Last year we saw Google Panda & Penguin take some serious action against websites of all flavours. Dropping rankings quicker than you can say “Bing” and lower than you can limbo!
During the SXSW Conference on 8th March, Google’s Matt Cutts has promised 2013 to bring another game changer to the forefront of online merchants minds! With no released update name yet but no doubt another wolf in a cute animals clothing.
Last year I started to tell my clients to make sure their house was in order when it came to customer satisfaction and delivery.
Reason:
You might have an all signing and dancing web-site that’s got great rankings and traffic so gets you Business. But Google want more. Ok they know you are there, they know your rankings are good, but do they know you’re a good company to deal with? Are they sure they want to place your site in front of their “users”, after all it’s their job to deliver “greatness”!
Whatever this update and subsequent related updates are called, they are going to have a huge impact on some merchants, with people already giving it the nickname “bankrupt update”.
What can you do to prepare for this no doubt ruthless update from Google?
Make sure your house is in good order
- Ensure you are not over promising and under delivering.
- Answer your customer’s comments and posts on all social media and related sites, not just Facebook & Twitter.
- Answer your e-mails quickly and your telephones quicker.
- If it’s in stock great, if not make sure it’s clear when it will be.
- Get your delivery issues if any sorted out now.
- Make sure you have a comprehensive link building strategy in place to prove to Google you are the people that others see your authority and trust by linking to you.
- Get ready to be a lot more “customer friendly” as when consumers become savvy about this update (and they will) just think the good and bad impact power of Trip Advisor.
There’s much debate about fake reviews popping up and how will Google deal with these? What’s to stop Merchant A paying for purchases on Merchant B’s site, then leaving complaints? We simply don’t know yet how Google will handle this, but do you really want to wait and see how this update affects you and then take action?
Read more about Matt’s comments here.
