To stay ahead of Google’s algorithm updates, you need to understand how the search engine works. Understanding the nuances of how Google crawls and ranks webpages can help you beat the algorithm and stay one step ahead.
In this blog post, I’ll explain my strategies for staying ahead of Google algorithm updates. From researching SEO trends to monitoring changes in the SERPs, I will share my tips and tricks on how to keep your website ranking well in an ever-changing search engine landscape.
What You Need to Know About Google Algorithm Updates
Google is constantly tweaking and improving its algorithm in order to keep providing the best possible search results for its users. As a result, SEOs need to stay on top of these updates in order to maintain and improve their rankings. Here are some things you need to know about Google algorithm updates:
- Google announces most major algorithm updates. However, they sometimes make small changes that go unnoticed.
- Pay attention to your website’s traffic and performance data to see if there are any sudden changes after an algorithm update is announced. This can help you determine if your site was impacted by the update.
- Make sure your website is up-to-date and compliant with Google’s quality guidelines. This will help you avoid being penalized by future updates.
- Keep an eye on your competitors’ websites as well. If they seem to be affected negatively by an update, you may want to adjust your own strategy accordingly.
Google algorithm updates are fast and furious, but with the right strategies, you can stay ahead of the curve. Here are 5 ways to boost your site’s health so you don’t get penalized by Google.
Set up Google Alerts
If you rely on Google to rank your site correctly, you need to be ready for their algorithm updates. With Google Alerts, you’ll receive notifications directly in your inbox whenever algorithm updates are mentioned online and can adjust your strategy if needed mentally.
Google Alerts is a great way to keep track of all the interesting updates that Google makes. It is essentially a set of updates about Google that you can subscribe to, in order to get notified whenever updates are made public online.
You can use this feature to find out what Google does behind closed doors, including algorithm changes that may affect how your site performs on search engines. This can help you tweak your SEO strategy if needed mentally. The service sends emails to the user when it finds new results—such as web pages, newspaper articles, or blogs—that match the user’s search term.
Alerts can be based on a search query or topic, and users can choose how often they want to receive alerts and what type of results they want to see. Search results include web pages, news items, scholarly articles, books, and more. Google Alerts is free of charge.
How often should you set up Google Alerts? As often as there are new topics or key terms that you want to track!
Avoid Blackhat SEO practices
Google has made it clear that it doesn’t want to see any of its users using blackhat techniques in order to gain an advantage on page one of search results. It is pretty smart, and they know when you’re up to no good. They can see when you’re trying to game their algorithm.
Instead, be ethical in your search engine optimization strategy by using Google Search Essentials. It will give you an advantage over competitors who are tracking keywords and looking for keywords that bring you, visitors, making extra money for their own products with affiliate links.
Blackhat SEO isn’t just dangerous, it’s also pretty ineffective.
If these practices are being used as a means to rank quickly, you could soon be on a blacklist and have your business’s reputation harmed. Instead, read over Google Search Essentials, which will teach you the right steps that any company should be taking to help their SEO efforts become successful.
You could just as easily lose your business and even get blacklisted. Instead, read through Google Search Essentials to learn how to use Google in a manner that doesn’t sacrifice your website as a result of unethical search engine optimization practices.
The only way to ensure that your website is doing what it’s supposed to do is to use a search analytics tool. Google Analytics is one of the most powerful tools that you can use online. It works by analyzing all the data generated by your site and uses this information to build up a picture of your site’s traffic, sales, and more metrics so you can identify trends and opportunities for growth.
Optimize the user experience
Running a website is like driving a car. You need to be able to see throughout your journey, you have to maintain your speed and alignment, and you have to plan ahead in order to get where you’re going.
When it comes down to business online, users are incredibly important and they are what will drive your traffic. Every update has one overarching goal: to show users the sites they love that provide the most helpful information and that are most beneficial. Look, a bad user experience can be disastrous for your traffic (and it’s not even hard).
Ensuring you also have a comprehensive internal linking structure, a fast-loading website, and quality content is an absolute must for getting high rankings for organic search results. Y
Using tools like DeepCrawl, BuzzSumo, Found, and more can help you see how your website is performing. You can also use these same tools to create a heat map by using a tool like Crazy Egg and sending your data to another tool called Segment. This will show you where users are clicking on your website and where they don’t.
As the user, you want to be able to provide the most helpful information in the easiest way possible. The best user experience is when you are already in your perfect product niche, with a website that talks about exactly what you do and how it can help people like you. This way, when someone lands on your site, they know exactly what they’re going to get.
Keep your content fresh
It’s always a good idea to stay in the know about everything that Google is working on, but sometimes it’s a little too hard. You never know what Google will change and when. Your content is only as good as your audience finds it. That’s because Google updates its algorithms and changes how user-friendly its search results are so frequently.
That’s why it’s essential that you keep it fresh. Start by prioritizing creating exceptional, user-friendly content and stuff that your audience actually wants to read.
Use tools that determine what updates are affecting your website
If you notice unusual spikes, dips, or reduced volume of traffic as of late, it might be from an algorithm change. Google Search Console and Semrush Sensor can help you identify what is going on and even give you data about actions that companies took.
Google is constantly changing the algorithm to soak up any loopholes. With these five strategies, you should be good to go and ready for whatever Google throws your way.
