Surprise! Google Algorithm Updates Are Shaking Things Up.

Whenever Google rolls out with a core update to its search algorithm, it’s usually a big deal for businesses, institutions, and digital marketers alike. As per usual, however, mum’s the word regarding a recent update to their search algorithm or how it might ultimately affect search engine optimization (SEO).

Usually, that’s for us catalysts to find out.

Our McAllen digital marketers at Cobalt Digital Marketing have put their heads together, using expert Google skills, a little elbow grease, and some good, old fashioned SEO know-how to find any insight on this sudden update. Staying on top of the SEO game is so important to your ranking on Google’s search engine results page (SERP) to prevent catastrophic consequences to your web presence and, ultimately, your business’ bottom line.

Unofficially Dubbed the “Turkey” Update

For the better part of the last month, what started as a few whispers of an “unconfirmed November update” within dark corners of SEO forums eventually turned into a tweetstorm of discussion within the SEO community.

Many marketers, web developers, and business owners noticed unusual shifts when their traffic numbers took a drastic drop in ranking and expressed their concerns. Within these observations, this update only seemed to affect smaller U.S. based websites, and the ones that took a significant hit revolved around the food, travel, health, and lifestyle blogs respectively.

As for Google themselves, it took them a few days to officially put out a statement via Twitter thread. While they did not specify what changes were made to their algorithm, they simply stated that these kinds of “routine” updates happen on a regular basis–which of course they do–and that if there is no major announcement prior, website owners should not have to prepare for anything in terms of adjustments.

Google’s Recommendations For SEO 

As mentioned, any update Google makes is a big deal, especially if it’s in distributed as a curveball.

Since three out of four Google users do not go past the first results page when looking for a specific topic or service, local businesses and institutions heavily depend on digital marketers and SEO experts to place their website on the first search engine results page (SERP).

With that said, Google has previously panned out a number of suggestions for SEO specialists and website owners if their pages were affected at any given point due to an update:

1. Original, Accurate, and Relevant Content Is Key – One of the main things Google has emphasized to its users is to ultimately focus more on creating the most relevant, accurate, and original content that best pertains to what the user is looking for, rather than just focusing on keywords.

While keywords are important, however, your webpage should also focus on precision and consistency with the information being distributed. Users expect to find credible content when they search, so ultimately running a trustworthy and reliable page would, over time, benefits your business, raising you to the top of the SERP as more people visit your website and trusts you as an authority in your particular niche.

2. Optimize, Optimize, Optimize – As mobile technology grows in popularity, it is absolutely necessary for digital marketing to adapt. This means keeping page load times short (often by compressing images), optimizing your site to be mobile-friendly (able to be viewed and formatted for smartphone or tablet users), and giving your content that sleek visual while addressing the walls of text.

3. Compare With the Competition – While nobody likes to think about what their competitors are doing, analyzing the successes and failures can give you crucial insight necessary to implement a digital marketing strategy that can work, giving you a better edge in building revenue for your business.

The Cobalt Formulaᵀᴹ Means Adaptability in a Volatile Environment

Our McAllen digital marketers of Cobalt Digital Marketing are always one step ahead of the game as we are always constantly watching out for curveballs that might be thrown at the SEO community.

Our dedicated catalysts strive to build lasting brands from the ground up, designed to ultimately increase your online audience engagement and sales through our successfully proven and award-winning Cobalt Formulaᵀᴹ.

Our catalysts are renowned for their attention to SEO updates. So much so that our Cobalt Lab helps other digital marketing companies create content that complies with these SEO updates so that they retain happy clients.

Not only can we create a custom-made formula based on what your goals are for your company or business, but our new service, Cobalt Alpha, can easily help business owners, freelancers, or other creatives build a sleek, professional website all on their own with all the tools you need in a manner of seconds.

Whatever you need, Cobalt’s got you covered. Contact 

Cobalt Digital Marketing today at 956-303-6555 to see how our Cobalt Formulaᵀᴹ can benefit your business.