Examine the technical foundation of your website:
- Site map - Do you have the most up-to-date sitemap in Google
Search Console? If not, resubmit.
- 404 errors - These can have a negative impact on your rankings
and can result in a poor user experience for users that land on
these pages, resulting in higher bounce rates.
- Site speed analysis - How does your site score in Google's PageSpeed Insights tool? Google has confirmed that page speed is a ranking factor
for mobile search, not to mention its impact on user
experience, which Google also takes into account.
- Robots.txt file - Ensure that this is configured properly so
search engines can crawl your site efficiently and index
everything properly.
- Backlink audit - Ensure there are no spammy websites linking to
your own. If your agency finds some, be sure they disavow them
promptly so as to disassociate your website in Google's eyes. If your website took a very hard hit, this is the most likely cause. I would suggest talking with an expert SEO agency to solve this problem and not try to fix it yourself. If done incorrectly there can be major consequences.
- Missing metas - SEO tools like Screaming Frog can tell you in
one fell swoop how many metas and critical on-site SEO elements
the site may be missing, helping you come up with a plan for
remedying the drop in rankings.
Examine the quality of the content on your website and ask yourself
the following questions:
- Is your content Educational in nature, not focusing on
acquiring customers but focusing on increasing their knowledge
pool?
- Is your content Authoritative in nature, written by authorities
in the space who ideally are credentialized? Credentials go a
long way here, if applicable. If not, positive reviews can help
build that authority.
- Is your content Trustworthy, clearly conveyed by an expert in
the field? Especially in the eCommerce SEO realm, your website
should scream trust.
- E-A-T: Is my content built to add value to the life of my end
user?
Focus on Existing Pages First
The existing content on the site is what Google has already indexed you
for, and if it's missing any important metas or on-page optimizations,
these should be the first issues that are addressed, as they will have the
most immediate impact on your rankings. These include, but are not limited
to (listed in order of importance):
- Page Title
- H1
- Other subheads
- On-page content
- Image alt tags
- Meta descriptions (impacts SERP CTR, which can impact rankings)
- Internal links / anchor text
Create an SEO Content Plan
In order to build expertise, authority and trustworthiness (E-A-T), it's
critical that you construct a robust content plan that is going to drive
inbound traffic to the site and educate your user base for years to come.
An information or resource center, complete with an FAQ, embedded YouTube
videos, and articles / blog posts, is a great starting point and should be
continually expanded with high-value content. This will also present you
with ripe opportunities to build up your internal link structure,
hyperlinking keyword-rich anchor text to relevant pages to both improve the
user experience and build more authority in Google's eyes.
The old adage ("old" from a digital marketing perspective) is "Content is
King." It was true ten years ago. It's true today. And I can assure you it
will be true ten years from now. Sure there are other elements you have to
take into account, but if this concept is at the core of your digital
marketing strategy, it will be difficult for any Google algorithm update to
waylay you for long.
At the end of the day, an organization's website has to provide value to
the end user; so don't focus on Google, focus on the user. If users find
value in your content, they will continue to come back, traffic your pages,
and ultimately convert to become a valued customer.
Google's algorithm changes may temporarily set back websites that have been
doing this well, but it's critical that you keep fighting the good fight,
stay up to date with the latest algorithm updates, and have the right
marketing agency on your side to help you through the tough times.
