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Google's current rankring algorithm update
You have probably noticed that Google is currently updating
its ranking algorithm. This seems to be a major update because
many webmasters have seen big changes in their rankings.
The PageRank of www.MSN.com dropped
to PR2 in this latest update so there really seem to be some
big changes in the new algorithm.
Google engineer Matt Cutts more or less declines that this
is a big update in his blog:
"These days rather than having a large monolithic
update, Google tends to have smaller (and more frequent)
individual launches. [...]
My point is that more than ever, we are constantly
working to improve our algorithms and scoring. Some changes
are hardly noticed at all. Some changes (e.g. user interface
improvements) are more visible. Some changes have nothing
to do with spam [...] Some changes do try to decrease
spam or increase core quality. [...]
And again, these PageRanks and backlinks have already
been incorporated into scoring a while back (Google updates
PageRank continually and continuously), but some people
just love to look at PageRanks.)"
What has changed with this update?
Only Google's engineers know exactly what has been changed
with this update. However, it seems that some factors seem
to be important in this update:
- Hidden text spam seems to be more penalized. While most
search engines consider white text on white background
spamming, it seems that Google now also recognizes text
that is hidden in invisible CSS layers.
- Links from automated link exchanges and text link advertising
systems seem to count less.
As with every algorithm update, Google tries to remove the
spam from its database with this update.
What should you do now?
First of all, don't panic. If your web site rankings have
dropped, wait another week to make sure that the index update
is over. If your web site is still not listed, take a look
at what you might have done wrong.
If you use CSS to hide text on your web pages, consider
removing that hidden text from your pages. Google doesn't
seem to like that at all. If you use other techniques that
might be considered spam, remove them from your pages.
If you have a links page, do not use a link exchange system
with a central server but host
your link pages on your own web site. Being part of a
centralized system makes your web site vulnerable if the
centralized system is considered spam.
After having removed the spam elements from your pages,
do the following:
- Optimize
Use IBP's Top
10 Optimizer to optimize your web pages for the new
Google algorithm. The optimizer uses the current ranking
algorithm to find out which web page elements Google wants
to see on a web page for your keyword and your web site.
- Diversify
We've said it before in this newsletter: don't put
all eggs in one basket. Although it is very likely
that you'll get high rankings on Google if you follow
the tips above, you shouldn't focus on Google alone.
Yahoo and MSN can also bring you qualified traffic.
These search engines might not be as popular as Google
but they are large enough to bring you so many customers
that you could even do without Google. The key to a successful
online business is to get qualified traffic from all
big search engines.
If you have web pages that are optimized
for Google and Yahoo and MSN and Ask Jeeves then
you won't get hurt so much when one of these search
engines drops your rankings.
If your web site rankings on Google have dropped, don't
panic and follow the tips above. Chances are good that you'll
get your high rankings back.
If you worry about the dropped PageRank of your web site,
you shouldn't care too much about it. If a major web site
like www.MSN.com gets a PageRank of 2, the green bar shouldn't
get too much attention
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