look at the sponsored results before the organic ones.  This has nothing to do with relevance, but more with convenience.  If what I’m searching for is right there in front of me at the top of the page (where most paid search advertising appears) then I’m not going to go to the next line, but rather click on the link and move on with my search.

2) Second, it is essential to recognize the power of linkbaiting and start to incorporate that on the website.  Including links in content such as your blog or articles on your site will surely increase your ranking on the organic search.  It might be initially difficult to compete with Wikipedia or Epinions, but we have to keep in mind that users are not stupid (not all of them ?).  When a searcher sees a Wikipedia result at the top of the search results, he/she should be able to recognize if that is a relevant result and move on.  If you’re utilizing linkbaiting as a search engine optimization tool, then hopefully your site will not be far behind (if not above) Wikipedia’s result.

3) Finally, add yourself to Wikipedia!  Wikipedia is encyclopedias created and validated by us and since it has such great success in appearing at the top of most search results, why not add your company’s name under the relevant service.  For example, if users are searching for SEO articles, and a Wikipedia result turns up, and the user proceeds to click on it to read more about it, wouldn’t it be helpful if your company’s name appears on Wikipedia as a business that offers that service?

In the end, we have to realize that getting the user to click on your result, whether paid or not, is just winning half the battle.  The key is conversion, and having a million people visit your site a day is great, but it really doesn’t amount to much if you’re not converting these visits into revenue.  Additionally, attracting users to your site is an ongoing process and we all need to try a variety of methods consistently to keep at the top of search engine results.