The latest Google algorithm update gives rise to online commotion especially to the SEO community. Top-ranking SEO sites and popular blogs aired their opinions and the readers also joined the discussion. It is interesting to note down the pointers from the experts and some sensible comments from site visitors.
While some people think it is the end of SEO, others rebuttal is that every change gets this kind of reaction. Does it mean that the worst is yet to come? The discussion has been boiling to its limit and a lot of questions have posted elsewhere. Relevant inquiries such as link building issues, content scraping and online competition really require further analysis and explanation.
With different thought-provoking remarks, isn’t it more practical to start noting down your next course of action rather than worrying? Rather than overanalyzing the current trend, keep doing the best SEO practices to keep the competitive edge.
Producing fresh quality content gives you an advantage but it will not end there. If you don’t know how to proceed, here are some suggestions for a quick jumpstart:
- List down the top 20% of your keywords based on visitor value.
- Search on those terms using online tools such as Google Global Plugin.
- Screen capture the first page of your search result.
- Check the screenshot and see how your SERP is affected.
- Keep repeating the process until you figure out if there has been an increase or decrease with your keyword rankings. This would be pretty easy with the help of rank checker and webmaster tools.
If you are part of SEO companies who are providing services to clients, you must act now. Being proactive can help you maintain a good business position and customer relation. Though this update has been up as the top news, there might be people who are not yet aware about the most recent changes. You might send newsletter to your clients to provide the updated information. If you have created a post about this on your site, summarized the article and send it to email along with the link to your post.
This approach has mutual benefits. As you take good care of your clients, you are also promoting your products or services. While your output might be put on question with Google “freshness” update, you can include a proposal to your emails. You have to closely monitor each SEO project if you are handling one. The above-mentioned steps also apply to individual marketers. So whether you are running a personal SEO campaign or doing it for business, it is important to start acting now.
Your author, Ryan Cote has been active in SEO for over 10 years and currently is a Project Manager at Ballantine Digital specializing on social media solutions.
You can learn more about Google’s post-Panda search guidelines here.
I think that the Google Fresh is just another layer in their new search engine model. Freshness after Caffeine has its problems, but Panda has helped to reduce spam and increase quality and relevancy. Google Fresh is something that they have been wanting to do since Caffeine but had to sort out the Panda stuff before it was safe. At least, that is my take on it.