In case you missed it, Google released their third Google update for 2021. Only four and half months after Google’s previous core update, the November Core Update has snuck up quickly and thrown a few curveballs for many businesses.
Warning: if it has been a while since you’ve looked into your website’s content – you might be in trouble.
Here, we’ve comprised everything you need to know about the latest Google update, and how you can use it to your advantage.
What are Google updates?
The Google team regularly conducts content reviews, refining Google’s services and optimising performance. Core updates involve significant, broad changes to search algorithms and systems. This allows users to receive relatable, secure and optimised content when using the search engine. These core updates keep content relevant, up-to-date and informative – helping users find the correct answers to their questions.
These small changes are generally not noticeable to the everyday user. However, every now and then, Google will release a core update, which can impact the ranking of your business’s website in Google search engine result pages (SERP).
How Google updates affect your business
As a business with a listing on Google, it’s important to keep an eye out on these core updates to make sure your website ranks and stays ahead of competitors. No specific content is targeted, but the updates broadly affect everyone. Informative content on your website can be boosted to page 1 of Google’s SERP after an update whereas other irrelevant and poor content will be pushed back.
“One way to think of how a core update operates is to imagine you made a list of the top 100 movies in 2015. A few years later in 2019, you refresh the list. It’s going to naturally change. Some new and wonderful movies that never existed before will now be candidates for inclusion…”
If you’ve been keeping on top of your website’s content, you dedicate a page to informative and engaging blogs and you regularly refine and optimise each product/service – you’ll be well treated with each Google update. If you have struggled to find the time… you might be in trouble.
Considering 75% of customers don’t look past the first page, it’s essential to make a place in the top 10 of the organic SERPs.
Stay ahead of competitors
The million dollar question still remains – how can you use the Google update to your advantage?
Unfortunately, there’s no quick and satisfying solution but instead, it requires proactive steps over an extended period of time. See below for tips on how to optimise your website’s performance.
- Create a user-friendly website. If your website is well designed, easy to navigate and fast loading – customers are more likely to browse and take actions on your site. This will increase your page quality (PQ) rating, which recognises the site’s authoritativeness.
- Invest in search engine optimisation (SEO). We can’t talk about website optimisation without mentioning SEO. Whether you’re a small cafe or a big financial firm, SEO is an essential ingredient to your website’s success.
- Conduct regular website audits. It’s important to ensure your website is optimised at every single step. From the product description, the ‘About Me’ page, to the photos, meta descriptions and backlinks – every point is crawled by Google and ultimately needs to relate back to your business’s purpose.
- Analyse, report and review. We recommend analysing your website monthly or quarterly. Closely observe how your website is performing and review how you can improve.
Note: these steps are relatively small yet, need to be completed consistently and to a high standard. Results are cumulative and the longer you optimise your website, the more impactful the results will be.
Where we can help
Google updates award businesses who have been regularly investing in their website’s content. This can be hugely satisfying for businesses who have been committing the hours it takes to improve their digital site. Alternatively, for businesses who have neglected their website it can be a harsh wake up call.
We understand how difficult it can be to find the time to ensure your business’s content is refined, polished and SEO’d – that’s where our team here at Cloud Cartel can help. We work closely with small, medium and large businesses to build websites that flourish with each Google update that’s thrown our way. We not only build websites but we also design, manage the content, write blogs, SEO, review and conduct monthly reports. If you need help with your website or, you’re unsure where to start – contact our team today.
