Recent content by MartinCalvert

...and also with these broad core updates that are based on a whole range of factors, it doesn't make sense to look for a magic bullet. It's obviously a weird time with some obviously rubbish sites going up the rankings - with that in mind it feels like this could be one that is taking more...

Happy to take a look if helpful.

It's rare for people to get ahead and maintain based solely on links - what are the other attributes in terms of content, user experience, page speed, indexation, brand visibility, social, site structure, platform, author profiles..

Would expect rankings shifts to continue - they've reassessed sites but they'll then reassess their reassessment based on if user engagement etc goes up and bounces go down etc.

Worth being patient for a couple more weeks - things will settle. Google will likely be looking at the CTR and bounce rates of the sites that have 'won' as a result of this change and making new evaluations. Maintaining usual 'safe' SEO activities is what we're doing. Great to see above that...

Quite right - and nice to see a familiar face :D

Yup!

I tried but it seems I'm not allowed to post links - if you search for 'Path Interactive May 2020' you should find it. I should also say that I don't work for Sistrix or Path Interactive.

Funny old world. In a previous role we ranked in position 12 I think for the the job site 'Indeed' based on one blog post. Almost tempting to just become a job portal :D

Happy to help :)

I'd say quality is key - with an element of scale. It's hard to get the volume of links required to compete for big terms when operating as a solo affiliate. A blended strategy of paid but highly natural, topically relevant links with really strong content around the link, as well as 'big'...

Yup - stick with the type of SEO activities that you know are safe, continue producing content etc and see if things settle down. And check for any manual actions that may have coincided with (but not have been caused by) the update.

Important to let the dust settle before taking any drastic action - also worth thinking about whether any ranking dips are caused by the update, or if something just happened to take effect at the same time. From what we've seen YMML sites have had most volatility - good article from Sistrix is...

On that topic, it's important to build links in line with a wider strategy. If you do work through an agency, you can challenge them to develop a plan that will increase relevant rankings and traffic.

'Quality' is relative to the current status of your site, the links and SEO strategies of your direct competitors, the countries and markets you're targeting and the keywords you're trying to push.