When it comes to website and page ranking, if Google says, “Jump!” we are at the mercy of the command if we want our website to keep being ranking. With the most recent update earlier this year, Penguin has made some businesses anxious with worry about their websites. How do you know if your site is okay after another Google update?
In real estate, it’s all about location, location, location! In the world of websites, it’s SEO, SEO, SEO, but only if used legitimately. SEO companies like Everspark Interactive educates clients by placing videos on their website about effective SEO. If you do not understand how the process works, you could be facing big penalties from the guys upstairs (that’s Google, not God, but as far as websites are concerned, same thing).
What if my website was penalized?
You’ve put in hours of hard work (or, your webmaster has) and suddenly, with another Google update, all your time and effort is at risk of being penalized. Why? Because the latest update has determined that your links are now toxic. Can you recover from this? First, use some standard criteria to decide the extent of damages.
- How many toxic links do you have? Is it worth fixing them? Run a backlink analysis on your website to help you figure out what needs to be fixed and how much work this might entail.
- How many hours have gone into creating all this now toxic content? Can you afford to pay someone to fix the problem, or has your company already logged more billable hours than you are willing to revisit? Would that kind of investment hurt your business, or make it better off in the long run?
- How old is your website? Are you still getting the volume of traffic you want and need? If your website is still generating revenue, despite the penalties you may have incurred, it is possible to just remove all the offending links and move on.
Once you have assessed the problem – whether it is a penalty or algorithmic drop from the Penguin update – then you can determine your best course of action. Ultimately, you have to decide if your website is okay, and can move forward after a minor or major setback, without costing your business excessive time and money.
In some extreme cases, after a Google update, people jump ship, abandon the website and start fresh. Hopefully, you will not have to go to such an extreme measure. But, rest assured, just like death and taxes, Google updates will be coming around again. The more adept you become at SEO best practices and back linking, the better off you will be in the long run.
Writer Melanie Fleury has learned a lot about SEO from writing online content as well as from companies like Everspark Interactive. She hopes that site owners will take the time to educate themselves on what really works and what Google updates truly are looking for.
