It’s been a tumultuous few months for the world of search engine optimization (SEO). Google made significant changes to its algorithm, and many websites were negatively impacted. Most notably, sites that had previously ranked well for specific keywords were now falling in rankings due to these changes.
But there are also other ways this update has affected sites and how you can get your website back on track if it was affected by the latest Google update. In this post, we’ll cover what happened with the October 2022 updates and what it means for your business.
October 2022 Updates
You may have heard a lot about Google’s October updates, which rolled out recently. These updates are relatively common and usually occur every few months or so. They are made to ensure that Google provides the best search results for their users and constantly refine how they rank websites.
This update was more of a spam-reduction update than anything else, though, so if you’re running into issues with your website rankings after this update, then we’d recommend doing a few fixes.
The search engine giant will seek to lower the rank of websites that “trick” users into providing personal information or installing malware. These are phishing scams and support bad actors on the web. When these sites get ranked high on Google, users get made and move to other search engines instead.
To put it simply – spam is bad for Google’s business.
How Will This Affect Your Website?
If your website is affected by this recent Google update, it may be time to take action. The good news is that your site will not be deleted entirely from the search results (unless you are spamming).
Instead, it will likely have a lower rank or may even appear lower in the search results pages than before. Google has said it will continue to work on improving its algorithms in order to detect and penalize websites that violate its rules and guidelines.
You should be fine if you provide quality content directly related to your purpose that doesn’t seek to trick users.
Why Google Wants to Reduce Spam
Google has been working hard to improve the quality of search results and reduce spam over the last few years. It wants to give users the best results, so it’s constantly testing new ways to achieve this.
The company has taken several steps in this direction:
-Improving its algorithm
-Removing low-quality websites from their index
-Removing bad ads from its platform
Google didn’t release specific information as to link baiting or what it defines as spam. However, most SEO pros agree upon two critical areas: thin sites and keyword stuffers.
Thin sites don’t have the unique content users want. They only slightly adhere to SEO practices and generally do not offer insights.
Keyword stuffing is filling a website with tags and meta information that repeats the same keywords or phrases to rank high. This is a flawed strategy, as most search engines will dock your rank if you do this.
What You Should Do
If you have yet to notice the update, that doesn’t mean your website is not affected by it. This update’s roll-out is gradual; not everyone will see it immediately.
You can use a tool like MozBar to check if your website is affected by the Google spam update or not.
If you want to keep your traffic steady and consistent, make sure to run SEO audits regularly (we recommend every 3 months) and fix any issues that may cause problems on search engines, such as:
-Duplicate content
-Broken links (404 error pages)
-Broken image links
The Google update is a big deal, but only some of your website’s traffic will be affected. It’s important to know if your site is being hit by this spam update so you can take steps to correct any issues before they get worse.
Our team at Griffon Webstudios can help you avoid getting hit by the recent Google Spam Update. We have SEO experts on staff who understand the nuance of rebuilding or fixing your site, so it is more compliant with Google. Let’s schedule a time to talk about how our professional team can elevate your web presence.
