WHAT WE DON'T KNOW CAN HURT US
I felt like a neophyte after another firm asked me to review their content and share it on my social network. It was relevant to my audience, so I said yes. After I suggested they reciprocate by sharing a few of my posts, they said, no, that would be backlinking. An action frowned upon by Google, which was new to me. Here's what I found out.
MY EDUCATION
To learn more, I read through all of Google's algorithm posted by Search Engine Journal and more details provided by WordPress Blog, and yes I would be penalized by Google's algorithm update, specifically the Jagger update in 2005 that penalizes sites that are backlinking. That inspired me to explore other updates and create this infographic to share what I learned.
The most critical Google Algorithm update affecting us today is the RankBrain update in October of 2015. It is significant because it allows Google to have a better understanding of the intent of the person searching by using machine learning and artificial intelligence. Furthermore, it continues to improve itself as it summarizes and teaches itself about your website over time.
That means we as developers of content, need to improve our game. HubSpot suggests using a strategy of using topic clusters and pillar pages instead of relying on keywords to demonstrate your particular expertise. In return, Google ranks the website more favorably.
TIME TO LEARN MORE
In the end, the best thing we can do is to improve our content is to write higher quality posts about our area of knowledge to improve our ranking when searched. In this post I realize that I've only written about the subject from my experience. I encourage you to tell me your perspective. I will include your thoughts in 6 months when I revisit this topic.
John P. Espinoza, CEO Green Street Digital, has worked with significant 3PL logistics providers for more than 15 years and is HubSpot Inbound Marketing certified.