Here’s an example of a recent search I tried that was current, possesed broad appeal and had big enough national names that I thought, “Surely, this search will be easy”.

I’d heard a good segment on NPR. It was about running and its’ restorative powers.
It had only been a couple of days and I wanted to send the article to a runner-friend.

Since it had been so recent and on such a well known news outlet with good online presence, this one was going to be easy to find, right?

Attempt Number One:
SEARCH: “running and age NPR”

Surely my search would give me the most current and recent entries. They would be authoritative sources with objective, proven, trusted and honest content, and not dubious, popular clickbait sources.

Boy, was I wrong.
Instead of my easy-find article, I got two-year-old running and age studies.
I got radically irrelevant results too:
1) about the 2012 Presidential Campaigns (running)
2) and about the death of Tom Magliozzi, one of the host brothers of NPR’s CarTalk. (NPR, age)

And this strange oddity:
How Do I Hate NPR? Let Me Count the Ways | Miscellany …
“Last year, when NPR was running a long, long, long series of stories on local … one morning on a topless dancer suing a Dallas club for age discrimination.”

So much for Google’s authoritative, context-based approach.
I searched five pages in and and started anew.

Attempt Number Two:
I tried something more specific:
SEARCH: “running prevents aging study NPR 2015″

I hoped this would more clearly describe exactly what I was looking for. But no. Instead, I got entries as old as 2006 on the first page. Again, I searched five pages in and and I gave up.

Attempts Number Three and Four:
SEARCH: “_________”

I just started to hunt for the needle in a haystack.
Guessing, I went straight to NPR’s Morning Edition site. Nothing.
I guessed at another public radio show, Here and Now and finally found it there with a link to Colorado Public Radio, the originator of the story.

So, search is hard. As much as Google promises, it’s not perfect.  It’s just far too global a network and it can take a lot of ingenuity on the part of the user to be successful, even with items that seem like they should be easy to find.

There are some strategies a local business can use to their advantage to bypass some of the noise of Google searches that we’ll discuss in a future post.

Have you ever had a search leave you frustrated? Leave a comment!

Below is a link to an article that really explains the nuts and bolts of search and does a very good job of demystifying Google logic and its’ algorithms. It also tells the story of being blacklisted by Google for black hat-like SEO methods.

http://boostblogtraffic.com/seo-mistakes/#more-632
Six SEO Sins That Will Put You On Google’s Naughty List. by Jon Morrow.

First published on March 20, 2013, this guide still applies to Google’s most recent algorithm and biggest change in years—Hummingbird.
And the 218 Comments certainly tend to bear the information out.

After going through a lot of don’ts, the very end the article says everything we’ve been hearing for years — it’s all about creating valuable content:

“The Truth about How Google Works:

It’s evolving. All the time.

Every day, they tweak their algorithms to filter out spammers. Every year or two, they also roll out major updates that cause huge shifts in search engine rankings for nearly everyone on the web. … 

(plus, more importantly … )

If you know nothing about SEO, and you’re doing nothing more than publishing awesome content and building relationships with your readers, you’re probably safe. In fact, that’s a good mindset for all bloggers, in my opinion. At least in the beginning.

Instead of trying to figure out how to manipulate the Google algorithm for better rankings, just create content that deserves to be on the first page, promote the hell out of it, and wait for Google to catch up. Their goal, after all, is to move the best stuff to the top of the pile.

In that respect, the real, supersecret, behind-the-scenes strategy for getting your blog ranked on the first page of Google doesn’t have anything to do with link pyramids or keyword density or any of the rest of that complicated nonsense. It’s just three simple steps:

1. Create jaw-dropping content
2. Get influencers talking about it
3. Wait for Google to catch up

Oversimplified? 
Maybe, but it’s exactly what Google wants you to do. So why do anything else?”