Search Exchange: How to Handle Google Algorithm Updates
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This document summarizes a presentation on algorithm updates from Google, specifically the Penguin algorithm. It discusses how sites can be impacted by losing 16,000 visits per day due to algorithm changes, costing $4 million annually. It provides tips on avoiding Penguin penalties such as not using automatically generated content or cloaking. The presentation also examines how Google uses large data sets to identify spam tactics and discusses tools like disavowing links to manage link profiles in response to algorithm updates.
Search Exchange: How to Handle Google Algorithm Updates
- 1. 2013 ALGO HANDLING Brian McDowell – Director of Search Intelligence
- 3. THE CONDUCTOR TEAM WHO WE ARE • Founded in 2006 • Located in New York, San Francisco and Charlotte SEO LEADERSHIP • 150+ pieces of SEO thought leadership in 2012 • C3, the largest user conference in enterprise SEO • Dedicated to raising the profile of search marketers SEO LEADERSHIP • Supporting SEO success for over 2000 leading brands • $4.5B in SEO revenue under management • 18TB of SEO data collected weekly 3
- 4. AGENDA SLIDE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN AN ALGO HITS HARD? WHAT SHOULD YOU BE FOCUSING ON HOW DOES GOOGLE BUILD USE CASES WHAT IS THE PENGUIN ALGORITHM HOST CROWDING IMPACT
- 6. 16,000 VISITS LOST PER DAY 2.75% CONVERSION RATE $25.00 REVENUE PER CONVERSION $11,000.00 DAILY CONTRIBUTION LOSS $4,015,000.00 ANNUAL CONTRIBUTION LOSS -15% SITEWIDE CONTRIBUTION LOSS
- 7. 16,000 VISITS LOST PER DAY 2.75% CONVERSION RATE $25.00 REVENUE PER CONVERSION $11,000.00 DAILY CONTRIBUTION LOSS $4,015,000.00 ANNUAL CONTRIBUTION LOSS -15% SITEWIDE CONTRIBUTION LOSS
- 8. 8 8 Latest Updates to Note •Panda •Penguin •Exact Match Domain •Above the Fold
- 9. PENGUIN ATTACK ON WEBSPAM Avoid the following techniques: • Automatically generated content • Participating in link schemes • Cloaking • Sneaky redirects • Hidden text or links • Doorway pages • Scraped content • Participating in affiliate programs without adding sufficient value • Loading pages with irrelevant keywords • Creating pages with malicious behavior, such as phishing or installing viruses, trojans, or other badware • Abusing rich snippets markup • Sending automated queries to Google 9 https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/35769?hl=en
- 10. GOOGLE SNIFFERS
- 11. Large data sets are needed to build automated processes.
- 12. EVERYONE WANTS TO BE #1 • There are multiple spam reports available to help Google identify tactics / networks. • Paid Links • Objectionable Content • Malware • Copyright Issues • Personal / Private Information • Phishing • Rich Snippets • Abusing Google Products 12 https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/spamreport?hl=en
- 13. Google Reconsideration Requests provide a wealth of data.
- 14. GOOGLE DISAVOW TOOL • Provides a proactive approach to cleaning up a bad link profile • Is a portal for Google to build a smarter engine for link spam offenders • Last resort when unable to remove a link manually • Matt Cutts describes the history and reasoning behind managing links using the Disavow Links Tool (see link below) 14 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=393nmCYFRtA
- 15. PENALTY <> FILTER • Penalty the result of manual action taken against your domain/page • A penalty most often is associated with a warning or description in Google Webmastertools • Penalties often carry with them an expiration date • Reinclusion requests have a chance of getting you back in good graces • Usually correlated with a drastic drop in rankings or indexed pages 15 • Filters are determined by a mathematical weighting operation • Filters are constantly being adjusted • Thresholds can be tripped somewhat arbitrarily with little notice • Filters can tend to have a higher success rate of recovery then penalties • Major algorithm changes impact filters on a larger scale and often require deeper strategic changes
- 16. “The problem in defense is how far you can go without destroying from within what you are trying to defend from without” ~Dwight D. Eisenhower Look at your backlink profile now. Ask yourself if the link or linking page is… •Relevant •Indexed •Overly Advertorial •Cloaking or Redirecting •A Niche Authority •Sitewide •Sidebar or Footer •In content blog post, press release, directory, forum signature •Does the linking page have an established backlink profile? 16 NOW IS THE TIME FOR DEFENSE
- 17. CHECK YOUR LINK DISTRIBUTIONS • Penguin 1.0 focused on the homepage or root domain • Penguin 2.0 can focus on individual pages • Check on a sitewide basis and also at the page level • Make sure deep pages are also getting some link equity • Diversify your link portfolio as much as possible • Build advocacy instead of links 17 http://visual.ly/google-penguin-20-algorithm-update-may-2013-infographic http://moz.com/ugc/google-penguin-antispam-algorithm-testing-and-analyzing
- 18. 18 HOST CROWDING http://www.conductor.com/blog/2013/06/how-penguin-2-0-levels-the-playing-field-data/ The host crowding update completely changes the way we manage content syndication. Preferred URL tracking is a necessity! This release also opened the doors for affiliates and partner sites to compete for branded terms. No longer can we accuse Google of being biased towards big brands.
- 19. CONTACT US 19 BRIAN MCDOWELL Director of Search Intelligence @Conductor facebook.com/Conductor info@conductor.com www.conductor.com @Brian_McDowell linkedin.com/in/mcdowell
Editor's Notes
- #10: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/35769?hl=en Understanding Webspam will help build sustainable strategies for long term digital assets
- #11: How does Google automate webspam identification
- #13: Google asks for examples Being the top competitor opens you up for scrutiny
- #14: Matt Cutts – “In fact, of the messages that we sent out to site owners, only around 3% were for unnatural or artificial links. So just to be clear, of the 700,000 messages we sent out in January and February, well above 600,000 were for obvious blackhat spam, and under 25,000 of the messages were for unnatural links. #smx #seo” In regards to 700,000 messages sent out in Webmastertools between Jan/Feb 2012 https://plus.google.com/+MattCutts/posts/5H5TqPWtdi6
- #15: Google asks for examples In the text of an unnatural links warning in Google Webmastertools – they often give you a couple examples of the “types” of links you should take down Most people do NOT need to use this tool.
- #16: Penalties usually are associated with a Webmastertools message Penalties often come with a set duration Filters are usually associated with algorithm changes Filters can be influenced by strategy adjustments
- #18: Google asks for examples Being the top competitor opens you up for scrutiny