Google is the main source of traffic for most of the websites.
Probably, yours too.
We are always struggling to rank at the top of the first page of Google’s search result.
There are a number of SEO tactics practiced to achieve this goal which actually help us rank.
But then comes an algorithm update by the mighty Google which, at least, causes a fluctuation in our traffic rate.
In the worst case scenario, websites end up penalized.
Google algorithm determines which websites are best suited against the searched keyword and ranks them accordingly.
Google algorithm uses 200 factors in determining the ranks. According to Moz, the search algorithm is updated about 500 to 600 times in one year.
Most of these changes are minor and don’t affect our rankings much.
The real deal are “major” updates like Google Panda and Google Penguin that show a noteworthy impact.
Normally, we analyze our website’s performance and then practice SEO accordingly. The problem is, these practices may not remain much effective with new Google algorithm updates.
There should be a way to deal with these updates and, lucky for you, there is!
In this article, I have shared 7 SEO hacks to deal with the negative impacts of Google update. These SEO hacks will not only improve your site’s ranking but also help you stand steady with every new algorithmic update.
Why Google Releases Updates?
One thing I can tell you with certainty, it’s not to destroy your business (unless you are using Black Hat).
Google keeps updating its algorithm to provide the best user experience for us.
It has maintained its position as the best search engine because it provides the best user experience and results to us users. We would stop using Google and go to other search engines like Yahoo and Bing if it doesn’t offer a good user experience.
This is exactly why Google shows the site with the most suited content on top instead of showing websites that offer services and products.
That being said, Google is also not perfect.
It makes mistakes and then updates its algorithm to cover the made blunder.
See what Neil Patel said about Google:
Should You Be Scared of Google Updates?
The answer to this question is a Yes and a No.
YES, if your site doesn’t offer value to users. Bad user experience and low-quality content on your site are like a ticking bomb.
Sooner or later it is going to explode, with or without a Google update.
Further adding to the answer.
Definitely YES, if you are practicing Black Hat SEO. Google has particularly mentioned in its policies to avoid all unethical SEO practices.
It may give you an edge for a short amount of time – in the long term, however, black hat will get your site penalized and, maybe, even banned.
On the other hand, there is NO need to worry about Google search algorithm updates if you are not doing anything wrong.
Having said that, there is a possibility that Google may realize that one of your competitors is doing better work than you. In such a case, your competitor may outrank you even if they ranked below you before.
So, here is the question you should be asking.
How can you assure that Google’s ever-changing algorithm doesn’t give you a hard time?
And, the answer to that question are these 7 SEO hacks.
1. Update Your Content
It’s probably because of bad on-page objects if Google’s update has affected your site.
You may not always have been careful when creating content.
It’s about time you clear all tracks of your past mistakes, so they don’t come to bite you in the future.
Google Panda update particularly targets sites with poor quality content and down-ranks them.
Here’s what you need to do:
- Create a spreadsheet file
- List URLs of all articles on your website in this spreadsheet file
- Add the traffic you get from each page
- Get the number of backlinks against each URL
- At last, add the number of shares per URL
There are 3 operations you will need to perform.
Pages to Delete:
You should consider deleting a page if you see that it has:
- No backlinks
- Very little or no search traffic
- Never been shared
- Doesn’t add any value to site or user
There are a few things you need to take care of first. Otherwise, it may affect the performance of your entire site. So, when you decide to delete a page, do the following first:
- Look for any internal links pointing to it. Broken links harm the value of your entire site.
- 301 redirect its URL to a page that is most relevant to it.
Pages to Edit
You should consider optimizing the page instead of deleting if you see a page that has been shared and contains countable backlinks but has:
- Thin content
- Duplicate content
- Irrelevant Content
- Keywords stuffed content
- Low-quality content in any sense
You have to decide what lacks in that page and update it accordingly.
You should check your competitors and compare your content with them. They will rank better if their content is better. Here is a checklist to ensure that content has a good quality.
- The article is not too short
- Title is descriptive
- Content answers every possible question of the visitor
- The page is search engine optimized
- Has properly used multimedia
- All links are suitable and working
- Information is not outdated
Pages to Redirect
It is suggested to merge and 301 redirect pages that have a similar topic or content.
For example, following two pages ‘Protein Rich Foods for Vegans’ and ’10 Protein Rich Foods for Vegans’ are almost the same topics.
Make sure you take the least successful page and merge it with one of the most successful pages of your site.
You will again have to look for internal links pointing to the deleted page and 301 redirect them.
You might also like our article on How to Double Your Sales through SEO in 2019.
2. Remove Toxic Links
Search engines give links a noteworthy significance as a ranking factor.
In 2012, it launched a new update called Penguin. Its main focus was to identify bad links (manipulative & spam) and down-rank their websites.
We do watch the sites that we link to, but we also need to watch the websites that link to us.
Not every backlink is a good backlink.
It can harm the position of your site if you don’t get rid of the toxic links.
A toxic link is a backlink from any site that Google doesn’t like. That site may have been penalized or contain spam.
If such a site links to your site, this gives the impression that your site might be similar to theirs.
We don’t want that, especially when there Google algorithm updates coming every day.
This is why we use a simple function of ‘Disavow Links.’ Disavow indicates we don’t want anything to do with that link or its website.
Here is how you can disavow toxic links.
Create a List of All Backlinks
We have discussed creating a list of backlinks in one of the above headings. You can utilize the same list for this process.
Create a new list of these links where you can mention which links to get removed.
Identify Harmful Links
You have to visit each website that is linking to you and identify which backlinks have no worth for you. Some links might be:
- simply useless,
- some may have spam,
- and some could become harmful in the future.
You need to disavow that link even if there is the slightest probability of it getting penalized by Google.
There are also a few tools like SEMrush Backlink Audit Tool you can use to identify toxic links.
Disavowing the Link
We can’t just decide which sites link to us and we can’t directly remove the backlinks referring to us. There is, however, a proper process to dispose of them.
Simply go to the Google Webmaster’s Disavowing Tool and submit the URL you need to disavow.
You can also contact the owner of the site and ask him to remove that particular link. If you don’t get his reply soon, then disavow the link.
If you don’t have a strong command on SEO, then follow our Free SEO Training Guide for Beginners.
3. User-Generated Spam
Malicious users can generate spam in public areas of your website which can harm your website. A little amount of user-generated spam may not scare you, but it keeps increasing with time.
You have to monitor these areas of your website and make sure there is not even slightest hint of any spam.
Google has also warned us in webmaster’s guidelines that too much user-generated spam can affect its assessment.
Thankfully, they have also created an article on Ways to Prevent Comment Spam which is a great help.
4. Say No to Piracy
Don’t copy your content and don’t let others copy your content too – It’s simple as that.
It’s no secret copied content won’t let you rank and even get penalized by Google. Here’s what you should do:
- First of all, don’t copy content from other websites and publish it on your site.
- Second, help Google identify the sites that are copying your content.
- Third, don’t use the same content on more than one pages of your site.
Google has been fighting a war against pirated and copied content. It hasn’t been very successful other than identifying the copied text content.
It could cause Google a confusion if too many sites are using the same content even if it’s your original work. You should report it to Google if you see any site using your content.
Visit this link to report content to Google that you believe shouldn’t be on the internet.
Removing Boilerplate Content
Boilerplate Content is any piece of content that you have used in more than one pages of your site.
For example, you may have repeatedly used one paragraph in multiple articles. That paragraph could be an ‘introduction’ of similar topics.
As it was also discussed above, you need to remove or update all similar content on your site to avoid a penalty from Google algorithm updates.
5. User Experience Matters
Remember, we discussed that your focus should be ‘user’ instead of ‘Google.’
A user doesn’t care how many backlinks you have got. His only concern is with your content and how your site treats him.
He won’t wait for your site to get better if he doesn’t feel comfortable.
There are two things relating to the user experience that you must have under control to avoid any problems with Google updates.
Minimize Bounce Rate
Google counts your bounce rate, but is it a bad thing?
Let’s ask Google!
It was answered in Google’s Help Analytics that High Bounce Rate is a bad thing if the site depends on users viewing more than one page.
On the other hand, not so bad if you have a single-page site like a blog. Source
If a user is leaving your site too early, it indicates bad user experience.
You need a good user experience!
It may not affect you much today, but what do we know about Google’s next update?
You need to create the best of content and ensure the site is user-friendly. High-quality and persuasive content will decrease the bounce rate – which also brings me to my next point.
Maximize Repeat Visits
You visit a webpage looking for an answer. Title claims they have the answer.
For some reason, you don’t find your answer on that site.
Would you visit it again?
Unless you are alright wasting your time, you probably won’t visit that site again.
Can you expect your audience to visit again if your site doesn’t add value to their life?
“Google will conclude that your site is not useful or irrelevant if a visitor comes to your site and then never returns.” – Neil Patel
This further evaluates my argument that user experience is important.
You should pay attention to visitor statistics and how they react to your website. Look for the problems and solve them before Google figures it out.
6. Make Your Site Mobile-Friendly
According to Statista, about 52.2% of web traffic comes from mobile devices.
That’s more than half of your traffic, and it’s increasing every year. So you need to focus more on how your site looks on mobile devices.
Source Statista.com
How would you react if you click a link and find text either too large or too small to read?
I know that I won’t wait for a second to hit that ‘back’ button.
And do you know what happens next?
High bounce rate and low repeat visits!
You can analyze your website on Google’s Mobile-Friendliness Test and improve it.
7. Fast Load Time
Slow websites are among the firsts that get penalized by Google. It was announced in 2010 that Google uses site speed in web search ranking.
You have to make sure, no matter how many times you update your site, it doesn’t take too long to load.
Google has a tool named PageSpeed Insights to help you increase your website’s speed.
It will show the speed score for both devices – the mobile and desktop.
Your goal should be to score a full 100 in this test. It will also show you all the insights you need to decrease your site’s load time.
Aggressive Advertising:
An excessive amount of ads is another factor that not only increases your site’s loading time but also gets you penalized by Google’s Top Heavy update.
There is no problem in placing ads on a website. The problems arise when you aggressively try to monetize them.
Your ads should not be too distracting and only in a reasonable quantity. Wrong use of ads creates a bad user-experience and, as we have been discussing, Google doesn’t tolerate it.
You might also like our article Over 20 Ways to Earn Money Online in 2019.
Conclusion:
Google updates will keep coming every day, and we can’t possibly know what they are planning next. But, we do know what their aim is – “Provide the best of User-Experience.” You need to focus on how you can create an environment that visitors will love.
Google loves your site as long as visitors keep loving it.
The SEO hacks will ensure your site performance is at its best. It will build a foundation of your site that is too strong for Google updates to down-rank.
