Google Algorithm Changes
Algorithms, don’t you just love them?
On one side, they are handy and they are everywhere. They play a role in the stock market, they can decide on whether or not you get a loan and they can even search the internet when commanded. Essentially, an algorithm is a mindless way of doing brilliant things. It follows a set of steps that, if followed correctly can lead to a desired outcome.
On the other side, they can be frustrating.
A big fan of algorithms is Google. Google implements algorithm changes without ever giving clear advice or information about the changes being made. It’s latest change has websites reporting a 30-40 percent drop in traffic.
Google announced it’s BERT update recently and also called the update its biggest change in five years. BERT, which stands for Bi-drectional Encoder Representations from Transformers will be used on 10 percent of U.S. English searches and is used to better understand search queries.
If your business depends on traffic, there are a few things that you need to know:
- SEO still matters – The end goal is relevant content when it comes to searching and that what Google cares about. What matters. Google focuses on site speed, so that should be your main focus. How quickly does your site load?
- Relevance matters – BERT aims to understand natural language versus specific keywords. Now, sites that overuse keywords could pay a price for it. Your goal should be to create the most relevant content for your audience. Unnatural keywords like “cars Florida” are no longer relevant in searches.
- While Google is important, it’s not everything– Google is the world’s largest search engine, it handles nearly six billion queries every day. Reaching traffic through Google is an expansive way to create more business, but it’s not the only search engine out there. Try finding more search engines that can pick up your content.
- Try doing nothing, at first – When hit with a Google Algorithm change, the first thing to do is nothing. This is become changes can make a person feel upset or even angry. Logical thinking isn’t always a path one can take when upset. So take time to calm down and reflect. This can be an emotional time, especially if you’ve lost some important data. Waiting also allows updates to spread.
- Take time to improve – Meanwhile, find out what you can improve on. What can be updated on you website or you blog, this change can provide you with essential time needed to give it a once over to find out what might be missing. Check your bio or about me page, check your visitor map, etc. With the algorithm change, you’ll want to make sure these are all still working.
Algorithms changing can put a damper on your day, but as long as you have some other options open, you’ll be just fine. Search engines like Google, are about keeping up with the latest and greatest approaches of doing things. Therefore, staying as up-to-date as possible will help your business flow better too.
Contact the team at COSMarketing Agency to help beat the algorithms with you! We work with small to mid sized business to help them achieve success.
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