Google is pretty much a living, breathing organism at this point. Its heart is the search algorithm, which essentially decides what pages appear whenever someone types a query into the search bar.

But with any living organism, Google and its algorithm evolve and try to bring improvements to its processes, all in an attempt to give Google users the best possible experience (and prevent them from using other search engines.) But, how often do these algorithms updates happen?

Well, as often as 3000+ times a year. For users, that’s great news – Google is hard at work trying to give us the best search engine it can. But for marketers, it begs the question: how are we supposed to keep up?

The Important Thing Is to Remain Calm

Look, we get it. It can be overwhelming to know Google supposedly makes 8-9 algorithm updates each day, but we’d like to let you in on a little secret: most of them are pretty much bugs the Google team steps in to fix. What does this mean, you ask? These changes are rather small and won’t affect your marketing efforts all that much.

But when it comes to big changes, you will definitely know about them. Google actively pushes for these changes, like when it started to put a higher importance on mobile-friendly websites than desktop-only ones.

Here are three tips to always keep your website in line with Google’s algorithm changes:

1) Make Sure Your Website Works According to Plan

If you want your website to have good rankings and to successfully face any Google algorithm changes head-on, then it needs to be fully functional. In 2019, that means:

  •     Fast
  •     Optimized
  •     With no broken links
  •     With lots of high-value content
  •     With an appealing design
  •     Responsive and mobile-friendly

2) Check Google Search Console Routinely

The Search Console is an incredibly useful tool for detecting any issues in your website affecting your rank and it’s created by Google! It comes complete with loads of recommendations to improve, and if you use it routinely, changes in the algorithm won’t hurt you.

3) Look at Your Competitors (and One-Up Them)

Essentially, this is what you’re trying to do in the grand scheme of things – get in front of the competition by getting your website placed ahead of theirs. So, it’s not a bad strategy to look at higher ranked websites to see what they have and you don’t; use this to start improving your own.

Need Some Extra Help?

Staying up to speed with all of Google’s changes, really does take time, awareness and a bit of technical prowess… which is why we don’t recommend that you handle this on your own.  Find a solid, experienced digital marketing partner, like Sprout Media Lab :), that can keep an eye on things while you handle your day to day business.

If you want your website to always be at the forefront of Google’s algorithm changes, contact Sprout Media Lab or give the team a call at (800) 617-6975 to discuss what kind of digital marketing partner Sprout Media Lab can be for you and your business!