June Google SEO Update, Dust Has Settled And It Could Have Been Worse
Each time there is a Google SEO Update, expecially major ones, my emotion will be take on a roller coaster ride.
The latest update, which saw Daily Mail UK losing 50% of search traffic, was huge. OK, huge is an understatement.
It's like Thanos snapping his finger.
Anyway, my traffic took a nose dive of more than 30% overnight. And a series of first page articles are pushed to 2nd or further down.
Some are totally de-indexed.
But with the previous Google Broadcare Update in March still fresh, and the strategies I've implemented, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my site will survive this.
Google took 5 days to fully roll out the new ranking algorithm and the chaos ended on 8th of June.
Here are my observations as the dust settled.
- - Most of my money-making articles climbed back to page 1.
- - Traffic is almost back to normal.
- - Sudden increase in traffic of a long-dormant article.
- - Generally, traffic is still 10-20% below the level of pre-update.
Phew...
It could have been worse. But I think my site survived with minor bruises. These two updates gave a very clear picture of what or where Google is heading.
Two buzzwords surrounding these updates are E.A.T and YMYL.
About YMYL
YMYL means Your Money Your Life. It meas websites that deal with information that may affect your health and wealth. Google is increasingly strict on sites like these and the past 2 updates has seen major shakeups in these niches.
What Is E.A.T?
E.A.T is Expertise, Authority and Trustworthiness.
While keyword research is important, the factor of E-A-T is getting more crucial in today's Google SEO.
If you write about helping people to get rich, Google will be looking for indicators related to E-A-T. Is it written by an expert? How can that be verified?
Having an author byline that says ' John Doe is a financial advisor in such a place' is not enough. Have links to your LinkedIn profile, or publications that you're involved with.
I've seen Review-Based websites ranking on top of mine, because they have a list of medical experts as authors, and with links to their LinkedIn profiles.
But what if you're not a 'certified expert' in your niche?
You'll need to cite more on your experience relating to the topic that you're writing. In Google's point of view, your personal experience has HIGH trustworthiness and may offset for the lack of Authority.
It's Time To Revise Your ABOUT PAGE
No one know when the next Google Update will happen. But judging by recent updates, it's clear Google is all about providing relevant search results.
It needs to know who's behind the contents and having an elaborate About Page helps. If you followed Kyle's training, you would have a rather solid About Page. It should tell people who you are, and how you're related to what you're writing.
What you need to add on are links to your credentials and publications.
One of my to-do list is to guest post on authority sites, not for the backlinks, but rather as an indicator that I'm an authority in the industry.
Hope this helps if you've been hit by Google update.
Cheers,
Kenny
Recent Comments
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Doesn’t this put one at a disadvantage in promoting Wealthy Affiliate when one is a student training to be an expert?
I’ve had several page one rankings in my niche website but none in my Wealthy Affiliate promoting website.
My belief is when I have 50 plus pages of quality content showing people the benefits of a great Affiliate Marketing platform combined with good SEO practices I’d become an authority site and get high rankings.
Your analysis tells me otherwise. What am I missing?
What you are missing:
1) This is a very new Google update, no one knows EXACTLY what will happen
2) You won't rank just for the number of words per post and number of posts per site anymore
3) You will now likely need to do a little more quality control on your posts, rather than just keyword research
4) As we figure out Google's new rules, you can still kill it with posts that rank and refer to your money makers
Please allow me to chip in here. A lot of people experience a drop in visitors when Google changes its algorithms. For the one I was promoting WA with I had about 2,000 clicks per month, about 80 posts. Then came the August 2018 change and my visitors dropped with hundreds a month to a low of 700. I discovered certain things Google did change and I handled accordingly and visitors started to rise again, but only slowly. Then in March this year another Google change and I am now back to 1700's, having some 120 posts.
I was told at the time that from 80 posts up my clicks would explode, following all WA training, SEO and quality content. I am now hoping for a soon "explosion". I guess my advice is to just go on, notwithstanding these Google changes, on which we have no influence anyway. Try, when you have a serious decrease in numbers, like I did, to discover what the Google change was about and take measures. By the way, this June change did not affect me up to now.
Hi Edwin,
I don't have an authority site promoting WA but I've been following Little Mama (Grace) and 50+ pages isn't enough to be in the game.
If anything, those in the MMO niche have a tougher jobs, as succesful WA members have an average of 400 articles before heading to Vegas.
That aside, it depends what type of keywords you're targeting. Personally, I believe it will take much longer time to rank for "how-to's" articles than "review".
And considering what Google is looking for and promoting MMO programs can be considered YMYL, I'll beef up my credentials.
It doesn't matter if I'm a beginner in affiliate marketing as long as I don't claim that I'm an expert.
I will also include examples of my experience, link to my profiles, guest posts, Quora, etc, to strengthen the fact that I'm an affiliate marketer.
In a sense, it's easier to state your job as an affiliate marketer as it doesn't require formal qualifications. It's tougher in the health niche as I can't claim that I'm a doctor when I'm not.
Of course, what Kyle teaches still hold true. You still need to put out high quality content that are relevant to the users.
Each time I'm thinking about a content, I ask if what I've written answers the query of my readers thoroughly.
Some of my articles have regained their ranking and are now above authority sites like HealthLine and WebMD. So, I'm not worry about beginner vs expert part.
Just my 5 cents. :)
I agree about quality control. This update is a wake up call for me too. I've been taking off shallow contents, especially those that I've written as a total newbie.
Kenny,
Thanks for taking the time to provide me with a thorough response. It definitely put what I am doing into perspective. Clearly I need to increase my content significantly. Maybe Vegas can wait for 2021 lol.
Knowing what is involved to get 300 WA sales in a year, I better increase my niche website content in parallel. I am an authority in the use of the product I am promoting. Namely unlimited access to legal assistance from lawyers for a low monthly subscription.
You have shown me the light and how to keep my business direction in perspective.
Thanks once again.
Cheers.
Edwin
Great advice from your perspective. The take away is to keep writing quality posts often. I have a plan on how to do that.
I noticed that a lot of members find terrible opportunities to review and then throw in WA as a much better opportunity to pursue. That will be one way to do this after I complete my several post study of WA.
Then I will have something of significant weight to link to.
Cheers.
Edwin
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Thank you Kenny for this good insight.
For me whose site hasn't been indexed or ranked, it is a good pointer.
Very well appreciated.
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