…or maybe “still” hates it. In the spring of 2015, Google announced and implemented a significant search algorithm change that began to strongly favor “mobile friendly” Websites – and conversely, punish the non-mobile friendly sites. If you missed that, check out “Why Google is about to bury your Website”. Our follow-up article “Website mobile friendly? Google still hates it…” is a good companion piece. Together, the two of those do a pretty good job (if you’ll allow the pat on the back) of explaining why, if you’ve not given your Website much attention in the past three years, it’s probably not getting you much attention today.
And now Google’s at it again…
Last week, they rolled out a “core algorithm update”. Now, these are regular and often pretty minor in terms of how they affect your ranking and display in Google searches. If it’s a significant change, Google is usually clear on what the update does, and what you need to do for your Website to rank better. Not this time. Here’s Google’s statement from Twitter:
- Each day, Google usually releases one or more changes designed to improve our results… Last week, we released a broad core algorithm update. We do these routinely several times per year.
As with any update, some sites may note drops or gains. There’s nothing wrong with pages that may now perform less well. Instead, it’s that changes to our systems are benefiting pages that were previously under-rewarded.
There’s no “fix” for pages that may perform less well other than to remain focused on building great content. Over time, it may be that your content may rise relative to other pages.
So “we changed things, we’re not saying exactly what, and there’s no action you can take to change it”.
That said, we have been seeing for some time, Google search results favoring sites that are current, fast to load and locally relevant. In some cases, that “current, fast to load and locally relevant” is providing ANSWERS rather than a list of search results, like typing in a math equation into search returns the answer. Google wants to provide the accurate answer fast, or lacking that, a list of possible accurate answers fast, and for the sites that show up as possible, for those sites to load fast. Google hinted at that by commenting that “we’re experimenting with a condensed view to further speed up load time.”
We can extrapolate from that the increased need to keep your Website current (blog, content changes, media), its NAP (name, address, phone) information accurate and consistent, and that it be hosted on a platform that promises speedy delivery of your site. Sites hosted on free or low fee platforms are likely to be punished owing to slow page load speeds. For your Website to be an important tool in your overall marketing effort, it always needed regular attention. Going forward, that will only be more true -- and more necessary.
If you’re concerned about your Website’s performance, Contact us today. Whether your current site is five years old or five months old, we can help with options to improve its performance – encouraging Google to show your Website a little more love, and rank it accordingly.
