The Zebra update is fast approaching\u2026are you ready? I am! As owner of an internet marketing\u00a0agency it\u2019s important that I keep up with everything Google. With all the changes, updates\u00a0to Google best practices, updates to their algorithm, updates to their blogs\u2026 it seems like I\u00a0am wasting half my day reading, worrying and preparing for the next upheaval in the SEO\u00a0community. Just trying to figure out what is true and what is not true and figuring out what to do\u00a0or not do is a full time job.<\/p>\n
For online business owners and especially merchants, Google updates can mean the difference\u00a0between tons of traffic or no traffic, tons of sales or no sales. With Penguin and Panda still in the\u00a0fore front, news is constantly brewing about more updates to come. Much of this is speculation,\u00a0and some of it is just plain false information, so be careful. Oh and by the way, there is no Zebra\u00a0update\u2026yet!<\/p>\n
The State Of Change at Google<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong>This past month as SXSW in Austin, TX, Google\u2019s Matt Cutts announced that the Panda\u00a0algorithm will be more of a rolling update that will be implemented automatically and gradually,\u00a0instead of by manual refresh. For website owners this means that changes will be much less\u00a0noticeable and easier to digest (We hope!). Penguin, on the other hand, will soon be our next big\u00a0headache. As a matter of fact, also while at SXSW in Austin, Matt Cutts stated that there will\u00a0be a large Penguin update in 2013 that he thinks will be one of the more talked about Google\u00a0algorithm updates this year. He reported that Google\u2019s search quality team is working on a major\u00a0update to the Penguin algorithm, which he called very significant and I am sure the full effects\u00a0will be clear to website owners when the new update is final. Unfortunately, Google hasn\u2019t\u00a0released any details about the next generation Penguin, (Penguin 4).<\/p>\n Merchants Beware, The Zebra is Coming<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong>Google\u2019s Matt Cutts\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0done with announcements and he shared with us yet another\u00a0important update at SXSW in Austin, Texas, this past month. Matt said, and I quote,<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a potential launch later this year, maybe a little bit sooner, looking at the quality of \u00a0merchants and whether we can do a better job on that, because we don\u2019t want low quality experience\u00a0merchants to be ranking in the search results.\u201d<\/p>\n Webmasters have dubbed this update the \u201cMerchant Quality Update\u201d, but I\u2019ve dubbed it \u201cThe\u00a0Zebra\u201d. Although Matt Cutts didn\u2019t say how Google will detect these \u201cbad merchants\u201d, we have\u00a0an idea of who and what they are going to target, so let\u2019s look at a couple things you need to do\u00a0as an online merchant to avoid \u201cThe Zebra Penalty\u201d.<\/p>\n Merchant Reviews\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong>For some time there has been speculation as to whether Google uses reviews to distinguish good\u00a0companies from bad ones. To do this Google would have to be able to determine the tone of\u00a0reviews online and be able to come up with a consensus on a company. Well, I\u2019m here to tell you\u00a0that evidence already points to Google being capable of doing just that. Google already shows\u00a0seller ratings in AdWords ads. These ratings are based on customer reviews collected by Google\u00a0Product Search, which collects reviews, including Google Wallet reviews, from many different\u00a0sources on the internet. So merchants with bad quality reviews, watch out, you\u2019d better get your\u00a0act together, take care of your client and hope the reviews swing the other way.<\/p>\n Search Quality Guidelines<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong>Earlier this year, Google published their Search Quality Guidelines for the first time. Last\u00a0updated in November 2012, the guidelines also hint at what Google is looking for in a quality\u00a0merchant. Under the heading \u201cRecognizing true merchants\u201d they list the following.<\/p>\n While Google emphasizes that a merchant doesn\u2019t need to meet all these criteria to comply,\u00a0it\u2019s probably a good idea to do an inventory of the list above and make sure you meet all of the\u00a0quality guidelines listed.<\/p>\n Google Shopping\u2019s Trusted Stores Program<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong>Merchants affiliated with Google\u2019s Trusted Stores program must meet certain criteria, such as\u00a0having at least five hundred transactions per month, with ninety percent of deliveries happening\u00a0on time, and providing excellent customer service.<\/p>\n For smaller merchants, this may not apply but for larger merchants, you may want to look into\u00a0Google\u2019s Trusted Stores Program.<\/p>\n\n