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Posts Tagged ‘google mayday’

If you are on an SEO contract that only gives you periodic “site refreshes” you better be checking your page stats.

In April 2010, Google changed its page ranking algorithms adding page load time as a factor in assigning rank (this change was dubbed, “Google Caffeine.”) Around the first of May, Google made another rather significant and lasting change in their algorithms for matching long-tail searches, and, to a lessor extent, head keywords (popular searches.)  Web masters have unofficially referred to the second change as “Mayday.” (View Matt Cutt’s video below.)

Do Not Wait for a Scheduled “Site Refresh” if Your Page Views Are Dropping Now

If your website is not rolling with the times (and that does not mean twice yearly refreshes,) you may be seeing your sites’ traffic drop (if you have not already suffered loss of page views and search engine visibility.)  We are not talking about “summer slump” when site traffic dips all over the internet world.  We are talking significant drops that last more than a couple of weeks.

Let me be clear:  “refreshing” your website is a good idea — but it is not SEO if it is not done often, as needed, and in targeted response to consumer web browsing trends and to changes in search engine algorithms.

Think of a site refresh of sprinkling baking soda on dirty laundry once or twice a year.  It does not get your clothes clean, it does not make them wearable;  it only temporarily covers the smell to give the appearance of clean.  Real SEO cannot be done on a calendar; it is labor intensive and requires knowledge of how search engines work — and a keen research-based understanding of how and what keywords people are searching for at any given time.

Most Websites Get the Majority of Their Total Traffic From Long-Tail Searches

It’s true.  We all go after those hot “mylocation civil rights attorney” type keywords for our clients, but that is not where the bulk of your traffic will come from — even if you are number one on Google for popular keywords.  More people, when similar terms are combined, use long-tails than short-tails.  And, if your site is no longer in sync with Google, you could lose a significant amount of traffic if your long-tail search presence in search engines drops.

We strongly advise you to check your page views – if they seem to be unusually low, call your SEO/SEM company and ask them why.

As web development professionals, we have no control over how and when search engines make changes that affect our clients.  But we do have a responsibility to immediately inform clients (which, by the way we, did) of changes and how their sites could be affected — and what we plan to do about it for them.

If your SEO company has told you there is nothing they can do about changes in your sites’ performance, “it’s a Google thing,” then you need to fire your web marketing company.  People hire SEO / SEM companies because it is a Google thing.  You hire us because we are supposed to know what to do about it.

Related: Google Caffeine: FAQS About Changes in Google’s Page Rank Algorithms and How it Affects our Clients

Most attorneys do not use technology to auto generate content – but some SEO companies that attorneys use might.   In case you, or your web development company is using technology to create a lot of auto-generated content (vs. a warm bodied content writer) I thought we should mention “Google Mayday” one more time.

Google “Mayday” changes are affecting sites that use a lot of automatically generated pages to generate content.  We are not talking about WordPress and CMS that generate archives and other pseudo pages (although there are ways that those are also SEO issues that should be addressed, “Mayday” notwithstanding.”)  We are talking about lazy folks using technology to cheat search engines into thinking a real person is at the helm.

Why Google Mayday? Sadly, Google once again has had to make changes in response to site owners who use technology to create spammy websites in hopes of getting rich off paid ads, in ways that also impacts  legitimate website owners.  Google’s intent is to protect their consumers, that is, information seekers.  That is a good thing for them, but for website owners it can mean a lot of headaches.  Do not get mad at Google;  get mad at the internet abusers who still refuse to play nice and mess up the world for the rest of us serious business folk.  Remember, we lost meta keywords because of spammers, too.

Related Articles: Google Mayday: Why your annual contracted site refresh is not enough