Google Penalty Recovery Services: A Comprehensive Guide for Businesses

1. The Website Has a Slow Site Speed

In recent years, Google has been placing emphasis on site speed. A slow site that fails to load information and content in seconds is going to frustrate users which Google, despite owning the entirety of the search engine market, wants to avoid at all costs. Therefore, it’s going to punish websites which fail to ensure their website passes Google’s Core Web Vitals check. Our tech SEO team will comb through your website and optimise it so that it loads in seconds.

2. Overuse of Keywords

This is a very common cause and is often carried out by people who may not be aware of the dangers of ‘keyword stuffing’. Essentially, this is where writers fill a piece of content with the target keyword in an attempt to emphasise what keywords they want that page to rank for. The problem with overusing terms is that it looks spammy and doesn’t benefit the reader to see the same term 9 times in the first 100 words of a blog. Our content writers have decades of collective experience and are experts in striking the balance between helpful long-form content that is optimised for search engines.

3. Poor or No Internal Linking Structure

Having a strong link architecture is essential to a successful SEO campaign but too many poor quality, irrelevant links to and from websites that have no relation to your brand is going to lead to Google punishing your site. It signals to Google a lack of effort in acquiring higher quality links from sites and publications which relate to your industry. Our in-house link-building team will create bespoke strategies for you that focus on the type of link, not the number.

4. Lack of Unique and Helpful Content

Good content is king and an essential pillar of SEO. Google takes content seriously so if you haven’t got unique, richly optimised content on each page, and instead opt to duplicate work across multiple pages, you can expect Google to send a manual action penalty after the next algorithm update. Our content writers only create unique content for each page on your site, since we were founded in 2015 Embryo has never used duplicate content as an SEO tactic.

5. Outdated Sitemaps

This is slightly more technical but no less important. When Google indexes and scans your site it needs to be able to find the right information and understand its structure. If it’s outdated it will get the architecture wrong and will be inclined to think that this is a website which isn’t maintained and thus not good for users. This, inevitably, leads to penalties and decreased rankings.

Continuous Monitoring of Algorithm Changes

There are multiple ways you can attempt to prepare and stay ahead of updates. Whilst you may not always have full intel on the proposed changes, staying up to date with search engine news and trends should put you in a strong position to implement changes or improvements ahead of time. 

1. Setting up alerts for Google algorithm changes is a free and easy way to monitor movement. As they say, it’s better to hear it from the horse’s mouth! You’ll receive insights from the Google team including estimated times for updates and information once the update has been completed. 
2. Follow industry leaders on LinkedIn to track major changes and gain expert insights from the big names in SEO. We personally recommend John Meuller, Moz and Search Engine Land. 
3. Keep your eyes on Google Analytics. Big dips and waves in data are a big indicator of motion in the SEO ocean. You’ll begin to understand your usual patterns, so any strange data should be a big indicator of algorithm changes. 

On-site Content Audit

As we’re now seeing, most (if not all) of Google’s updates are focused on improving user experience and providing the best of content to searchers. A huge part of combatting a drop in rankings is staying on top of content performance and optimising existing pieces. 

A site audit of your content will reveal a few major findings that you can take action from: 

1. Trends in existing high-performing content
2. Opportunities for improvement 
3. Low-quality content that can be removed or re-directed 
4. Gaps when content is missing 

It’s best to conduct an SEO site audit at least twice a year. This allows you to spot any low-performers and further enhance your content for usability, engagement and conversion. 

Optimise for mobile

Optimising for mobile is an absolute necessity in today’s world. Over 55% of web traffic comes from mobile, and Google wants to ensure each website is accessible to those users.

Here are a few quick tips to make your content more mobile-friendly:

1. Use headings and subheadings for readability
2. Be aware of F-shaped or triangle reading patterns to make the mobile-viewing experience easy
3. Make sure content is the same on both desktop and mobile by using a responsive design

Be mindful of the purchasing journey on all devices when it comes to CTA placement and site navigation from a holistic perspective.

Competitor Benchmarking & Reporting

It’s super important to watch what your competitors are up to. Sites like AHRefs can help you assess estimated organic traffic and backlinks, these insights are invaluable. If your site takes a hit after an update, it’s likely your competitors are stealing a bigger share of traffic.

Always report monthly on your progress and check that your competitors aren’t filling content gaps that you’ve not yet thought of. Similarly, watching your competitors through SEO tools will help you suss out if the entire industry has fallen behind after an update.

Diversify Your Digital Marketing Efforts

One of the best pieces of advice we can give is to diversify your marketing campaigns. Build a brand SO good that you don’t need to solely rely on organic website traffic and conversions.

By collaborating with DPR for brand awareness and a social media team to reach new audiences on different platforms, you’ll essentially future-proof your brand.