Google Algorithm Cheat Sheet – How To Not Get a Setback?
Google Algorithm Cheat Sheet –Building an Always Working SEO Strategy
Google, the most popular search engine, has become the unofficial synonym of searching for information online. It updates its algorithms regularly to provide better search results and many of the changes come ata large scale.Be it small or big, every modification affects the way pages are displayed on SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages). For an SEO expert, it is essential to stay updated with the changes and keep modifying strategies to avoid losing ranks.
Here is a quick cheat sheet for online marketers to tackle the algorithm updates:
Crop and Prune
By pruning and cropping, you can target to attract more traffic to a particular piece of content. The process needs you to update your existing mediocre content to make it amazing while deleting irrelevant or unwanted ones. This trick would work well with older blogs, for which, you can update the published blogs to suit current needs. However, for a new blog, it is suggested to publish up-to-date quality content.
Before starting with enhancing experience for users, you should gather some details in a sheet for the process of pruning and cropping. Follow these steps:
Make a list of the URLs : Crawl your website with a tool like Screaming Frog to get a full list of URLs, titles, descriptions, in-links, and words for each page.
Add Value of Traffic for Every Page : Use Google Analytics to note down traffic that each of the URLs is getting.
Add the Number of Backlinks : Tools like Ahrefs can be used to list the number of backlinks for each.
Social Shares : Next, note down the total number of social shares for each URL. This can be done using a tool such as Shared Count.
Now, you need to select an action for each of the URLs on the sheet:
Optimize the Popular Ones:For pages that are performing good, optimize them with better on-page info, updated content, more internal links, and other improvements.
Redirect the Less Popular Ones:If you find a couple of similar blogs/pages, you can redirect the less performing ones to the better ones. For this, you will need to optimize the better one with up-to-date information that serves the audience of both. This could be done through a 301 URL redirection.
Delete the Bad Ones:There would be some pages that haven’t been able to generate any traffic while others not performing well. However, internal links that are made to these URLs should be updated alongside redirecting these links to a new, better target.
Do Nothing for the Best Ones:And, every website has a cornerstone content that is at its best. You shouldn’t make any changes to these.
Expand Your Outreach to Global Level
The world has become a small village place with internet services connecting every hook and corner. And, with most of the websites/blogs written in the English language, they miss out on opportunities in areas where English isn’t the first language such as France, Germany, Brazil, etc. While search volume may not be as high in these countries but the low competition value might help you rank fast. The best part of going global in SEO is that it creates a better experience for users allowing them to read your content in their native language.
Fix Broken Links
Imagine if you are reading a post and click on a link to explore more only to find that the link is broken. It would be an upset moment for you, right? So why would you allow your users to get irritated with a broken link on your site?Though this doesn’t need to be a regular activity, you can keep checks at regular intervals to see if any link is broken. You can also use the Broken link check tool to make it easier. More information can be obtained by consulting a SEO expert in India.
Fix Errors
Google search console sends you an email for any error found related to crawling, indexing, or any other area. If you receive any such email, make sure to fix things at the earliest. And, once you fix it, Google sends you another email acknowledging the update. It's very important to fix your search console errors because it will reduce your search traffic fluctuations. You might not be able to stop variation, but this step will help reduce it.
Selective Linking
Think like an individual and not a business/website owner about how you would establish the reputation of a brand. A significant, common factor is that a brand is linked to other popular and authentic ones in one way or the other. Applying the same approach in SEO can help gain an upper hold irrespective of how Google’s algorithms change. Establish connections with strong, relevant, and authentic domains with high authority for long-term gain.
Count on Returning Visitors
An irated or dissatisfied customer might turn others away as well, especially if that’s a regular/repeat user.Since Google is working to balance user experience along with technical SEO metrics to rank a site, losing a returning visitor might be a bigger, long-term loss. Thus, it is essential to keep a watch on user behavior and make the necessary changes to avoid losing the returning audience.
Focus on Branding
The way Google is changing, the future of SEO is likely to be based on the power of brands. The websites that have transformed into big brands will likely dominate Google even if they don’t have the most backlinks. People trust brands and Google is also following the same path.
Let’s understand this with an example. If you want to buy running shoes, what are the first brands that come to your mind? Is it Nike or any other popular one? What brand would you choose for a credit card, maybe Visa or Mastercard? Many times buyers go to the brands with which they are familiar and not always use Google search. Developing a brand doesn’t only help with Google traffic but it also helps expand your traffic sources and create google-independent sales channels.
Final Verdict
Google has been changing its algorithm for long and the frequency has only increased in recent years. Whatever these changes bring, one thing seems to be constant and that is valuing a website’s authenticity and user satisfaction as a vital ranking factor. Thus, you should keep your content fresh, avoid errors, link carefully, and turn yourself into a brand to avoid taking a toll.
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