Last month, we saw Google roll out their well-publicized update that rewarded mobile-friendly websites. That was great news for distributors that had responsive (or other mobile-friendly) sites.
Now, it appears the search giant rolled out another update, dubbed the “phantom” algorithm. Early indications point to be negatively impacting sites that have light “how-to” content.
NBC News reports that some sites have lost as much as 22% of traffic from one week to another this month. Sites you may be familiar with, such as HubPages, eHow, and Answers.com, are ones that seem to be impacted the most.
What does that mean for distributor websites? More than anything, it emphasizes the need for solid and meaningful content. The sites identified are largely ones that have a lot of articles, but each are really light on content in any given document.
I view this as actually good news for distributor websites. Google continues to reward sites that develop content that is usable and written for users, not search engine robots. Not long ago content produced was stuffed with keywords, which got noticed by search engines, but was so hard to read by humans that it was unusable.
Frankly, if distributors got traffic from that content, it wasn’t the right traffic. Distributors need website traffic with quality users. Traffic for the sake of traffic that isn’t going to convert has little value. Google noticed and is continuing to put out updates that makes it easier for us to find what we need, when we need it, and where we need it.
Continue to provide content that your visitors and customers can really use and you’ll be rewarded in the long run!
Have you noticed unexplained changes in your site traffic?
Dean Mueller is Independent Consultant at Distribution Strategy Group. He has more than 30 years of experience in sales and marketing and helps distributors build holistic digital strategies that drive a significant shift to online sales, improve profitability and grow customer satisfaction. Take your digital strategy to the next level. Contact Dean at dmueller@distributionstrategy.com.