It’s Google Update Time Again!
Since May, Google has been steadily updating its quality algorithms on a monthly basis. If your recovering from a previous update, this is great however, if you’re in a grey quality area you could be susceptible to penalty. Since the most recent update was rolled out on August 19th there has been evidence of it having an immense impact on SEO traffic. As you can see in the following graphic there has been unprecedented dips and surges in visibility since June leading to a giant drop in the middle of July.
If you’ve seen a dip in your website’s traffic it could be one or more of the following reasons:
1. Previous updates: You’ve already been penalised by Google in a previous quality update.
2. Deceptive advertising: So many times, we’ve seen sites hit due to incorrect information being advertised. Any attempt to trick a customer into clicking on an ad or pushing main content down the page is seen as contentious by Google and will be penalised.
3. Content that just isn’t good enough: If you’ve dropped in rankings compare your website to your competitors on page 1. Good quality content will always rank over filler.
4. Flash: If your website runs using only flash then mobile users cannot access your content and is permanently disable by Chrome. Visitors will not stay on your page if they cannot view it and Google will penalise you further.
5. Ranking for irrelevant keywords: SEO that is focused on ranking for keywords that have nothing to do with the services and products provided will most likely be hit by this update.
6. Content surrounded by ads: If your main content is surrounded by ad’s then it is difficult for visitors to find the content from the filler:
If you’ve been hit by the most recent Google update then it is time to make significant changes to your website. You will need to hunt down any potential problems and rectify them asap. The update focuses heavily on the quality of content so now is the time to improve this and remove any deceptive advertising.
Questions and Answers
Q: I think I’ve been hit by the August 19th Google update. How can I improve the quality of my website?
A: Here are some ideas to improve website quality:
- Contact us for an in-depth look into your website.
- If there is a dip in ranks and they correspond to the update then it’s time to refresh your text.
- Check Google Analytics for badly performing pages and re-write them. Depending on how it is performing, it might only need a little tweaking.
- Come back in a month and see if you have improved in Analytics and also ranks.
- Compare your text to your competitors that rank higher. What do the customers and Google love about them?
- Pick very specific topics and write 1 or more blog posts a month.
Just for Fun
