Understanding Google Penalties and Algorithms

Transcript

1. @PedroDias
   0
   

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2. @PedroDias
   Google Algorithms
   VS
   Google Penalties
   Explained by an ex-Google
   

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3. @PedroDias
   § Director SEO + DEV & Partner @ apis3
   § Ex-Google Search Quality/Webspam (2006-2011)
   § Designer, UX, Web Designer, Web Developer (2000-2006)
   📝 More about me /in/PedroDias
   About me
   

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4. @PedroDias
   § These are my perceptions;
   § I’ve been out for longer than my tenure at Google;
   § Google changes fast outside, but faster inside;
   § People at Google focus on parts (ex: synonyms team, anchors team,
   crawling team, etc.). No one knows “the whole”;
   § This presentation should not be interpreted without context.
   Disclaimer
   

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5. @PedroDias
   The same, but different
   

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6. @PedroDias
   Algorithms
   🤔
   Manual Actions
   

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7. @PedroDias
   What is quality?
   * It’s not star ratings
   *
   

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8. @PedroDias
   What is your website?
   We must talk about quality
   

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9. @PedroDias
   The experience
   users have on it
   How it was
   engineered to work
   Service Product
   

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10. @PedroDias
    Technical SEO Strategic SEO
    (Product Quality)
    Holistic SEO
    +
    Service Product
    

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11. @PedroDias
    SEO, alone,
    is unlike to create value!
    Every website must solve a problem/need
    

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12. @PedroDias
    

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13. @PedroDias
    Expertise
    High level of knowledge/skill
    Be useful to your users
    Authority
    The power to control/influence
    Be credible to your users
    Trust
    Belief that you can depend on
    Be useful + desirable + credible, and more…
    

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14. @PedroDias
    🙂
    + Technical
    

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15. @PedroDias
    😵
    + Strategical
    

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16. @PedroDias
    Algorithms
    

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17. @PedroDias
    Algorithms look for quality
    Quality = Performance/Expectation
    Algorithms look for…
    

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18. @PedroDias
    § 383,605 Search quality tests
    § 62,937 Side-by-side experiments
    § 17,523 Live traffic experiments
    § 3,620 Launches
    

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19. @PedroDias
    SEO
    User
    Algorithms are made to chase users. So, if you
    chase users instead of algorithms, you’ll be on
    par with where Google is heading.
    

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20. @PedroDias
    Quality is NOT static. It degrades with time.
    Innovation
    Innovation
    Time
    Quality
    

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21. @PedroDias
    § Act more like filters (focus on resurfacing quality);
    § Applied at serving time (Schrödinger’s?);
    § You have control (although indirect) on how your site is
    influenced, as opposed to manual actions;
    § Act granularly by default.
    Algorithmic Issues != Penalties (Manual Actions)
    

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22. @PedroDias
    § Upper/Lower thresholds (ex: link velocity, SERP growth, etc.);
    § Action/Intensity can be bound to vertical, search intent, query
    type, seasonality, etc.;
    § Constantly improved, based on user input (rescoring);
    § React to aggregate user behavior.
    Algorithms are dynamic
    

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23. @PedroDias
    § Algorithms can be combined;
    § Penalties can be combined;
    § Penalties and Algorithms can work together;
    § Not all fluctuations are penalties;
    § Not all penalties are visible.
    Now you see it. Now you don’t.
    

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24. @PedroDias
    § Your site/page doesn’t fully meet user expectations;
    § Your site/page doesn’t fully meet user intent;
    § Your site/page is perceived as below average or frustrating;
    § Your value proposition isn’t strong enough;
    § Users don’t understand/trust your value proposition;
    Quality issues arise when
    

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25. @PedroDias
    § Solve problems -- what your users want VS what you are delivering;
    § Content != text (necessarily);
    § Make sure all your pages have a clear purpose (beyond “for SEO”);
    § Add real value -- different wording often is not enough;
    § Avoid aggressive content monetization (esp/ if not yours).
    Dealing with Algorithmic Issues
    

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26. @PedroDias
    What would users miss the most,
    if your site disappeared today?
    Dealing with Algorithmic Issues
    

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27. @PedroDias
    Manual Actions
    

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28. @PedroDias
    § Applied according to behavior;
    § Set with expiration date (yes, it’s long);
    § Can be more or less granular (depending on behavior/intent);
    § A reconsideration request is required to update;
    § Don’t hold grudges.
    Manual Actions are static
    

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29. @PedroDias
    Linking Content
    § Unnatural links to your website
    § Unnatural links from your website
    § Pure spam
    § Hidden text / keyword stuffing
    § Thin content
    § Spammy Structured Markup
    § AMP content mismatch
    Manual Actions
    

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30. @PedroDias
    Behavior Hacked
    § User-generated spam
    § Freehost spam
    § Cloaking / Sneaky redirects *
    § Hacked content spam
    Manual Actions
    * Sneaky mobile redirects have a separate message
    

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31. @PedroDias
    § Monitoring systems (algorithmic
    triggers);
    § Industry trends (observed behaviors);
    § User reports;
    What triggers a Manual Action?
    Manipulative
    intent
    

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32. @PedroDias
    Algorithms Manual Actions
    § Aim at resurfacing value
    § Work at scale
    § Dynamic
    § Fully automated
    § Undefined duration
    § Aim at penalizing behavior
    § Tackle specific scenarios
    § Static
    § Manual + Semi-automated
    § Defined duration (expiration date)
    Google Algorithms VS Manual Actions (penalties)
    

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33. @PedroDias
    § Does the behavior have manipulative intent?
    § Is the behavior egregious?
    § Will the Manual Action yield impact?
    § What changes will the impact yield?
    § What am I penalizing (widespread behavior)?
    Manual Actions are applied considering
    

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34. @PedroDias
    § Understand the issue you need to solve -- read the guidelines;
    § Don’t rush! You want to be thorough, rather than fast;
    § Don't submit multiple reconsideration requests;
    § Don't submit an empty website;
    § Even if the issue is specific to a section, make sure you fix it sitewide;
    Dealing with Manual Actions
    

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35. @PedroDias
    § Be succinct and direct;
    § Avoid being a repeat offender;
    § State you intend to follow Google's search quality guidelines
    from now on;
    Dealing with Manual Actions
    

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36. @PedroDias
    § Duplicate content;
    § Having URLs that 404;
    § Hosting a website on a shared server;
    § Having links from websites that are not in your niche;
    § Broken internal/external links;
    § High bounce rate;
    § [...]
    Do not trigger algorithmic issues nor penalties
    

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37. @PedroDias
    § In removal cases, rankings might return;
    § In linking cases, rankings might not return;
    § Most hacked cases, come back as before;
    Recovering from Manual Actions
    

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38. @PedroDias
    § Rethink your value proposition and competitive advantage;
    § Treat your website as a product and innovate constantly;
    § Research your users’ needs, trough User Experience;
    § Talk to your users and ask their opinions;
    § Technical SEO matters, but alone will not solve anything;
    

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39. @PedroDias
    § 👥 Chase after your users, not algorithms;
    § 📖 Read Google’s Search Quality Guidelines and consider the
    risks of violating them;
    § ⚠ It’s easier to get in. It’s harder to get out;
    

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40. @PedroDias
    SEE YOU AT THE NEXT SMX!
    THANK YOU!
    

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