Incorporating Searcher Data About Blocked Sites<\/strong><\/p>\nGoogle has always used a number of signals in determining relevant search results. Some of these are on the pages themselves (such as the text on a page), some are on other sites (such as anchor text in links to a page), and some are based on user behavior (for instance, Google gathers data about how long pages take to load by using toolbar data from users who access those pages).<\/p>\n
In recent months, Google has launched two ways for searchers to block particular sites from their search results. The first was a Chrome extension. More recently, Google has launched a block link directly in the search results that appears once a searcher has clicked from the results to a site and then return to the search results.<\/p>\n
When Panda launched initially, Google said that they didn\u2019t use data about what sites searchers were blocking as a signal in the algorithm, but they did use the data as validation that the algorithm change was on target. They found an 84% overlap in sites that were negatively impacted by Panda and sites that users had blocked with the Chrome extension.<\/p>\n
Now, they are using data about what searchers have blocked in \u201chigh confidence situations\u201d. Google tells me this is a secondary, rather than primary factor. If the site fits the overall pattern that this algorithm targets, searcher blocking behavior may be used as confirmation.<\/p>\n
Impact Seen To a Wider Variety of Sites<\/strong><\/p>\nIn the initial launch, large sites were primarily affected. This makes sense as larger sites, with more pages, traffic, and links, have more signals available. With the latest update, smaller sites may see an impact. Amit Singhal, in charge of search quality at Google, notes in the blog post, \u201cthis change also goes deeper into the \u201clong tail\u201d of low-quality websites to return higher-quality results where the algorithm might not have been able to make an assessment before\u201d.
\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.faceofmalawi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/seo-ring.jpg\" "\\"seo-ring\\"")
\nA Google spokesman commented,<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re focused on showing users the highest quality, most relevant pages on the web. We\u2019re cautious not to roll out changes until we\u2019re confident that they improve the user experience, while at the same time helping the broader web ecosystem. We incorporate new signals into our algorithm only after extensive testing, once we\u2019ve concluded that they improve quality for our users.\u201d<\/p>\n
What To Do If Your Site Is Impacted<\/strong><\/p>\nWhen this change was launched in the United States, site owners who were impacted were vocal in their unhappiness and Google opened a thread in the Google webmaster central discussion forum so site owners could provide feedback to Google. In the latest post, they said:<\/p>\n
\u201cBased on our testing, we\u2019ve found the algorithm is very accurate at detecting site quality. If you believe your site is high-quality and has been impacted by this change, we encourage you to evaluate the different aspects of your site extensively. Google\u2019s quality guidelines provide helpful information about how to improve your site. As sites change, our algorithmic rankings will update to reflect that. In addition, you\u2019re welcome to post in our Webmaster Help Forums. While we aren\u2019t making any manual exceptions, we will consider this feedback as we continue to refine our algorithms.\u201d<\/p>\n
As we have learned in the past always take an objective look at the user experience of the site:<\/p>\n
Can visitors easily find their way around?
\nIs it obvious what topic each page is about?
\nIs the content original or is it aggregated from other sources?
\nDo the number and placement of the ads obscure the visitor\u2019s ability to quickly access the content?
\nWhen looking objectively at the site, is the primary focus the user need or the business goal?
\nIs the content on the page authoritative and valuable? Does it answer the query better than other pages on the web?
\nIf some of the pages on the site are very high quality and engaging, are other pages on the site not as high quality? (Google has stated that enough low quality content on a site can reduce the entire site\u2019s rankings, not just the low quality pages.)<\/p>\n
Use these findings to target improvements to your site that will enhance the overall user experience (which should also benefit overall engagement, loyalty, and conversion).<\/p>\n
If you need expert opinion on your website, please email Dot Solutions at dotsolutions09@gmail.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Late February, Google launched a substantial algorithm change (known as \u201cFarmer\u201d or \u201cPanda\u201d) aimed at identifying low-quality pages and websites […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1397,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[284],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-search-engine-development"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}