Affected by Google Updates?

Since Google updates were launched, news of its effects have been widely discussed. The mayhem in the name of Penguin has wreaked havoc on the rankings of many websites. Suffice to say that not a lot of people are happy with it. However, as with all updates, there are losers and there are winners.

Before you start panicking, it is important to remember that Google is a tough search engine which has survived many changes and will continue to do so. In order for the company to remain as relevant as they are today, they are releasing new updates to ensure that search results are free from spam and low quality content. In the past 10 years, various updates have been released by Google.

Going into the details of each update will warrant more than 5 pages of writing so we will focus on the important things. There are some websites out there which want to make money without putting in effort. They want to take the shortest route possible and they are misguided into thinking that doing this would produce lasting results but it does not.

Some of the things which are prohibited by Google are the following:

• Redirects or cloaking
• Hidden links
• Buying links
• Hidden doorway pages
• Different page for users and engines

If you are engaged or plan to engage in any of the things mentioned above, you are risking yourself, as well as your business. Instead of thinking of shortcuts, you must spend time brainstorming about what you can do to improve user experience; get the attention of audience and giving value to your customers.

You should focus on how you can make current customers stay with you by giving value to them and getting the attention of prospects which you can convert. You should not be thinking of ways to make a quick buck. Focus on the long term. Use white hat SEO and do not engage in tactics which are frowned upon.

What to do?

So you have been affected by the recent updates? Quit whining and do something about it. Get together and plan your next course of action.

Assess the damage by checking analytics. Check the web analytics report. This will show you the extent of the damage and will give you an idea regarding what to do. A simple 30-day report can tell you many things.

Manually check rankings of keywords. As SEO, this is something which should not be missed. Manually check at least top five of your keywords.

Use link tools to your profile. Run periodic reports on your inbound links and see your link profile.

Check Google Webmaster. There are tools which you can use to your advantage and one of them is Google Webmaster. This will show you if your account has been affected or not.

Long-term planning

Aside from thinking of immediate courses of action to take, you should also plan for the long-term. Rethink your entire plan and train personnel regarding the many ways of delivering useful, entertaining and fresh content to users so that they keep coming back to you.