Should I Wait Until the "Dust Settles" on the Algorithm Update or Get Busy Now?
-
We were hit hard on both of our sites yesterday and can't afford to wait for the dust to settle, as some folks are advising. We have been attempting to work off a penalty on one of our sites by undergoing a massive (and expensive) link removal project over the last four months. We are on our third reconsideration request and, hopefully, this last round of link removal will have done the job. I'm hesitant to go in and "de-optmize" the site by changing title tags and changing the anchor text until the penalty is removed, but I'm not sure if that's the right plan of action. I am, however, going to dig into the non-penalized site and change some title tags and anchor text.
Any thoughts on this strategy would be greatly appreciated.
-
Thanks, Peter. I appreciate your feedback. We are going to move slowly until we get a response (or not) to our reconsideration request.
-
I'd echo Rand but will just add this. You've got two factors here:
(1) On the one hand, the "Penguin" update hit hard and it isn't going to go away, I expect. Google may make minor adjustments, but these could happen over weeks and months and the philosophy is here to stay. Keep in mind that we're over a year into Panda update snow. So, absolutely don't wait for the dust to settle.
(2) On the other hand, you're dealing with an existing penalty, and you do need to resolve that. Don't panic, in other words. Act decisively, but follow through on solving the current problem.
If you go changing things site-wide, like titles/URLs, it's going to be hard to get a clean read of the data. If you can, tackle the worst culprits proactively (a spammy home-page title, for example). Tackle anything that's obviously a win - dupe content is a great example - you know it isn't helping you. From a link-building perspective, diversify and show a positive forward path.
-
Cool - glad to hear you're having a positive experience. I think waiting until you hear from Google is a wise decision, too.
-
Rand, I appreciate your feedback. We have been doing this for 9 years, thought we were doing a fairly decent job of building a brand (until we took a hit) and plan to continue for the long term, so I think your advice on building the new site(s) is a good one.
Once Google responds (or doesn't) to our latest request, we'll make that decision. By the way, we have been using an SEOMoz-referred company to help us with link-removal and, despite Google's refusal to budge after a huge number of links have been removed, I think they're doing a very good job. I know what they're up against, so I'm hoping to be able to give them rave reviews once this is done.
-
Richard - this is just my personal opinion, and it's not based on a ton of recent experience (I haven't had sites banned/penalized by Google in a very long time now). However, my feeling is that if you've been hit by this update, it's a great catalyst for immediate change. I'd be thinking about all of the following:
- Is now the time to start a new site that's exclusively white hat?
- Can I salvage this site and what's involved in that?
- How do I get rid of the bad links?
- How do I explain all the things I've done to Google (through reconsideration) and are they likely to let me back in?
Obviously, it depends on your long/short term goals, why you're doing web marketing in the first place, what you want to accomplish in the next few years, etc. If you're in the short-term, make money on the web fast with as little effort as possible and don't want to build a brand, then it's a question of whether 301'ing the domain to a new one and trying some tactics Google's not-yet-devalued is better than trying reconsideration and removal of bad links.
If you're thinking long term and brand building and want to put in sweat equity now that might take years to pay off, I'd be thinking around the new domain vs. trying to salvage this one (or two).
Wish you luck whatever you choose!
-
Try to generate more natural looking links. Diversify your anchor text portfolio so it looks natural and continue with your link building efforts. Do it in a way like your grandma will do it. With or without www, capital letters in the domainname, same anchor texts to different urls, use as much reasonable permutations as possible when generating the anchor texts. Bring good quality links, links from PR, links from guest blogging, post even more unique and genuine content. That will pay off. You can become more focused once the "dust settles". If you wait you will be definitely losing time and you will still start at the same point where you are now.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
I'm hearing rumours of a Braod Core update
I'm hearing the jungle drums banging away about a broad core update this week. Anyone else heard this? Usually its retrospective and an oh my I've dropped/gained but I don't usually hear about it beforehand. Anyone else heard this?
Algorithm Updates | | Libra_Photographic0 -
Google's Better Ads Chrome update: will it affect email pop-ups?
Chrome will be blocking ads on websites that are not compliant with the Better Ads standards as of Feb 15. Could not find any clues whether a pop-up (not an ad) asking for your email is included in this? We currently have a pop-up that appears on exit intent only (which is not penalized). Any ideas?
Algorithm Updates | | ati10 -
Meta robots at every page rather than using robots.txt for blocking crawlers? How they'll get indexed if we block crawlers?
Hi all, The suggestion to use meta robots tag rather than robots.txt file is to make sure the pages do not get indexed if their hyperlinks are available anywhere on the internet. I don't understand how the pages will be indexed if the entire site is blocked? Even though there are page links are available, will Google really index those pages? One of our site got blocked from robots file but internal links are available on internet for years which are not been indexed. So technically robots.txt file is quite enough right? Please clarify and guide me if I'm wrong. Thanks
Algorithm Updates | | vtmoz0 -
Does my website need the SSL Cert / HTTPS Update?
So, I own a car shipping company called Car Shipping Carriers ( www.carshippingcarriers.com ) and I am trying to find out if I need the SSL Cert / HTTPS for the site. I attached a picture that shows I dropped a HUGE amount of rank back in the beginning of August 2014 and that the SSL/HTTPS update happened at nearly the exact same time. I do have a quote box on my website asking for: Name, Phone, Email, Origin, Destination, Move Date, Year/Make/Model of Vehicle, and Carrier Type. I was unsure if I needed the HTTPS because I am not asking for sensitive data, but it seems that I might need to bite the bullet and update the site to HTTPS. What do you all think? Any expert opinion and/or advice? JWV4N1o
Algorithm Updates | | Dutko23850 -
How to get Yahoo visitors to my site
I get great traffic from Google but Yahoo is at about a 20 to 1 ratio on visitors. Is there anything I should do to increase Yahoo traffic? I bought a Yahoo Directory listing about 3 months ago but it did no good. Thanks, Boo
Algorithm Updates | | Boodreaux0 -
Does the Search Algorithm vary considerably locally?
Hey, i am from india and I just noticed that most of our searches are extremely different to those from the gooogle.com searches. Not some searches. I mean entire layouts. For instance, there were no google places in the search results in India. There was hardly any integration with the G+ for a long time after it launched, even though a large population on G+ was Indian. I got thinking on these lines. Any pointers?
Algorithm Updates | | rahul.bitmesra0 -
Any Google Panda/Penguin, etc updates late October 2012?
Not sure why my website traffic is dropping down late Oct 12. It showed a boost with the last Panda update in early Oct. Anyone know of a current update?
Algorithm Updates | | ChrisTS0 -
Algorithm Question
Hello, I'm trying to figure out why my site and a competitors site literally trade places in the SERPS every week? My site has a boatload of content with an active blog with a lot of links versus a competitor that has virtually no links, limited content, 404 errors on the site. The links I have are all natural links with the exception of directories like JoeAnt. The only thing their site has is Domain Age where as mines is 4 months old. Any insight?
Algorithm Updates | | bronxpad0