Halo Effect On Google Serps

Halo effect, as defined in Wikipedia, is ‘cognitive bias in which the assessment of an individual quality serves to influence and bias the judgment of other qualities.’ When a person is thought to be good or bad at a particular thing, he is thought to be the same even at other things, though these things are as diverse as possible. When a person’s good or bad qualities seem to spill over from one area to another, this is known as the Halo effect. This effect is also observed on the Google search engine result pages (SERPs).

The Halo effect and Google: 
That getting a top ranking for a particular keyword in Google is difficult, is an understatement. It is easy to be seen in the result pages of other search engines such as MSN or Yahoo. This is because is Google puts a new website in a sandbox to prevent spammers from hogging the topmost positions in Google rankings through enormous link promotions. A period, which typically spans a month or a few, is the minimal requirement to get a top Google ranking. This period sees about of hyperactivity on the part of search engine optimizers – be it white hat, black hat or lots of grey techniques. Good written content, well maintained blogs, and their submission to directories, starts showing up on the SERPs at last. It is only after you reach the top ranking for a keyword or phrase in Google that the Halo effect begins. Now, if you are trying to get your website on top in the search engine result pages for some other keyword or phrase, you won’t find it as difficult as it had been the first time.

It comes as a relief to search engine optimizers, who do not have to go through the ordeal all over again. Once Google recognizes a site as being relevant to a particular keyword or phrase, it gives advantage to other related phrases. The original keyword or phrase can actually exert a pull on other related keywords and phrases to get a top ranking in Google. It is as if Google rewards you for the trustworthy website that you have developed for search in a particular category. So go ahead and reap its benefits.

By: Harish Shetty

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Harish Shetty, an expert on internet marketing and web design and development best practices and search engine optimization, is all praise for the halo effect on Google SERPs. He believes that it shows trust in websites which are already ranked at the top for a particular keyword or phrase. Also webmasters, who work hard to go their way up the rankings are benefited from the halo effect.