StartupTalky

Tag: Google Algorithm

  • How to Improve Google Ranking Without Getting Penalized?

    Whenever we search for a keyword in Google’s search results, it is always the first three results that we click to get the information. In this digital era, having your page appear at the top is paramount for any online business.

    One of the most important facts about having your webpage rank at the top of the search results is that it receives the most visibility and exposure to users searching for relevant keywords. Most people tend to click on the top search results, and being in that prime position increases your chances of attracting organic traffic to your website. It also goes without saying, achieving a top position on Google’s search results page gives you a competitive advantage over other websites in your industry. It allows you to stand out from the competition, attract more attention, and capture a larger share of the search traffic.

    But here comes the question, how do you improve your Google ranking without getting penalized? To clear this doubt, this article summarises the key points to enhance your Google ranking.

    Understanding the Importance of Google Ranking
    Stay Up-To-Date on Google Algorithm

    Conduct Keyword Research and Optimization
    Create High-Quality and Relevant Content
    On-Page Optimization
    Create or Earn High-Quality Links
    Have a Solid Social Media Presence
    Strengthen User Experience and Site Usability

    Understanding the Importance of Google Ranking

    Google’s algorithms consider numerous factors when ranking web pages, if you do not follow these factors, there is a chance for you to get penalized. Therefore, it’s essential to focus on providing valuable, user-friendly content to improve your chances of ranking at the top.

    Ranking at the top of the search results typically leads to higher click-through rates. Users often perceive the top results as more credible and trustworthy, making them more likely to click on those links. A higher CTR means more visitors to your website, potentially leading to increased conversions, sales, or engagement.

    Take a look at the following measures to improve your webpage ranking on Google:

    Stay Up-To-Date on Google Algorithm

    According to Moz, Google updates its algorithm 500 to 600 times a year. To make sure you are on track, always check out for updates on Google algorithm. You can use the following methods to stay informed about algorithm changes:

    Official Google Announcements

    Google occasionally announces major algorithm updates through its official channels, such as the Google Webmaster Central Blog. Tracking these announcements might provide you with information on important updates and adjustments.

    Google Search Console

    You can regularly keep an eye on your website’s performance and search statistics on Google Search Console. It can offer details about Google’s probable difficulties, indexation status, and search visibility. Algorithmic changes can be detected by changes in the functionality or visibility of your website.

    Google Search Central Blog

    Search engine optimization, algorithm improvements, and best practices are covered in depth in the Google Search Central Blog. For the most recent information and analysis from Google, you can follow this blog.

    SEO News Websites and Forums

    Engaging in reputable SEO forums like WebmasterWorld and Search Engine Journal can help you stay informed about algorithm changes through discussions and shared experiences.

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    Conduct Keyword Research and Optimization

    The next step is to have keyword research. Keyword research can help you find the right words and phrases users are typing into search engines to find your goods or services. If you use these keywords wisely in your titles, headers, meta descriptions, and body text to optimize your content, there is a higher probability that your webpage won’t be penalized. However, be careful of keyword stuffing or using too many keywords because that might result in penalties.

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    Create High-Quality and Relevant Content

    “Content is King”, may sound old, but, it is still relevant even today. Concentrate on creating insightful, unique, and interesting material that speaks to your target market. Additionally, make sure your web content is useful, impactful, well-structured, and answers all of the consumers’ questions.

    On-Page Optimization

    Without on-page optimization, your webpage can never get its credibility. On-page optimization plays a crucial role in improving your website’s visibility and Google ranking. It involves optimizing various elements on your web pages to make them more search engine-friendly and attracts potential customers. By optimizing elements such as meta tags, headings, URL structure, and keyword usage, you can increase the chances of search engines ranking your pages higher in relevant search results.

    You can also organize your content with proper headings (H1, H2, etc.) and subheadings, using bullet points or numbered lists, and incorporating relevant images or multimedia elements. This structured approach makes your content easier to read and digest for users and search engines.

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    The next step is to get links from trustworthy and pertinent websites to develop a solid backlink profile. You need to focus on acquiring natural and organic links through techniques like guest blogging, influencer outreach, and creating shareable content. Additionally, you may employ links like editorial links, internal links, or scale link building. But stay away from link schemes and link purchases since they might get you in trouble or penalized.

    Have a Solid Social Media Presence

    That’s right, you need to maintain a strong presence on most social media platforms. You might ask what it has to do with Google page ranking. By 2027, it is anticipated that there will be approximately six billion social media users worldwide. This is why, you need to be active when it comes to social media. Through the help of social media platforms, you can amplify your content, engage with your audience, and build brand visibility. However, social media marketing doesn’t have a direct impact on ranking, it can indirectly influence your search visibility through increased traffic and brand mentions. For instance, creating a Google Business profile can increase web traffic and give you the desired results. Of course, there are other social media platforms you can use like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, which are highly widespread and used by billions.

    Strengthen User Experience and Site Usability

    By user experience, we mean to say that users should have a positive experience when they visit your website. How is that possible? By making sure, the website is easy to navigate and contains an appealing design. No user will like a website if it is slow and takes a longer time to load. Therefore, prioritize the speed and load time of your website, as it can trigger frustration among users. Maintaining good speed and performance can impact your website’s bounce rate, which is necessary for Google ranking. Besides this, optimize your site for various devices and screen sizes for mobile-friendliness.

    Conclusion

    By implementing the above-mentioned factors, it is possible for your website to not get penalized. But it is also critical to remember, that improving your ranking is a long-term process that requires consistent effort, quality content, and adherence to ethical SEO practices. So, take time to fully understand what exactly your business and target audiences’ needs and research accordingly without having to burn your pockets for penalties.

    FAQs

    What are the methods to stay informed about Google algorithm changes?

    Following are the methods to stay informed about algorithm changes:

    • Official Google Announcements
    • Google Search Console
    • Google Search Central Blog
    • SEO news websites and forums

    How does keyword research help in improving Google ranking?

    Keyword research can help you find the right words and phrases users are typing into search engines to find your goods or services.

    Natural and organic links can be acquired through techniques like guest blogging, influencer outreach, and creating shareable content.

  • Google Penalty: How Does It Hit? | How to Fix Google Penalty?

    Google tends to update its search algorithms almost every day. Approximately, these changes happen 500-600 times a year. These changes may or may not bring a significant impact.

    In case of significant changes, it can make people update the way of writing for SEO. The main aim of such changes is to help the people to get as appropriate a response to their questioning as possible.

    Be it bloggers, marketers, corporations, everyone understands the value and importance of appearing on the first page of google. To appear on the first page is not very easy as there are so many websites that are present over the internet.

    In order to be on top, different strategies need to be applied. These include adding keywords, quality content, adding links, and more. But sometimes, people tend to use unfair methods to be on top.

    Google has its own guidelines that should not get hampered. So, if any sites disrupt its basic guidelines, then Google’s algorithms might issue penalties for that.

    Yet, it is not impossible to fix a penalty. With some actions and patience, you can deal with it.

    What Is Google Penalty?
    How Does a Google Penalty Hit?
    Google Penalties and Their Fix

    What Is Google Penalty?

    In simple terms, it means punishment imposed by Google on the site whose content happens to be at odds with its marketing standards.

    Google has its ranking algorithm that keeps on updating. So, when it suggests that a site has used Black Hat SEO, it automatically issues a penalty. Black Hat SEO is using invisible text, private network links, and more. This means making a site rank higher with unfair means.

    Thus, it is an action taken by Google against any website that violates its guidelines or standards.

    About Google Penalty

    How Does a Google Penalty Hit?

    Google Penalties can hit your site in two ways:

    Google Penalties Can Be Hit Manually

    It is a penalty imposed by an analyst that is an employee of Google. It is applied when the analyst finds that a site is not in accordance with the guidelines of Google.

    To know if you have been hit by it, go to the Google search console. You probably have got a notification regarding the penalty that led to the decline of your site’s traffic and rank.

    Google Penalties Can Hit Algorithmically

    It is a penalty that happens because of an update in the algorithms of Google. It happens due to the impression of Black Hat SEO on a website or its page.

    To know if you have been hit by it, you will need to compare the time when you lost your organic traffic with the date and time when a new update of the algorithm happened. You can check the update history of Google algorithms for this.

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    Google Penalties and Their Fix

    Sometimes to rank a site higher in a quick way, people resort to deceitful means. They put unnecessary private links, keywords, and invisible texts. But while doing so they often forget that they might be smart but Google is indeed smarter.

    Google has its own standards and guidelines and it doesn’t tolerate when a site defies it. So, as a punishment, it issues penalties.

    Here are some of the basic penalties that might happen to you along with their fixation:

    Creating quality links is an important part of search engine optimization. It helps to increase the page rank of your site. There are certain people that use artificial links in their link profile. Google does not support the use of such links and thus, imposes a penalty for link schemes.

    Fix

    If you got hit by a manual penalty on your site, you can get a list of problematic links through the Search console (It is a web service by Google that allows you to measure search rate, traffic of your site, fix errors, and more). You can also use tools like Moz Pro, Monitor Baclinks, etc. to gain a complete list.

    After getting the list, you need to analyze every single backlink. Then, remove all the problematic links that you find from your site. You might not be able to remove every link on your own. So, you will need to contact the owner of those links through emails to get them removed.

    Next up you will need to use Google’s disavow tool to inform Google about the artificial links. Then use submit a file to Google Search Console along with the links you want to disavow.

    WIDGET: leadform | CAMPAIGN: Link Building

    Thin and Duplicate Content

    It means having too little or irrelevant content on the page. Such pages are seen as the ones of low quality. Duplicating simply means copied content. It means copying the entire content from a site and putting it on your own without changes or bringing more worth.

    Fix

    When the penalty hits your site, for this reason, the simplest and best thing you should do is to discard the pages affected. However, if such pages are valuable to you, and you cannot delete them then you need to include better content in them to make them valuable. You can use SEMrush to identify duplicate content.

    Once you address the thin content after that you need to use the reconsideration request tool present in Google Search Console to request reconsideration from Google.

    Remember to amend all the content before requesting reconsideration.

    Keyword Stuffing or Hidden Text

    It is a technique of search engine optimization considered as webspam. So, it is basically a part of Black Hat SEO. It means the process of loading a webpage with unnecessary keywords to exploit the site’s ranking in search results. Hidden text is adding unnecessary white or number 0 font to fill up the content.

    Fix

    In case of this penalty, you need to remove all the spam keywords or hidden texts on your site. After removing them, submit an indexing request. You can use the fetch and render tool of Search Console for this. This will help you to make Google revisit your website after the changes are the revision.

    Masking or Redirects

    It means showing different web pages to the users and Google. In redirects, one web page is shown to Google but when a person opens the page, it redirects to another page. This is against the guidelines of Google. This penalty can affect a few pages of a site or even the entire website.

    Fix

    Examine your site and find the links that redirect. It occurs when URLs are replaced by redirect links. After correcting this, you need to file a reconsideration request so that the Google webmasters can review your site and lift the penalty.

    In all these cases of filing a reconsideration request, always remember to include everything that you did to rectify your mistake. Keep track of every activity you performed on your way. It should include how you solved the mistakes and you will ensure that such mistakes would not happen again.

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    Algorithm Penalty

    When it comes to algorithm penalties, the reconsideration requests cannot help. Since these penalties happen on their own because of the updates, it does not involve analysts of Google to lift them up.

    Fix

    Visibility index chart of the SISTRIX toolbox with activated event pins can be used. It will help you to find out if your domain has been hit by a filter. This will give you the hint that you might have been hit by an algorithm penalty.

    In this case, the best thing you can do is rectify all the issues that you find might be hampering your traffic or ranking. Changes should be made in a way that the filters no more find any breach of the guidelines of Google. After that, you can wait for Google as it reindexes and recrawls your site.

    This penalty thus, cannot be removed manually but it can only be removed by an algorithm.

    Conclusion

    If you use bad SEO practices on purpose or even unintentionally, it can lead you to get hit by a penalty. Google’s penalty can create a great deal of damage to any site. It can lead to a sudden decline in organic traffic and ranking. In cases of companies’ sites, it can also lead to a decline in their revenue.

    It is always better to avoid using any unfair practices to increase the ranking and respect the guidelines set by Google. Also, you can keep a regular check on your site’s activities and solve any problems when you find them. After all, prevention is better than a cure.

    FAQs

    What are the factors when Google Penalties are issued?

    Google penalties are issued for:

    • Link Scheming
    • Thin and Duplicate Content
    • Keyword Stuffing or Hidden Text
    • Masking or Redirects
    • Algorithm Penalty

    What is Google penalty for keyword stuffing?

    Google penalizes your website if they find keyword stuffing. The webpage could be demoted in rankings, or even removed altogether.

    What are the tools to check duplicate content on your webpage?

    Some tools to check duplicate content are:

    • Semrush
    • Quetext
    • Copyscape
    • Plagspotter
    • Duplichecker
    • Siteliner