Has your Website been affected by Google Algorithm Updates - 21 August & 4 September ’13?

‘What is the constant need to update the algorithm?’ you ask. Like any other company, Google needs to rake in profits. It does so by using Adwords; its paid keywords that enable you to improve your rankings. When it sticks to a particular algorithm for too long, people understand how to get better ranking without using the Adwords, prompting Google to change it. Also, it does so to enable people to get hold of the most relevant results. So, if your content is original, engaging, relevant and popular, and you website holds value for its users, you don’t have to worry too much.

On August 21 and September 4, 2013, a surge was noticed in the changes to the traffic to various websites. Many websites reported a drop of as much as 80% in their traffic. Is your site also affected? If your ratings have suddenly plummeted around these dates, then yes. Here’s a list of things that could have affected the ratings and ways to control the damage.

• Repeated content penalization – For sites that carry classified ads, shopping portals and similar websites, the content tends to be more or less the same with minor changes in the keywords. This may raise a red flag and cause your ratings to tumble owing to content duplicity.

• Stale Content Penalization – Many a times it has been seen that a website that has seen good ratings over a period of time fails to maintain the ranking owing to lack of freshness of content. Updated content has the advantage of being preferred by Google with newer content getting more importance even within the same website.

• Trusted Names & Brands – Generally established brands and names get more traffic and keep people coming back for content, products and services and thus, continue to rank well.

• New Sites wait to make a mark – New sites are not getting as much importance as the established sites as they need to prove their mettle in a competitive scenario. Meanwhile, keep adding fresh content that is of value to the visitors to ensure better rankings in time.

• Changed Keyword Preference – Many website administrators have noticed that keywords that were working well earlier have tanked but others that were not figuring in the top charts are doing much better. Try to tweak your keywords and see if that makes a difference.

• Page Quality Emphasized – Google has stressed the importance of high quality content from trusted sources time and again. If your page is well created and backed with interesting, original and regularly updated content, you shouldn’t have to worry about updates.