The Google Fred update occurred back in March and if you’re in the loop with SEO news, you’re likely aware of what happened. We spoke about it just after it occurred and discussed the crux of it all.

Basically, the Fred update targeted sites who used excessive ads and contained reasonably low-quality content like inadequate information and a surplus of backlinks.

Here we will discuss several steps that will allow you to improve your ranking if it did drop after the Fred update occurred.

Firstly, and probably most importantly, you should have a heavy focus on producing quality content. There is a direct association between a higher word count and a higher page ranking, and while you may think it’s not worth the hassle, putting in the time and energy to produce high quality, informative content will reap huge benefits.

You should thoroughly proofread your site and make sure there aren’t any mistakes, and this includes factual errors also, so be weary of all this.
When possible, producing original content is one of the best ways to increase your ranking. Stating general, quite obvious information that is widely known will not be rewarded by Google like original content will.

Next you should evaluate the ad and link nature of your site. If you did see a ranking decline after Fred, there’s a good chance your site has too many ads, so you’ll want to cut down on these. Excessive, distracting and spammy ads are a huge killer when it comes to ranking, so be aware of this.

It’s also very important to see what sites are linking to your site and to check if any of them are low-quality sites. You should disavow these links, improving your overall link profile and subsequently recovering from a decline in ranking.

The Google Fred update was quite a large one when it comes to Google’s algorithm updates, so it’s important you understand it. If you were hit by the update, follow these tips to get that ranking back.