Google Makes Updates to Algorithms – Did your rankings drop?
Every time Google releases a core update, it’s no surprise that businesses tend to suffer in some way or another. With this latest round of algorithm updates, it seems that the biggest complaint from businesses is the drop in their search rankings. There is a silver lining to be thought of here however.
Think of this an opportunity to improve what you are doing (in certain cases) and improve your results. There aren’t any specific recommendations to make but think about this for a second…
“Do you make your website easy enough for seach engines to scan through it and see what it’s about?” “What makes your website stand out from the others as it compares to the products and services you offer?”
If you are alike many other businesses who have been affected by the recent updates, there are a few things you can do, but first and foremost, don’t panic!
Firstly, Do you have Google Search Console?
If you haven’t set that up yet, I strongly urge you to do so – like right now.
Google search console will let you know if you have any type of penalties attached to your website so you can make those corrections asap.
It’s pretty unlikely that you would have any penalties but if you do, this is the way to find them and fix them.
Do any “new elements” appear in search results for your target terms?
In some cases, Google maybe hasn’t actually “devalued” your website, but they may have introduced some new elements in search results that have affected your rankings.
Things that may now show in search results for your top keyphrases include “Featured Snippets,” “Video Carousels” and “people also ask” sections.
So there may actually be some logical explainations for your traffic loss, expecially if only a few of the pages on your website make up a good percentage of your search traffic.
Another question to ask yourself is “Did you recently make any major changes on your website?”
Though it’s not exactly common, it is possible that making minor or even major changes to your website around the same time as Google was making their algorithm updates, has made your website become “uncrawlable.” Obviously that weren’t your intentions, just make sure you haven’t made any big changes to your navigation or internal links.
One more question – and please don’t be offended by this – “Are you legit – the best result for the user who’s searching?”
There are a lot of people who fully admit that they may not be the best result for the user, but they do expect to be in the top 5, at least, for their target search terms.
Although it’s not our job to decide who ranks where on search engines; if you can honestly say your business is the best result for a specific search query, and you aren’t showing up, it’s safe to assume that your top pages aren’t ranking where you want them to be.
Food for thought – just in case you were wondering why your rankings and traffic have gone down. Google states that they are constantly making updates – like, on a regular basis. If they need any webmasters to take action, they will give advanced notice.
In the end, there is always a better way, an organic way, to boost your rankings without having to pay for search terms and we would love to help you out.
Contact us today at 402.403.0000.
