Here's a little secret: Smart SEOs expect to lose their rankings.
It might not even be a penalty. Maybe it's a competitor who will pull ahead of you in the search results. Maybe it's an algorithm update that will redirect a dramatic portion of your audience. Someday, maybe, a more advanced Siri clone will eliminate the point of rankings altogether.
Are you prepared for that day? Do you have a backup plan?
Today, we're going to approach the threat of lost rankings in a way you might never have seen before. First, we're going to talk about what we believe it takes to keep your rankings. Second, and more importantly, we're going to talk about how to design an SEO company strategy that will remain successful even if you lose your rankings.
Let's get started A bulletproof vest is best worn before you get shot
When clients approach us with penalized sites, they are devastated. With no severance package or unemployment option, a Google penalty is worse than a layoff. With a gap in employment history and nothing but a penalized website to point to in your resume, it may even be worse than getting fired. Recovery is difficult, time-consuming, and resource intensive.
Let's not mince words. It can destroy families.
If you're taking risks with your website, and it's not going to survive a Google penalty, I beg of you, make the changes now. Don't wait until it's too late. You will regret it.
You need link quality control standards
Whether you've been building links yourself or outsourcing to someone, audit your link profile. It's worth it. Take a look with fresh eyes, and with the mindset that you've just been penalized. What would you remove? Here are some suggestions:
Open up Webmaster Tools and take a look at the sites that have linked to you the most using exact match anchor text(s). Are any of them site-wide links? If so, I highly recommend replacing them with single links if at all possible. (or nofollow/remove them if you find suspicious) Take a look at your anchor text. Other than your brand or domain name, does any specific anchor text take up more than 20 percent of your inbound links? If so, based on my personal experience, you're at risk of getting
penalized for that keyword, and possibly of facing a site-wide penalty. You should either change the anchor text, remove these links, or dilute them with future link building efforts.
Are you buying links or building private link networks? Stop immediately. Expect all of these links to be Eliminated at some point. While even links from link sellers don't usually count against you, all you are doing is building a false sense of authority. When these links are discounted by Google, you will lose all future value. The more links you buy, the higher that risk becomes. Also, keep in mind that while sellers are the ones who usually get penalized, buyers and spammers are not immune. It may be a good idea to remove all paid links that don't send referral traffic, and to replace them with no-follow links if they do send referral traffic. Either way, stop this link building practice entirely.
It might not even be a penalty. Maybe it's a competitor who will pull ahead of you in the search results. Maybe it's an algorithm update that will redirect a dramatic portion of your audience. Someday, maybe, a more advanced Siri clone will eliminate the point of rankings altogether.
Are you prepared for that day? Do you have a backup plan?
Today, we're going to approach the threat of lost rankings in a way you might never have seen before. First, we're going to talk about what we believe it takes to keep your rankings. Second, and more importantly, we're going to talk about how to design an SEO company strategy that will remain successful even if you lose your rankings.
Let's get started A bulletproof vest is best worn before you get shot
When clients approach us with penalized sites, they are devastated. With no severance package or unemployment option, a Google penalty is worse than a layoff. With a gap in employment history and nothing but a penalized website to point to in your resume, it may even be worse than getting fired. Recovery is difficult, time-consuming, and resource intensive.
Let's not mince words. It can destroy families.
If you're taking risks with your website, and it's not going to survive a Google penalty, I beg of you, make the changes now. Don't wait until it's too late. You will regret it.
You need link quality control standards
Whether you've been building links yourself or outsourcing to someone, audit your link profile. It's worth it. Take a look with fresh eyes, and with the mindset that you've just been penalized. What would you remove? Here are some suggestions:
Open up Webmaster Tools and take a look at the sites that have linked to you the most using exact match anchor text(s). Are any of them site-wide links? If so, I highly recommend replacing them with single links if at all possible. (or nofollow/remove them if you find suspicious) Take a look at your anchor text. Other than your brand or domain name, does any specific anchor text take up more than 20 percent of your inbound links? If so, based on my personal experience, you're at risk of getting
penalized for that keyword, and possibly of facing a site-wide penalty. You should either change the anchor text, remove these links, or dilute them with future link building efforts.
Are you buying links or building private link networks? Stop immediately. Expect all of these links to be Eliminated at some point. While even links from link sellers don't usually count against you, all you are doing is building a false sense of authority. When these links are discounted by Google, you will lose all future value. The more links you buy, the higher that risk becomes. Also, keep in mind that while sellers are the ones who usually get penalized, buyers and spammers are not immune. It may be a good idea to remove all paid links that don't send referral traffic, and to replace them with no-follow links if they do send referral traffic. Either way, stop this link building practice entirely.
Design is crucial
We've discussed in depth why UI and UX are absolute necessities: Google's guidelines clearly state Make pages primarily for users, not for search engines." I'm not claiming that following the guidelines guarantees rankings (that would be insane). I'm simply pointing out that violating the guidelines is a good way to ask for penalties and ultimately algorithmic demotions.
Most sites can more easily double sales by doubling conversion rates than by doubling traffic, and design is a crucial part of that. Great user experiences ultimately turn into repeat sales.
When you earn popularity (rather than manufacture it), you end up expending fewer resources to bring in the same number of sales.
We've discussed in depth why UI and UX are absolute necessities: Google's guidelines clearly state Make pages primarily for users, not for search engines." I'm not claiming that following the guidelines guarantees rankings (that would be insane). I'm simply pointing out that violating the guidelines is a good way to ask for penalties and ultimately algorithmic demotions.
Most sites can more easily double sales by doubling conversion rates than by doubling traffic, and design is a crucial part of that. Great user experiences ultimately turn into repeat sales.
When you earn popularity (rather than manufacture it), you end up expending fewer resources to bring in the same number of sales.
Good design earns natural links:
If you think that statement is insane, just turn your attention to any one of the most popular sites on the web. Nearly all of them are tools. Here, I'm not necessarily talking about design aesthetic. I'm simply stating that if you actually design something, as opposed to sharing Great, unique content, you are likely to be taken seriously. Again, just turn to the most linked to sites on the web to see what I'm talking about. UI and UX can be split tested and measured with provable results. This is somewhat true for "raw" SEO as well, and you can read more on this here, but the impact of UI and UX is much easier to measure. Here are a few specific ways to leverage UI and UX that we've talked about: Use responsive design, so that pages adapt to fit the various kinds of screens modern consumers use. Really understand how to set up split tests, and other statistical testing techniques. I can't stress enough how important this is.
If you think that statement is insane, just turn your attention to any one of the most popular sites on the web. Nearly all of them are tools. Here, I'm not necessarily talking about design aesthetic. I'm simply stating that if you actually design something, as opposed to sharing Great, unique content, you are likely to be taken seriously. Again, just turn to the most linked to sites on the web to see what I'm talking about. UI and UX can be split tested and measured with provable results. This is somewhat true for "raw" SEO as well, and you can read more on this here, but the impact of UI and UX is much easier to measure. Here are a few specific ways to leverage UI and UX that we've talked about: Use responsive design, so that pages adapt to fit the various kinds of screens modern consumers use. Really understand how to set up split tests, and other statistical testing techniques. I can't stress enough how important this is.
Conduct user tests as well:
to see how your target audience will actually interact with the site, in order to make things as intuitive as possible. Embrace consumer psychology and build it into the design of the site itself.
Understand modern on-site SEO On-site SEO goes much further than keyword placement:
Pages that have no clear purpose or that don't do a very good job of serving their purpose are at risk of Panda penalization and similar algorithmic demotions. Pages that are "made for AdSense" or that otherwise use advertisements overzealously are high risk. Pages with repetitive keyword use, or that sacrifice user experience for "optimized" SEO value, face similar risks. Including the keyword in the title is still very effective, but titles should also be built to maximize click-through rates and viral sharing.
I'm also with Rand Fishkin on these points: Pages aren't just unique, they offer unique value. It meets a particular need in a particular way that no other page on the web effectively delivers.
The user experience is phenomenal. It loads quickly, looks good, it's intuitive, it works well on any device, it's easy to understand, and it's fun and/or memorable to use.
The page is optimized for crawlers/bots, so that multiple versions of the same content use rel=canonical to define only one URL for the "real" page. Robots.txt and meta robots shouldn't limit bots overzealously. Pages that are down temporarily should return a 503 status, not a 404, and 301 permanent redirects should be used when pages are removed permanently. Use plenty of internal links and make sure every page on your site can be reached from at least one link (preferably more).
Use the keyword in the title when possible, and put identical or very similar text in the H1 tag. Don't overuse the keyword in your main body, just write about the topic at hand. Get keywords in your internal links where it makes sense. Use a meta description that compels people to click through to visit your page from the search results, without worrying too much about your keyword. Don't worry about meta keywords. ake it easy to share the page on social networks, and don't overwhelm users with too many options. Make your site accessible and easy to use on any device with responsive design. Take advantage of authorship, metadata, schema.org, and rich snippets to make your search result stand out.
Aim for an error-free site
Errors can do a lot of harm to an otherwise high quality site. Start by checking for errors in Google Webmaster Tools and eliminating anything that shows up there:
From there, you can move on to a tool like Moz's crawl diagnostics report.
Here are some common SEO errors that you need to avoid:
No product descriptions on ecommerce sites, or using boilerplate descriptions from the manufacturer, which will show up as duplicate content.
404 pages, especially those that are linked to internally or externally
Redirects other than 301
Long title tags (titles longer than 70 characters won't display properly in the search results)
Missing meta descriptions. An optimized call to action in the meta description is often far better than the random text Google pulls on its own, although those pursuing a long tail strategy may sometimes do better by ignoring meta descriptions.
Poor internal linking, so that some pages on your site aren't linked to by any other pages
No robots.txt
No sitemap
Don't let errors like these ruin the potential of your site.
Errors can do a lot of harm to an otherwise high quality site. Start by checking for errors in Google Webmaster Tools and eliminating anything that shows up there:
From there, you can move on to a tool like Moz's crawl diagnostics report.
Here are some common SEO errors that you need to avoid:
No product descriptions on ecommerce sites, or using boilerplate descriptions from the manufacturer, which will show up as duplicate content.
404 pages, especially those that are linked to internally or externally
Redirects other than 301
Long title tags (titles longer than 70 characters won't display properly in the search results)
Missing meta descriptions. An optimized call to action in the meta description is often far better than the random text Google pulls on its own, although those pursuing a long tail strategy may sometimes do better by ignoring meta descriptions.
Poor internal linking, so that some pages on your site aren't linked to by any other pages
No robots.txt
No sitemap
Don't let errors like these ruin the potential of your site.
Refine your content
Analyze your existing pages. How many of them are contributing significant traffic? Among those that are bringing in significant traffic, are those users satisfied?
You need to either eliminate or fix any content that doesn't meet these standards:
The title alone is worth sharing in social networks, and begs to be clicked on.
The content lives up to the promise of the title.
The content offers data, a unique spin, and/or unique value that isn't found in any other prominent place on the web. In short, it differentiates itself completely from anything else that ranks for your target keyword(s).
I highly recommend taking advantage of Survey Monkey or some other form of market research in order to measure the value of your content and look for suggestions for improvements. Test how consumers value your content over the top-ranking pages. If they don't value your content more than the top search results, it doesn't deserve to rank, and it
Never will in the long term.
Analyze your existing pages. How many of them are contributing significant traffic? Among those that are bringing in significant traffic, are those users satisfied?
You need to either eliminate or fix any content that doesn't meet these standards:
The title alone is worth sharing in social networks, and begs to be clicked on.
The content lives up to the promise of the title.
The content offers data, a unique spin, and/or unique value that isn't found in any other prominent place on the web. In short, it differentiates itself completely from anything else that ranks for your target keyword(s).
I highly recommend taking advantage of Survey Monkey or some other form of market research in order to measure the value of your content and look for suggestions for improvements. Test how consumers value your content over the top-ranking pages. If they don't value your content more than the top search results, it doesn't deserve to rank, and it
Never will in the long term.
0 comments:
Post a Comment