An explanation of Google Updates

With a website, in most cases you are also trying to be found on search engines like Google. A website that performs well in organic search results can assume that there is always a stable source of traffic to your website. But how stable is this? You have to deal with Updates from Google. Competition and many more wild card factors that you may not have taken into account. In this article, we'll explain how to take this into account, and how to be compliant.

Google just like any other software company depends on updates, a search algorithm like Google is constantly changing and having to deal with improvements in how search results are shown to their customers. Therefore, Search Engine Optimization is not a stationary thing. And as a webmaster you will always need to keep up to date with the latest updates to the search algorithm. And what search engines like Google require from your website.

The major annual updates from Google

Google has a major update to the search algorithm almost every year, these major updates are known to shake things up quite a bit. Often these big updates in the style of Google also have a name attached to them. Like the Google Penguin update, the BERT update and Medic update. These updates are known to shake up all or specific industries of the Internet. Where the biggest massacres have been in the past are the websites in the YMYL niches. Or Your Money or Your Life. Anything to do with Finance and health had been put under the magnifying glass and websites that did not meet the standards Google had set for this plummeted down the search results.

Especially medically speaking, references are now required in order to rank in search results, an anonymous website that gave medical advice with no basis or explanation behind it would be prevented from being shown to the people searching for it. As soon as your website did not meet these requirements it was shown lower within the search results, or even removed from the search results altogether. In this way they try to protect the information displayed to users searching for medical terms and solutions from false or incorrect information.

However, updates have also been released to counter and stop specific "black hat" techniques. These have included websites that have used a link boosting package on Private blog networks to counteract them in order to gain an advantage over their competitors. Simply thousands of links collected on other websites to boost the final target website.

In Google's BERT update, there was also an emphasis on countering websites that were run completely anonymously. Websites in various niches that require expertise to talk about can therefore benefit from an extensive about us page. This shows that the necessary expertise is there. Combine this with social media signals to determine popularity. And it is made more difficult for a website to run anonymously and rank successfully within Google.

Smaller updates that are often unannounced

In addition to the major updates that are announced, Google publishes smaller updates throughout the year to fix smaller improvements or bug fixes. These are often not announced through official channels, but are noticed by webmasters. And sometimes acknowledged by Google employees. For this reason, it is useful to keep yourself informed by following recognized internet marketers on, for example, twitter. And also some (senior) employees of Google. In this way you can stay informed about what is happening in the world of Internet Marketing and the various search engines.

What are ranking factors?

Ranking factors is a term you've undoubtedly come across when taking a small step into the world of Internet Marketing and Search Engine Optimization. This is because a website and in fact every page and blog post is not black or white, good or bad in the eyes of an algorithm. There are a myriad of different factors that determine whether a page or post can rank within Google, and if so at what place they should be in the search results.

Ranking factors include, but are not limited to:

• Is the website secure? SSL certificate, uses the latest techniques.
• Does the page or website have a clear layout?
• Is the website or page suitable for mobile devices
  
• User experience
  
• Google My Company listing
  
• Social media signals and activity
  
• HTML tags, correct subdivision of pages and posts.
  
• Domain factors, good reputation and history.
  
• External factors such as Backlinks and reviews on other websites.
  
• Content, is the content readable and without spelling mistakes
  

This list is of course the definitive list with every ranking factor used. Google and search engines in general will also never give you the complete list that is taken into account. After all, if everyone does it perfectly it is no longer relevant.

However, you can see from the list and other signals that more and more account is taken of relevance of content and how visitors interact with it. Do you see all your visitors quickly cutting off after a few seconds on a website? Google will keep track of this as well. All these kinds of factors give signals to Google how high your website should rank in the search results.

Have the basic foundation in order

So with any website, you need to consider a large list of best practices and rules. It can seem like an impossible task list to comply with all of them. However, with the right foundation for your website, there are already a lot of things you don't need to take into account. One of those foundation pillars is the Content Management System you use for your website. A Content Management System takes a lot of technical issues out of your hands when making the right foundation for your website hosting.

Therefore, the choice of what you are going to use to create your website is paramount in the first steps. Take a look at different types, install a few within your web hosting on a subdomain for example. And read up on our knowledge base and other people who have something to say about this. This way you can make an informed choice about the foundation of your website.

It is also useful or advisable to have the content of your website in order. Do not give false information and do your best for every piece of content that goes out the door. Publishing a rushed piece of text will have little to no chance of success. Therefore, it might be an idea to also do some homework on what works and what doesn't work. Also look at your own existing website, and check where your traffic is coming from and to which pages. Take a course in creative writing for the web, or double check your spelling before you press publish.

Paying attention to the rules

So there are a lot of ground rules you need to follow when creating and maintaining a website. And remember that this is not a static process. You will always have to be aware of what works and what doesn't work. Otherwise, after a period of success, your website may go the way of the Dodo.

Also, try not to take shortcuts with setting up a website. Don't take services that are too good to be true, such as a link package that is guaranteed to get you to the top. And don't let just anyone optimize your website. It is and remains a process that needs to be monitored. And it is not advisable to simply throw money at services or companies that promise to have you on the first page after a month. Google and its algorithm are getting smarter, and in the end honesty always lasts the longest.