If there is one thing that gives headaches to SEO pros, it is an Algorithm update from Google! And once affected, it takes some serious efforts to recover from an algorithm update.
Imagine you worked hard on your SEO and your keywords were ranking on Google’s first page and suddenly Google released an algorithm update and your rankings are all gone! And you are left wondering how can you recover from Google’s algorithm update!
This is a really bad situation. Google continuously updates and releases new changes to its core ranking algorithm.
It happens almost every month. The major algorithm updates, however, are released a few times a year.
So, as a beginner in SEO, how do you tackle such algorithm updates and more importantly, what do you need to do once you are affected by them. Let’s discuss that.
1. Be Immune To Updates!
Yes! That’s what you need to do in the first place.
You have to make your website immune to any such SEO algorithm update. Understand that the goal of such updates is to improve the quality of search results only, it is not to penalize websites for random reasons.
Now given this information, how do you make sure that your website doesn’t get affected by such updates? It is very simple. All you have to do is to follow Google’s search quality guidelines.
Whatever we have discussed until now in these guides is based on what Google recommends to SEO professionals. So, they are Google’s guidelines.
If we follow such guidelines then our website might actually end up getting rewarded by algorithm updates if our website is a high-quality website.
This way, we can make Google work in favor of us rather than working against us. In the end, we will share with you Google’s full guide of search quality guidelines.
2. Wait For Algorithm To Fully Roll Out and Settle
Google’s algorithm updates are not a one-day process. Sometimes, they even take months to roll out the algorithm completely.
So, if you are affected and you hasten to make changes with your website, you should probably wait until Google confirms the end of the rollout. Don’t make changes in haste.
What happens is that sometimes your website begins to recover after the completion of the update and you don’t need to do anything.
Here is our tip: wait at least a month and see if your website recovers on its own and if it doesn’t then you need to move to the next step.
3. Watch Out Who Got Rewarded By The Update
After waiting, if you find your website is badly affected then you need to do some SERP analysis and check which websites got rewarded in terms of keyword rankings.
Check those websites and look closely at their content, headings, titles, meta description and every other element that directly impacts SEO.
This way, you can figure out the areas where you can improve your website and get back on top rankings.
4. Watch Out Which Websites Were Negatively Affected
This research is equally important. Do some analysis and check which websites were first ranking and now their rankings dropped after the update.
This analysis can also be helpful for you as you will get an idea as to what things you should not do. Or you may find something which is common between you and them and you can avoid that.
5. Read What Others Are Sharing About The Update
In the SEO world, you have to be on top of everything. You have to keep yourself updated about what’s going on in the industry as it is ever dynamic. Usually, after an update, SEO pros write their own thoughts about what it is that the update was about and how they improved or recovered.
They share a lot of new insights that might be helpful to you as well.
Keep yourself updated through such forums/blogs/websites/social media handles of expert SEO pros etc. Those are all just a google search away. Just search “Google algorithm update” and you will see lots of content written on that.
6. Keep Moving
Getting affected by algorithm updates is a disheartening thing but you have to know that this is routine stuff in SEO and it keeps happening.
All you have to do is to keep moving as long as you are far above where you started. The ups and downs keep happening but make sure you are at least well above from the point where you started off.
And being well above from the point where you started is a common thing in SEO too! SEO keeps getting you benefits though there might be a temporary drop. In the long run, you will always be getting benefits.
Next, we will talk about common technical SEO errors and how you can solve them. Let’s move on!
Search Engine Code Team is comprised of SEO experts and strategists having more than 20 years of combined experience. We keep testing and delivering knowledge of SEO for the community of SEO.
Leave a Reply