Leading search engine Google rolled out major updates in the past two weeks, all of which may directly be effecting (or improving) your search result standings. Google is known for deterring unfair webmasters from boosting their search engine results with unfair tactics which result in a bad experience for any user. These updates are targeting all the webmasters who have high ranked websites but are hosting poor content under that domain. What follows are the three updates that have recently been rolled out, and how they may be affecting your rankings on search engines. Amortech is constantly following the updates released by Google and all other search engines, so we can provide the industry best SEO for all our clients.
The Exact Match Domain (EMD) Update
This algorithm is of most importance to the every-day web user who is concerned with quality over spam. The purpose of this update is simple and important; it evens the playing field for anyone in the market going up against competitors with exact matched domain names. Prior to this update, websites with certain keywords in their domain would have an obvious advantage through the Google index, and in turn have higher results on the SERP (Search Engine Results Page). The idea behind buying a domain with so many exact keywords in it is simple, you would buy the domain, then in some cases, put AdSense and other revenue earning ads on the page, while having little to no related content on the page that matches the domain name. Googles EMD update is meant to eliminate those sites from being on the front page, while allowing sites with content directly correlated to the search terms get returned highest.
For companies who own domains with no keywords in it, but are very clear in the content they provide through their site, the result of this update will increase their SERP standings. For example, a website with the domain name online-computer-training-schools.com would rank very high when the terms “online” “computer” “training” and “schools” are searched through Google, while a site like treehouse.com would rank lower (even though treehouse.com is an online computer training school.
Not to worry if you are a domain name owner of an EMD but actually host credible and related content. The website movies.com is still a top result when searching “movies”, as is cars.com when searching for “cars”. This update is meant to deter people from owning domain names with little to no related content hosted, and rely on top results through Google to get their page views.
The Panda Update
The timing of the Panda update was tactical by Google. The update was released the day before the EMD update was released, thus causing many webmasters to suffer from not knowing if their decline in SERP rankings were a result from Panda or from EMD. Google never rushes any of their updates, and has reasons behind every move made. It is wise to believe Google had the intensions of confusing those webmasters who are profiting unfairly from SERP rankings, simply because it is harder to manipulate the algorithm if you are unsure what change is causing the result. The Panda update is the twentieth update on the algorithm made by Google, and it is a big one. The search algorithm impacted roughly 2.4% of all English-language search queries and is still applying its modifications to the index of all pages.
Panda is directed at dealing with on-page issues such as keyword density (such as overloading keywords into the backend of pages just to boost rankings), as well as base its results more strictly on the overall quality of content on your page.
The Penguin Update
In contrast to the Panda update dealing with content and keywords, Penguin is strictly interested on the links posted on your page. It is a well-known black hat tactic for boosting SEO that you can post links and it will improve both your site (for having links directing to outside sites) as well as having your site linked by numerous outside pages.
The Penguin update is hard hitting on sites with low quality inbound links, and the ranking of your site will diminish due to having too many of those on your page. Google will run this Penguin filter periodically, as to catch any website with sketchy backlink profiles. Since the release of this update in late April, Google has released 3 revisions to the algorithm.
What this means to you
Since we have three major revisions to the way Google handles search results, it will be unclear as to which update directly affected your search results. If you have an EMD but mediocre to poor quality content on the page, then the EMD update was the probable cause to your demise. If you don’t have an EMD but have some backlinks included on your page to point to shady websites, then the Penguin update was probably your downfall. If you have neither an EMD nor do you have shady backlinks posted on your page, then the Panda update is to blame!
Search engine optimization is an ongoing job, and obtaining a top ranking on any search engine takes constant work and immaculate focus on details within the site. Amortech is a leader in SEO and has provided many of our clients with top page rankings on Google and other search engines. These updates affect sites that are run by webmasters who use shady tactics to improve their standings. Amortech prides ourselves on using 100% white hat tactics that follow all of Googles rules for improving your own results. If you are interested in applying an SEO package to your existing site, or you want to develop a new site with outstanding rankings on Google, contact us and we will get you started on your way to page 1.
By Isaac Amor
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