By now you must have heard about the infamous Fred Algo update. If you haven’t, here’s a quick summary of pertinent facts and our recommendations.
- Name: Fred Algo Update.
- Why is is called that? : Google’s Gary Illyes, jokingly suggested that all updates be named “Fred.” from now on. The SEO community agreed and there you go.
- Who does it affect? : It is not fully agreed yet. Initially it was thought to be solely a content quality update, however it is now believed to be much wider to include both content and link profile quality along with a signal targeting sites that put monetary goals above usability and usefulness of content. An example of that is obtrusive ads.
Our recommendations:
- Ensure your content is useful and adds value to your customers. Don’t spin and weave, and support your content with facts and figures along with do-follow links to third part quality sites (yes you heard right, but only to high quality authority sites).
- Review your backlinks and disavow any that you deem unworthy. Although some believe that disavowing is no longer necessary with Google’s Penguin 4.0 update; we still feel there is value in disavowing low quality links.
- Ensure that your site design and ad placements are not obtrusive to your site users. Litmus test: Will you get annoyed and confused if you visited your own site? If answer is yes, it’s time to reevaluate your UX and monetization strategies.
That’s it folks if you have any questions do ask us in the comments below.
Note to our clients: This will be discussed with you in much more detail during our monthly recap meetings.
