How does Google decide your website’s search results positions?
It does it via a series of incredibly complicated mathematical algorithms. So it helps to provide what the search engine wants and abide by the rules.
The thing is, Google’s rules aren’t obvious. They don’t publish ‘how to’ information about what they do and don’t want us to do. It’s a matter of educated guesswork, based on trial and error, established by brave SEOs who work at the uncomfortably pointy end of online marketing.
Fierce competition is another issue. The online marketing landscape is extremely competitive, so much so that if there’s a way to circumvent the accepted way of doing things, people will give it a go. Which is what appears to have happened to a certain link network, which nosedived last week. As a result online marketers who placed too much reliance on it ended up losing search results positions – catastrophic stuff.
Bad backlinks can mean Google warnings
Google has sent out warning emails informing site owners that that their back link activity is probably dubious. But it isn’t all bad news. This is the perfect time to educate yourself about the realities of SEO.
SEO has always been a moveable feast. Some link building methods inevitably come close to the edge of what search engines regarded as acceptable. SEO is a risky business by nature, and wise search engine optimisers take great care not to put all their link building eggs in one basket.
If the network’s demise has caused your business website to drop search positions, a knee-jerk reactions won’t help. Nor will playing the blame game. Try overhauling your content so it’s as best it can be. Attempt to de-activate or disavow the links you think are causing issues. Then submit your site to Google for reconsideration. And bear in mind that this kind of thing is more or less inevitable unless you spread your inbound link building load.
Make sure you build links using a wide variety of methods and tools, not just a handful, and you’ll reduce the risk… probably!
