It’s common for websites to experience a drop in CTR, traffic, or rankings when Google rolls out major updates. The effect may be temporary for many websites.
If the performance drop is small, lasts only for a few days, and starts recovering, there may not be a reason to worry immediately. However, if the decline continues day by day and does not show signs of recovery, it is time to take a serious look at your SEO strategy and work on the areas that may be affecting your website performance.
Here are some effective ways to review and improve your SEO strategy after a Google Spam Update:
Evaluate the Search Trend
Examine the content clusters and topics published on each page of the website carefully, from service pages to blogs, to understand the topics and search areas you are covering.
Cross-check these with the search queries driving traffic to the website in Google Search Console, along with the performance of individual pages over the past few months. This can help you understand whether the information you have published is still matching the search trends and user requirements.
If you identify gaps or outdated topics, update your content clusters accordingly.
Explore the Intent of the Content Published
The next step is to identify how effectively your content satisfies search intent.
Analyse the performance of individual pages and the search queries bringing users to them. Further, list the possible user queries under the respective topic and check whether those queries are being answered directly.
Also, check whether the answers are available on the relevant landing page. Users may otherwise have to visit different pages covering similar queries, while Google may show different pages based on the combination of words used in the search query, page content, titles and other relevant signals.
If users are finding it difficult to get the information they are looking for, improve the content and page structure accordingly.
Review Content That Closely Matches Competitors
Even if you do not copy and paste content from competitors, it is possible for pages to contain very similar information, especially when covering common topics.
Standard terminology used in an industry is expected. However, the language, structure and overall presentation can sometimes become too similar, particularly when the same content writer develops similar content repeatedly or relies heavily on references from other websites without incorporating sufficient insights from the brand.
Instead, improve the content by incorporating brand-specific experiences, examples, expertise and insights to make it more original and connected to the business.
Avoid Publishing Completely AI-Generated Content
It is easy to publish a large amount of content with the help of AI tools. However, simply producing content at scale using AI without adding original value, expertise or useful insights can create quality concerns.
If your website has content that was created primarily through AI without sufficient human review, expertise or brand-specific information, review and improve it rather than simply publishing it as it is.
Using AI tools to improve the efficiency of human-written content, identify gaps, organise information or add useful insights is different from publishing content entirely generated by AI without meaningful human input.
Look at the Backlink Sources and Activity
Another important area to review after a significant SEO performance drop is the website’s backlink profile.
Acquiring backlinks from irrelevant, spammy or potentially harmful websites can create concerns around the overall quality of a link profile. Explore your website backlinks, source relevance, website quality and the activities involved in acquiring those links.
Focus on relevant and genuine link-building opportunities through manual outreach, industry relationships, useful resources and brand mentions. This can help build the website’s overall authority, credibility and trust over time.
Looking for SEO Services to Improve Your Website Performance?
If your website has experienced a significant performance drop following a Google update, reviewing the existing SEO strategy before making major changes can help identify the areas that need improvement.
Contact GEOReach now.
0 Comments