Search Engine Optimization News Blog

Over the past few days there has been an alarming amount of repositioning in Google’s search engine results. Sites that were at #1 inexplicably dropping, replaced with sites not even considered to be in the running.

So what changed? Is Google being fickle? One investigation showed a site jumping up through the ranks by weight of sheer link volume. Going down a level or two revealed that this particular site had obtained a counter linking back to them placed on literally thousands of sites.

It doesn’t seem fair. For months we have been told that link volume is not the key, but the value of the links and of our site as measured by content and quality. After struggling to implement fair and honest SEO tactics, are we once again to be pushed aside by hit counters?

How to react? Take a deep breath. Past history has shown that algorithms dependent on link volume alone don’t work, and Google is well aware of this. Maybe it’s just a heads-up to not get lazy, to remind us that link volume does have a place in factoring, and to test some new waters..

Most expect that the SERPs will return to normal shortly, so no need to panic yet. Don’t be tempted to rush out and obtain a bunch of low quality backlinks that will end up hurting you in the long run.

Build quality links to improve your score, but continue to question carefully the value of each backlink you add to ensure that you maintain a high standard and this will surely pay off as the algorithms are tweaked once more.