Marketing Defined

Google Jagger Algorithm Update - The Consequences and How to Deal with the outcome

The recent Google Jagger algorithm Page Rank update should not have hit you too hard if you continue to apply best practice SEO techniques!

Unless you have been hiding under the proverbial rock, you would have noticed the hundreds of automated Traffic Equalizer and Directory Generator web sites which have been wiped clean off the SERPs.

I get pretty hot under the collar, when I see marketers who exert tremendous influence, simply by measure of their “huge” sales figures, blindly lead new online entrepreneurs to use these automated tools — tchh! Short sighted!

They justify their insatiable desire to rake in a few more thousand dollars, by calling them *throwaway websites*! I venture to say, that nothing I put my valuable time in to, ever gets *thrown away*!

What they simply neglect to tell the uninitiated is; the minute Google discovers these automated *throw away* websites, the rest of that webmaster’s sites are also sent hurtling down to the abyss of page 100 in the SERPs, if not banned in their entirety!

If you really are desperate for cash in the short term and must pursue such madness, at the very least have the sense to register these domains in a sibling’s or trusted friend’s name, together with a new and totally separate Adsense account which is essential for such automated websites

Google’s Jagger update certainly backs my hard line view on this. A number of *Splogs* and one page automated web sites consisting simply of links to others content, did thankfully get banned… although there are thousands more still corrupting the SERPs.

These are the common causes which might have caused down rankings.

• hidden text in web pages especially text hidden in invisible layers of CSS
• paid links or other links that are considered outside of Google’s quality guidelines
• overuse of internal links or anchor text as the sole source of optimization

If your websites did not experience a drop in the SERPs and less importantly, Page Rank, do not rush to apply any of the following. Just continue diversifying and update with relevant and unique content, but be mindful of these points:

• Do a search for style sheets or CSS that might be interpreted as spam attempts. Style sheets that contain code to hide text from visitors like

  visibility: hidden;

  might cause problems.

• You get absolutely no points for links from unrelated websites, although you are not penalized for it [or just think of what your competition might get up to], thus it pays to employ an effective reciprocal linking strategy which includes only incoming links from *related* sites
• Do not overuse the same keyword or keyphrase in inbound links to your web site. Spread your keyphrases, and use *related* link text for inbound links to your site, so they appear natural.
• Likewise, do not over optimize images on a *single* web page. Use keyphrases in the “alt” text sparingly for images on the one page, and do not repeat the same keyphrase more than twice

I don’t believe in exchanging links as there really is no value to doing so if it is a straight exchange. But if you still insist on doing so, be sure to use a professional tool like IBP or Arelis to conduct your reciprocal link exchange program. Both tools offer trial versions, seeking out relevant webmasters to automate the tedious process of exchanging links.

Here’s hoping the Google *Jagger* algorithm and page rank update has spared you from grief.