Google Algorithm Updates: September 2016
Many clients have been asking us what has been going on with the Google ranking over the last few weeks, with most client websites bouncing around all over the place. Our’s included! Online chatter indicates it’s been caused by the latest major Google algorithm updates.
While Google have not made an announcement, which in some ways is good, there has been a worldwide event that has meant rankings for previously stable sites have been up and down on a query by query basis
The general feeling in the professional SEO community is that Google is preparing it’s new algorithm update which at the moment remains unnamed. The previous Panda update was the one that started to take into account the ‘viewability’ and performance of a site on the mobile platforms – this being a major metrix used now – eg is your site ‘responsive’
It could also be just a ‘flush’ of the Google systems where they basically clear everything and let everything find it’s positions again – this has happened in the past in similar circumstances
Whatever the reason, this is affecting everyone across the board and we have to remember that Google have to provide the very best search results and must constantly update and innovate to ensure the results we all get for our searches are relevant.
Previous events like this have lasted about a week so we are all hopeful that things will stabilize again soon and go back to normal, or at least a place where we now know what the benchmark is. It is hard to aim at a moving target, but at the same time we have seen some good positive rankings for other keyword and phrases this week
We do know that in the future Google will take into account the quality of a backlink, not just whether it is a trusted source but also if it is a negative one. In the past ‘bad’ backlinks with a low trust rating have really been just discounted, but in the future these will go against your overall ranking so watch out those people who have tried to ‘buy’ backlinks – this is going to come back and bite you!
We have always said that a strong organic growth is the way to go – build up the root system first, let the rest grow strong so that it bounces back from a event like this – rather than toppling over! The worst thing any business engaged in SEO of any kind can do is panic. We trust that any changes Google make will be for the better and provide even greater opportunities to use white hat SEO strategies that help businesses grow their online profile.