{"id":2880,"date":"2019-07-17T01:23:46","date_gmt":"2019-07-17T01:23:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/?p=2880"},"modified":"2022-03-28T13:38:32","modified_gmt":"2022-03-28T13:38:32","slug":"2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/","title":{"rendered":"Google SEO Algorithm Update Case Study"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"et_post_meta_wrapper\">\n<p class=\"entry-title\">As the <a href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/\">SEO<\/a> world develops and Google gets increasingly refined, these center quality updates will unavoidably turn out to progressively visit.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/How-to-Prepare-Your-Website-for-a-Google-Algorithm-Update-Cover2.jpg\" alt=\"How to Prepare Your Website for a Google Algorithm Update [Case Study]\" width=\"851\" height=\"431\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p>I hope that you\u2019ve never had to go through the pain of being hit by an algorithmic update.<\/p>\n<p>You wake up one morning, your traffic is decimated, and your rank tracker is littered with red arrows.<\/p>\n<p>Algorithmic penalties are not a subject I like to trivialize, that\u2019s why the case study I am about to share with you is different than most you\u2019ve read before.<\/p>\n<p>This case study is a testament of faith and hard work in light of a huge shift in the SEO landscape.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, with core algorithmic updates you can\u2019t simply change a few things and expect to get an immediate ranking recovery.<\/p>\n<p>The best you can do is prepare for the next update round.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019ve done all the right things, you experience gains as you\u2019ve never seen before.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-8020 \" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/March14update_ranked.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1881px) 100vw, 1881px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/March14update_ranked.jpg 1881w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/March14update_ranked-350x195.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/March14update_ranked-573x320.jpg 573w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/March14update_ranked-768x429.jpg 768w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/March14update_ranked-1024x572.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/March14update_ranked-30x17.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/March14update_ranked-301x168.jpg 301w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/March14update_ranked-1080x603.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/March14update_ranked-400x223.jpg 400w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/March14update_ranked-510x285.jpg 510w\" alt=\"March14update_ranked\" width=\"963\" height=\"538\" \/>Even if you\u2019ve never been hit with an algorithmic penalty, you should care about these updates.<\/p>\n<p>Doing the right things and staying one step ahead can get your site in position for huge gains during an algorithm rollout.<\/p>\n<p>So what are \u201cthe right things\u201d?\u00a0 What do you need to do to your website to set it up for these types of ranking increases when the algorithms shift?<\/p>\n<p>This case study from my agency\u00a0The Search Initiative will show you.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_82_2 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-69e8d2f2bcbfc\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-69e8d2f2bcbfc\"  aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/#The_Challenge_%E2%80%9CMedic_Algorithm%E2%80%9D_Devaluation\" >The Challenge: \u201cMedic Algorithm\u201d Devaluation<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/#What_Does_an_Algorithm_Update_Look_Like\" >What Does an Algorithm Update Look Like?<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-4' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/#Fact_1_Google_is_constantly_running_search_experiments\" >Fact #1: Google is constantly running search experiments.<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/#Fact_2_Google_releases_algorithm_improvements_every_day_and_core_updates_several_times_a_year\" >Fact #2: Google releases algorithm improvements every day and core updates several times a year!<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/#Fact_3_There_will_initially_be_more_noise_than_signal\" >Fact #3: There will initially be more noise than signal.<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/#Get_your_website_unstuck_now_How_Click_the_Omaha_SEO_link_below\" >Get your website unstuck now! How? \nClick the Omaha SEO link below!<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/#The_Question_Algorithmic_Penalty_or_Devaluation\" >The Question: Algorithmic Penalty or Devaluation?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/#How_to_Know_Youve_Been_Hit_by_an_Algo_Update\" >How to Know You\u2019ve Been Hit by an Algo Update?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/#The_Patient_Our_Clients_Site\" >The Patient: Our Client\u2019s Site<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/#Type_of_the_Site_and_Niche\" >Type of the Site and Niche<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-11\" href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/#The_Symptoms\" >The Symptoms<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-12\" href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/#How_We_Recovered_it_%E2%80%93_What_are_the_%E2%80%9Cright_things%E2%80%9D\" >How We Recovered it \u2013 What are the \u201cright things\u201d?<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-4' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-4'><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-4' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-13\" href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/#What_we_knew_then\" >What we knew then<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-14\" href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/#What_we_know_now\" >What we know now<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-15\" href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/#Quick_Fix\" >Quick Fix?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-16\" href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/#The_Tools_You_Need_for_Auditing\" >The Tools You Need for Auditing<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-4' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-17\" href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/#Google_Search_Console_The_Essential\" >Google Search Console (The Essential)<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-18\" href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/#Ahrefs_The_Ninja\" >Ahrefs (The Ninja)<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-19\" href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/#Sitebulb_New_Kid_on_the_Block\" >Sitebulb (New Kid on the Block)<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-20\" href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/#Surfer_SEO_SERP_Intelligence_007\" >Surfer SEO (SERP Intelligence 007)<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-21\" href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/#Recovery_Optimization_and_Implementation\" >Recovery, Optimization, and Implementation<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-4' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-22\" href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/#Content\" >Content<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-5' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-5'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-23\" href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/#Pruning_the_content\" >Pruning the content<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-5'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-24\" href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/#Improving_the_E-A-T_Signals\" >Improving the E-A-T Signals<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-5'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-25\" href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/#Heading_Tags\" >Heading Tags<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-5'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-26\" href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/#Content_Adjustments\" >Content Adjustments<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-5'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-27\" href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/#Page_Titles_Meta_Descriptions\" >Page Titles &amp; Meta Descriptions<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-5'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-28\" href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/#Image_size_optimization\" >Image size optimization<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-5'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-29\" href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/#Alt_Texts\" >Alt Texts<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-30\" href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/#Site_Structure_Optimization\" >Site Structure Optimization<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-5' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-5'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-31\" href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/#Internal_Link_Repair\" >Internal Link Repair<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-5'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-32\" href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/#Broken_External_Links\" >Broken External Links<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-33\" href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/#Technical_SEO\" >Technical SEO<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-34\" href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/#Page_Speed_Optimization\" >Page Speed Optimization<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-5' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-5'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-35\" href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/#Google_Index_Coverage\" >Google Index Coverage<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-5'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-36\" href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/#Structured_data\" >Structured data<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-5'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-37\" href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/#Usability\" >Usability<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-5'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-38\" href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/#Crawlability\" >Crawlability<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-5'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-39\" href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/#Reconfigure_URL_parameters_in_GSC\" >Reconfigure URL parameters in GSC<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-40\" href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/#Putting_it_into_Action\" >Putting it into Action<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-41\" href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/#The_Results_Algorithmic_Recovery\" >The Results: Algorithmic Recovery<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-42\" href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/#Summary\" >Summary<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Challenge_%E2%80%9CMedic_Algorithm%E2%80%9D_Devaluation\"><\/span><span id=\"The_Challenge_Medic_Algorithm_Devaluation\">The Challenge: \u201cMedic Algorithm\u201d Devaluation<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>I want to start this case study by taking you back to its origins.<\/p>\n<p>There was a big algorithm update on the 1st of August 2018. A lot of SEOs called it a \u201cMedic Update\u201d because it targeted a huge chunk of sites related to health and medicine.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8021\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/medic-update-ditribution.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 641px) 100vw, 641px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/medic-update-ditribution.jpg 641w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/medic-update-ditribution-350x207.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/medic-update-ditribution-540x320.jpg 540w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/medic-update-ditribution-30x18.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/medic-update-ditribution-283x168.jpg 283w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/medic-update-ditribution-400x237.jpg 400w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/medic-update-ditribution-510x302.jpg 510w\" alt=\"medic update distribution\" width=\"641\" height=\"380\" \/><\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.seroundtable.com\/google-medic-update-26177.html<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_Does_an_Algorithm_Update_Look_Like\"><\/span><span id=\"What_Does_an_Algorithm_Update_Look_Like\">What Does an Algorithm Update Look Like?<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Let\u2019s start with a few facts.<\/p>\n<h4><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Fact_1_Google_is_constantly_running_search_experiments\"><\/span><span id=\"Fact_1_Google_is_constantly_running_search_experiments\">Fact #1: Google is constantly running search experiments.<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<p>To quote Google from\u00a0their official mission page:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cIn 2018, we ran over 654,680 experiments, with trained external Search Raters and live tests, resulting in more than 3234 improvements to Search.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8022\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Google-Search-Experiments-in-2018.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 871px) 100vw, 871px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Google-Search-Experiments-in-2018.jpg 871w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Google-Search-Experiments-in-2018-350x96.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Google-Search-Experiments-in-2018-640x176.jpg 640w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Google-Search-Experiments-in-2018-768x211.jpg 768w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Google-Search-Experiments-in-2018-30x8.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Google-Search-Experiments-in-2018-332x91.jpg 332w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Google-Search-Experiments-in-2018-400x110.jpg 400w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Google-Search-Experiments-in-2018-510x140.jpg 510w\" alt=\"Google - Search Experiments in 2018\" width=\"871\" height=\"239\" \/>Here are the official numbers relating to the search experiments they ran last year:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>595,429 Search quality tests<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 this is the number of tests they have designed to run in the search engines. Some of them were only conceptual and were algorithmically proven to be ineffective, therefore these never made it to the next testing stages.<\/li>\n<li><strong>44,155 Side-by-side experiments<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 this is how many tests they have run through their Search Quality Raters. The SQR team looks at the search results of old and new algorithms side-by-side. Their main job is to assess the quality of the results received, which, in turn, evaluates the algorithm change. Some changes are reverted at this stage. Others make it through to the Live traffic experiments.<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/thesearchinitiative.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-6993 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Sched-a-call-CTA.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Sched-a-call-CTA.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Sched-a-call-CTA-350x32.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Sched-a-call-CTA-640x58.jpg 640w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Sched-a-call-CTA-768x70.jpg 768w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Sched-a-call-CTA-1024x93.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Sched-a-call-CTA-30x3.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Sched-a-call-CTA-332x30.jpg 332w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Sched-a-call-CTA-1080x98.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Sched-a-call-CTA-400x36.jpg 400w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Sched-a-call-CTA-510x46.jpg 510w\" alt=\"Sched a call-CTA\" width=\"1500\" height=\"136\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>15,096 Live traffic experiments<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 at this stage, Google is releasing the algorithm change to the public search results and assesses how the broader audience perceives them, most likely through A\/B testing. Again, there will be some rollbacks and the rest will stay in the algorithm.<\/li>\n<li><strong>3,234 Launches<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 all the changes that they rolled out.<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-8023\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/google-updates-in-2018.jpg\" alt=\"google updates in 2018\" width=\"482\" height=\"468\" \/><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Fact_2_Google_releases_algorithm_improvements_every_day_and_core_updates_several_times_a_year\"><\/span><span id=\"Fact_2_Google_releases_algorithm_improvements_every_day_and_core_updates_several_times_a_year\">Fact #2: Google releases algorithm improvements every day and core updates several times a year!<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<p>Bearing in mind everything said above, Google releases algo improvements basically every day.<\/p>\n<p>Do the math\u2026<\/p>\n<div class=\"et-box et-shadow\">\n<div class=\"et-box-content\">3,234 releases a year \/ 365 days in a year = 8.86 algo changes a day!<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>They\u2019ve also confirmed that they roll-out core quality updates several times per year:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8024\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Twitter-Google-Algo-Changes-Happen-Every-Day.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 599px) 100vw, 599px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Twitter-Google-Algo-Changes-Happen-Every-Day.jpg 599w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Twitter-Google-Algo-Changes-Happen-Every-Day-350x257.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Twitter-Google-Algo-Changes-Happen-Every-Day-436x320.jpg 436w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Twitter-Google-Algo-Changes-Happen-Every-Day-30x22.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Twitter-Google-Algo-Changes-Happen-Every-Day-229x168.jpg 229w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Twitter-Google-Algo-Changes-Happen-Every-Day-387x284.jpg 387w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Twitter-Google-Algo-Changes-Happen-Every-Day-510x375.jpg 510w\" alt=\"Twitter - Google Algo Changes Happen Every Day\" width=\"599\" height=\"440\" \/><br \/>\nWhen you suspect something is going on, you can confirm it by simply jumping over to your favorite SERP sensor to check the commotion:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-8025\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/SEMrush-Sensor.jpg\" alt=\"SEMrush Sensor\" width=\"806\" height=\"212\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.semrush.com\/sensor\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/www.semrush.com\/sensor\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>During this period, rankings typically fluctuate and eventually settle. Like in the below screenshot:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8026\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Algo-roll-out-in-our-rankings.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 891px) 100vw, 891px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Algo-roll-out-in-our-rankings.jpg 891w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Algo-roll-out-in-our-rankings-350x103.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Algo-roll-out-in-our-rankings-640x187.jpg 640w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Algo-roll-out-in-our-rankings-768x225.jpg 768w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Algo-roll-out-in-our-rankings-30x9.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Algo-roll-out-in-our-rankings-332x97.jpg 332w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Algo-roll-out-in-our-rankings-400x117.jpg 400w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Algo-roll-out-in-our-rankings-510x149.jpg 510w\" alt=\"Algo roll-out in our rankings\" width=\"891\" height=\"261\" \/><br \/>\nA lot of SEOs (myself included) believe that during the Heavy-Fluctuation Stage, Google is making adjustments to the changes they\u2019ve just rolled out.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s like while you\u2019re cooking a soup.<\/p>\n<p>First, you add all the ingredients, toss in some spices, and let it cook it for some time.<\/p>\n<p>Then you taste it and add more salt, pepper or whatever else that is needed to make it good.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, you settle with the taste you like.<\/p>\n<p>(I\u2019ve never actually cooked soup other than ramen, so hopefully, this analogy makes sense.)<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-8027\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/chef-ramsey-meme1.jpg\" alt=\"chef ramsey meme\" width=\"565\" height=\"336\" \/><\/p>\n<h4><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Fact_3_There_will_initially_be_more_noise_than_signal\"><\/span><span id=\"Fact_3_There_will_initially_be_more_noise_than_signal\">Fact #3: There will initially be more noise than signal.<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<p>Once there is an algo update, especially an officially confirmed one, many budding SEOs will kick into overdrive writing blog posts with theories of what particular changes have been made.<\/p>\n<p>Honestly, it\u2019s best to let things settle before theorizing:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-8028\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/google-search-liason-1.jpg\" alt=\"google search liason 1\" width=\"580\" height=\"468\" \/><br \/>\nOne strength we have as website owners is that there are lots of us \u2013 and the data that is collected by webmasters on forums and on Twitter is sometimes enough to give an indication of what changes you could possibly make to your sites.<\/p>\n<p>However, this is not usually the case, and when it is, it is usually difficult to tell if what the webmasters are signaling is actually correct.<\/p>\n<p>Keep an eye on those you trust to give good advice.<\/p>\n<p>That said\u2026<\/p>\n<div class=\"et-box et-shadow\">\n<div class=\"et-box-content\">At this stage, there are more rumors, urban legends and people wanting to show off \u2013 all contributing to the noise than actually any reasonable advice (signal).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>At my agency, we always gather a lot of data and evidence first, before jumping any conclusions\u2026 and you should do the same.<\/p>\n<p>Very shortly, we\u2019ll be getting to that data.<\/p>\n<table style=\"border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 100%;\">\n<table style=\"border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%; height: 144px;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr style=\"height: 109px;\">\n<td style=\"width: 990.8px; height: 109px;\">\n<h3 class=\"et_pb_module_header\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Get_your_website_unstuck_now_How_Click_the_Omaha_SEO_link_below\"><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 18pt; color: #3366ff;\">Get your website unstuck now! How?<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 18pt; color: #3366ff;\">Click the Omaha SEO link below!<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 35px;\">\n<td style=\"width: 990.8px; text-align: center; height: 35px;\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff; font-size: 18pt;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #3366ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/\">Omaha SEO<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Question_Algorithmic_Penalty_or_Devaluation\"><\/span><span id=\"The_Question_Algorithmic_Penalty_or_Devaluation\">The Question: Algorithmic Penalty or Devaluation?<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>When things go wrong for you during an algorithmic update, a lot of SEOs would call it an \u201calgorithmic penalty\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>At\u00a0The Search Initiative, we DO NOT AGREE with this definition!<\/p>\n<p><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"giphy-embed\" src=\"https:\/\/giphy.com\/embed\/26gs6vEzlpaxuYgso\" width=\"480\" height=\"269\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-lazy-loaded=\"true\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/center>In fact, what it really is, is a shift in what the search engine is doing at the core level.Put it in very simple terms:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Algorithmic Penalty\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013 invoked when you\u2019ve been doing something against Google\u2019s terms for quite some time, but it wasn\u2019t enough to trigger it until now. It\u2019s applied as a punishment.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Algorithmic Devaluation<\/strong> \u2013 usually accompanying a quality update or a broad algorithm change. Works at the core level and can occasionally influence your rankings over a longer period of time. Applied as a result of the broader shift in the quality assessment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Anyway, call it as you want \u2013 the core algo update hitting you means that Google has\u00a0<strong>devalued your site in terms of quality factors<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<table width=\"776\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"304\"><em>An algorithmic shift affecting your site should not be called a penalty. It should be viewed as a devaluation.<\/em><\/td>\n<td width=\"146\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-8029\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/TSI-logo-1.jpg\" alt=\"TSI logo 1\" width=\"196\" height=\"127\" \/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>You were not targeted, but a bunch of factors has changed and every single site not in compliance with these new factors will be devalued in the same way.<\/p>\n<p>The good thing about all this\u2026 once you identify those factors and take action on them, you\u2019ll be a great position to actually benefit from the next update.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_to_Know_Youve_Been_Hit_by_an_Algo_Update\"><\/span><span id=\"How_to_Know_Youve_Been_Hit_by_an_Algo_Update\">How to Know You\u2019ve Been Hit by an Algo Update?<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>In some cases, a sudden drop in traffic will make things obvious, such as this particular site that I would like to look at more specifically.<\/p>\n<p>But we\u2019ll get to that in a second.<\/p>\n<p>Generally speaking, if your traffic plummets from one day to the next, you should look at the algorithm monitoring tools (like the ones below), and check Facebook groups and Twitter.<\/p>\n<p>Google Algorithm Change Monitors:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>https:\/\/www.semrush.com\/sensor\/<\/li>\n<li>https:\/\/moz.com\/mozcast\/<\/li>\n<li>https:\/\/algoroo.com\/<\/li>\n<li>https:\/\/www.rankranger.com\/google-algorithm-updates<\/li>\n<li>https:\/\/cognitiveseo.com\/signals\/<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Useful Facebook Groups:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Lab<\/li>\n<li>Ahrefs Insider<\/li>\n<li>Inside Search<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Useful Twitter Accounts to Follow<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cyrus Shepard<\/li>\n<li>Glenn Gabe<\/li>\n<li>Marie Haynes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Patient_Our_Clients_Site\"><\/span><span id=\"The_Patient_Our_Clients_Site\">The Patient: Our Client\u2019s Site<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The client came on board as a reaction to how they were affected by the August update.<\/p>\n<p>They joined TSI towards the end of October.<\/p>\n<p>This was\u00a0<strong>the \u2018August 2018 Update\u2019<\/strong>\u00a0we were talking about \u2013 and still no one is 100% certain of the specifics of it.<\/p>\n<p>However, we have some strong observations. ?<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Type_of_the_Site_and_Niche\"><\/span><span id=\"Type_of_the_Site_and_Niche\">Type of the Site and Niche<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Now, let\u2019s meet our patient.<\/p>\n<p>The website is an authority-sized affiliate site with around 700 pages indexed.<\/p>\n<p>Its niche is based around health, diet and weight loss supplements.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Symptoms\"><\/span><span id=\"The_Symptoms\">The Symptoms<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>As the industry was still bickering, there were no obvious \u2018quick fixes\u2019 to this problem.<\/p>\n<p>In truth, there likely will never again ever be any \u2018quick fixes\u2019 for broad algo updates.<\/p>\n<p>All we had to work with was this:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8030\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Symptoms-July-vs-August-drop.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 936px) 100vw, 936px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Symptoms-July-vs-August-drop.jpg 936w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Symptoms-July-vs-August-drop-350x305.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Symptoms-July-vs-August-drop-367x320.jpg 367w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Symptoms-July-vs-August-drop-768x670.jpg 768w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Symptoms-July-vs-August-drop-688x600.jpg 688w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Symptoms-July-vs-August-drop-30x26.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Symptoms-July-vs-August-drop-193x168.jpg 193w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Symptoms-July-vs-August-drop-774x675.jpg 774w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Symptoms-July-vs-August-drop-326x284.jpg 326w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Symptoms-July-vs-August-drop-438x382.jpg 438w\" alt=\"Symptoms - July vs August drop\" width=\"936\" height=\"816\" \/><br \/>\nYou can see that in this particular case, the number of users visiting the site dropped by 45% in July-August.<\/p>\n<div class=\"et-box et-shadow\">\n<div class=\"et-box-content\">I will rephrase myself: Half of the traffic gone in a week.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>If we look at October, when we\u2019re running all our analyses and creating the action plan, the organic traffic looks even more pessimistic:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8031\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Symptoms-October-drop.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 944px) 100vw, 944px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Symptoms-October-drop.jpg 944w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Symptoms-October-drop-350x183.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Symptoms-October-drop-613x320.jpg 613w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Symptoms-October-drop-768x401.jpg 768w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Symptoms-October-drop-30x16.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Symptoms-October-drop-322x168.jpg 322w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Symptoms-October-drop-400x209.jpg 400w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Symptoms-October-drop-510x266.jpg 510w\" alt=\"Symptoms - October drop\" width=\"944\" height=\"493\" \/><\/p>\n<p>With the niche, site and timeline evidence, we could easily conclude what follows:<\/p>\n<p><strong>100% Match with The \u201cMedic\u201d Update<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_We_Recovered_it_%E2%80%93_What_are_the_%E2%80%9Cright_things%E2%80%9D\"><\/span><span id=\"How_We_Recovered_it_8211_What_are_the_right_things\">How We Recovered it \u2013 What are the \u201cright things\u201d?<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>To contextualize our decision making on this project, this is a rundown of what we know and what we knew then:<\/p>\n<h4><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_we_knew_then\"><\/span><span id=\"What_we_knew_then\">What we knew then<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>It seemed as many of the affected sites were in the health and medical niches (hence, the \u201cMedic\u201d update).<\/li>\n<li>Sites across the web have experienced a severe downturn in rankings.<\/li>\n<li>Rankings were affected from page one down. (This was surprising \u2013 most of the previous updates had less of an impact on page 1.)<\/li>\n<li>A lot of big sites with enormous authority and very high-quality have also been devalued. We had speculated that this would suggest a mistake on Google\u2019s part\u2026<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_we_know_now\"><\/span><span id=\"What_we_know_now\">What we know now<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>\u2018The August Update\u2019 affected sites from a variety of niches.<\/li>\n<li>The effects of this were particularly potent for sites in the broad health niche with subpar authority and trust signals.<\/li>\n<li>This change has been considered by some as a deliberate step towards the philosophical vision Google had been laying out since the first mention of YMYL in 2013.<\/li>\n<li>The update accidentally coincided with an update of\u00a0Google\u2019s Quality Rater Guidelines. (The document put additional emphasis on how to EAT the YMYL sites. No pun intended.)<\/li>\n<li>The content was a very big part of the quality assessment. In particular \u2013 content cannibalization.<\/li>\n<li>The changes were seemingly there to stay (no rollbacks through the aftershocks in September \u2013 quite the contrary) and there were no quick fixes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Quick_Fix\"><\/span><span id=\"Quick_Fix\">Quick Fix?<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Unfortunately, unlike manual actions, there are no guidelines that you can follow to simply \u2018switch back on\u2019 your rankings.<\/p>\n<p><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DUjPQtK975E\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-lazy-loaded=\"true\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/center><br \/>\nAn algorithmic devaluation is a product of data-driven change. It essentially means that what you were previously doing is no longer deemed the thing that users want when they search for the terms that you were previously ranking for. It no longer is the right thing.I\u2019m going to summarise it in a very simple statement (which became our motto):<\/p>\n<div class=\"et-box et-shadow\">\n<div class=\"et-box-content\">DO ALL THE THINGS!<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Let\u2019s discuss what \u201call the things\u201d are\u2026<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Tools_You_Need_for_Auditing\"><\/span><span id=\"The_Tools_You_Need_for_Auditing\">The Tools You Need for Auditing<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Auditing websites is an iterative process.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Collecting data<\/li>\n<li>Making changes<\/li>\n<li>Understanding the impact of the changes<\/li>\n<li>Collecting data<\/li>\n<li>Making changes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-8032\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/iterative-optimisation-approach.jpg\" alt=\"iterative optimisation approach\" width=\"438\" height=\"385\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Having access to the tools required to audit a site thoroughly and quickly is really useful when there is no obvious, specific problem to fix and\u00a0<strong>you need to fix everything<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Here are the main tools we used and how we used them.<\/p>\n<h4><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Google_Search_Console_The_Essential\"><\/span><span id=\"Google_Search_Console_The_Essential\">Google Search Console (The Essential)<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<p>The coverage tab on the left navigation bar is your friend.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-8033\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-Chart-with-coverage-issues.jpg\" alt=\"GSC - Chart with coverage issues\" width=\"831\" height=\"306\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I elaborate further on\u00a0the approach and use of GSC Coverage Report below.<\/p>\n<p>Using the URL Inspection tool you can check your site page-by-page to determine if there are any issues with the page.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-8034\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-Inspect-URL-Step-by-step.jpg\" alt=\"GSC - Inspect URL Step by step\" width=\"740\" height=\"335\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Or if you just want to find out if your site is migrated to mobile-first indexing:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-8035\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-Crawled-as-URL-Inspector-.jpg\" alt=\"GSC - Crawled as URL Inspector\" width=\"651\" height=\"541\" \/><\/p>\n<h4><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Ahrefs_The_Ninja\"><\/span><span id=\"Ahrefs_The_Ninja\">Ahrefs (The Ninja)<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<p>If you have an\u00a0Ahrefs\u00a0subscription, their new site auditing tool is an excellent way to repeatedly audit your site.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the main errors and warnings you\u2019re looking for with Ahrefs are page speed issues, image optimization problems, internal 4xx or 5xx errors, internal anchors, etc.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-8036\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Ahrefs-Project-History.jpg\" alt=\"Ahrefs - Project History\" width=\"789\" height=\"327\" \/><\/p>\n<p>What I like about it the most is that you can schedule the crawl to run every week and Ahrefs will show you all the improvements (and any derailments) as they happen.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s a screenshot from a client where we\u2019ve run a weekly, periodic Ahrefs analysis and have strived to keep a health score of 95%+.<\/p>\n<p>You should do the same.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-8037\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Ahrefs-Scheduled-Crawls-list.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1014px) 100vw, 1014px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Ahrefs-Scheduled-Crawls-list.jpg 1893w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Ahrefs-Scheduled-Crawls-list-350x280.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Ahrefs-Scheduled-Crawls-list-401x320.jpg 401w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Ahrefs-Scheduled-Crawls-list-768x613.jpg 768w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Ahrefs-Scheduled-Crawls-list-751x600.jpg 751w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Ahrefs-Scheduled-Crawls-list-30x24.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Ahrefs-Scheduled-Crawls-list-210x168.jpg 210w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Ahrefs-Scheduled-Crawls-list-845x675.jpg 845w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Ahrefs-Scheduled-Crawls-list-356x284.jpg 356w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Ahrefs-Scheduled-Crawls-list-478x382.jpg 478w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Ahrefs-Scheduled-Crawls-list-1080x863.jpg 1080w\" alt=\"Ahrefs - Scheduled Crawls list\" width=\"1014\" height=\"810\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Obviously, we also used our ninja tool (Ahrefs) for the link analysis (see below), but who doesn\u2019t?<\/p>\n<h4><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Sitebulb_New_Kid_on_the_Block\"><\/span><span id=\"Sitebulb_New_Kid_on_the_Block\">Sitebulb (New Kid on the Block)<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<p>You might recognize the name if you\u2019ve read my\u00a0algorithmic penalty case study.<\/p>\n<p>Sitebulb is especially good at telling you\u00a0<em>exactly\u00a0<\/em>what the problems are. It\u2019s an analysis tool as well as a crawler.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some (cool) examples of the issues Sitebulb is able to discover for you:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Duplicate URLs (technical duplicates)<\/li>\n<li>URLs with duplicate content<\/li>\n<li>URL resolves under both HTTP and HTTPS<\/li>\n<li>URLs that have an internal link with no anchor text<\/li>\n<li>Pagination URL has no incoming internal links<\/li>\n<li>URL receives both follow &amp; nofollow internal links<\/li>\n<li>Total page size too big for 3G connections<\/li>\n<li>Critical (Above-the-fold) CSS was not found<\/li>\n<li>Server response too slow with a Time-to-First-Byte greater than 600ms<\/li>\n<li>Page resource URL is part of a chained redirect loop<\/li>\n<li>Mixed content (loads HTTP resources on HTTPS URL)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/thesearchinitiative.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-6993 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Sched-a-call-CTA.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Sched-a-call-CTA.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Sched-a-call-CTA-350x32.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Sched-a-call-CTA-640x58.jpg 640w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Sched-a-call-CTA-768x70.jpg 768w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Sched-a-call-CTA-1024x93.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Sched-a-call-CTA-30x3.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Sched-a-call-CTA-332x30.jpg 332w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Sched-a-call-CTA-1080x98.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Sched-a-call-CTA-400x36.jpg 400w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Sched-a-call-CTA-510x46.jpg 510w\" alt=\"Sched a call-CTA\" width=\"1500\" height=\"136\" \/><\/a>Here\u2019s a full list of the hints you can find in Sitebulb:<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/sitebulb.com\/hints\/<\/p>\n<p>These \u2018Hints\u2019 will help you with efficiency.\u00a0 You get insights enabling you to bundle simple issues into the overlying problem, such that you can fix them all at once, rather than individually.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8038\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sitebulb-Hints.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1918px) 100vw, 1918px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sitebulb-Hints.jpg 1918w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sitebulb-Hints-350x184.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sitebulb-Hints-608x320.jpg 608w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sitebulb-Hints-768x404.jpg 768w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sitebulb-Hints-1024x539.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sitebulb-Hints-30x16.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sitebulb-Hints-319x168.jpg 319w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sitebulb-Hints-1080x569.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sitebulb-Hints-400x211.jpg 400w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sitebulb-Hints-510x269.jpg 510w\" alt=\"Sitebulb - Hints\" width=\"1918\" height=\"1010\" \/><\/p>\n<p>My team loves Sitebulb. It has proved to be incredibly useful for the iterative auditing strategy.<\/p>\n<p>If you don\u2019t know what Sitebulb is, I would recommend you check it out.<\/p>\n<h4><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Surfer_SEO_SERP_Intelligence_007\"><\/span><span id=\"Surfer_SEO_SERP_Intelligence_007\">Surfer SEO (SERP Intelligence 007)<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<p>I fell in love with\u00a0Surfer SEO\u00a0the moment I started playing with it.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s become a staple tool at\u00a0The Search Initiative.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-8039\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Header-Homepage.jpg\" alt=\"Surfer SEO - Header Homepage\" width=\"845\" height=\"293\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Shortly, you\u2019ll learn all about how to use Surfer SEO to optimize the hell out of your content.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Recovery_Optimization_and_Implementation\"><\/span><span id=\"Recovery_Optimization_and_Implementation\">Recovery, Optimization, and Implementation<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<h4><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Content\"><\/span><span id=\"Content\">Content<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<p>Since we knew that a big part of the update is content, we kicked off a page-by-page analysis, scrutinizing every page on the client\u2019s site.<\/p>\n<h5><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Pruning_the_content\"><\/span><span id=\"Pruning_the_content\">Pruning the content<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h5>\n<p>During the last\u00a0Chiang Mai SEO Conference, just 3 months after the update, our Director of SEO, Rad had shared some of the most common issues affecting the last update.<\/p>\n<p>A few recoveries we\u2019ve seen during these 3 months have suggested that one of the biggest problems was Content Cannibalization.<\/p>\n<p>Below are Rad\u2019s 10 most common issues that we had found were mostly affecting the August update:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-8040\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/CMSEO-2018-Rads-Medic-Synopsis.jpg\" alt=\"CMSEO 2018 - Rads Medic Synopsis\" width=\"755\" height=\"579\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"et-box et-shadow\">\n<div class=\"et-box-content\">(Lucky) Number 7: Avoid content cannibalization. No need to have the same sh*t in every article.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>With that in mind, we started going through the site, post by post, restructuring the content.<\/p>\n<p>You can approach it in 2 ways:<\/p>\n<p><strong>1. Consolidating pages\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013 here you identify pages (through manual review) covering the same topics and combine them.<br \/>\nOnce the content is consolidated, redirect the page with fewer keywords to the one with more.<\/p>\n<p>A few examples of what posts you can consolidate:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>5 Popular XYZ devices That Work<br \/>\n5 Best XYZ Devices of 2019<br \/>\nBest XYZ Devices That Actually Work<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>11 Things That Cause XYZ and Their Remedies<br \/>\nWhat Causes XYZ?<\/li>\n<li>The Best Essential XYZ<br \/>\nTop XYZ You Can\u2019t Live Without<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>2. Pruning<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 here you select pages matching the below criteria and redirect them to their corresponding categories:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Very minimal traffic in the last 12 months (&lt;0.5% of total).<\/li>\n<li>No external inbound links.<\/li>\n<li>Not needed (don\u2019t remove your \u2018About us\u2019 or \u2018Privacy Policy\u2019 page, ok?).<\/li>\n<li>Not ranking for any keywords.<\/li>\n<li>Older than 6 months (don\u2019t remove new content!).<\/li>\n<li>Can\u2019t be updated or there is no point in updating them (e.g. outdated products, etc).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Strip the website from any content that could affect the overall quality of the site.<\/p>\n<p>Make sure every single page on the site serves a purpose.<\/p>\n<p><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"giphy-embed\" src=\"https:\/\/giphy.com\/embed\/ovX4BFzmQMhz2\" width=\"480\" height=\"364\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-lazy-loaded=\"true\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/center><\/p>\n<h5><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Improving_the_E-A-T_Signals\"><\/span><span id=\"Improving_the_E-A-T_Signals\">Improving the E-A-T Signals<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h5>\n<p>Around \u201cThe Medic\u201d update, you could hear a lot about E-A-T (Expertise \u2013 Authoritativeness \u2013 Trustworthiness).<\/p>\n<p>The fact is that Google really values unique, high-quality content, written by an authoritative expert. It also is quite good at determining the authority and quality, along with all the other relevancy signals.<\/p>\n<p>Whether or not you believe that the algorithm (and not actual humans) can detect these E-A-T signals, we can assume that the algo can pick up\u00a0<em>some\u00a0<\/em>of them.<\/p>\n<p>So let\u2019s get back to doing \u201call the things.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s what was prescribed:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Create a site\u2019s social media properties and link them with \u201csameAs\u201d schema markup.<\/li>\n<li>Format the paragraphs better and write shorter bitesize paragraphs \u2013 authority sites would not make these readability mistakes.<\/li>\n<li>Do not overload CTAs \u2013 having call-to-action buttons is important, but having them in a user-friendly way is even more important!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Here\u2019s how it looked like originally \u2013 some posts had a CTA every 2 paragraphs:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-8041\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/EAT-CTAs.jpg\" alt=\"EAT - CTAs\" width=\"703\" height=\"459\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Improve your personas \u2013 Creating their \u201cauthors\u201d online authority helps them improve the overall site\u2019s authority and increases the expertise.<\/li>\n<li>Link to your About Us page from the main menu \u2013 It really does not hurt!<\/li>\n<li>Build you&#8217;re About Us page so it proves your expertise and authority \u2013 this is a good example.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-8106 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/EAT-About-Us-page2.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1128px) 100vw, 1128px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/EAT-About-Us-page2.jpg 1128w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/EAT-About-Us-page2-350x267.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/EAT-About-Us-page2-419x320.jpg 419w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/EAT-About-Us-page2-768x587.jpg 768w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/EAT-About-Us-page2-785x600.jpg 785w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/EAT-About-Us-page2-30x23.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/EAT-About-Us-page2-220x168.jpg 220w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/EAT-About-Us-page2-883x675.jpg 883w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/EAT-About-Us-page2-372x284.jpg 372w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/EAT-About-Us-page2-500x382.jpg 500w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/EAT-About-Us-page2-1080x825.jpg 1080w\" alt=\"EAT - About Us page\" width=\"1128\" height=\"862\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Include Contact Us page \u2013 there should be a way for your visitors to get in touch!<br \/>\nHere\u2019s a really good example (without even using a contact form!):<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-8107 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/EAT-Contact-Us-Page2.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 738px) 100vw, 738px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/EAT-Contact-Us-Page2.jpg 738w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/EAT-Contact-Us-Page2-350x101.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/EAT-Contact-Us-Page2-640x185.jpg 640w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/EAT-Contact-Us-Page2-30x9.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/EAT-Contact-Us-Page2-332x96.jpg 332w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/EAT-Contact-Us-Page2-400x115.jpg 400w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/EAT-Contact-Us-Page2-510x147.jpg 510w\" alt=\"EAT - Contact Us Page\" width=\"738\" height=\"213\" \/><\/li>\n<li>Create additional Disclaimer Page \u2013 A good practice is to create an additional Disclaimer Page linked from the footer menu and referenced wherever the disclaimer should be mentioned.<\/li>\n<li>Improve your author pages \u2013 here\u2019s a\u00a0really good example.<\/li>\n<li>Improve the quality of content \u2013 The quality of content for YMYL pages (Your Money or Your Life \u2013 sites directly impacting the user\u2019s financial status or well-being) should be absolutely trustworthy.<br \/>\nThere are\u00a0quality rater guidelines\u00a0for this.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-8044\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/EAT-YMYL-Recommendations.jpg\" alt=\"EAT - YMYL Recommendations\" width=\"708\" height=\"289\" \/><\/h5>\n<h5><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Heading_Tags\"><\/span><span id=\"Heading_Tags\">Heading Tags<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h5>\n<p>On our client\u2019s site, H3 headings on many pages were supposed to be marked as H2. Some H1 headings were marked as H2s.<\/p>\n<p>Go over each of your published articles and make sure that the structure of each page is marked up properly from an SEO perspective.<\/p>\n<table width=\"716\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"226\"><strong>INCORRECT<\/strong><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8045 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Heading-Structure-Incorrect.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 185px) 100vw, 185px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Heading-Structure-Incorrect.jpg 185w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Heading-Structure-Incorrect-176x320.jpg 176w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Heading-Structure-Incorrect-17x30.jpg 17w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Heading-Structure-Incorrect-93x168.jpg 93w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Heading-Structure-Incorrect-156x284.jpg 156w\" alt=\"Heading Structure - Incorrect\" width=\"185\" height=\"336\" \/><\/td>\n<td width=\"226\"><strong>CORRECT<\/strong><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8046 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Heading-Structure-Correct.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 212px) 100vw, 212px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Heading-Structure-Correct.jpg 212w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Heading-Structure-Correct-210x350.jpg 210w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Heading-Structure-Correct-192x320.jpg 192w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Heading-Structure-Correct-18x30.jpg 18w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Heading-Structure-Correct-101x168.jpg 101w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Heading-Structure-Correct-170x284.jpg 170w\" alt=\"Heading Structure - Correct\" width=\"212\" height=\"354\" \/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>It\u2019s not a newspaper \u2013 so you shouldn\u2019t need to always keep the correct heading hierarchy.<\/p>\n<p>But please, at least keep it tidy.<\/p>\n<p>It really helps Google grasp the more important bits of the content and the sections\u2019 semantic hierarchy.\u00a0 Learn more about heading structure in my\u00a0Evergreen Onsite SEO Guide.<\/p>\n<h5><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Content_Adjustments\"><\/span><span id=\"Content_Adjustments\">Content Adjustments<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h5>\n<p>The name of the game is to write the best content possible.<\/p>\n<p>It requires you to audit what\u2019s already ranking on page 1 and out-doing all of them.<\/p>\n<p>This means you\u2019ll need to do this audit periodically, as page 1 is constantly in flux.<\/p>\n<p>The aforementioned tool \u2013\u00a0Surfer SEO\u00a0\u2013 has proven itself to be an amazing bit of software. Without it, we couldn\u2019t do a full, in-depth analysis like this in a reasonable amount of time.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s use an example keyword \u2018best affiliate networks\u2019 with 800 monthly searches in the US only.<\/p>\n<p>My site is already doing well in top10, but it isn\u2019t ranking number 1.<\/p>\n<p>First, run Surfer for this keyword and set the target country as you prefer \u2013 in my case, USA.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8048\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Keyword-Box.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1017px) 100vw, 1017px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Keyword-Box.jpg 1017w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Keyword-Box-350x120.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Keyword-Box-640x220.jpg 640w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Keyword-Box-768x264.jpg 768w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Keyword-Box-30x10.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Keyword-Box-332x114.jpg 332w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Keyword-Box-400x137.jpg 400w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Keyword-Box-510x175.jpg 510w\" alt=\"Surfer SEO - Keyword Box\" width=\"1017\" height=\"349\" \/><\/p>\n<p>It will take a minute to run the analysis. Once it\u2019s done, go to the report:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8049\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Main-Analysis-View1.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1881px) 100vw, 1881px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Main-Analysis-View1.jpg 1881w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Main-Analysis-View1-350x159.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Main-Analysis-View1-640x292.jpg 640w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Main-Analysis-View1-768x350.jpg 768w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Main-Analysis-View1-1024x467.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Main-Analysis-View1-30x14.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Main-Analysis-View1-332x151.jpg 332w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Main-Analysis-View1-1080x492.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Main-Analysis-View1-400x182.jpg 400w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Main-Analysis-View1-510x232.jpg 510w\" alt=\"Surfer SEO - Main Analysis View(1)\" width=\"1881\" height=\"857\" \/><\/p>\n<p>What you see here are:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Ranking factors available<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 From the number of words on the page to the number of subheadings, each factor is measured.\u00a0 You can quickly see how much these factors matter for the top positions on page 1.Surfer will automatically calculate the correlation of each measurement which is presented as a little \u2018signal strength\u2019 icon next to each factor. High signal strength means that this factor is important for ranking in the top positions.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Main chart for the selected metric<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 in this case, # of words in the body.\u00a0 As you can see from the graph, the results in the top 3 positions have significantly more words than the others.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-8051 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-best-affiliate-network-1-copy.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1881px) 100vw, 1881px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-best-affiliate-network-1-copy.jpg 1881w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-best-affiliate-network-1-copy-350x122.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-best-affiliate-network-1-copy-640x224.jpg 640w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-best-affiliate-network-1-copy-768x269.jpg 768w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-best-affiliate-network-1-copy-1024x358.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-best-affiliate-network-1-copy-30x10.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-best-affiliate-network-1-copy-332x116.jpg 332w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-best-affiliate-network-1-copy-1080x378.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-best-affiliate-network-1-copy-400x140.jpg 400w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-best-affiliate-network-1-copy-510x178.jpg 510w\" alt=\"Surfer SEO best affiliate network 1 copy\" width=\"1881\" height=\"658\" \/><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Chart settings<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 I like to have Surfer set to show the averages of 3 positions. This helps me better visually grasp the averages.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>You may have noticed the line through the chart showing the value of 4933 words. It is an exact value for\u00a0<em>my site<\/em>, which I enabled here:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8052\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Filter-Settings.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1537px) 100vw, 1537px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Filter-Settings.jpg 1537w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Filter-Settings-350x90.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Filter-Settings-640x165.jpg 640w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Filter-Settings-768x198.jpg 768w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Filter-Settings-1024x264.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Filter-Settings-30x8.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Filter-Settings-332x86.jpg 332w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Filter-Settings-1080x279.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Filter-Settings-400x103.jpg 400w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Filter-Settings-510x132.jpg 510w\" alt=\"Surfer SEO - Filter Settings\" width=\"1537\" height=\"397\" \/><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Type in your domain in the search field under the chart<\/li>\n<li>It should find it in the search results.<\/li>\n<li>Click the \u2018eye\u2019 icon to have it plotted in the chart.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Sexy.<\/p>\n<p>But, that\u2019s not even the best part of Surfer SEO.<\/p>\n<p>The Audit Feature \u2013 Surfer can audit your page based on the top 5 competitors and show you all the correlating factors analyzed for this page.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s how it looks like for\u00a0The Best Affiliate Networks\u00a0page on my site:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8054\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Audit.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 912px) 100vw, 912px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Audit.jpg 912w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Audit-350x286.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Audit-392x320.jpg 392w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Audit-768x627.jpg 768w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Audit-734x600.jpg 734w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Audit-30x25.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Audit-206x168.jpg 206w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Audit-826x675.jpg 826w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Audit-348x284.jpg 348w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Audit-468x382.jpg 468w\" alt=\"Surfer SEO - Audit\" width=\"912\" height=\"745\" \/><br \/>\n(If you want to have a look at the full audit \u2013\u00a0it\u2019s shared here)<\/p>\n<p>I can now look at the recommendations in detail, such as the recommended number of words in the body:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8055\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Word-Count-Body-Chart.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 906px) 100vw, 906px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Word-Count-Body-Chart.jpg 906w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Word-Count-Body-Chart-350x182.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Word-Count-Body-Chart-617x320.jpg 617w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Word-Count-Body-Chart-768x398.jpg 768w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Word-Count-Body-Chart-30x16.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Word-Count-Body-Chart-324x168.jpg 324w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Word-Count-Body-Chart-400x208.jpg 400w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Word-Count-Body-Chart-510x265.jpg 510w\" alt=\"Surfer SEO - Word Count Body Chart\" width=\"906\" height=\"470\" \/><br \/>\nThe first 2 pages have significantly longer content. So first on the task list is to add some more words.<\/p>\n<p>Before I\u2019d go and do that, though, I\u2019d want to make sure that I\u2019m using all the\u00a0common words and phrases as the other competitors.<\/p>\n<p>And you can see that here, in detail:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8056\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Popular-Words.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1536px) 100vw, 1536px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Popular-Words.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Popular-Words-350x147.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Popular-Words-640x268.jpg 640w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Popular-Words-768x322.jpg 768w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Popular-Words-1024x429.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Popular-Words-30x13.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Popular-Words-332x139.jpg 332w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Popular-Words-1080x453.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Popular-Words-400x168.jpg 400w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Popular-Words-510x214.jpg 510w\" alt=\"Surfer SEO - Popular Words\" width=\"1536\" height=\"644\" \/><\/p>\n<h5><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8057\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Popular-phrases.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1536px) 100vw, 1536px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Popular-phrases.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Popular-phrases-350x167.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Popular-phrases-640x306.jpg 640w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Popular-phrases-768x368.jpg 768w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Popular-phrases-1024x490.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Popular-phrases-30x14.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Popular-phrases-332x159.jpg 332w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Popular-phrases-1080x517.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Popular-phrases-400x191.jpg 400w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Surfer-SEO-Popular-phrases-510x244.jpg 510w\" alt=\"Surfer SEO - Popular phrases\" width=\"1536\" height=\"735\" \/><\/h5>\n<h5><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Page_Titles_Meta_Descriptions\"><\/span><span id=\"Page_Titles_Meta_Descriptions\">Page Titles &amp; Meta Descriptions<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h5>\n<p>Optimize your title tags to comply with the best SEO practices:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Keep the main keyword phrase together and towards the front<\/li>\n<li>Keep the titles relatively short and to the point<\/li>\n<li>Include elements that will improve your CTR (https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/title-tag-seo\/)<\/li>\n<li>When including a year (e.g. \u201cBest XYZ in 2019\u201d), remember the freshness algorithm (2007\u00a0and\u00a02017 mentions\u00a0\u2013 trust me, it\u2019s still a thing) and ensure to keep it up-to-date<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t overdo the clickbait \u2013 if you do, watch your bounce rates grow \u2013 this is bad!<\/li>\n<li>DSS: Don\u2019t Spam Silly \u2013 obvious, right? Don\u2019t double count keywords<\/li>\n<li>Make it unique<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8058\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/page-title-optimisation.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1833px) 100vw, 1833px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/page-title-optimisation.jpg 1833w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/page-title-optimisation-350x94.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/page-title-optimisation-640x172.jpg 640w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/page-title-optimisation-768x206.jpg 768w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/page-title-optimisation-1024x275.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/page-title-optimisation-30x8.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/page-title-optimisation-332x89.jpg 332w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/page-title-optimisation-1080x290.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/page-title-optimisation-400x107.jpg 400w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/page-title-optimisation-510x137.jpg 510w\" alt=\"page title optimisation\" width=\"1833\" height=\"492\" \/><br \/>\nMake sure to fix missing, too short or too long meta descriptions as a quick win for your overall quality score.<\/p>\n<h5><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Image_size_optimization\"><\/span><span id=\"Image_size_optimization\">Image size optimization<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h5>\n<p>Optimize all-important images with size over 100 KB by compressing and optimizing via ShortPixel. Your pages will now use less bandwidth and load faster.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8059\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/ShortPixel-Summary.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1161px) 100vw, 1161px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/ShortPixel-Summary.jpg 1161w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/ShortPixel-Summary-350x96.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/ShortPixel-Summary-640x175.jpg 640w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/ShortPixel-Summary-768x210.jpg 768w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/ShortPixel-Summary-1024x280.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/ShortPixel-Summary-30x8.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/ShortPixel-Summary-332x91.jpg 332w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/ShortPixel-Summary-1080x295.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/ShortPixel-Summary-400x109.jpg 400w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/ShortPixel-Summary-510x139.jpg 510w\" alt=\"ShortPixel Summary\" width=\"1161\" height=\"317\" \/><br \/>\nHere\u2019s the full summary from our Shortpixel optimization for this client:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Processed files: 4,207<\/li>\n<li>Used credits: 3,683<\/li>\n<li>Total Original Data: 137.10 MB<\/li>\n<li>Total Data Lossless: 129.32 MB<\/li>\n<li>Overall improvement (Lossless): 6%<\/li>\n<li>Total Data Lossy: 88.48 MB<\/li>\n<li>Overall improvement (Lossy): 35%<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Alt_Texts\"><\/span><span id=\"Alt_Texts\">Alt Texts<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h5>\n<p>Each image should have an alt text \u2013 this is a dogma I don\u2019t always go by, because what can go wrong when missing an odd alt tag?<\/p>\n<p>However, alt text isn\u2019t just something to have \u2013 it\u2019s also a factor that can help Google understand what the image shows. It also adds crucial relevancy signals to your content.<\/p>\n<p>Besides, we\u2019re doing \u201call the things\u201d, aren\u2019t we?<\/p>\n<p>In this case, we optimized images by adding more descriptive, natural alt texts. Additionally, we made sure\u00a0<strong>all\u00a0<\/strong>the images had them.<\/p>\n<h4><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Site_Structure_Optimization\"><\/span><span id=\"Site_Structure_Optimization\">Site Structure Optimization<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<h5><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Internal_Link_Repair\"><\/span><span id=\"Internal_Link_Repair\">Internal Link Repair<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h5>\n<p>We found many internal links that simply incorrect.<\/p>\n<p>They were perhaps linking to a page that had been 301 redirected (sometimes multiple times).<\/p>\n<p>Other times they were linking to dead pages (404s).<\/p>\n<p>To find them, we used one of our favorite crawlers \u2013\u00a0Sitebulb:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Go the audit, then Redirects<\/li>\n<li>Look at the number of internal redirects<\/li>\n<li>Open \u201cHints\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8060\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sitebulb-Internal-Redirects-Step-by-Step.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1901px) 100vw, 1901px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sitebulb-Internal-Redirects-Step-by-Step.jpg 1901w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sitebulb-Internal-Redirects-Step-by-Step-350x164.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sitebulb-Internal-Redirects-Step-by-Step-640x299.jpg 640w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sitebulb-Internal-Redirects-Step-by-Step-768x359.jpg 768w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sitebulb-Internal-Redirects-Step-by-Step-1024x479.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sitebulb-Internal-Redirects-Step-by-Step-30x14.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sitebulb-Internal-Redirects-Step-by-Step-332x155.jpg 332w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sitebulb-Internal-Redirects-Step-by-Step-1080x505.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sitebulb-Internal-Redirects-Step-by-Step-400x187.jpg 400w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sitebulb-Internal-Redirects-Step-by-Step-510x239.jpg 510w\" alt=\"Sitebulb - Internal Redirects - Step by Step\" width=\"1901\" height=\"889\" \/><\/p>\n<p>4. From the list of hints, you can now see all the internal redirects<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8061\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sitebulb-Internal-Redirects-Report.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1266px) 100vw, 1266px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sitebulb-Internal-Redirects-Report.jpg 1266w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sitebulb-Internal-Redirects-Report-350x141.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sitebulb-Internal-Redirects-Report-640x258.jpg 640w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sitebulb-Internal-Redirects-Report-768x309.jpg 768w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sitebulb-Internal-Redirects-Report-1024x413.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sitebulb-Internal-Redirects-Report-30x12.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sitebulb-Internal-Redirects-Report-332x134.jpg 332w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sitebulb-Internal-Redirects-Report-1080x435.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sitebulb-Internal-Redirects-Report-400x161.jpg 400w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sitebulb-Internal-Redirects-Report-510x205.jpg 510w\" alt=\"Sitebulb - Internal Redirects Report\" width=\"1266\" height=\"510\" \/><\/p>\n<p>5. Use the Export Rows button to export the data to Excel<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8062\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/sitebulb-internal-redirects.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1287px) 100vw, 1287px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/sitebulb-internal-redirects.jpg 1287w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/sitebulb-internal-redirects-350x159.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/sitebulb-internal-redirects-640x290.jpg 640w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/sitebulb-internal-redirects-768x348.jpg 768w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/sitebulb-internal-redirects-1024x465.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/sitebulb-internal-redirects-30x14.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/sitebulb-internal-redirects-332x151.jpg 332w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/sitebulb-internal-redirects-1080x490.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/sitebulb-internal-redirects-400x182.jpg 400w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/sitebulb-internal-redirects-510x231.jpg 510w\" alt=\"sitebulb - internal redirects\" width=\"1287\" height=\"584\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We then fixed the broken links and updated them to be pointing to the correct pages.<\/p>\n<h5><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Broken_External_Links\"><\/span><span id=\"Broken_External_Links\">Broken External Links<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h5>\n<p>We\u2019ve found broken URLs that had natural links coming to them.<\/p>\n<p>In case of pages with a 404 status code, a link going to a page like that is a dead-end which doesn\u2019t pass any authority or SEO value to your actual pages.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/thesearchinitiative.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-6993 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Sched-a-call-CTA.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Sched-a-call-CTA.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Sched-a-call-CTA-350x32.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Sched-a-call-CTA-640x58.jpg 640w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Sched-a-call-CTA-768x70.jpg 768w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Sched-a-call-CTA-1024x93.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Sched-a-call-CTA-30x3.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Sched-a-call-CTA-332x30.jpg 332w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Sched-a-call-CTA-1080x98.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Sched-a-call-CTA-400x36.jpg 400w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Sched-a-call-CTA-510x46.jpg 510w\" alt=\"Sched a call-CTA\" width=\"1500\" height=\"136\" \/><\/a>You don\u2019t want to waste that!<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s where to find them in\u00a0Ahrefs:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Go to Pages \u2192 Best by links<\/li>\n<li>Then select the desired status code (in our case \u2013 404)<\/li>\n<li>The list is there!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>You can sort it by the number of referring domains (in descending order), so you can see the most important ones at the top.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8063\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/ahrefs-broken-external-links.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1238px) 100vw, 1238px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/ahrefs-broken-external-links.jpg 1238w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/ahrefs-broken-external-links-350x230.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/ahrefs-broken-external-links-488x320.jpg 488w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/ahrefs-broken-external-links-768x504.jpg 768w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/ahrefs-broken-external-links-915x600.jpg 915w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/ahrefs-broken-external-links-30x20.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/ahrefs-broken-external-links-256x168.jpg 256w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/ahrefs-broken-external-links-1029x675.jpg 1029w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/ahrefs-broken-external-links-400x262.jpg 400w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/ahrefs-broken-external-links-510x335.jpg 510w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/ahrefs-broken-external-links-1080x708.jpg 1080w\" alt=\"ahrefs - broken external links\" width=\"1238\" height=\"812\" \/><br \/>\nAfter that, create a redirect map with most appropriate destinations and permanently (301) redirect them to regain the lost link equity.<\/p>\n<h4><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Technical_SEO\"><\/span><span id=\"Technical_SEO\">Technical SEO<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<h4><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Page_Speed_Optimization\"><\/span><span id=\"Page_Speed_Optimization\">Page Speed Optimization<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<p>Here\u2019s our client\u2019s traffic breakdown by device type:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8064\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Audience-by-device-type.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 624px) 100vw, 624px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Audience-by-device-type.jpg 624w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Audience-by-device-type-350x299.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Audience-by-device-type-375x320.jpg 375w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Audience-by-device-type-30x26.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Audience-by-device-type-197x168.jpg 197w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Audience-by-device-type-332x284.jpg 332w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Audience-by-device-type-447x382.jpg 447w\" alt=\"Audience by device type\" width=\"624\" height=\"533\" \/><br \/>\nSeeing values like that, you\u00a0<strong>HAVE TO<\/strong>\u00a0focus on your page speed metrics. It\u2019s not a \u2018maybe\u2019 it\u2019s an absolute must.<\/p>\n<p>Chances are, your site and niche are the same.<\/p>\n<p>Before:<\/p>\n<table width=\"716\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"226\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8065\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Page-Speed-Desktop-Before.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 481px) 100vw, 481px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Page-Speed-Desktop-Before.jpg 481w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Page-Speed-Desktop-Before-350x206.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Page-Speed-Desktop-Before-30x18.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Page-Speed-Desktop-Before-286x168.jpg 286w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Page-Speed-Desktop-Before-400x235.jpg 400w\" alt=\"Page Speed - Desktop Before\" width=\"481\" height=\"283\" \/><\/td>\n<td width=\"226\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8066\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Page-Speed-Mobile-Before.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 465px) 100vw, 465px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Page-Speed-Mobile-Before.jpg 465w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Page-Speed-Mobile-Before-350x196.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Page-Speed-Mobile-Before-30x17.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Page-Speed-Mobile-Before-299x168.jpg 299w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Page-Speed-Mobile-Before-400x225.jpg 400w\" alt=\"\" width=\"465\" height=\"261\" \/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>After:<\/p>\n<table width=\"1088\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"226\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8067\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Page-Speed-Desktop-After.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 633px) 100vw, 633px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Page-Speed-Desktop-After.jpg 633w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Page-Speed-Desktop-After-350x139.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Page-Speed-Desktop-After-30x12.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Page-Speed-Desktop-After-332x132.jpg 332w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Page-Speed-Desktop-After-400x159.jpg 400w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Page-Speed-Desktop-After-510x203.jpg 510w\" alt=\"\" width=\"633\" height=\"252\" \/><\/td>\n<td width=\"226\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8068\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Page-Speed-Mobile-After.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 642px) 100vw, 642px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Page-Speed-Mobile-After.jpg 642w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Page-Speed-Mobile-After-350x136.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Page-Speed-Mobile-After-640x248.jpg 640w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Page-Speed-Mobile-After-30x12.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Page-Speed-Mobile-After-332x129.jpg 332w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Page-Speed-Mobile-After-400x155.jpg 400w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Page-Speed-Mobile-After-510x198.jpg 510w\" alt=\"\" width=\"642\" height=\"249\" \/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>What we did \u2013 the same answer: EVERYTHING<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Minified Javascript.<\/li>\n<li>Minified CSS.<\/li>\n<li>Minified HTML.<\/li>\n<li>Introduced lazy loading for images, videos, and iframes.<\/li>\n<li>Combined small CSS and Javascript files to save the round trip times.<\/li>\n<li>Improved time to first byte (TTFB).<\/li>\n<li>Optimized images.<\/li>\n<li>Introduced .webp image formats wherever possible.<\/li>\n<li>Introduced critical path CSS.<\/li>\n<li>Made above the fold virtually non-blocking.<\/li>\n<li>Introduced asynchronous loading of external resources where possible.<\/li>\n<li>Introduced static HTML cache.<\/li>\n<li>Introduced CDN.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For most of it, these plugins were absolutely priceless:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>WP Rocket\u00a0\u2013 this one takes care of a lot of things from the above list.<\/li>\n<li>Shortpixel\u00a0\u2013 very effective image optimization tool.<\/li>\n<li>Cloudflare\u00a0\u2013 decent CDN offering a free option.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Google_Index_Coverage\"><\/span><span id=\"Google_Index_Coverage\">Google Index Coverage<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h5>\n<p>This one was usually approached in two ways:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Removing unwanted URLs from Google index.<\/li>\n<li>Reviewing all Errors, Warnings and Excluded lists in Google Search Console.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Google actually has a fairly decent guide to all of the issues shown in the screenshot below:<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/support.google.com\/webmasters\/answer\/7440203?hl=en<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8069\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-Coverage-Issues.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 909px) 100vw, 909px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-Coverage-Issues.jpg 909w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-Coverage-Issues-350x308.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-Coverage-Issues-363x320.jpg 363w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-Coverage-Issues-768x677.jpg 768w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-Coverage-Issues-681x600.jpg 681w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-Coverage-Issues-30x26.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-Coverage-Issues-191x168.jpg 191w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-Coverage-Issues-766x675.jpg 766w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-Coverage-Issues-322x284.jpg 322w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-Coverage-Issues-434x382.jpg 434w\" alt=\"GSC - Coverage Issues\" width=\"909\" height=\"801\" \/><\/p>\n<p>You definitely need to look at\u00a0<strong>all\u00a0<\/strong>the errors and warnings \u2013 this is a no brainer to fix them.<\/p>\n<p>However, at\u00a0The Search Initiative, we\u2019re literally obsessed with these ones:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Crawl anomaly<\/strong> \u2013 these URLs are not indexed, because they received a response code that Google did not expect. We figured that any URLs here would hint to us that Google may not fully understand where they are coming from and it is not able to predict the site\u2019s structure. Therefore, it may cause crawling and indexing issues (like messed up crawl schedule).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Soft 404<\/strong> \u2013 these URLs are treated by Google the same way as normal 404s, but they do not return 404 code. Quite often Google happens to include some money pages under this category. If it happens, it\u2019s really important for you to figure out why they are being treated as \u2018Not Found\u2019.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Duplicate without user-selected canonical<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 I hate these the most. These are pages that Google found to be duplicated. Surely you should implement a canonical, 301 redirect or just update the content if Google is directly telling you that they\u2019re dupped.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Crawled \u2013 currently not indexed<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 these are all URLs which Google crawled and hasn\u2019t yet indexed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There are plenty of reasons for this to happen:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>The pages aren\u2019t properly linked internally<\/li>\n<li>Google doesn\u2019t think they should be indexed as a priority<\/li>\n<li>You have too many pages and there\u2019s no more space in the index to get these in. (Learn how to\u00a0fix your crawl budget)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Whatever it is, for a small site (&gt;1000 pages) this category\u00a0<em>should\u00a0<\/em>be empty.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Duplicate, submitted URL not selected as canonical<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 this section includes all URLs for which Google does not agree with your canonical selection. They might not be identical or Google just found them to be useful if indexed on their own.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Investigate and try to drive the number of them to an absolute minimum.<\/p>\n<h5><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Structured_data\"><\/span><span id=\"Structured_data\">Structured data<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h5>\n<p>Along the way, we had some issues with existing microdata.<\/p>\n<p>You can figure out if you have issues by tossing your page into\u00a0Google\u2019s Structured Data Testing Tool:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8070\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-Structured-Data-Errors.png\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1257px) 100vw, 1257px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-Structured-Data-Errors.png 1257w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-Structured-Data-Errors-350x71.png 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-Structured-Data-Errors-640x129.png 640w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-Structured-Data-Errors-768x155.png 768w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-Structured-Data-Errors-1024x207.png 1024w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-Structured-Data-Errors-30x6.png 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-Structured-Data-Errors-332x67.png 332w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-Structured-Data-Errors-1080x218.png 1080w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-Structured-Data-Errors-400x81.png 400w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-Structured-Data-Errors-510x103.png 510w\" alt=\"GSC - Structured Data Errors\" width=\"1257\" height=\"254\" \/><\/p>\n<p>To fix these, we had to remove some markup from the header.php file in WordPress.<\/p>\n<p>We also removed the comment markup from the posts \u2013 the posts did not have comments enabled anyway.<\/p>\n<p>After fixing the issues\u2026 we decided to implement review markup for the review pages.<\/p>\n<p>The team tested a few plugins (including\u00a0kk Star Ratings\u00a0which is dead easy to implement), but we ended up implementing JSON-LD markup ourselves.<\/p>\n<p><strong>My next blog post will be all about schema markup for affiliate sites so come back for that soon.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h5><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Usability\"><\/span><span id=\"Usability\">Usability<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h5>\n<p>Google Search Console reported tons of site errors on desktop and small screen devices.<\/p>\n<p>These need to be reviewed, page by page.<\/p>\n<p>Typically these are responsive design issues which can be fixed by moving elements around (if they are too close), increasing\/decreasing font sizes and using Sitebulb\u2019s mobile-friendly suggestions.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8071\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sitebulb-Mobile-Friendly-hints.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1725px) 100vw, 1725px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sitebulb-Mobile-Friendly-hints.jpg 1725w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sitebulb-Mobile-Friendly-hints-350x81.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sitebulb-Mobile-Friendly-hints-640x148.jpg 640w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sitebulb-Mobile-Friendly-hints-768x178.jpg 768w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sitebulb-Mobile-Friendly-hints-1024x237.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sitebulb-Mobile-Friendly-hints-30x7.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sitebulb-Mobile-Friendly-hints-332x77.jpg 332w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sitebulb-Mobile-Friendly-hints-1080x250.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sitebulb-Mobile-Friendly-hints-400x93.jpg 400w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sitebulb-Mobile-Friendly-hints-510x118.jpg 510w\" alt=\"Sitebulb - Mobile Friendly hints\" width=\"1725\" height=\"399\" \/><\/p>\n<p>All errors reported in GSC were marked as fixed. Then we monitored if any would reappear.<\/p>\n<h5><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Crawlability\"><\/span><span id=\"Crawlability\">Crawlability<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h5>\n<p>All website sections and files that did not have to be crawled were blocked from the search engine bots.<\/p>\n<p>One of the biggest issues we encountered during the early stage of auditing was the fact that all of the affiliate links were using a 302 redirect.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s an example of how it looks like in Chrome using\u00a0the Redirect Path extension\u00a0on a randomly picked site:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8072\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Crawlability-302-Redirects.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 483px) 100vw, 483px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Crawlability-302-Redirects.jpg 483w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Crawlability-302-Redirects-350x124.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Crawlability-302-Redirects-30x11.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Crawlability-302-Redirects-332x118.jpg 332w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Crawlability-302-Redirects-400x142.jpg 400w\" alt=\"Crawlability - 302 Redirects\" width=\"483\" height=\"171\" \/><\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019ve been in the affiliate world for quite a while, you know that \u2018friendly affiliate links\u2019 (like \/go\/XYZ-offer) usually work slightly better than the ugly ones (like https:\/\/go.shareasale.com\/?aff=xyz&amp;utm_source=abc). This is especially true when you\u2019re not linking to a big, well-known site like Amazon.<\/p>\n<p>Also, affiliate programs always use some sort of a redirect to set a cookie, in order to inform them that the commission should be attributed to you.<\/p>\n<p>This is all OK, but\u2026<\/p>\n<p>What is not OK?<\/p>\n<div class=\"et-box et-shadow\">\n<div class=\"et-box-content\">Don\u2019t use Pretty Links with a 302 redirect.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Never, never, ever, ever use 302 redirects, ever. What-so-ever!<\/p>\n<p>This is simply an SEO sin!<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-8073\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sinners-Meme.jpg\" alt=\"Sinners Meme\" width=\"505\" height=\"366\" \/><\/p>\n<p>What 302 redirects do\u2026 they make Google index the redirecting URL under your domain. Additionally, Google can then attribute all the content from the page you are pointing your redirect at \u2013 right back to your redirecting page.<\/p>\n<p>It then\u00a0looks like this under your site:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8074\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Crawlability-Content-Attribution-Caused-by-302-Redirects.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 651px) 100vw, 651px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Crawlability-Content-Attribution-Caused-by-302-Redirects.jpg 651w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Crawlability-Content-Attribution-Caused-by-302-Redirects-266x350.jpg 266w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Crawlability-Content-Attribution-Caused-by-302-Redirects-243x320.jpg 243w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Crawlability-Content-Attribution-Caused-by-302-Redirects-456x600.jpg 456w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Crawlability-Content-Attribution-Caused-by-302-Redirects-23x30.jpg 23w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Crawlability-Content-Attribution-Caused-by-302-Redirects-128x168.jpg 128w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Crawlability-Content-Attribution-Caused-by-302-Redirects-513x675.jpg 513w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Crawlability-Content-Attribution-Caused-by-302-Redirects-216x284.jpg 216w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Crawlability-Content-Attribution-Caused-by-302-Redirects-291x382.jpg 291w\" alt=\"Crawlability - Content Attribution Caused by 302 Redirects\" width=\"651\" height=\"856\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Guess what happens with all this content\u00a0<strong>under YOUR domain<\/strong>?<\/p>\n<p>Yes, you\u2019re right \u2013 it\u2019s most likely treated as duplicate content!<\/p>\n<h5><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Reconfigure_URL_parameters_in_GSC\"><\/span><span id=\"Reconfigure_URL_parameters_in_GSC\">Reconfigure URL parameters in GSC<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h5>\n<p>Configuring your URL params is a great way to allow Google to better know what\u2019s going on on your website.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019d want to do it when you have certain pages (especially in high numbers) that are indexed and Google should know straight up that there is no point indexing them.<\/p>\n<p>Say, for example, you are an e-commerce website and your categories use the \u201csort\u201d URL param to define the order way (best selling, newest, alphabetical, price, etc). Like Playstation Store here:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8075\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-URL-Parameters-Playstation-Store-example.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 658px) 100vw, 658px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-URL-Parameters-Playstation-Store-example.jpg 658w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-URL-Parameters-Playstation-Store-example-328x350.jpg 328w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-URL-Parameters-Playstation-Store-example-300x320.jpg 300w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-URL-Parameters-Playstation-Store-example-562x600.jpg 562w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-URL-Parameters-Playstation-Store-example-28x30.jpg 28w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-URL-Parameters-Playstation-Store-example-157x168.jpg 157w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-URL-Parameters-Playstation-Store-example-632x675.jpg 632w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-URL-Parameters-Playstation-Store-example-266x284.jpg 266w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-URL-Parameters-Playstation-Store-example-358x382.jpg 358w\" alt=\"GSC - URL Parameters - Playstation Store example\" width=\"658\" height=\"703\" \/><\/p>\n<p>You can tell Google straight up that it doesn\u2019t need to index (and crawl) these URLs.<\/p>\n<p>Here is how you do it in Google Search Console:<\/p>\n<p>Go to (old) GSC \u2192 Crawl \u2192 URL Parameters and you should see something like in the below screenshot.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8076\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-URL-Parameters.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 899px) 100vw, 899px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-URL-Parameters.jpg 899w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-URL-Parameters-350x172.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-URL-Parameters-640x314.jpg 640w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-URL-Parameters-768x377.jpg 768w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-URL-Parameters-30x15.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-URL-Parameters-332x163.jpg 332w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-URL-Parameters-400x196.jpg 400w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-URL-Parameters-510x250.jpg 510w\" alt=\"GSC - URL Parameters\" width=\"899\" height=\"441\" \/>To amend any of them, click edit and a small pop-up will appear \u2013 similar to the one shown below.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8077\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-URL-Parameter-Example.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 784px) 100vw, 784px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-URL-Parameter-Example.jpg 784w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-URL-Parameter-Example-350x189.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-URL-Parameter-Example-593x320.jpg 593w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-URL-Parameter-Example-768x414.jpg 768w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-URL-Parameter-Example-30x16.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-URL-Parameter-Example-311x168.jpg 311w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-URL-Parameter-Example-400x216.jpg 400w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-URL-Parameter-Example-510x275.jpg 510w\" alt=\"GSC - URL Parameter Example\" width=\"784\" height=\"423\" \/>All the available configuration options are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Does this parameter change page content seen by the user?\n<ul>\n<li>Yes: Changes reorders or narrows page content<\/li>\n<li>No: Doesn\u2019t affect page content (e.g. tracks usage)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>How does this parameter affect page content?\n<ul>\n<li>Sorts<\/li>\n<li>Narrows<\/li>\n<li>Specifies<\/li>\n<li>Translates<\/li>\n<li>Paginates<\/li>\n<li>Other<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Which URLs with this parameter should Googlebot crawl?\n<ul>\n<li>Let Googlebot decide \u2013 I wouldn\u2019t use this one unless you\u2019re 100% sure that Google will figure it out for itself. (Doubt it\u2026)<\/li>\n<li>Every URL<\/li>\n<li>Only URLs with value<\/li>\n<li>No URLs<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Don\u2019t forget to have a look at the examples of the URLs Google is tracking with each parameter. The changes you select in the form will reflect which URLs will or will not get indexed.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s an example of another client site, where we only wanted to have 1 specific value for the sampleid parameter indexed:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8078\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-URL-Parameter-Exact-Config-Example.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 737px) 100vw, 737px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-URL-Parameter-Exact-Config-Example.jpg 737w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-URL-Parameter-Exact-Config-Example-350x344.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-URL-Parameter-Exact-Config-Example-325x320.jpg 325w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-URL-Parameter-Exact-Config-Example-610x600.jpg 610w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-URL-Parameter-Exact-Config-Example-30x30.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-URL-Parameter-Exact-Config-Example-171x168.jpg 171w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-URL-Parameter-Exact-Config-Example-686x675.jpg 686w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-URL-Parameter-Exact-Config-Example-289x284.jpg 289w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/GSC-URL-Parameter-Exact-Config-Example-388x382.jpg 388w\" alt=\"GSC - URL Parameter Exact Config Example\" width=\"737\" height=\"725\" \/><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Putting_it_into_Action\"><\/span><span id=\"Putting_it_into_Action\">Putting it into Action<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The above list of action items is diverse and comprehensive. Conveniently,\u00a0The Search Initiative\u00a0team is well set up to meet the requirements of a project like this<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/thesearchinitiative.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-6993 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Sched-a-call-CTA.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Sched-a-call-CTA.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Sched-a-call-CTA-350x32.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Sched-a-call-CTA-640x58.jpg 640w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Sched-a-call-CTA-768x70.jpg 768w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Sched-a-call-CTA-1024x93.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Sched-a-call-CTA-30x3.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Sched-a-call-CTA-332x30.jpg 332w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Sched-a-call-CTA-1080x98.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Sched-a-call-CTA-400x36.jpg 400w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Sched-a-call-CTA-510x46.jpg 510w\" alt=\"Sched a call-CTA\" width=\"1500\" height=\"136\" \/><\/a>With the use of our project management software \u2013\u00a0Teamwork\u00a0\u2013 we create a game plan and quickly roll out the work.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s a screenshot of an example campaign where there\u2019s a lot of SEO moving parts involved concurrently:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8079\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Teamwork-Planned-Tasks.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1008px) 100vw, 1008px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Teamwork-Planned-Tasks.jpg 1008w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Teamwork-Planned-Tasks-264x350.jpg 264w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Teamwork-Planned-Tasks-242x320.jpg 242w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Teamwork-Planned-Tasks-768x1017.jpg 768w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Teamwork-Planned-Tasks-453x600.jpg 453w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Teamwork-Planned-Tasks-23x30.jpg 23w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Teamwork-Planned-Tasks-127x168.jpg 127w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Teamwork-Planned-Tasks-510x675.jpg 510w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Teamwork-Planned-Tasks-214x284.jpg 214w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Teamwork-Planned-Tasks-288x382.jpg 288w\" alt=\"Teamwork - Planned Tasks\" width=\"1008\" height=\"1335\" \/><\/p>\n<p>When it comes to auditing and implementation, having high standards is the key. Solving a problem with a mediocre job is worse than fixing a less important issue correctly.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Results_Algorithmic_Recovery\"><\/span><span id=\"The_Results_Algorithmic_Recovery\">The Results: Algorithmic Recovery<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>So\u2026 What does returning to the SERPs look like?<\/p>\n<p>Through the iterative approach after a series of cycles, the client was well set up for some gains next time the algorithm rolled out.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8080\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-February-to-March-comparison.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1228px) 100vw, 1228px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-February-to-March-comparison.jpg 1228w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-February-to-March-comparison-350x187.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-February-to-March-comparison-600x320.jpg 600w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-February-to-March-comparison-768x410.jpg 768w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-February-to-March-comparison-1024x546.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-February-to-March-comparison-30x16.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-February-to-March-comparison-315x168.jpg 315w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-February-to-March-comparison-1080x576.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-February-to-March-comparison-400x213.jpg 400w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-February-to-March-comparison-510x272.jpg 510w\" alt=\"Results - February to March comparison\" width=\"1228\" height=\"655\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This increase in keywords happened over a 1 week period:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8081\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Ranking-increases.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1607px) 100vw, 1607px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Ranking-increases.jpg 1607w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Ranking-increases-350x84.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Ranking-increases-640x154.jpg 640w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Ranking-increases-768x185.jpg 768w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Ranking-increases-1024x247.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Ranking-increases-30x7.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Ranking-increases-332x80.jpg 332w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Ranking-increases-1080x260.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Ranking-increases-400x96.jpg 400w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Ranking-increases-510x123.jpg 510w\" alt=\"Results - Ranking increases\" width=\"1607\" height=\"387\" \/><\/p>\n<p>And we saw an increase of the rankings across the board \u2013 keywords jumped to the top positions, new keywords started ranking from nowhere\u2026 everything.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8082\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Keywords.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1744px) 100vw, 1744px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Keywords.jpg 1744w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Keywords-350x169.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Keywords-640x310.jpg 640w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Keywords-768x372.jpg 768w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Keywords-1024x496.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Keywords-30x15.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Keywords-332x161.jpg 332w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Keywords-1080x523.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Keywords-400x194.jpg 400w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Keywords-510x247.jpg 510w\" alt=\"Results - Keywords\" width=\"1744\" height=\"844\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Here are results in a pre-Medic update and after-March update comparison. We\u2019re caught up and in a good position to hit record traffic next month.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8083\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-July-2018-to-April-Comparisons.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1234px) 100vw, 1234px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-July-2018-to-April-Comparisons.jpg 1234w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-July-2018-to-April-Comparisons-350x186.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-July-2018-to-April-Comparisons-603x320.jpg 603w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-July-2018-to-April-Comparisons-768x408.jpg 768w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-July-2018-to-April-Comparisons-1024x544.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-July-2018-to-April-Comparisons-30x16.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-July-2018-to-April-Comparisons-317x168.jpg 317w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-July-2018-to-April-Comparisons-1080x573.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-July-2018-to-April-Comparisons-400x212.jpg 400w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-July-2018-to-April-Comparisons-510x271.jpg 510w\" alt=\"Results - July 2018 to April Comparisons\" width=\"1234\" height=\"655\" \/><\/p>\n<p>And here\u2019s Ahrefs graph to visualize the fall and rise:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8084\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Ahrefs.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1077px) 100vw, 1077px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Ahrefs.jpg 1077w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Ahrefs-350x133.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Ahrefs-640x244.jpg 640w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Ahrefs-768x292.jpg 768w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Ahrefs-1024x390.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Ahrefs-30x11.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Ahrefs-332x126.jpg 332w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Ahrefs-400x152.jpg 400w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Ahrefs-510x194.jpg 510w\" alt=\"Results - Ahrefs\" width=\"1077\" height=\"410\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"et-box et-info\">\n<div class=\"et-box-content\">\n<p>In the above screenshot I mention the Compatibility Stage on purpose because every project at TSI splits into three triannual periods:<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Google Compatibility Stage<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 typically the first 3-4 months.<\/p>\n<p>It involves us setting the foundations of the campaign, prepping the site for more significant increases in results.<\/p>\n<p>Or, like in this case, we do all we can to regain the traffic after any unpleasant surprises from Google.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Google Authority Stage<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 for an average campaign, this stage occurs in months 5-8.<\/p>\n<p>Here we begin targeting higher competition keywords.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Enhanced Google Authority Stage<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 usually eight months to a year.<\/p>\n<p>It is when we leverage the authority already established by increasing the number of pages ranking in the high positions. We optimize pages for further conversions and revenue increases.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>It took a few months to fully benefit from the work that we had put into the campaign. Many site owners are not so patient and don\u2019t always want to wait until this glorious moment.<\/p>\n<p>But that\u2019s a good thing.\u00a0 It makes things easier for those of us that stick it out.<\/p>\n<p>In our case, the recovery coincided with a second major algorithm update on March 12th.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, you may read it and say: \u201cHey, this is the algorithm rolling back.\u00a0 You could have\u00a0<strong>done nothing<\/strong>\u00a0and gotten these gains.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Here are their competitors that\u00a0<strong>did nothing<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Competitor #1<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8087 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Competitor-1.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 718px) 100vw, 718px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Competitor-1.jpg 718w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Competitor-1-350x117.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Competitor-1-640x214.jpg 640w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Competitor-1-30x10.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Competitor-1-332x111.jpg 332w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Competitor-1-400x134.jpg 400w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Competitor-1-510x170.jpg 510w\" alt=\"Results - Competitor 1\" width=\"718\" height=\"240\" \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Competitor #2<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8088\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Competitor-2.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 705px) 100vw, 705px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Competitor-2.jpg 705w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Competitor-2-350x129.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Competitor-2-640x236.jpg 640w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Competitor-2-30x11.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Competitor-2-332x122.jpg 332w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Competitor-2-400x148.jpg 400w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Competitor-2-510x188.jpg 510w\" alt=\"\" width=\"705\" height=\"260\" \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Competitor #3<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8089\" src=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Competitor-3.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 714px) 100vw, 714px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Competitor-3.jpg 714w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Competitor-3-350x113.jpg 350w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Competitor-3-640x206.jpg 640w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Competitor-3-30x10.jpg 30w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Competitor-3-332x107.jpg 332w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Competitor-3-400x129.jpg 400w, https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Results-Competitor-3-510x164.jpg 510w\" alt=\"\" width=\"714\" height=\"230\" \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Summary\"><\/span><span id=\"Summary\">Summary<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>As the SEO world evolves and Google gets more and more sophisticated, these core quality updates will inevitably become more frequent.<\/p>\n<p>This case study provided you first-hand insight from\u00a0The Search Initiative\u00a0on how to set your site up to actually benefit from future algorithmic updates.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You have learned about Google\u2019s numerous changes and periodic algo updates.<\/li>\n<li>You\u2019ve also found out about the various steps of the process of auditing and improving your site.<\/li>\n<li>But, most importantly, you have seen that hard work, thorough analysis, and long term commitment always pay off.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>While the SEO strategies employed are vital to the continued success of any campaign, there is one more important piece \u2013 the human element.<\/p>\n<p>If you don\u2019t stick to the plan and be patient, you\u2019re not likely to see the fruits of your work.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>via:https:\/\/diggitymarketing.com\/algorithm-update-case-study\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the SEO world develops and Google gets increasingly refined, these center quality updates will unavoidably turn out to progressively visit. I hope that you\u2019ve never had to go through the pain of being hit by an algorithmic update. You wake up one morning, your traffic is decimated, and your rank tracker is littered withRead More &raquo;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2430,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[742,1,14],"tags":[746,22],"class_list":["post-2880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-seo","category-search-engine-optimization","category-social-media-marketing","tag-omaha-seo","tag-search-engine-optimization","cat-742-id","cat-1-id","cat-14-id"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Google SEO Algorithm Update Case Study -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As the SEO world develops and Google gets increasingly refined, these center quality updates will unavoidably turn out to progressively visit.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Google SEO Algorithm Update Case Study -\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As the SEO world develops and Google gets increasingly refined, these center quality updates will unavoidably turn out to progressively visit.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/2880-2the-google-searches-algorithm-updates-and-prepares-your-website\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Omaha SEO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/4socialmedia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-07-17T01:23:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-03-28T13:38:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Depositphotos_185379552_l-2015.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1333\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Phil Belleville\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@MySocialMediaCo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@MySocialMediaCo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Phil Belleville\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"40 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. 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