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What is PageSoar?Try the PageSoar demoWhat's new in PageSoarRunning the free website checkYour first ten minutes in PageSoarWhat the Home screen showsHow the Getting started guide worksHow to choose your goalFinding and fixing
How a change goes live: draft, review, publish, checkWhat the agent changes by itself, and what waits for youWhat the SEO audit screen showsHow to find and filter your pagesWhat the page audit showsWhat site-wide issues mean and how to clear themHow to add internal links and untangle pages that competeHow page types are scored and how to change the standardsHow to change many pages at once with Bulk optimizeBroken links, redirects and page speedWhat the Market position screen showsHow to see what changed in your marketHow to choose your next movesHow to find sites that should link to youHow to check if Google's AI answers name youHow to choose what to write nextWhat the Meta Ads screen showsHow to save a filtered list as a viewProving it worked
How PageSoar measures whether a change workedHow to read the Did it work? screenWhat the Weekly briefing showsWhere your visits come from: the Channels screenHow to compare pages and build a dashboardWhich kinds of fix move clicks most: the Impact rankingHow to run a held-back experiment and log what you expectHow to track your search rankingsWhat the Needs attention screen is telling youHow to generate a report deckHow to be told when a number movesHow to log what you expect a change to doConnecting your site
Which sites PageSoar can publish toConnect Google Search Console and AnalyticsWhen a connection does not workHow to connect your website and GoogleHow to check your site's connection healthHow to request a custom connectorConnect WordPress to PageSoarConnect Ghost to PageSoarConnect a git repositoryConnect a Python appConnect Shopify to PageSoarConnect Webflow to PageSoarConnect Wix to PageSoarAsking your data
Asking your data in plain wordsHow to check a draft before it goes liveHow to check a rival's websiteSEO basics
What a title tag is and how to write a good oneWriting meta descriptions that earn clicksHeading structure: H1 to H3 explainedHow to write helpful image alt textWhat a canonical tag is and when to use itRedirects: 301 versus 302 and how to avoid chainsWhat an XML sitemap does and how to check yoursRobots.txt: what it blocks and common mistakesWhat structured data is and which types matter for a small businessHow to fix duplicate contentMobile-friendliness: what to checkHTTPS and why browsers warnWhat keyword research is and how to startSearch intent: the four kinds and how to match a page to oneLong-tail keywords for small businessesHow to write a page that answers a searchInternal linking basicsWhat backlinks are and how to earn them honestlyAnchor text explainedWhat E-E-A-T means in practiceContent refreshes: when and how to update an old pageKeyword cannibalization: how to spot and fix itLocal SEO basics and a Google Business Profile checklistHow to read a search results page (SERP features)Core Web Vitals explained: LCP, CLS and interaction speedHow to speed up a slow page: images, caching and scriptsWhat Google Search Console shows: queries, pages, clicks, impressions and positionWhat Google Analytics measures: users, sessions and eventsSetting up a conversion or key eventClick-through rate: what is normal and how to raise itBounce rate versus engagement rateUTM tags: tracking campaigns correctlyHow to run a simple before-and-after SEO test, and why correlation misleadsSeasonality: why traffic moves without any change from youWhat a Google algorithm update is and how to respondA monthly SEO reporting checklist for a small teamYour team and your data
Roles and approvalsIs my site safe with PageSoar?Billing, plans and cancellingHow to approve or send back a proposed changeAssigned and Decided: where your work and past decisions livePick the goal that counts as a winTeach PageSoar your brand voiceList what your product has todayCheck what PageSoar knows about your site and rivalsIgnore pages, or keep them out of GooglePublish your award badges so Google can show themCustom modules: parts built for your accountPeople, roles, company name and appearanceTarget site and the write testHow notifications and the weekly summary workHow to get back something you removedGlossary
SEO glossary A to ZWhat a Google algorithm update is and how to respond
An algorithm update changes how Google orders results for many sites at once, and the right first move is to check, wait and then act on evidence.
Google changes its ranking systems all the time. Most changes are small and unannounced. A few are large enough that Google names them: a core update, a spam update or a change to how it judges helpful content. During one, results are reordered for many sites at once, so your rankings can move without anything on your site having changed. See algorithm update.
How to tell if one hit you#
- Look at the date your traffic moved in Search Console. Check whether it lines up with a rollout date. Google lists confirmed updates on its Search Status Dashboard, and they can take a couple of weeks to finish.
- Check whether the move is sitewide or only on certain pages or topics.
- Rule out the usual causes first: a site change of your own, a broken page, a noindex tag left on by mistake, or seasonality.
- Compare with other sites in your field if you can. If everyone moved, the cause is likely outside you.
How to respond#
- Wait for the rollout to end before judging. Rankings often settle back partly.
- Do not rewrite everything in a panic. Big changes made in fear are hard to measure and can make things worse.
- Look at the pages that fell. Ask honestly whether they answer the search better than the pages now above them: fresh, accurate, written from real experience, easy to use. See E-E-A-T and search intent.
- Improve the weakest pages first, one batch at a time, and log each change.
- Be patient. Recovery from a core update usually shows only after the next one, which can be months away.
Common mistakes#
- Blaming an update for a problem that was your own change.
- Chasing rumours about what the update targeted. Only Google's own notes are firm.
- Buying links or using shortcuts to recover. These are the things spam updates remove.
- Doing nothing, forever. If the pages really are thin or out of date, the fix is still yours to make.
To judge your changes fairly afterwards, read how to run a simple before-and-after test, or see how a change is measured.