| You
have probably noticed that Google is
currently updating its ranking algorithm.
This seems to be a major update because
many webmasters have seen big changes
in their rankings.
The PageRank of www.MSN.com dropped
to PR2 in this latest update so
there really seem to be some big
changes in the new algorithm.
Google engineer Matt Cutts more
or less declines that this is a
big update in his blog:
"These days rather than
having a large monolithic update,
Google tends to have smaller
(and more frequent) individual
launches. [...]
My point is that more than
ever, we are constantly working
to improve our algorithms and
scoring. Some changes are hardly
noticed at all. Some changes
(e.g. user interface improvements)
are more visible. Some changes
have nothing to do with spam
[...] Some changes do try to
decrease spam or increase core
quality. [...]
And again, these PageRanks
and backlinks have already
been incorporated into scoring
a while back (Google updates
PageRank continually and continuously),
but some people just love to
look at PageRanks.)"
What has changed with this
update?
Only Google's engineers know exactly
what has been changed with this
update. However, it seems that
some factors seem to be important
in this update:
- Hidden text spam seems to be
more penalized. While most search
engines consider white text on
white background spamming, it
seems that Google now also recognizes
text that is hidden in invisible
CSS layers.
- Links from automated link exchanges
and text link advertising systems
seem to count less.
As with every algorithm update,
Google tries to remove the spam
from its database with this update.
What should you do now?
First of all, don't panic. If
your web site rankings have dropped,
wait another week to make sure
that the index update is over.
If your web site is still not listed,
take a look at what you might have
done wrong.
If you use CSS to hide text on
your web pages, consider removing
that hidden text from your pages.
Google doesn't seem to like that
at all. If you use other techniques
that might be considered spam,
remove them from your pages.
If you have a links page, do not
use a link exchange system with
a central server but host
your link pages on your own web
site. Being part of a centralized
system makes your web site vulnerable
if the centralized system is considered
spam.
After having removed the spam
elements from your pages, do the
following:
- Optimize
Use IBP's Top
10 Optimizer to optimize your web pages for the new Google algorithm.
The optimizer uses the current ranking algorithm to find out which
web page elements Google wants to see on a web page for your keyword
and your web site.
- Diversify
We've said it before in
this newsletter: don't put
all eggs in one basket. Although
it is very likely that you'll
get high rankings on Google
if you follow the tips above,
you shouldn't focus on Google
alone.
Yahoo and MSN can also bring
you qualified traffic. These
search engines might not
be as popular as Google but
they are large enough to
bring you so many customers
that you could even do without
Google. The key to a successful
online business is to get
qualified traffic from all
big search engines.
If you have web pages that
are optimized
for Google and Yahoo and
MSN and Ask Jeeves then
you won't get hurt so much
when one of these search
engines drops your rankings.
If your web site rankings on Google
have dropped, don't panic and follow
the tips above. Chances are good
that you'll get your high rankings
back.
If you worry about the dropped
PageRank of your web site, you
shouldn't care too much about it.
If a major web site like www.MSN.com
gets a PageRank of 2, the green
bar shouldn't get too much attention.
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