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Tag: ranking algorithms

  • 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.

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    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

  • What Is Backlink Profile and Why Is It So Important for SEO in 2022?

    We all have used the Google search engine. Where we just need to post our question and Google will point out all relevant information from its collection. The information received is in the form of multiple links given in a list form. Through which users can select anyone as per the criteria they want.

    But have you ever wondered what can be the thing that divides the information in such a manner and ranks them? Which source has to be placed at the number one position and which information has to be given the next position.

    For easy understanding, we can assume that all the process is based on a few different concepts such as SEO, Keywords, Backlinks, etc. In this article, we will be going through the concept of Backlink and its importance for SEO.

    What is Backlink?
    What is a Backlink Profile?
    Importance of Backlink Profile for SEO

    What is Backlink?

    A backlink is a name given to those links that direct a user from one webpage to another. They can be the links of directing from one website to another also termed as external backlinks. Or they can be the links directing the user from one webpage to another webpage of the same website, also termed as Internal Backlink. The other common terms used for a backlink are an inbound link and an incoming link.

    Backlink has many roles when we talk about a website and its Google ranking. Google was launched in 1998. From then till now there are many changes made in it at every possible angle to provide better service.

    At the time of its initial launch, Google used to provide the results based on links attached with a web page. The original algorithm used for providing web page ranking was named “PageRank”.

    After many years, all basic things have evolved into better options. But the idea of a ranking webpage with the help of a backlink has still stayed at the same place with a minor change.

    Earlier pages were shown based on backlinks only. However now the results are based on multiple factors, with backlink considered as one of the key factors in determining the results. So with this theory, we can assume backlink is still a fundamental part of SEO.

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    Backlink profile in simple words can be said as the collection of all links directed to the particular website. Backlink profile is not just a simple collection of links, it stores all the information and characteristics of links such as types of links, anchor text, domain quality, relevance, link quality, page performance, etc.

    The prime work of backlink profiles is to enable easy and quick help in determining and achieving higher ranking, determining the tactics to increase traffic to the site, and many other similar services.

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    Backlink has a simple concept. But the work it does and the importance it carries for SEO is a lot to consider.

    Each website is created with the purpose of the target to achieve the best Google rank. To fulfil the target, Backlink can be one of the key factors. When multiple websites provide the link of any single webpage, Google finds it trustworthy. Hence the results shown include the webpage in a good ranking position.

    It is not a mystery of using backlinks for increasing the traffic of a site. The main purpose of a backlink is to direct a user from one site to another or from one page to another. So when there are multiple backlinks given, there are more chances of driving traffic to the site.

    New Content Is Searched by the Means of Backlink

    There is an abundance of content posted on Google each day. For the reason of finding new content, Google algorithm “spider” takes the help of backlinks provided by the trusted sites.

    If the backlinks are given by trustworthy platforms, Google gets the idea of content as useful information. The same mechanism is applicable for users also. When a user gets some backlink from their trusted source, the content from the link will also have a similar impression on the user. Hence it creates a good impression and increases the trust between both the user and search engine.

    Creates a Way for Initiating a Relationship Between Different Sites

    Having good relations with authentic sites can provide beneficial support. This can be done by using backlink as a conversation method. It is a good practice to use authentic sites for the promotion of our products and sites by the means of someone else’s way.

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    Conclusion

    Backlinks are an essential part of each website. They are responsible for ranking the site in Google and making an impression on Google. Good and authentic site backlink allows the site to be on a better side and having a backlink from spam creates the same impression as a spamming site.

    It is one of the major things to look at and has many roles attached. Some of the essential information has been shared in the above article related to backlink and backlink profiles.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    A backlink profile is a collection of links that stores all the information such as anchor text, domain quality, relevance, link quality, page performance, etc.

    Calculate the total number of links, Number of unique domains, Anchor text usage and variance, Fresh links, and Page performance.

    Backlinks create a good impression of your website. It also helps your website rank higher on Google.

  • 8 Google Algorithm Updates You Wish You Knew Before

    Nearly every day, Google proposes changes to the ranking algorithm.

    Almost every day, Google changes its ranking algorithm. Some of them leave fewer impacts and others shake up the SERPs. This article will help you in knowing the important algorithm changes. And penalties that are rolled out in recent years with the brief.

    But before starting anything, let’s see something. What if you could know which update impacted your organic traffic and how? You can now use a rank tracker. All you need to launch a rank tracker and create a project for your site.

    1. Panda

    Google’s Panda update is a search filter launched on 23 February 2011. This was to stop sites with bad quality content from working into its top search results. Panda gets updated from time to time. After this, sites that are previously hit may escape, if you made the right changes.

    Know everything about this update

    Panda can also catch the sites that were escaped. A refresh means false positives can be released. The purpose was to reward good quality websites. This was also initially named as a farmer.

    Triggers for panda

    • Thin content
    • Duplicate content
    • Low-quality content
    • Lack of authority and trustworthiness
    • Content farming
    • Low-quality user-generated content (UGC)
    • A high ad to content ratio
    • Low-quality content surrounding affiliate links
    • Website blocked by users
    • Content mismatching search query

    How can you know that you’ve been hit by Panda?

    One of the signs of Panda penalization is a sudden drop in website traffic or search engine rankings. However, this is also important to keep in mind that other things can also result in losing rankings and traffic. That can be the rise of your competitor in the market, manual penalties. Or can be a different google update other than this.

    When a known name update occurs. This is important to study the industry documentation involved in the update. If the loss of rankings or traffic corresponds to a known date. Please go through the industry lists of bad practices. After that, you believe you got the relation between bad practices and updates. Try to solve the situation.

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    How can you recover from Panda?

    Panda has frequently been marked as an update difficult to be recovered. However, Panda updates are mostly on website quality. Steps for recovering generally leads to improving that quality. Some of the actions include:

    • Abandoning content farming practices.
    • A website is full of quality content, usefulness, relevance, trustworthiness, and authority.
    • Revising the ad or content ratio. So that pages don’t get dominated by ads or links.
    • Ensure the content of the given page is relevant to match the user’s query.
    • Remove duplicate content.
    • Careful editing of content. Ensure it is unique, error-free, and useful to readers.
    • Use the robots no-index, no-follow command to block indexing of duplicate or other elements.

    2. Penguin

    Google has introduced a penguin update on 24 April 2012. This was to catch sites considered to be spamming the search results. Those who buy links or obtain them through link networks by the purpose of boosting Google rankings.

    why this penguin update

    Whenever a new penguin update is introduced. The sites taken into action remove bad links. New sites that are not previously caught possibly get trapped by Penguin. Sites that were caught by mistake, may be released.

    Consequences of this algorithm

    Websites that don’t stick to the webmaster guidelines of Google. They get affected by the penguin update. In the earlier versions of penguin decreased the entire domain value. If the webspam gets identified, the site penalty leads to exclusion from the index.

    Today the penguin filter works on a URL basis. If the filter comes beyond webspam. Then it can lead to the ranking loss. There are further attempts are being made to use high-quality content. This increases voluntary linking to their website. Also, some channels such as social media are used to increase the range of websites. Also to receive backlinks and traffic.

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    What to do after being affected by Penguin?

    Those who got to know that their website is affected by penguin. You should start analyzing the link structure. Links from link farms as bad neighborhoods can lead you to underestimation.

    An important indicator is that the penguin filter is activated warning of unnatural links. Google sends this through google search console to webmasters. In this case, you should study and analyze the previous link building efforts. So that the consequences get minimized.

    After this, Google has introduced an alternative i.e disavow tool. Using these backlinks can be announced as invalid.

    3. HummingBird

    Hummingbird was introduced very quietly on 22 august 2013. Various site owners didn’t get to know the difference. This tool helps google to get a better understanding of search queries. And produce results that match searcher intent.

    how it works?

    While the keywords remain essential. Hummingbird helps a page to rank for a query even. If it hasn’t exact words the searcher entered. This can be achieved using natural language processing. That relies on semantic indexing, co-occurring terms, and synonyms.

    What hummingbird is all about?

    This was the new algorithm, which was formed by more than 200 factors. These factors can affect ranking and search. The biggest changes are made with a sharp eye on mobile. There’s nothing to surprise about the explosion of the mobile market in recent years.

    This produced the addition of a conversational search to the hummingbird algorithm. This was designed to focus on the meaning of expression rather than one keyword.

    This was because many people use voice while searching on mobile. So instead of looking for individual words. It looks for the entire phrase to explain that meaning.

    How can you adjust?

    Try to expand your keyword research and focus more on concepts. Research carefully relevant searches, synonyms, and co-occurring terms. You can find great ideas about google related searches into the rank tracker research module.

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    4. Pigeon

    Google pigeon tries to recognize. And degrade the rank of sites having unnatural links. These are considered to be spamming the search results. Since 24 July 2014 pigeon has been a part of google’s ranking algorithm. The penalties are applied faster now and recovery in less time.

    pigeon update in Google’s Algorithm

    Pigeon affects searches where a person’s location plays an important role. This update created ties between the local and core algorithm.

    Consequences of this algorithm for local businesses?

    • You may notice a change in website referrals, leads, and business.
    • You might see a change in your rankings. Whether that can be positive or negative. While some of you benefit with increased importance on local search. Others might be driven out of heavy traffic searches due to prioritizing directories.
    • Large directories will benefit more compared to small locations.

    What should you do now?

    • Make sure your business appears in the industry directories and review sites. You should register your business with directories and try to gain positive reviews.
    • Keep checking on local search terms related to your business that they haven’t changed. If the update is according to your strategy.
    • If your company’s keywords are appearing in local search results. You need to get optimized for local search.
    • In the case of rank dropping as a result of the update. Then try to focus more on on-page SEO optimization along with local optimization.
    • Check broken links, contact numbers, and spelling in Google’s local listing.

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    5. Pirate

    This update was introduced on 10 august 2012 for copyright violations. Privacy is a huge deal today. It has been since the appearance of the internet. Google makes sure that sites having stolen content don’t get the benefit.

    pirate update

    Using the pirate update, sites are down-ranked and removed from the search results. Some of the sites are still not caught. And Google is still working for the right owners don’t suffer.

    How does it work?

    Google can’t check every page on the internet to ensure no pirated material is left out. Pirate targets the sites that violate the copyright guidelines set. Google never removes any page unless a valid copyright removal notice gets filed by the owner of the rights.

    If someone enters a query searching for a specific movie, google avoids piracy sites of top slots in SERPs. However, you can still find these pirated sites, if you’ll search them directly. But they won’t show up in organic search results for a generic query.

    How can you fix your website if it is affected by Pirate?

    If you got notice abrupt drop in your rankings and page visit. Firstly ask yourself if you have any illegal content on your site. If you’re looking to recover from a hit by Pirate. Things you can do:

    • Remove Content That Violates DMCA

    If you have media that is pirated then remove it. Remove illegal content. The pirate update will get no reason to target your site.

    • Try to keep your main domain separate

    Many sites offer users to add content to pages. If this is in your case, keep your domain separate from the user’s content. You can’t keep control over what people publish. So this will keep you safe instead of their mistakes.

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    6. Fred

    The Fred update was an improvement for Google’s search ranking algorithm. This was introduced on 7 March 2017. However, the important factor behind Fred was quality.

    know sites hit hardest by Fred update

    That is how aggressive monetization tactics used by some of the sites. Also google’s view, negatively impacting the experience of users.

    Which sites get hit hardest by Fred?

    However, Google has yet to confirm any thoughts regarding its latest algorithm change. There is some compelling evidence to support the theory. That Fred was designed to punish sites that are prioritizing monetization over user experience.

    How should you react to Fred And Future Google Updates?

    Whether as the result of poor quality links, excessive ad placement, or thin content. Fred hugely disrupted too many websites. This thing could be good for users which is a good business for Google.

    Living in never-ending fear of Google impulse has long been the norm for SEOs. There are several steps to minimize the risk that your site can be hit in the future by algorithmic changes. If you are also worried about the impact of Google’s updates.

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    7. RankBrain

    RankBrain was introduced on 26 October 2015 and part of the Hummingbird algorithm. RankBrain update is reviewed as the third most important signal for a search query. An update that provides the best matching result due to the searcher’s intent.

    query-specific ranking update

    This is an AI system that helps Google understand the meaning behind queries. RankBrain identifies the applicable query-specific ranking factors for web pages.

    How can overcome RankBrain Update?

    You need to upload Proper competitor analysis content. This could be penetrated to users of any age. RankBrain connects long and original doubt to the shorter one. Hence it lets provide Google answer all types of searches.

    How RankBrain Update Impacts Search Results?

    Today we can see how RankBrain will help in the long tail doubts for voice search. The benefits of this algorithm are that it uses stop words which are earlier completely neglected by Google search. This also tries to prepare for one search ahead as per the user.

    All the learnings are done using RankBrain offline. It checks the searches and predicts them. If the required prediction is good then the latest version goes online. And the prediction goes offline.

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    8. Mobile-Friendly

    Google’s mobile-friendly update was introduced on 21 April 2015. This update was made to ensure that pages that are optimized for mobile get to rank at the top. All the desktop searches were not affected by the update.

    update for mobile specific sites

    Mobile-friendliness means one page of your site can get considered mobile-friendly. And get ranked up while the rest fail the test.

    How does it work?

    Google’s mobile update helps that mobile-friendly pages rank at the top. While pages that are not optimized for mobile gets filtered out or ranked down.

    How can you be safe from it?

    • You should take the mobile-friendly test. You must pass its mobile-friendliness criteria to get high rankings on mobile.
    • Go to mobile and focus on speed and usability. It will help you see which of the aspects of the pages the mobile version needs to improve.

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    Conclusion

    I hope this article would help you understand the major Google updates. These changes in the algorithm have revolutionized SEO. From Panda to Fred and beyond, everything works to help searchers while battling for low-quality content.

    So let’s see key takeaway from this. You must have tired of the need to produce high-quality content. When you will stay in Google’s good terms. Then you don’t have to worry about it. All you need to build links organically. Focus more on providing the best quality content. This will help you to grow your blog’s traffic.

    Have you noticed any of the effects mentioned above?