Monthly Online Marketing Report Covering February 2017

Welcome to the new look Juicy SEO monthly report, this time we list all the important updates and changes that happened in February 2017.

Once again we have added a Tip to help with your own SEO work. If you have missed any of the other reports, which will still be relevant, then we definitely recommend you catch up, here is a link to the SEO Report Updates.

Algorithm’s

At the start of February we heard a lot of reports in the SEO world discussing a possible Google algorithm update. After a bit of research it looks like Google had performed an update which affected certain types of links, these were mainly blog networking links. This occurred around 2nd February so if your rankings were affected around that day this could be why.

Additionally, it looked like on the 7th February Google performed a much bigger update which targeted quality content (Phantom update), or should I say bad quality content. Google have yet to confirm what it updated and as it has been about 3 weeks they are probably not going to now.

If your rankings for some of your pages have dropped around this date we recommend revisiting the content and try and make it a little better. We have a tip below on doing this.

AMP

Google informed us that around 70% of Google News results are now using AMP versions of their websites.

Tip

Do you know how to find out which one of your website pages ranks for a keyword? For free?

Enter the following command into Google and it should list the most likely page for the keyword first. If it is the wrong one then work on the content signals on the page you wish to rank for the keyword.

Site:www.domain.com keyword

Quality Content

Google have said to help your website pages perform better make sure the content actually makes sense. We recommend reading it out aloud, if it doesn’t make sense when you do this then there are things you can change.

Remember: Google’s algorithm is that clever it knows good content when it reads it.

Fast Track Indexing

Google have a ‘fast track’ index system which can be used from their mobile testing pages (link HERE). However, this tool might index the page quickly but it will not stay indexed for long.

This is a handy thing to remember, if you need a page indexed quickly, say for an urgent message or short time product sale. Then use the Fast Track Index.

If you want your page to be indexed for a longer time or even forever then it is recommended to be indexed the normal way, ie via your sitemap.

Contest Links

Google reminded everyone that using a contest which you have to create a link to the contest owners website to enter is the same as paid links and it is not advised.

IE: Win a car, just add a link to our website and we will pick a winner

Google: Hiring an SEO

Google have created a great video to help small businesses hire an SEO or SEO company. It explains what to ask an SEO when hiring and what to expect in an answer. This will help understand who to trust and who actually knows what they are talking about!

Here is the video and well worth a watch.

Glossary

Panda: The Google Panda update concentrates on the quality of the web page content, if the algorithm thinks the page is of low quality it might penalise it in Google’s search results.

Penguin: Google has an algorithm called Penguin which analyses links to web pages and identifies which ones are valuable or spam links. An example of a spam link would be a paid link to your site. Since 23rd Sept 2016 this has joined the core search updates and is now real time.

Pigeon: Google’s Pigeon algorithm concentrates on Local SEO, if you have a bricks and mortar business this is something you should take note of.

Phantom (Quality Update): This algorithm rewards website pages for good content.

TDL: A TLD means Top Level Domain like .com or .net or .co.uk.

AMP: Accelerated Mobile Pages. A way to increase the speed your mobile version of your website loads.

EMD: Exact Match Domains. Matching the domain name exactly with the search term used.