SEO has always had a very close relationship with user behavior statistics. We have been able to observe these for years with some known and predicted SEO factors.
Behavioral data such as CTR performance (known) and the browser doing sentiment analysis (predicted) have a direct effect on the sequencing results.
These and hundreds of factors like this always remind us that when doing SEO, we ultimately have to be user-centered.
However, we are going through a pandemic process called COVID-19, which is very unique in terms of user search behavior, intention, and context.
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There is no sector, demographic profile, segment, and location that is not affected by the global epidemic.
In order to understand the market and the target audience precisely, the Google SEO algorithm has opened all its radars to the full. Because billions of people rely on Google for accurate and life-saving information.
Thanks to the data it collects, the Google SEO algorithm can adapt very quickly to the instant and periodic changes of the end-user and can immediately change the ranking results in a shocking way.
In this context, we read the reports and news about the serious fluctuations in the ranking results in March and witness our own websites.
How should you interpret this process?
Pandemic days are not just a period of closure and slowdown; You should consider the days when your potential customers begin to have different perceptions and awareness about their priorities in their lives.
During this period, new habits are acquired, new behaviors and expectations are developed. Life is coded with different sensitivities.
In this period when all of us, including your potential customers, our basic habits are shaken to the root and we feel the winds of change to our bones, it would be imaginary to think that the internet will remain as before.
Since people and the internet will change, of course, Google will also change to preserve its validity and reason for existence.
The important thing to consider here is what we can do in this given situation. And we will touch on this in the last part of our article.
There is a direct relationship between SEO and life. The coronavirus days reminded us of this again.
So, are Google SEO fluctuations normal and how much can they affect our sites? Are the fluctuations we experience these days temporary? Are there sites where we can track fluctuations?
These are some of the questions we have heard very often lately. These questions from our readers are of course the result of concern.
Let's try to answer when our tongue turns.
Detection -1: SEO fluctuations are normal for Google, which makes hundreds of updates throughout the year.
In general, Google makes these updates quarterly, in other words, by spreading over time. It announces very little.
However, as there have been extraordinary changes in search trends in the COVID-19 pandemic, the update frequency and scope are also keeping up with extraordinary developments.
SEO algorithm updates in spring 2020 could seriously affect your website, positively or negatively, throughout the year.
It seems that the two types of website categories are directly affected by the SEO fluctuations we mentioned.
These; websites on health and money/finance/consumption/spending (Your Money Your Life - YMYL).
The highly creditable resource sensitivity that started with Medic Update continues.
If you have companies serving in these sectors, you need to pay special attention to the Google SEO channel and follow the changes closely, especially during this period.
Under normal circumstances, SEO fluctuations are usually temporary. It can range from a few days to a few weeks, depending on the size of the algorithm update.
However, the results of the update lead to permanent changes in the ranking. Websites that have lost positions will need to understand the underlying reasons and make counter moves.
For example, the BERT algorithm update that took place a few months ago caused serious disappointments in the ranking results and traffic of websites in many industries we follow.
Detection-2 : As far as we have observed, it is mentioned that as a result of the unnamed March updates, there are waves of change at least as much as BERT or even several times larger than that.
Detection -3: Since we are going through an extremely sensitive process, we do not think that Google leaves the work entirely to machine learning and allows the algorithm to renew itself independently.
To put it more clearly, we believe that there are more frequent direct interventions to the results, especially in the critical issues we have mentioned.
What can you do to stand out from ripples with minimal damage?
We must constantly remind ourselves of Google's basic EAT principle. Expertise, authority, trustworthiness. Expertise, competence and reliability in the Turkish of the abbreviation.
With each page competing in search results, you have to prove again and again that you are an expert, competent, and reliable source.
OK but how?
Solution -1: Be transparent and keep producing content.
Your target audience, who has closed their homes, now has more time. They try to spend their time as quality as possible.
They plan the days when life will return to "normalcy". They would want to invest more in themselves than anything else.
There is now a greater need for informative, educational, qualified content on the corporate blog of your own site, which will interest your industry and potential customers.
Correct information and sources of information are being sought. Humanity is in a crisis of trust.
Solution -2: You should help your customers make the right decisions about their lives, even if a little.
Focus on customer quality of life, not buying behavior.
In addition, content marketing is the most effective way to show your expertise, competence, and credibility at the same time. Most companies are quite lazy about this, but this is the truth.
You should continue to invest more in content marketing.
Solution -3: You should focus on long-lasting ingredients, not the soap bubble issues of the agenda. This way, your content will stay fresh and will survive any SEO fluctuation.
To summarize; To be an indispensable site for Google and your customers,
1. Focus on adding value to your potential customers' lives sincerely,
2. Use your communication channels to the fullest without making noise,
3. Learn to listen more and embrace change,
4. Cooperate with your customers to protect society and the environment,
5. Far from stopping the production lines of your content factory, continue to continue with determination!
What are the sites where you can track SEO fluctuations?
Finally, let's finish our article with reliable sites where you can track SEO fluctuations. These are Mozcast, SemRush Sensor, and Rank Risk Index.
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What do you think? In our opinion, SEO is the act of turning inside ourselves and explaining what we do best and what we add value to people's lives with excellent content.
Contributor:
Raunak is a Mechanical Engineer by qualification & Marketer by passion. He is the founder of Maiden Stride, a leading digital marketing company that provides world-class search engine marketing services and website & application development.
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