After Google’s major update, many webmasters find that their traffic plummet significantly. It is clear that they no longer have their old ranking. The most important thing to consider is what we can do about it. It is also important to know what Google will implement next. Google need to continuously update its algorithm, because changes in how people use the Internet and market their web. Every time we search, Google strives to provide us with the most relevant, interesting and informative web pages based on our search term. Due to its ability to consistently provide highly relevant results, Google has become the most popular search engine.
Google wants to keep out competitors, such as Bing and Yahoo, by constantly improving and adjusting its algorithm. Any judgment in ordering websites based on specific keywords is performed automatically using software. For highly competitive keywords, webmasters continuously try to modify their websites to improve the rankings in the search results. They may even try to exploit loopholes and shortcuts. In this case, Google will look for ways to stop bad webmasters to get advantages unfairly. It’s what happened during previous major Google update. With such update, new changes are implemented in the algorithm to stop tricks implemented by dishonest webmasters.
As an example, some websites could have disproportionally high number of inbound links in a short period of time. This could happen when webmasters create links artificially. Genuine links must be created by people with no relation with the website. They find that the website is very helpful and want to share it.
Because external references, represented by inbound links are still the most important factors in determining search ranks, it is important that we have only genuine links. High proportions of dubious links could result in severe penalizations when Google updates its algorithm again. Even if we have tried to fix things, by removing bad links and attracting good ones, we will never know whether we will get our original rank back. It is better to have slower progress initially, because we use legal ways to gain higher ranks. Bad links include link trades and this is also considered as an artificial method of gaining links.
Unfortunately, many website owners are actually victims of SEO consultants who use illegal ways to gain quick results. Their website could rely heavily on poor search engine optimization techniques. Link farms and low quality directories are also common causes of severe penalizations, so we should consider whether we get links from these sources. If we want to survive Google’s next update, we should think like Google. We should currently popular techniques that may violate Google’s way of assigning ranks. In this case, it is possible that Google will penalize websites that use these techniques in the next update. Even if it isn’t, eventually these techniques will be addressed and perpetrators will be punished with much lower ranks. It’s clear that there’s a thin layer between legal optimization and spamming. We need to know where the boundary is.
