Google EMD Update

Why it was developed

Google has historically been geared towards improving search results and it’s user experience. Today is no different. The Google EMD algorithm update is one of Google’s algorithms designed at making the same improvements that some of it’s other algorithms do–only going about it quite differently.

The EMD algorithm is specifically targeting ‘low quality’, or otherwise ‘spamy’ web pages, especially those which are exact match domains. How Google goes about doing this, however, has caused some concern as many as 3% of the domains–that are exact match–which aren’t low quality have been targeted and subsequently hit.

This, however the case, isn’t always what happens, in fact most of the websites being hit are actually websites which lack quality content and are filled with relatively useless articles which are packed with an inordinate amount of the same keywords–an antiquated SEO technique which Google is beginning to catch on to.

Much of the articles targeted by Google’s EMD algorithm are almost impossible to read by humans and are really only there for the sake of search engine crawlers. The sites which employ these articles are usually a part of money making schemes which consist of nothing more than pages filled with ads and affiliate links. The owners of such pages usually care about nothing more than making easy money and are not dedicated to the topic or purpose of what the website pretends to be.

With the Google EMD update, Google has effectively eliminated the long-standing search rank boost associated with exact match domains. This is Google’s attempt to remove spam websites from their search results and essentially offers higher quality results with each search query.

Effects on websites

The EMD update runs periodically and effects on websites are varied. Just know that some people have been wrongly hit and are complaining.

What does it do

The Google EMD algorithm wipes Google top search results clean of pages that Google thinks are spam. This for many can be a cause for concern as many well meaning webmasters with legitimate sites can be targeted by the update. The primary thing that webmasters with exact match domains need to do is avoid overzealous keyword stuffing in their articles and sites. The best thing to do would be to hire professional content writers to write all-original content for their sites using a light keyword density.

If you have an exact match domain you should:

● Remove any and all copied, spam, or spun content that puts your site at risk of being hit by Google.
● Remove spam links to your site.
● Regularly add new original content to your site.
● Perform quality SEO to boost your site’s position.
● Perform social media SEO.

Can a site come back

If you have been hit by the Google EMD algorithm you can try the following:

● Update your content as often as possible.
● Change your SEO strategy–opt for high quality.
● No longer depend on your domain name for traffic.
● Combine smaller sites into a larger one.
● Avoid tricky keywords.
● Analyze your content.
● Learn from your competitors.
● Have a strong backlink profile.
● If all else fails, start over with a new site.

Remember, quality content is the best strategy!

Authored by: Joan Wardzala – SEO Specialist in verticle and horizontal search engines – Google+