Have you ever written a blog post or produced a video that you were sure was going to be a hit with your audience, only to find out that it wasn’t doing as well as you’d hope, or worse—it was completely tanking. Well, the good news is that it might not be your fault. The bad news is that the fault could lie in the very hands of the thing we all depend on to get eyes and clicks on our work: the Google algorithm.
The Google algorithm is a mysterious thing; because they won’t divulge how it works, not wanting to give the key to their success away to other search engines, mastering the algorithm takes a lot of guesswork on the part of successful brands and marketers. But, let’s be honest, we’re not webmasters here, even if Google was transparent about the way their algorithm works and changes, a lot of it would sound like Greek to us. How it works isn’t necessarily important. What really matters is…how can we beat it?
- Be mobile compatible. We know that back in 2015, Google changed its algorithm to favor sites that had mobile capabilities. Make sure your site works on cell phones, iPads, and other mobile devices.
- Be consistent and authoritative. Priority is given to top tier websites that publish regularly. By authoritative, we don’t just mean well-written, but published by an expert source that gives valuable, unique insight to its readers.
- Diversify your strategies. Don’t think you can hack it just being good at one thing. The algorithm prioritizes sites that have a diversified outreach, not the ones that stick to the strategies they find important. Basically, just because your website is pretty and optimized for mobile doesn’t guarantee you a spot on the front page. If you aren’t social marketing and thinking of new avenues to attract customers, you won’t rank very high.
- Produce “content-rich” material. If you have a website that’s basically a digital billboard for your product, people aren’t going to linger there. The pages that users click on and stay on are the ones that achieve a high ranking. Start a blog or continuously add material to your page. Anything to keep eyes constantly on your site.
- Be flexible and always ready to learn. Google makes mistakes just like any company, but the way they fix those mistakes might have a negative impact on your website. It’s easy to get frustrated, but it’s not productive. Be ready at the drop of a hat to make the little adjustments needed to keep your company ranking where it should.
Yes, this sounds complicated. And it is! There are professionals who handle this sort of thing so business owners can focus on what’s important: running their business. If you’re vexed by the algorithm but don’t want to go into the arena all by yourself, call The Go! Agency. We know how to produce frontpage content.
