Understanding Google Core Updates: Monitoring and Response Strategy

At Digital Shift, we understand that Google Core Updates can be a source of uncertainty for businesses, especially those in the home services industry. These updates can influence search rankings and visibility, which in turn affect your business performance.

Our team is committed to helping you navigate the volatility and challenges posed by Google Core Updates. Through diligent monitoring, strategic adjustments, and effective communication, we aim to maintain and enhance your online presence, ensuring your business continues to thrive.

This document outlines our approach to monitoring and responding to Google Core Updates to ensure your online presence remains strong.

What is Monitored?

1. Search Rankings

  • Keyword Rankings: We closely monitor the rankings of your target keywords using advanced SEO tools. This helps us identify any shifts in your position on the search engine results pages (SERPs).
  • Local Pack Performance: We keep an eye on your presence in the local pack and map results to ensure your visibility remains consistent.
  • AI Overview, Featured Snippets and SERP Features: Monitor any changes in your presence within featured snippets, knowledge panels, and other SERP features, which can significantly impact visibility.

2. Website Traffic

  • Organic Traffic Trends: We track changes in organic traffic to your website using Google Analytics. This helps us assess how the update impacts your overall web visibility.
  • User Engagement Metrics: Metrics such as bounce rate, pages per session, and average session duration are monitored to understand user behavior changes post-update.
  • Conversion Metrics: In addition to traffic, monitor conversion rates and lead generation metrics to understand the business impact of the update.

3. Google Business Profile

  • Profile Visibility: We check how your Google Business Profile is affected, including any changes in the number of views or interactions.
  • Customer Reviews and Ratings: Monitoring reviews and ratings to ensure your business reputation remains intact.
  • Post and Update Engagement: Track the performance of posts and updates in your Google Business Profile to evaluate their role in maintaining engagement.

4. Competitor Analysis

  • Competitor Performance: We analyze how your competitors are affected by the update to identify opportunities or threats to your business.
  • Local Competitor Standings: Specifically focus on local competitors to understand shifts in the local search landscape and adjust accordingly.

 

Steps Performed After Detecting Changes

1. Data Analysis

  • Review Metrics: Compare pre-update and post-update data to pinpoint specific areas of change.
  • User Behavior Analysis: Recommend using a heatmaps and session recordings service to understand changes in user behavior on your site post-update.

2. Content Audit

  • Content Review/Refresh: Regularly review and refresh content to ensure it remains relevant, accurate, and aligned with user intent.
  • Quality and Relevance: Review existing content for quality and relevance, ensuring it meets Google’s updated guidelines and user intent.
  • Content Gaps: Identify and address content gaps that may have affected rankings.
  • User Intent Alignment: Further refine content to better match the searcher’s intent, considering the types of queries that saw improvement or decline.
  • Visual and Multimedia Content: Recommend new images, videos, and other multimedia content that are optimized and contribute positively to the user experience.

3. Technical SEO Review

  • Site Health Check: Perform a technical audit to identify and fix any issues that could hinder your site’s performance, such as broken links, slow loading speeds, or mobile usability issues.
  • Schema Markup: Ensure structured data markup is correctly implemented to enhance your visibility in search results.
  • Core Web Vitals: Pay attention to Core Web Vitals as part of the technical SEO audit, ensuring that your site meets Google's speed and user experience benchmarks.
  • Security and Accessibility: Verify that your website is secure (HTTPS) and accessible to all users, including those with disabilities.
  • Website Usability: Recommend testing website functionality, and conversion features, including form submissions and dynamic phone numbers, to ensure there aren't any technical or user experience issues. 

4. Local SEO Optimization

  • Consistency and Accuracy: Ensure your NAP (Name, Address, Phone number) data is consistent across all platforms.
  • Local Link Building: Engage in local link-building strategies by collaborating with local businesses and organizations.
  • Hyperlocal Content: Create content that targets hyperlocal keywords, which can capture searchers with immediate local intent.

5. Strategic Adjustments

  • Keyword Strategy: Adjust your keyword strategy based on the performance data, targeting new opportunities or modifying existing focus areas.
  • Link Building: Recommend strengthening your backlink profile by acquiring high-quality links relevant to your industry.
  • Conversion Rate Optimization: Recommend conversion rate optimization best practices are used including click-to-call on mobile and easy-to-use forms among other features. 

6. Client Communication

  • Reporting: Provide detailed and ongoing reports on the impact of the update and actions taken to mitigate any negative effects.
  • Monthly Updates: Keep you informed with monthly updates and insights into ongoing strategies and improvements during strategy calls.

What if Rankings Increase?

1. Identify Contributing Factors

  • Analyze Data: Review metrics to determine which factors contributed to the increase in rankings, such as content changes, technical improvements, or link acquisition.
  • Competitive Analysis: Compare your site’s changes with competitors to identify unique strategies that led to the improvement.

2. Reproduce Successful Strategies

  • Content Optimization: Expand and enhance high-performing content, and apply similar strategies to other content pieces.
  • SEO Best Practices: Document and standardize successful SEO practices for future implementation.

3. Leverage Momentum

  • Explore New Opportunities: Use the positive momentum to explore new keyword opportunities and expand your content reach.
  • Strengthen Brand Presence: Increase efforts in branding and user engagement to capitalize on improved visibility.
  • Scalable Content Strategies: Identify scalable content strategies that can be applied across different locations or service areas.

What if Rankings Decline?

1. Immediate Assessment

  • Conduct an immediate assessment to determine the extent and cause of the ranking decline.

2. Tailored Action Plan

  • Develop a tailored action plan based on the assessment and implement changes to address the specific issues identified.

3. Continuous Monitoring

  • Continuously monitor your rankings and traffic to ensure the corrective measures are effective.

4. Long-term Strategy

  • Reassess and refine your long-term SEO strategy to align with the current search landscape and future-proof against similar updates.

If you have any questions or need further assistance, please feel free to contact our support team.