It’s been a very busy period for Google, and by extension, for everyone in the Search Engine Optimization industry.
Google recently rolled out a series of updates, the most significant of which was the Core Update.
The search engine rolls out these core updates about three times a year, when it makes significant changes to its search algorithm and system in a bid to provide better results to its users.
Apart from the core update, there was also the Google Helpful Content Update and the Product Review Update, all of which were announced within the space of a month.
According to Google, the Helpful Content Update was aimed at rewarding user-first content, while the Product Review Update, the latest in a long series, included more guidelines for websites that review and analyse products.
However, the most significant of all of these updates was the core update.
Perhaps more than any core update in recent memory, this one had the biggest impact in the SEO Community, with many website managers and content creators noting how they experienced sharp changes in their Google rankings and organic traffic.
The common theme of most analyses was that many sites got hit negatively by the update, but some others did experience positive movements.
For some sites, they had it both ways. Their rankings dropped for some keywords, and had a boost for other keywords.
SEO expert, ‘Leye Ayodele opined that while it is hard to figure out exactly how Google has changed its search result algorithm, the recent update has clearly challenged the SEO community to pay greater attention to the quality of their products.
“At the end of the day, Google wants to provide the best answer to its users”, Ayodele said. “The onus is on every content creator to rise up to the challenge and provide the best answer to the intention behind the search query”.
Ayodele, who manages My Betting Sites Ghana, revealed that his betting affiliate site also experienced some fluctuations during and after the Google update.
He noted that while the home page had a small drop, other pages, like the Betika Ghana Review on the site, had a boost.
“We will obviously keep working hard to ensure that we deliver the best results to Ghanaian players”, Ayodele promised.
It is possible that the effects of this core update have been greater because it happened simultaneously with other relatively smaller updates (Helpful Content Update and the Product Review Update).
The Helpful Content Update has a classifier which is continuously patrolling the internet, sifting out helpful content from unhelpful content.
Google has said it will demote unnatural, unhelpful content that were written primarily for SEO purposes, and promote those that put the users’ needs first.
The search engine has also consistently released guidelines on product reviews, encouraging reviewers to be as descriptive and unbiased as possible. Google tasks product reviewers to show their expertise, authority and trustworthiness on their pages.
It is easy for online content creators to panic after the latest core update and start trying out funny things, but it’s important to keep a calm head, and not lose sight of the most basic objective- to provide the best answers possible to a query.
Just as a site may have been hit by this update, it could well rise again when the next updates are released.
