Has Google Update Penalised You? What To Do To Recover

A mathematical certainty about Google is that the platform likes to change (just like the famous Hogwarts stairs in Harry Potter!). The search engine, based on which much of the reasoning we do about SEO, is constantly being updated.

Google’s algorithm updates are often sudden and abrupt changes. These changes regularly leave site managers speechless and without the tools to understand what has actually happened.

If the Google Update has penalised you, however, don’t despair. Some tricks can allow you to solve your site’s positioning problems or limit the damage. Here is everything you need to know.

Google’s Latest Update: The May 2022 Core Update

Google updates itself quite frequently. The last update was in May 2022. The search engine decided to change its algorithm further. Necessarily changing how sites are ranking.

In the official press release relating to the update, Google specified that users might notice drops or improvements in the performance of their sites. But that, in any case, would not necessarily oblige them to intervene. If performance declines were noticed, this would not necessarily indicate something wrong with the sites.

On the contrary, updates often also improve the positioning of pages that deserve quite different results. Google also made it clear that there is no aspect of a major update targeted at specific pages or sites. The changes instead concern how its systems evaluate content as a whole.

It is worth noting at this point the fact that Google’s changes are an unavoidable event. These necessarily influence the ranking of web pages.

In this scenario, you could thus witness a sudden increase in traffic on your site or, worst cases, a lower ranking. But don’t worry! In fact, there are always good practices and tools to avoid disaster.

Role Of The Search Console

An invaluable tool to help any webmaster adrift is Google Search Console. The platform helps highlight internal errors on your site that can compromise SEO.

For instance, the Search Console can report and fix issues related to AMP, mobile usability, and other search functionality. Or it can scan your site to check if Google is displaying it correctly.

Google Search Console can also solve indexing problems and request a re-indexing of the latest or most up-to-date content.

Be Patient And Don’t Panic

As indicated above, Google has always made it clear that there is nothing wrong with web pages that might perform less well after a core update.

Sometimes, the algorithm change will only ‘throw off’ the Analytics results for a few hours or a few days. Therefore, it is worth remembering that patience is the virtue of the strong.

The important thing is not to panic and, above all, not to make ill-considered changes within the site. It is a choice that could nullify years of hard SEO work!

Prevention Is Better Than Cure

Since we are dealing with sudden changes to improve web searches by users, it is impossible to find a simple magic formula to help us predict the coming storm.

In any case, it is always important to continue applying the classic SEO rules. Companies that boast an excellent ranking on Google are those that have invested their time in:

link building
optimisation for mobile devices
keywords
originality, and quality of content

Google will always reward sites that it considers authoritative, thorough, and reliable concerning certain keywords. SEO work, therefore, must be done regardless of any updates, building credibility day after day with new, interesting, and accurate articles (or pages).

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