This is my last week abroad but lots has happened while I’m out of the country. Just wanted to use the blog this week to touch base on some new and somewhat important news items from the week that could be important to you and your rankings.
Google Quality Update:
Many noticed ranking changes earlier this month and Google denied an algorithm update. Well surprise, there actually was one. They have now confirmed that they made changes to how they value quality. There are no more specifics than that. They may have juggled around and changed up the percentage for which they value certain factors or they may have found a way to measure something that they couldn’t measure before.
Search Engine Land has dubbed it the “Quality Update”, so I will too, as the industry will most likely follow their lead with naming as they have in the past. The most important thing to keep in mind is that Google is getting better and better at figuring out poor quality and spammy practices, so as long as you, like I do, walk the white hat path and do things on the up and up, most of these updates will likely help you move up in the rankings. If you did see drops earlier this month. Take a close look at what may be causing it from a quality standpoint. Look at your page content (original, real), the structure of the site (island pages, etc.), of course the mobile friendliness and speed, and also your link profile.
Google Rebranding Webmaster Tools:
Google has decided to rebrand webmaster tools and will now be calling it “Google Search Console”. It is basically the same thing with a new name. They are always adding new features and I highly recommend setting up your account with whatever they choose to call it. It helps your relationship with Google, so if you rely on SEO, you can get some important information here. This has always been the case though. The big difference is Google wants more people to use it and they felt that the old name scared people away, thinking it was only for webmasters. They want anyone that has a site to start using it and following the rules. If you haven’t connected your site here yet, do so as soon as you can.
Twitter Feed Goes Live in Google:
As we reported a while back, Google has a new relationship with Twitter and we were waiting to see how that would play out in the search results. We are now seeing some of that. Tweets and images are beginning to show up in trending topics on Google now. I doubt this is the end and the industry hasn’t nailed down exactly when and why tweets will show up, but it is there. It is said that Twitter does not get paid for these, but simply will benefit from more traffic. We will keep our eyes open for more progress here.
If you need help staying on top of all of this news for your own site, give us a call. We can help you manage your search presence.
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