Google Core Update 2016: Analysis of Winners and Losers

The new year has begun with a confirmed Google update. However, what was initially believed to be either a change to Panda or Penguin is in fact a core ranking algorithm update. Here, we take a look at the fresh data from the Searchmetrics Suite.

Background to Google update

We were expecting a Penguin update for the start of 2016. Initial analyses from the weekend 9/10 January were focused on this. The changes in the Google rankings were considerable on a global scale and various services that measure changes in Google search results came to similar conclusions.

Meanwhile several Google employees have spoken about the update via Twitter: John Mueller and Gary Illyes have confirmed that the observed turbulence is in fact due to a Google update – not the expected Penguin update, but an update to the core ranking algorithm.

Analysis: lots of change, few observable patterns

We have pulled fresh research data from the Searchmetrics Suite to analyze the changes in Google search results. We observed massive changes in the top 100 websites by SEO Visibility (our flagship indicator for online performance) – 50% of the websites that are now amongst the winners and losers are different to before the update. This holds true for both desktop and mobile SERPs. We have tried to detect any patterns that are characteristic of a quality update, which we will now have a closer look at.

Content quality is decisive

We drew attention to the volatility of the search results following last update of 2015 – Phantom III / Quality Update. This volatility matches again with the current data. In particular in the USA publisher websites with pieces of content that rank with brand keywords and entities have witnessed heavy losses in visibility. Brands, on the other hand, have seen a boost in rankings. This trend is not yet noticeable in other international markets, which could indicate that the update has not yet been rolled out globally.

Let’s take a look at the biggest loser in the US – theatlantic.com. This publisher has primarily lost with old URLs that ranked for brand keywords and entities:

It is apparent that many loser domains are classic print publishers and their losses in rankings mainly stem from older content pieces. Additional publisher who lost rankings are newyorker.com, vanityfair.com, arstechnica.com, fastcompany.com and economist.com.

These losses amongst publishers are mainly compensated by corresponding gains amongst brands such as alaskaair.com.

Parallel to this development many publishers have actually won in Google.com search results. Particularly those publishers with current or holistic content. Top winner according to our most recent Suite data is gq.com. On gq.com the biggest winning URL is a comprehensive article about NFL star Tom Brady, shown here in the screenshot on the left.

The article contains photos and a video and a lot of text (more than 3000 words including an interview). A test with Content Optimization in the Searchmetrics Suite shows that the article covers all important subtopics about entity Tom Brady.

Additioanl publishers who gained visibility are time.com, qz.com, howstuffworks.com, politico.com and inquisitr.com.

Whether a publisher or brands won or lost for a specific keyword is dependent on the individual QDF score that Google calculates according to current events and user behavior, particularly search volume. For topics that are current, obviously publishers with current content witnessed visibility gains.

In summary, the quality of the content is absolutely decisive for rankings.

User intent instead of content

One group of winners is particularly suprising for SEOs: educational games. Domains such as brainpop.com and mathplayground.com with landing pages such as this:

The screenshot is no cropped, this is actually the complete page. If you are thinking of cloacking or hidden content, just take a look at the Google cache:

From a classical SEO perspective, these rankings can hardly be explained. There is only one possible explanation: user intent. If someone is searching for “how to write a sentence” and finds a game such as this, then the user intention is fulfilled. Also the type of content (interactive game) has a well above average time-on-site. According to SimilarWeb, the duration of an average visit to BrainPOP is more than 8 minutes, with a bounce rate below 20%.

Even though the site regained rankings, BrainPOP is a good example of the downside of having a lot of pages with low amounts of content: each page only ranks for a few keywords, as our Content Performance analysis shows quite well:

Conclusion: High quality, longform content pieces that cover a topic in-depth are the winners in many areas. But the sheer amount of content is not decisive for rankings, rather the question of whether the content is relevant and fulfils the user intention.

De-indexed guitar tab pages

Websites that offer guitar tabs have been completely de-indexed in some cases.  Let’s take a look at the visibility of ultimate-guitar.com as an example:

This change, being de-indexed, has been implemented globally. This has also been carried out for guitartab.com in the US:

Due to the branch specific nature of this complete de-indexation of thousands of URLs, we suspect this change was implemented manually. In addition, ranking positions have been filled by pages with effectively the same content (guitar tabs). The former market leader Ultimate Guitar still ranks for some keywords, however, typically with relatively low quality subpages in correspondingly low ranking positions. The complete domain has not been de-indexed. While the subdomain tabs.ultimate-guitar.com has been completely de-indexed, the editorial content can still be found in the Google index.

As always we will continue to monitor the data and keep you abreast of any further changes. Have you noticed any changes in your rankings or have any more info about the update? – Let us know in the comments below.

SEO Tutorial - 5 Effective SEO Techniques

SEO tutorial 1 - Keywords

Keywords are best described as words that people type into search engines to find the result they want i.e. 'How to build a blog'. If you are writing say a blog post it is important to enter keywords multiple times within your text. Why? Because the more keywords that are used, the more relevant your website will appear to Google for its searchers. Notice when you type something into Google all the results have your searched words in bold... Keywords. To select your keywords all you basically have to do is create a mind map, write down words that are applicable to your site and relating topics (keep out irrelevant ones like 'and' 'on').

Please note not to overly plaster your text with keywords. If your keywords are occurring too many times Google may see this as spam and actually harm your visibility.

SEO tutorial 2 - Content Creation

If you are running a website and not a blog, it will be useful to add a blog after all. As you write posts about your niche the number of keywords you use on your site increases which can rank you higher on the search engines. More keywords means that your site can be more relevant in the eyes of Google. Not only that, each blog post has its own unique URL so your site will have a larger amount of links that can appear on the search engine.

As well as relevance Google wants to provide its searchers with the best, most up to date content. So if you are regularly updating your website with information i.e. blog posts, you can score some additional SEO points.

SEO tutorial 3 - Back links

A back link is basically a link to your website that appears on another website. This links back to your website hence 'back link'. Back links are important for SEO because if Google can see that you are linking to multiple sites (which it does) it will believe your site as a relevant and higher authority, ranking you higher. You can add back links on posts you provide on other blogs, forums etc.

Beware! Only provide back links to sites that are already popular and rank high on the search engines. If you link to 'crap' sites Google will think yours is crap to.

SEO tutorial 4 - Social media

It is said that implementing social media onto your website helps boost rankings. Visitors can 'like' your website creating more links which will go towards your link building.

If your website has a lot of Followers Google can see you as a high authority website which can also boost your ranking. Ignore buying hundreds of thousands of followers as if there is no consistency in the followers you get, the chances are Google may pick up on this and actually harm your ranking.

SEO tutorial 5 - mobile optimization

This is something new to the SEO tutorials due to the increased use with smart phones. Make sure your website is optimized on mobiles. If your website is properly usable and viable on multiple devices Google can boost the rank of your site compared to others as you can provide a platform others can't.

If you enjoyed reading this SEO tutorial we have some other great articles for you to read

If you would like to learn more about effective SEO, gaining traffic and much more visit our site which contains some fantastic content.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9139942

Choosing an SEO Firm to Market Your Website

Search Engine Optimization is not just a luxury anymore. If you want a powerful and effective website that brings traffic and results, SEO is an absolute must. But choosing the right firm can be tricky, especially if you're not familiar with what SEO firms should actually be doing. Here are some tips to help you, as well as some warning signs to watch out for when choosing an SEO firm to market your website.

Pricing

When choosing an SEO firm, you will obviously want to get the best bang for your buck. However, because SEO firms usually offer different pricing for different services and lengths of terms, price shopping can be complicated. Things to look out for:

•  The SEO firm should be clear about all fees and the services included with those fees, upfront.

• Most will require some sort of initial payment, but will usually draw up a payment plan for the remainder of your term; avoid firms that require full payment up front. If you want to pay in full, that's fine, but requiring it should be a red flag.

Length Of Service

Most SEO firms will offer several options for length of service. How long is best? It depends. Generally, a 3 month term is the absolute minimum you need in order to see real results. Most people start out with a 6 month term, as it is long enough to see results but not too long if you aren't happy with your firm. Just remember, if your SEO firm is reputable, the longer your term the better results you will likely see.

Why So Long?

It's important to understand why continued SEO service produces better results. SEO is not like remodeling your kitchen, where you do it once and relax for 20 years; the very nature of SEO requires continual maintenance, monitoring, and tweaking. Search engines report that keyword searches are constantly changing, and their algorithms shift on a daily basis now. Any good SEO firm understands this, and will continually monitor your rankings and work to increase them.

Make Sure They Are Ethical

Like much in this world, there are SEO firms that are above board, and there are those that are not. Obviously, go with the one that uses honest, white-hat methods for optimizing your website. A reputable, ethical SEO firm uses content building, blogs, social media networking and link building as part of their strategy.

• Ethical SEO firms will have no problem giving you references or testimonials from other clients. Impressive results speak for themselves and any good firm will be glad to show off their successes to you. 

• A good SEO firm should also provide you with monthly reports showing your site's rankings, stats, and charting its growth. 

• The staff at your SEO firm should be willing and available during business hours to answer any questions you may have.

Beware Of The Following Red Flags And Avoid These Firms Like The Plague:

• Never use a firm that practices keyword "stuffing". This unethical practice entails loading a web page with targeted keywords strung together in nonsense paragraphs for the purpose of increasing search engine rankings. However, the search engines got wise to this form of cheating and now give poor rankings to any pages using this technique.

• Avoid firms that claim they have special techniques, or preferred relationships with Google. There is no magic secret to SEO. Continuous maintenance, fresh content, and hard work are what works and any firm claiming otherwise is hiding something. 

• No reputable SEO firm can guarantee immediate results, a precise number of visitors, or even a certain ranking within a certain amount of time. These grandiose statements may sound good, but it is impossible to predict exact timeframes or numbers. An honest firm might tell you that they will work until they have achieved a certain goal, but promising to deliver specific results in a slated amount of time should be a warning to you.

NewSunSEO : Internet Marketing NYC

http://NewSunSEO.com

NewSunSEO develops and utilizes search engine optimization strategies that result in top placements. With extensive knowledge about the underlying structure of search engines, we help your website gain exposure, added traffic and more business. NewSunSEO uses the top current technologies with highly effective, ethical methods that are proven to work continually.

Visit our Blog to read, comment, and/or ask questions about Internet Marketing at [http://SEO-Blog.NewSunSEO.com]

Written by Terri Polk at NewSunSEO Inc.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1450608