Why Being in Google’s Top 10 Results Doesn’t Mean You’re Safe
TL;DR – A recent Google update affected just the first page of search results. Here’s what it means for you.
Sometimes, like in the case of Mobilegeddon, Google lets everyone know a big algorithm change is coming. Sometimes, we have to find out through our own research and data analysis.
It’s through the second method that led website SEO pro Dillip Kumar Mohanty to conclude Google released a big update on May 3… without telling anyone.
It’s Google’s search engine. They can update it whenever they want. But for small business owners who don’t follow way too many SEO blogs (like me), a lot of these important updates are going to be overlooked.
This update is especially scary because it only affects the first page of Google search results. That means all of the work and effort improving your search ranking might have been smashed… if you didn’t do it the right way.
What Google Ranking Factors Changed?
It appears this last update was intended to improve the user experience for searchers. This hurt the following types of pages:
- Pages with “content gates” that make you enter an email address or wait to view content
- Pages with mixed content (as opposed to those delivering content with a single focus.
- Pages that are hacked, spammy, or bad for users in some way.
Basically, this update improves the experience of users all around and helps searchers find exactly what they’re looking for.
Great news if your site delivers excellent content. Not so great if you (or your SEO agency) used shortcuts and cheap content to build your ranking.
I’ll explain more about this in the upcoming TL;DR digital marketing report, where I’ll show you exactly how to know if you have bad links or cheap content.
Stay tuned.
