Another month, another Google broad core update. Or at least that’s how it feels to business owners who are scrambling to keep up with their SEO and marketing content.
On August 1, Google rolled out its latest broad core update (the last one was in March). Unlike past updates, this one didn’t come with a catchy name like Penguin or Panda, but that doesn’t make it any less important! In fact, the impact of this update has been significant.
It’s still early, but from what we’ve seen, this update has impacted local ranking factors and organic search rankings. In fact, many businesses first became aware of the broad core update when they noticed a sudden drop in search traffic.
There’s no need to panic if you’ve experienced a decrease in traffic. But you might need to make some adjustments to your SEO strategy to keep up with the latest changes.
Search rankings are a zero-sum game. So if one site is dropping off of page one, then someone else has taken that spot. You can make the most of this Google update by understanding what kind of content Google rewards with higher rankings.
All You Can E-A-T Authority Sites
The August update seems to primarily affect E-A-T content. Not current on your Google acronyms? Google is talking about content’s need for:
Expertise
Authoritativeness
Trustworthiness
It’s not exactly breaking news that expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness are big factors in Google rankings. Google values these because they want to protect their users from getting questionable (and potentially dangerous) advice.
That means that non-authoritative sites rank below more authoritative ones. And Google will especially enforce this for more sensitive and impactful content.
So if you’re a fashion blogger, it’s ok to have a layperson’s opinions on the latest fall trends. But for medical, legal, and financial sites, Google will be looking for indicators of expertise and trust.
In fact, this update affected the health, medical, and diet industries so greatly that some SEO experts are now referring to the August core update as “Google Medic.”
But just because Google expects “expert” content doesn’t mean you have to hire a doctor to write your Keto recipes or a CPA to share budgeting tips for college students. Here’s what you can do to boost your E-A-T:
Build Trust
Customers buy when they trust the site they’re on. And Google wants your customers to trust your content. You can shortcut trust development by including important trust markers on your site:
– A modern site design that’s mobile friendly
– An easy-to-find About page and Contact page
– Content that’s relevant to a user’s search query and doesn’t make outlandish claims
– Security badges, privacy policies, and HTTPS
Expertise Markers
Reputation matters to both Google and online audiences. Don’t leave your site visitors guessing as to why they should listen to what you have to say. Make sure your website contains credibility markers:
– Display testimonials or client logos
– Earn links from high-authority sites
– Develop a content marketing strategy that showcases your expertise (not just the products or services you sell)
SEO Audit
Of course, your Google rankings aren’t all about feel-good content. The technical side of SEO matters, too. If you were hit by “Google Medic,” now’s the right time to perform a SEO Audit. If you find a lot of pages with thin content, those can easily be improved.
YMYL and Your Business
The diet and medical industries weren’t the only ones hit hard in August. Any site with YMYL content will likely feel the effects of the broad core update.
YMYL content is any page that asks the user for “Your Money or Your Life.” Now, I imagine you can’t think of many pages asking for a customer’s life, but Google here is looking for any content that could greatly affect a user’s life. Per Google, YMYL pages may come in the form of1:
– Shopping or financial transaction pages (such as online stores and online banking pages)
– Financial information pages (any content offering advice about taxes, investments, insurance, etc.)
– Medical information pages
– Legal information pages
– Other sensitive content regarding safety information, child adoption, government news, natural disasters, etc.
Google expects YMYL pages to be safe for their users. As such, these types of pages must meet the highest standards for quality. If you’re going to focus your E-A-T efforts on any one portion of your site, it should be on YMYL pages.
The Google Broad Core Update and Local Business SEO
Local business search traffic was not excluded from this robust algorithm update. It seems that the August update affected both the organic and local ranking algorithms.
Many local businesses are still feeling the effects of Google’s decision to scrap anonymous Google reviews back in May. But this latest algorithm update could potentially have a positive impact on select local businesses.
From early analysis, it seems that many local businesses moved up in rankings while multi-location websites took a hit. It also seems likely that local pages with questionable YMYL content will also experience a decrease in local and organic traffic.
For any local businesses trying to stay ahead of the curve, you’ll want to make sure your local listings are fully optimized. If you have a multi-location business and some of your locations have no reviews, you’ll want to start a review acquisition plan.
Take Action to Restore Your Rank
Even if you’ve experienced significant losses due to this broad core update, don’t lose hope. Google will continue to evolve, and businesses must remain adaptable.
Of course, when you’ve got an overwhelmed marketing department, it can feel impossible to keep up with each algorithm update. If you need a little help, let the experts at National Positions assist you.
We can optimize your local search results or help your company with a technical SEO audit. We’ll help you develop a strategy that can recover your lost traffic or simply help you stay prepared for future updates.
