We’re currently witnessing the latest Google Core Update of 2024. In the last year, Google has surprised us quite a few times with its updates and their impact on different websites.
One question that has been floating around since Google’s August 2024 update announcement is, “How can I avoid getting hit by Google core updates?”
Websites have seen both positive and negative impacts of the updates, from getting deindexed to seeing a surge in traffic. But it doesn’t do any good to keep your fingers crossed and hope you don’t get hit poorly by the updates.
It’s only wise to work on the things in your control to avoid your website’s uncertain fate. So, let’s start with how to prevent the negative impacts of Google updates.
6 Steps To Help You Avoid Getting Hit by Google Core Updates
Understand Google’s Non-negotiables for Getting Ranked
Google has a few key principles that have stood the test of time. These are the foundations on which your SEO strategy should be built. No matter what gurus say, these non-negotiables, when done right, only help you keep your website Google-friendly.
Quality Forever!
It’s the factor that will always lead as the most important SEO factor. Google’s primary goal is to provide users with the best content for their search queries.
It was not completely achieved because Google was pushing some of the giant websites in every niche to the top, even if the content was created solely to get ranked. However, things are changing, and the latest August core update is all about that.
Google wants to ensure that websites that care about answering user queries are ranked (regardless of their size).
This means your content should be well-researched, insightful, and valuable to readers. Yep, it has to be SEO-optimized, but not for the sake of ranking.
Ensure you write for real people with real problems. Create content that genuinely helps your audience solve their problems.
Tip: Be the best result for the user intent. Since Google is a search engine, it wants its users to stay as long as possible after hitting search. If your content helps Google retain its users, it rewards you with a high ranking.
Keep the user intent in mind each time you write, and do it justice. Don’t play around the bush—give the reader what they came for right at the beginning of the post. Only add information relevant to the user intent in the order that makes the most sense as an answer to the search query.
Here’s how you can ensure the user gets what they want right away:
- Explain what the content entails in the introduction
- Add a TL;DR table for content skimmers
- Add quick pointers or action steps to highlight the takeaways from each section
E-E-A-T! Don’t Leave Crumbs
E-E-A-T is a set of guidelines that Google uses to ensure your content meets the quality of search results. It stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.
Long story short, if you want to rank well, your content needs to demonstrate it’s written by someone who knows the topic inside out. Your content must show your experience in that topic and expertise to provide only the right information and authority in that field.
Optimizing your site for E-E-A-T doesn’t need much. You only need to show that your website is run by real people who walk the walk and talk the talk.
Simple changes such as:
- Adding pictures of you and your team and your office in the About page
- Adding author bio with real credentials and social links
- Using experts to review content for credibility
- Enriching the content with your personal experience
Can do more than enough to ensure you have an E-E-A-T optimized site.
Focus on Backlinks
Backlinks have always been a significant ranking factor, which hasn’t changed. However, the quality of those backlinks is more important than ever.
Backlinks are a vote of confidence. They don’t work if the source of this vote is spammy. It transfers the spam quotient to your website.
Only aim for backlinks from legitimate websites with decent domain authority. Try to grab backlinks from sites falling in your niche directly or indirectly related niches.
Here are a few easy ways to build quality backlinks:
- Directory Backlinks: Submit your website to relevant directories such as Google My Business, Apple Maps, Yellow Pages, Foursquare, etc. Utilize the local directories in your niche to get those easy and quality backlinks quickly in the initial days of launching your site.
- Content Backlinks: The best way to build backlinks is when other sites link back to your content. Create infographics, lead magnets, guest posts, outreach for guest posting opportunities, and post and comment on Reddit and Quora. Only by creating valuable content you can get multiple backlinks.
- HARO and Digital PR: Once you have built a good presence online, start reaching out to journalists to respond to HARO queries. Build connections with reputable brands, allowing you to participate as subject matter experts in their content. Invest in digital PR campaigns to build backlinks from big publications.
User Experience Matters
User experience matters because even before reading your content, users judge the website’s quality based on its appearance. This comprises your website’s loading speed, ease of use, and mobile friendliness.
If your website frustrates users, it’s a reason enough to see your rankings drop. Ensure your website is visually appealing, easy to navigate, intuitive, clean, and easy to use on all devices.
Optimize for Mobile
More than 60% of users use the web through mobile devices. Therefore, it makes sense to have a mobile-optimized website so you don’t lose the audience due to a poor user experience. Since mobile devices now account for most searches, Google employs mobile-first indexing.
Most website themes have a responsive design, which allows you to optimize the theme to appear mobile-friendly. Before you buy the theme, ensure it offers a responsive design that is customizable for mobile.
Use a hamburger menu that expands into a full menu when clicked. This keeps the navigation clean and accessible without taking up valuable screen space. Choose fonts that are easy to read on smaller screens. Avoid overly decorative fonts that can be hard to decipher on mobile devices.
Speed Up Your Website
Website speed is another critical factor. A slow website can lead to higher bounce rates, which Google perceives as a sign that users aren’t finding what they want.
Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to identify areas for improvement in your site’s loading times. To speed things up, compress images, enable browser caching, and minimize CSS and JavaScript.
Caching plugins like WP Rocket take care of everything related to website speed. Simply install the plugin and make it fix any website loading issue while you focus on the content.
Analyze What Helped You Recover or Save Yourself from Previous Updates
If you’ve been hit by a Google update or survived one unhurt in the past, you have a lot of data from which to extract key observations.
Use the Google search console to see the trends of impressions and ranking of your website when the update was introduced. If you were hit, analyze how the pages on your site were affected. How was the drop in traffic, and after how long did you recover?
Look at the changes you made, the content you improved, and the strategies you implemented. This information is invaluable in helping you avoid similar issues in the future.
Reddit is among the best sites for understanding these improvements. People on Reddit often share their SEO wins and losses with brutal honesty. By analyzing these discussions, you can gain insights into the trends and strategies that work for others, which you can apply to your site.
I’m not saying believe everything or attribute everything to your experiences. Everyone will have unique experiences related to the niches you work in. However, such forums are great for tapping into the happenings and drawing strong conclusions.
Save this data and create a list of the Dos and Don’ts that will guide you when the next update comes. You’ll now be more equipped to handle it better.
| Suggested reading: SEO for service-based businesses
Avoid Common Mistakes
The sites that were badly affected by previous core updates made a few common mistakes. These might seem unimportant, but they surely have a clear and direct impact during algorithm updates.
Have Strong Internal linking
Internal linking is not only to keep readers on your site longer. It helps SEO a great deal.
With strong internal linking, you:
- Help users navigate your website easily
- Help search engines understand the structure of your website
- Pass on page authority from important and high authority pages (eg, homepage) to other pages
- Increase engagement and time spent on your website
- Enhance the relevance of pages for specific keywords
- Support topic clusters and content hubs
- Improve crawl efficiency for search engines (Internal links make it easier for search engine bots to crawl and index your site)
- Reduce bounce rate
- Promote conversion opportunities
It’s simply not good to get internal linking wrong. Websites often make the mistake of blindly adding internal links to any post, having too many links, or having insufficient links. Add 2-3 internal links every thousand words and ensure they’re from the same or relevant category.
Use anchor text strategically to maintain a proper percentage of primary and alternate keyword use. Place the internal links where they make sense in the content; don’t force them unnecessarily.
To get it right without going through the trouble manually, you can use internal linking tools like Linkstrom, which suggest internal linking opportunities.
Slow Down on Publishing
Most sites were penalized for spamming and publishing ten or more articles daily. What better way to show that its AI produces the content than posting in such high numbers?
Be human. Publish no more than five posts. It’s an ideal number for a big brand. It also makes sense if you’re a new brand and want to grow fast. 3-4 posts a week is an ideal routine.
You can also go the slow but efficient route of posting only one blog post each week. When you target the biggest pain points with conversion potential, even one post a week works when done right.
Most importantly, have a schedule. Don’t miss out on a posting day.
Don’t Miss Out on Topic Clusters
We know that Google wants to push the helpful content that solves users’ problems. What’s the best way to let Google know you’re the best source of helpful content?
By building topical authority.
It’s the best way to prove to Google that you know your stuff. With topical authority, you create a neat content map and an interwoven network of content that shows Google you’re an authority in your field.
The more you go in depth about one topic and cover it from every angle, the higher your chances of outranking your competitors.
I have a detailed guide on topical authority on my blog. You can read it here. >>>
| Suggested Reading: What is SEO Pillar Content Strategy
Vary Keyword Types and Length
Since it’s easy to rank low-hanging, long-tail keywords, we often limit our focus to these keywords. Though it helps, not varying the keyword type and length can be a reason for Google to see you in a poor light,
Targeting only a certain type of keyword signals Google that your site lacks breadth and depth. The algorithm rewards sites that offer comprehensive and diverse content.
For example, if you only target long-tail keywords or how-to keywords with an informational intent, your content will suffer. An approach that is too narrow may be seen as a sign of a less authoritative site.
Target a diverse set of keywords varying in type and length. Even if you’re targeting low-difficulty keywords, create a keyword strategy targeting short and long-tail keywords with informational, navigational, transactional, and commercial intent.
It helps:
- Tap into all content and traffic opportunities
- Prevent vulnerability to algorithm changes
- Increase relevance across user queries
- Avoid over-optimization
| Suggested Reading: How to use Keyword clusters
Keep Affiliates in check
Google has been known to penalize sites that are too heavy on affiliate links, especially if they don’t provide much value beyond those links.
Avoid making these affiliate marketing mistakes:
- Don’t add affiliate links to every post
- Don’t create content only to add affiliate links. First, solve a problem, answer an important question, and add affiliate links where they naturally fit.
- Use only those affiliate products that directly align with your audience’s needs. Don’t suggest products/services they don’t need or you don’t believe in.
Affiliate marketing is not wrong in itself. It’s got a bad reputation because some misuse it to get ranked.
Use affiliate marketing so it seems like a natural integration to help your audience, not a persuasion to make them buy.
Diversify Traffic Sources
After all is said and done, one thing remains—now is not the time to rely solely on SEO and search for traffic. Algorithm changes, platform updates, or shifts in audience behavior can significantly impact your traffic and, consequently, your business. You need to diversify your organic traffic sources.
Here are a few mediums of diversifying traffic:
Social media
Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn are powerful tools to help you reach a wider audience and drive traffic to your website. This organic social traffic is the second largest traffic source for my website.
You don’t need to create new content. Repurpose the blog posts into videos, infographics, carousels, and simple posts to promote your blog and website. A simple blurb of a new blog post is also a promising way of driving new traffic to your site.
Email marketing
One drawback of organic social traffic is it’s still borrowed. Social media algorithms are still fluctuating, though not as unpredictable as search algorithms.
You need to convert the borrowed traffic into owned traffic. The best way to do this is through email marketing.
With a well-segmented and engaged email list, you can drive consistent traffic to your site, promote new content, and boost conversions. Unlike social media platforms, where you’re subject to changing algorithms and policies, an email list is yours to control.
By offering valuable content, exclusive deals, or personalized recommendations, you can keep your audience engaged and encourage them to visit your site regularly. This makes email one of the most effective channels for building owned traffic.
Podcasting
Podcasts are highly underrated when it comes to generating traffic to your website. Unlike the other channels, podcasts are highly targeted and value-driven sources of content that attract only the audience that means business.
Hosting or appearing as a podcast guest allows you to share your expertise with a broader audience. Podcasts often have dedicated listeners who trust the host’s recommendations, making it a valuable channel for driving traffic.
It’s also a great opportunity to build quality backlinks and contribute to one of the top-ranking factors.
YouTube
Do you know what’s the same as search engines but not equally saturated? YouTube. It’s the second-largest search engine, so it has a huge potential to tap into.
Creating video content helps you reach audiences that prefer video content. It’s also a great opportunity to reach viewers who might not find you through traditional search channels.
Embedding videos in blog posts helps boost their ranking, so it’s a double advantage to make your brand more versatile and appealing across different formats and platforms.
Understand What Changes The Update is Aiming at
This step comes when Google has already announced a new update, and you see changes in your website’s performance. Take the current update, for example. Some sites are seeing a rise in search impressions, while others are seeing some pages get unindexed.
At this stage, you can still make some changes to your site (if the update’s results are not massive) to recover quickly. It then depends on how well you understand the update’s purpose.
When Google launches its update, it announces what it intends to change. If you know the changes can impact your site, you can start working on them. For example, if you know some web pages are not up to the content quality mark of usefulness, you can update those posts to avoid seeing massive losses in performance.
Finally, Stay up-to-date on Every New Happening
Google publishes new updates every year. Besides, many AI advancements, such as Perplexity AI and SearchGPT, can become direct competitors of Google. In that case, SEOs need to stay updated with the latest happenings to prevent their websites from having any negative impact.
Keep checking for new developments and following the steps mentioned in this blog post. This will help you stay ahead of the updates and safeguard your websites.
Got any more questions? Send me a message on LinkedIn!
