I took a forced break from the SEO series partly because of RL and partly because Google dropped one of their big algorithm changes last week and I wanted to be sure my SEO articles for you were still accurate and in compliance with the new changes. These big changes don't happen often, even though Google does "minor tweaks" frequently. After reading all the official news about this latest change and checking the rankings for a wide range of sites, something stood out that should be addressed.
Google does major algo changes when they become aware of sites that are "gaming the system". This leads to the dreaded "Google Slap" - which means they make changes to how a site is ranked, sending those who they feel are a danger to their users or who are using an approach to artificially rise in the Google SERP's.
Thus, over the years, various types of "clickbait" sites have seen themselves end up in the Google Dungeon. Anything beyond page 3 of the SERP's isn't going to clicked on, thus anything that falls on page 10 for example, is considered to be in the Google Dungeon.
Instead of giving this update a cute name, like "Penguin", Google is calling it "March 2019 Core Update". Blech. It appears to be going after one type of site - what Google calls the YMYL - Your Money or Your Life types of pages and sites. These are the sites that give advice to the visitor while trying to sell them the "solution" to their problem.
While the YMYL sites Google is looking to rank are what we generally consider to be "clickbait" sites, there are some changes to this algorithm that could tangle up even a legitimate, non-clickbait site or page. There are three areas of concern.
- Main Content Quantity - referred to by Google in-house as MC
- Ratio of advertising to main content
- Site Structure - what pages are included
Google is now also looking at what they call E.A.T. (doncha just love all the anachronisms they come up with?)
E.A.T. stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, or Trustworthiness and here are examples straight from Google of how they determine a low quality page by E.A.T. standards.
Low quality pages often lack an appropriate level of E-A-T for the purpose of the page. Here are some examples:
● The creator of the MC does not have adequate expertise in the topic of the MC, e.g. a tax form instruction video
made by someone with no clear expertise in tax preparation.
● The website is not an authoritative source for the topic of the page, e.g. tax information on a cooking website.
● The MC is not trustworthy, e.g. a shopping checkout page that has an insecure connection.
If a page has one or more of the following characteristics, the Low rating applies:
● An inadequate level of Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-A-T).
● The quality of the MC is low.
● There is an unsatisfying amount of MC for the purpose of the page.
● The title of the MC is exaggerated or shocking.
● The Ads or SC distracts from the MC.
● There is an unsatisfying amount of website information or information about the creator of the MC for the purpose
of the page (no good reason for anonymity).
● A mildly negative reputation for a website or creator of the MC, based on extensive reputation research.
If a page has multiple Low quality attributes, a rating lower than Low may be appropriate.
So, what does this mean to you?
If you are presenting ANY information or content that you are holding yourself out as an expert presenter, you absolutely must have an About Page that defines your reason for claiming "Expert" status.
If you are selling anything that receives consumer reviews, a large quantity of bad reviews will hurt your rankings.
If you use a "clickbait" headline for your articles or pages, you will get slapped.
If you have a bad ratio of advertising to Main Content, you will drop like a stone in the rankings, even if that advertising is not for your own product.
In other words, Google is going after the clickbait sites we all know and hate. The ones that look like this:
The biggest change that I would caution you to be aware of - since I know none of you are building clickbait sites (you're not - right?) is to be sure you include an About Us page on that web site, and be SURE to have a bio on sites like Steemit, Medium, or other similar blog sites.
Also, don't overload your pages with ads. If you have a two paragraph post and five ads on that page - you WILL end up in the Google Dungeon!
Look for the next SEO article on BackLinks - as I return to regularly scheduled posting on Thursday.