00:00If the helpful content update last year
was an uppercut,
00:04then the Core and the Spam updates
in March are a knockout punch.
00:11But just because you're down on the mat
doesn't mean that your fight is over.
00:15In this video, we'll uncover what Google
00:17is looking for and what you
can do to recover from it.
00:23Hey, it's Jack from Rank Math, the One,
tool, that empowers millions of WordPress
00:28sites with easy to use SEO and AI
tools as well as the right knowledge.
00:33So if you're new to us,
consider subscribing.
00:35Anyway, let's first figure out what
this Google update is all about.
00:39So this update is primarily targeting
00:41sites Google thinks are
spammy and low quality.
00:44But what exactly does
spammy and low quality mean?
00:47Well, it says they want to reduce
00:49unoriginal content in search results,
and they further explain that low quality
00:53content means web pages that are
unhelpful, have a poor user experience,
00:58or feel like they were created
for search engines instead of people.
01:01This could include sites created primarily
to match very specific search queries.
01:06We will go more in-depth about this
01:08in a while, but it is interesting that it
include poor user experience
01:11in the context of low quality
and unoriginal results.
01:15Then it went on to say that their spam
01:17policies keep the lowest quality content
out of search, like expired websites
01:21repurposed as spam repositories,
buy new owners, and obitury spam.
01:26They define spam as sites that generate
01:28content at scale where a clear
automation was involved.
01:31And the key to identifying
spam is its abusive behavior.
01:35Meaning if you have published godlike
numbers of articles every single day,
01:39maybe 100 to a thousand articles in a day,
and it doesn't matter if it is fully
01:43automated, created
by humans or a combination.
01:46I think they look at the frequency and
the quality of the content collectively.
01:50Then site reputation abuse is targeting
01:52those sites who pay money to be featured
on reputable sites like
01:56the New York Times, Forbes or whatever,
and reputable sites that do not pay
02:00attention to this policy notice will
be affected by the upcoming update.
02:04This serves as a warning.
02:06And finally, those who bought expired
domains that have some form of authority
02:10and they use it for things like LinkFarm,
ContentFarm, PBNs, or whatever.
02:14Sure, those sites will be
affected by this update as well.
02:17So if you have been sneaky and got away
02:19with all the previous updates,
you will most likely get caught this time.
02:23If not, the next time.
02:25You know who you are.
02:26But there are people who genuinely follow
Google's guidelines and work hard on their
02:31sites, yet they were also
affected by this update.
02:35What gives?
Now, I'll be honest with you,
02:37we do not have a definite answer
on how to recover from this.
02:40In fact, nobody does.
02:42And the things I'm about to mention might
02:44sound easy, yet they can
be tedious to implement.
02:48However, after gathering everything
02:49that we have learned, these are
the tips to recover from this update.
02:54If you have signed up with some ad
management platform like Zoing, Mediavine,
02:58or whatever, They will have some easy way
for you to automatically optimize your
03:03sites with ads so that you will
make the most money, right?
03:06As you can see, when I visit this site,
there are a lot of ads in the background.
03:10And as I scroll down, another ad pops up,
which is blocking the view.
03:14The close button is so small that I'm
03:16afraid my big and wide finger
accidentally clicks on the ad.
03:20But as I click on a close button,
03:21the close button is playing catch with me,
and another ad started to play.
03:25I have to click it once more to close it.
03:27Now, if I click this,
another full full screen ad pops up.
03:31I'm forced to click it away once more
before I can visit the page content.
03:36The site is full of ads every step
03:38of the way, and they are very intrusive,
which caused a really bad user experience.
03:43Nothing against those ad managers But I
think if you let their systems optimize
03:47your website for the most revenue,
you will often see pages that are
03:51plastered with ads like
the one I've shown you.
03:53And as a site visitor,
03:54you will feel uncomfortable avoiding those
ads that cause a poor user experience.
03:59Google generally wants your pages to be
clean and suited to the eye,
04:03so you may want to take control over
the placement of the displayed ads.
04:07Maybe do not have any pop-ups and remove
04:09any ads that play catch
with your site visitors.
04:13What I mean by internal
links with intent is this.
04:17Let's say someone searched for online jobs
04:20for seniors, and I wrote a long list of
online job ideas I think seniors can do.
04:24As a content creator,
04:25I think I've fulfilled
the primary search intent, right?
04:29And if I just stop there without
providing any additional help.
04:33That person would just leave
because they got the ideas.
04:36But for that person,
does the intent stop at just the ideas?
04:41That person actually wants
to find an online job.
04:44That's the underlying reason they
are searching for that keyword.
04:47So if your content simply stops at just
04:50satisfying the primary search intent
of the keyword, which is the job ideas,
04:54without providing any additional
information that can help the person's
04:57underlying concern,
it can be deemed unhelpful.
05:01you should work on adding internal or
external links that will help the person's
05:06underlying concern if it didn't
help in the page content itself.
05:09I hope this makes sense.
05:12If you have been churning out AI content
without fact-checking or adding any new
05:16human input, it's time to take a step
back and rethink your strategy.
05:21Google already said that using AI
05:23to create content is fine,
but what they are not happy with is if
05:27the generated content is low
quality or worse, spammy.
05:31So it really depends on the source
of information in your blog post.
05:35It is best that you contact your own
05:37original research and use that AI to write
the content that includes that data.
05:42For example, if the search term
is best AI image generators.
05:46Instead of relying on information
05:48from other blogs, like if blog one says,
A, B, C is good, blog two says, D, E,
05:53F is better, and you aggregate them
saying that A, B, C, D, E, F are good.
05:57Instead of doing that,
05:58you should actually go and do actual
research by testing them,
06:03hopefully on a video, to show people
the prompts that you have used.
06:06Did the AI understand all
the prompts that you have provided?
06:09Did it generate images
that you would have expected?
06:12Do it on all the available AI image
06:14generators and show the genuity of your
research, where you can confidently say
06:19that this is the list
of the best AI image generators.
06:22And since you have already gotten the test
results, you can instruct, for example,
06:26Content AI to write the text for you,
give it specific instructions like this so
06:30that the speed of your content
creation will be expedited.
06:33So stop using AI like a content factory.
06:36If you want, try to think of a way
to set up a research factory instead.
06:40I've demonstrated how to write long-form
content with human touch in this video
06:45right here, so feel free
to check it out later.
06:47The link is in the description.
06:50Now, even with original research,
06:52every product or service on the market
will evolve over time,
06:56and new products and new services will
be added from time to time as well.
07:00I guess this is where many people get
caught in this update because they thought
07:04that their content had been ranking
at the top, which could mean that it was
07:07the most relevant and updated
result at that time.
07:10When we are at the top,
07:12sometimes we can become complacent
and we let our ego take over.
07:16And when things go south,
we blame it on someone else.
07:19I've been on that path.
07:21I know that feeling.
We are the only human.
07:23But when we humbly buckle down
07:25and reassess our content,
we'll definitely find some outdated or
07:29irrelevant things that would
have been legit in the past.
07:32For example, before a flood of AI tools
07:34came into the market,
if you were ranking at the top
07:37for the keyword, how to use AI to write
content, the search intent would have been
07:42informational, where you would
guide people to assess an AI system.
07:46That would have been a difficult
and complicated step-by-step guide.
07:50But fast forward to now,
the step-by-step guide you would have
07:53written would have been
outdated very quickly.
07:56So if you are in this situation,
07:58maybe you were too focused on creating new
content while neglecting past written
08:03content, calm down and focus
on what's important.
08:07Identify those outdated content.
08:09Compare what's ranking at the top right
08:11now with your content and assess if your
content is still relevant and updated?
08:16If not, it's time to buckle
down and do the work.
08:19If you need help with identifying,
08:21prioritizing, and updating your content,
I recommend that you check out this video.
08:26The link is in the description.
08:27But a general rule is that every piece
08:30of content on your site should be
updated at least once every 12 months.
08:36The day is when you can fully rely on SEO
as the only source of traffic, it's over.
08:42In fact, it should have
never been the case.
08:45If you rely on any one source of traffic,
08:48be it Facebook, Instagram, YouTube,
or whatever, you are bound to get trapped
08:52if any of those platforms
decide to do something drastic.
08:55It happened to many people in the past,
and only those who understand that having
09:00multiple sources of traffic and building
a loyal list of email subscribers is
09:05the way to build
a sustainable online business.
09:08On top of that, if you create your content
on many different platforms,
09:12not only do you get more exposure,
you will also gain authority.
09:17That's where EEAT comes into play.
09:19Domain authority does not only come
09:21from assessing backlinks from blogs,
but Google also considers other social
09:25signals, especially in niches
such as health and finance.
09:29Authority is crucial.
09:31I said this before in other videos.
09:33Comparing two doctors with the same
qualities, this doctor has more exposure
09:38on medical blogs, YouTube or whatever,
and seems to be a trustable figure,
09:42and the other doctor is
not known to the public.
09:45When both of them made the same statement,
who would you trust more?
09:49I'm pretty sure it is this doctor, right?
09:52The same logic applies to SEO.
09:54So if you want to build authority,
appear everywhere online.
09:58So if you have been running an online
10:00business for a long time,
you would understand what I mean.
10:04And for those of you who are new
10:06to running a blog or an online business,
SEO is a great source of traffic,
10:11but you need to hedge the risk of a rug
pool with other traffic sources.
10:15I think it is time to play their game.
10:18If you have not tried running any
Google ads, I think you should try it.
10:22But do it on those pieces of content
10:24that will bring sales
and revenue to your business.
10:27In other words, pieces of content
that target commercial search intent.
10:31Don't run ads for the sake
of getting traffic.
10:34The content that you wrote for organic
10:35rankings must be tweaked to be
a little more sales-focused.
10:39Don't run ads to the content
that were written for organic traffic.
10:43You'll probably lose money if you do that.
10:45The important thing is
to run profitable ads.
10:48Always monitor the stats and tweak your
content so that every dollar spent on ads,
10:53you get a positive return
on your investment.
10:56It is easier said than done.
10:57Try and use paid traffic
to build an email list as well.
11:00So yeah, I hope this tips will be helpful
11:02to you, and I hope it will
eventually help your site recover.
11:06And if you have experienced this traffic
11:07drop and you have recovered, do let
us know how you do it in the comments.
11:12Hope you can give us a thumbs up,
and if you haven't subscribed to us,
11:15be sure to do so to keep yourself
updated with the latest on SEO and AI.
11:19This is Jack from Rank Math.
11:21I'll see you in the next video.
