How to Match Google Algorithm Updates with a Resilient SEO Strategy.
The big question always is how do I maintain consistency in my website rankings with all the algorithm updates?
Projecting website rankings is very difficult, there are so many variables and ranking factors to consider. So you need to match algorithm updates with a resilient SEO strategy.
What's needed…
Satisfy User Intent.
Relate to your visitors.
Applying Google E.A.T. in all your content.
Using Google Search as your guide.
Align your promotional strategy with your site.
Diversify in your backlinking strategy
Keep your ear to the ground on newest algorithm updates.
#1. Satisfy User Intent.
Seen as a vitality important element in any SEO strategy and in terms of keyword research a benchmark to use in getting the right traffic to your landing pages. User intent is only one of many ranking factors Google uses to assess the resilience of an SEO strategy.
Although keyword strings and search terms are the first trigger in driving organic traffic to your website's landing pages, it’s only the beginning of the user journey. You need to put your user at the centre of your objectives - satisfying them when they arrive at your landing pages is crucial for the next stage of the buyer journey to be successful!
So remember the golden rule in landing page content - search terms and landing page content must be aligned to satisfy user search intent!
#2. Relate to your visitors.
Writing content that relates to your visitors is the hat-trick for any conversion, users are already stimulated wit interest that they've found an answer to their query. Now your content needs to reinforce that feeling they've come to the right spot and you have only seconds to do it!.
Quickly identify their needs by relating to their situation, then provide a solution via the introduction of your product or service...easy?? - If this looks daunting please reach out and make contact.
Also Read: Amazing, SEO, Organic Search Product Page Hacks!
Relate to what your visitors really want to read so they can make a decision - quickly. Ask yourself how you can offer something that exceeds their expectations and satisfies their needs?
You can measure the resilience of your SEO strategy with useful Google metrics like returning user %, web page session duration and web page bounce rates %. These all have benchmarks that will provide guidance on whether you are writing content that relates to your visitors needs …or not!
#3. Apply Google E.A.T. to all your content.
Google’s primary objective in terms of search is to provide the most relevant search results for its users, but also what's just as important to them is that the search results they provide are from qualitative sources. In order for Google to qualify any content as the most relevant source of information to display in search results, they had to devise an algorithm that would extract content under certain criteria, to satisfy user search intent. Google E.A.T. is that algorithm.
What is Google E.A.T. ? Broken into three main criteria for analysing content.
Expertise is the first word originating from the acronym. Google will consider the author or narrator of the content and evaluate their expertise in the area. No formal training may be required to be deemed an expert by Google, everyday life experiences can be considered enough once the author can back up their opinion on their website.
Authoritativeness is generally being recognised as a thought leader in your area or industry. You are considered to be a valuable source of information and that your own sources of research and fact are well backed up and presented clearly on your website.
Trustworthiness the last letter in the acronym is based on the previous two conditions. That your website content and facts about your brand can be trusted, you have the expertise to provide and source only the most accurate information to help your users make the most informed decisions.
Google E.A.T. first appeared as one of their Search Quality Rating Guidelines back in 2019.
Although Google has never disclosed how this algorithm actually works, the origins of the strategy in producing authoritative content dates back to Google's efforts of recognising expert content publishers in 2014.
Since 2018 a number of Core Algo. updates deployed from Google have added to a number of theories that Google E.A.T. is actually the amalgamation of a number of other ranking factors - that when combined provide the user with the best readability experience.
So we can never assume that one single algorithm will track the quality of content updates to your website, more so that Google Webmasters will check to make sure that the algorithms are doing what they are supposed to be doing.
Google E.A.T. has a special impact on those websites in the medical and healthcare industry where YMYL (Your Money Or Your Life) content is a means to project expertise and trustworthiness. So content produced needs to have a very high standard in order to meet Google E.A.T. criteria and prevail in search results.
To summarise, the best way of matching these types of Google algorithms is;
Know your industry or area of expertise, be factual and knowledgeable.
Developing yourself as a thought leader in your area of expertise, doesn’t mean you need to have qualifications, life experiences are just as important.
Back those facts up with reliable industry case studies, reports and information from reliable well-known sources.
#4. Using Google Search as your guide.
One most do tactic in attempting to match your SEO strategy to Google algorithm updates is reviewing and mapping how your competitors appear in search results.
Use Google Search as your guide and mapping out the long term keyword search terms of the top 10 competitor websites with particular focus on the top 3. This will give you a good understanding of the keyword distribution across their metadata - page title, meta description and URL structure.
The approach here is simple, the 1-2-3 SERP’s will give you an idea of what Google wants to see on a web page for certain search queries. As these competitor sites are now ranking 1-2-3 in SERP's the process should be to emulate what they rank for….right?
Wrong and apologies if this all sounded too confusing...
When using Google Search as a guide it just gives you an idea of what pages are ranking for those keyword strings, but it’s more than that, it's to do with the quality and search relevance of the page content within those top ranking pages.
Again just to refer back to Google E.A.T. for content quality and authoritativeness as a main guideline to help you when developing content that is useful and answers the questions people ask.
#5. Align your promotional strategy with your site.
When launching a website, be diverse in your approach, Don’t just focus on one way of promotion, use as many ways as possible, consider using offline PR to drive awareness from a different captive audience.
John Mueller Stated…
“We use a ton of different factors when it comes to crawling, indexing and ranking.
So it’s really hard to say like, if I did this how would my site rank compared to when I do this. …those kinds of comparisons are kind of futile in general.
In practice though, when you’re building a website and you want to get it out there and you want to have people kind of go to the website and recognize what wonderful work that you’ve put in there, then promoting that appropriately definitely makes sense.
And that’s something you don’t have to do… by dropping links in different places.”
John Mueller - Google Search Webmaster Analyst
Whatever the channel the more you are seen, the more people will remember your brand and website URL. Map out the channels that you can afford to utilise in your promotional strategy, then establish the metrics that will allow you to measure them within a customer journey map.
You might be asking at this stage - why is this important to match with Google algorithm updates for resilience in your SEO?
Remember a strong SEO strategy is one that has a consistent flow of organic traffic no matter how algorithm updates impact your website's ranking. By consistently promoting your website through marketing channels not impacted by Google updates - such as Youtube, TV, Radio and offline PR it will allow overcome ranking deficits caused by those that would. So explore offline options or even digital channels that Google favours in search results like video.
#6. Diversify your backlinks.
Sometimes sites can experience bounces in their ranking, this is usually to do with weaknesses in their inbound links. These sites normally have inbound links pointing to them from similar sites with similar content and purpose.
Sites that consistently rank high, normally have a broader spread of inbound links, Don’t be afraid to be more diverse with your backlink strategy. Remember... Google will still assess whether to follow the link to the source or not regardless of a no-follow attribute being assigned.
One thing that's always important is the quality of links pointing to your site, regular backlink audits can provide useful data on the quality of these sites and also provide some insight on how popular your site is becoming.
News articles, guest blogging, product review sites and recognised industry resource publications can all but have positive impacts on your sites search ranking.
#7. Keep aware and up-to-date of Algorithm Updates.
It goes without saying, that adapting a vigilant awareness in algorithm updates is a must to maintain a resilient SEO strategy.
Most updates are deployed to enhance user experience, so with that in mind it’s best to review what impact these algorithm updates will have on your site's current UX and then develop an action plan to resolve any existing issues.
Some useful links to help you follow updates and comms directly from Google and other High Quality Sites.
Google Search Liaison on Twitter - @searchliaison
All things SEO related - Search Engine Journal | Search Engine Land
To sum up - There is no one best way to match Google Algorithm updates but if you follow the above processes you will have a wide spectrum of tactics to help safeguard your websites ranking with a resilient SEO strategy.
If you need any more advice or information on this article or indeed any more advice on search engine marketing please contact me at diarmuid@bricks2clicksmarketing.com or use the GDPR compliant contact form on my website.