Google's Quality Update Shakes the Search Results

It's moved beyond chatter to factual data - starting on April 29th there was a significant shift in Google's algorithm. Some site owners came out to publicly report dramatic traffic shifts as much as 60%. After a brief period of speculation, Google did come out to say that this was a "Google core search quality update" rather than a Web Spam Update.

After researching the data many are looking at the following site issues as the cause for a drop:

• 'How to' Content that is now served directly within the search results.
• Tag Pages, like this one.
• Thin Click Bait Content.
• Hard to Navigate Sites.
• Ad Heavy Pages.
• Pages with Stacked Videos.
• Excessive Popups.

Popular 'How to' site Hubpages took a big hit losing 22% of its site wide traffic within one week. While, sites like Instructables, Wikipedia and Quora actually got boosts from this. The dramatic hit to Hubpages' site has caused those in charge of their Internet Marketing to feel very unsure of the site's future. A feeling that many businesses have shared after years of enduring ruthless and sudden changes by Google.

The good news that as long as Google is making changes, you as an SEO, have the power to provide businesses with the guidance needed to not only survive but also thrive within organic search.

If you're working on a site that took a hit in the beginning of May then we recommend the following:

• Content Audit: Look over your pages with a critical eye for the content you're providing to users. If it's something we would consider Thin then it's time to budget the time and energy into cleaning it up and providing real resources. Feeling stuck when it comes to content creation? Check out this article to get solid strategies and