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Navigating Google Updates: Your Guide During Rollouts
Navigating Google Updates: Your Guide During Rollouts
Discover how to calmly navigate fluctuations, stay informed, and engage with the community for valuable insights, ensuring your website thrives the update.
21st Mar 24 | 4 mins read
By Sannidhi
As Google rolls out another update, a wave of anxiety often sweeps over most of website owners and SEO professionals. But why view these updates with dread? I see them as opportunities for quality content to shine and for the web to purge itself of the unworthy. Google updates are not harbingers of doom but opportunities of excellence, pushing high-quality content to the forefront. This guide is your companion through the turbulence, helping you navigate with grace and emerge stronger on the other side.
This blog doesn't focus on the repercussions of a Google update; instead, it provides guidance on how to navigate the period "during" an update's rollout.
Contents
Contents
Embrace the Wave: Staying Calm Amidst Fluctuations
The Virtue of Patience: A Waiting Game
Hold Your Fire: Premature Fixes Can Backfire
Keep a Watchful Eye: Monitoring with Precision
Community Wisdom: Sharing the Voyage
Post-Update Horizons: Analysis and Action
1. Embrace the Wave: Staying Calm Amidst Fluctuations
1. Embrace the Wave: Staying Calm Amidst Fluctuations
Feeling the tremors of a Google update? First rule: don't panic. Social media might be buzzing with tales of ranking fluctuations, but remember, this is normal and anticipated. Google itself suggests that fluctuations are a natural part of the process (see above image), as the algorithms recalibrate and reassess web page value. Patience is your ally in these times. Understand that this is just the algorithm at work, doing its job to prioritize quality and relevance. Refer to a comprehensive guide for successful SEO blog to improve quality and relevance.
2. The Virtue of Patience: A Waiting Game
2. The Virtue of Patience: A Waiting Game
Google's updates roll out gradually over several weeks. Rushing to conclusions or making hasty changes can be counterproductive in this period. Instead, closely monitor official channels like Google Search Central on Twitter and the Google Search Status Dashboard for real-time updates and confirmations of completion. This period is a test of patience but also a time for observation and learning, offering invaluable insights into the workings of search algorithms.
3. Hold Your Fire: Premature Fixes Can Backfire
3. Hold Your Fire: Premature Fixes Can Backfire
Diving into troubleshooting without a clear understanding of the update's complete impact is like navigating a ship in a storm without a compass. Initial fluctuations are often temporary and may reverse once the update fully rolls out. Use this time to gather data and observe trends, but resist the urge to make knee-jerk reactions to every rise and dip. This restraint will serve you well, preserving your resources for more strategic adjustments post-update.
4. Keep a Watchful Eye: Monitoring with Precision
4. Keep a Watchful Eye: Monitoring with Precision
Tools like Google Search Console (GSC) and Google Analytics (GA) become your eyes and ears, offering real-time insights into your site's performance amidst the update. Watch for significant shifts, but maintain a strategic distance from immediate action. This data will be your guide when the seas calm, and it's time to steer your strategy with precision.
5. Community Wisdom: Sharing the Voyage
5. Community Wisdom: Sharing the Voyage
You're not sailing these waters alone. SEO forums and online communities buzz with shared experiences, tips, and strategies from fellow navigators of the update. Engage with these communities to exchange insights and strategies. This collective wisdom can light your way through the fog, offering solace and solutions in equal measure.
6. Post-Update Horizons: Analysis and Action
6. Post-Update Horizons: Analysis and Action
Once the storm passes and Google signals the all-clear, it's time to assess and act. Congratulations if your website's pages experience an increase in rankings and visibility! If the results are less than favorable, view this as a prime opportunity for refinement and growth. Each update has its nuances, and understanding these is key to effective troubleshooting.
Don't rush to action without grasping the update's nature and objectives. Whether it's enhancing content quality in response to a Helpful Content Update, bolstering E-E-A-T principles after a Core Update, eliminating spammy content following a Spam Update, or addressing other challenges (Tips to avoid common SEO mistakes) presented by the update, your actions should be informed and deliberate.
Look out for manual actions and security issues in GSC. Google may also provide a feedback form for individuals to report instances where their sites were incorrectly affected by the update. Stay tuned to their Twitter account for any such announcements.
Summary
Summary
Google's updates are not obstacles but opportunities for improvement, designed to elevate the quality of content across the web. If your site is built on the solid foundation of useful, high-quality content, these updates should hold no fear. Patience and strategic action, guided by informed observation and community engagement, are your best tools for navigating updates. Remember, while you can't control when or how Google updates its algorithm, following best practices for SEO and focusing on providing the best possible experience for your users will always guide you through the storm.
May the rankings be with you.
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