Some parts of the year, Google stays relatively quiet. The usual, daily changes to the search algorithm come and go with little fanfare and subtle changes over time. For SEOs and their strategy for clients, that is a good thing, meaning the process can be monitored and implemented steadily.
October has certainly not been one of those quiet times. After a surprisingly significant Helpful Content update released in late September and finishing with more impact than industry expectations in early October, Google announced a Core Algorithm Update in early October set to roll out over a period of a few weeks, which has proved volatile only a few days into the rollout. This is mainly unusual because of the timing and the observed scope of the helpful content update that came just prior to the broader update.
What Happened?
Helpful Content updates exist to continually improve the search result experience through re-evaluating websites to ensure they properly present information, services and products to searchers in a straightforward way. These usually involve some small updates to the ranking system to influence various ranking factors and help sites that are set up well for added user-friendliness of search engine crawling bots being smarter than ever.
Broad Core Algorithm updates exist to not just re-evaluate the marketplace, but ensure that best practice for search results are being followed. Rather than just focusing on user-friendliness of content, Broad Core updates often reflect a more holistic review of websites and presenting them to searchers. Overall function, usability, content navigation and more factors are strongly considered and evaluated in these algorithm updates.
What To Do If Impacted
If your site was impacted by the Helpful Content update, it’s important to ensure your site is actually built with people in mind. Your goal is to get people interested in your business and eventually convert with an appointment, purchase, or lead. Having a site that is ‘over-optimized’ for the sole purpose of crawling bots is the opposite of the right plan. Your site needs to simplify content, increase the visibility of your core content and streamline navigation to a human level.
As for the Broad Core Algorithm update, we will not know the true scope of the impact for many businesses for weeks. The worse part about this is that even sites set up to thrive in the continually hybrid environment of appeasing bots while remaining user friendly can see traffic and ranking downturns. That’s exactly why a digital marketing firm like DigitalParc is nimble and ready to move quickly for our clients entrusting us with their organic rankings and website lead generation. As we begin to notice changes, we can quickly pivot and research why the site could have been impacted and take action.
Strong SEO Strategy From Day 1
DigitalParc doesn’t engage in so-called “black-hat” SEO strategy or methods that go against best-practices. We are always understanding the latest guidance Google has to offer and adding that context to each SEO campaign we engage in. Largely, when these core updates come around, our clients notice little sudden change, with a few exceptions in isolated cases. Most often, the sudden changes are balanced out in the subsequent weeks and months after an update completes. Detailed, ongoing management of these campaigns to follow up-to-date best practices in the SEO industry is important.
By setting your website up for success with robust SEO strategy now, you reduce the chance of being negatively shaken by a core algorithm update or helpful content update, or worse — both events in a span of three weeks.
If your website is looking to keep up and eventually dominate your competition, reach out to DigitalParc for not only SEO needs, but our full-service suite or digital marketing expertise.
