Ever get frustrated that Google never provides the specifics for its algorithm updates? Well, now you don’t have to be. In a surprise move, Google announced several changes that were put in place in November, providing site owners and SEOs with significant insight into the direction of search.

The changes are broad-ranging, and could affect your search engine optimisation plan in a number of ways:

*Snippets. These are more commonly being taken from page content. Although Google has been doing this for a while, the change does mean that your page content must all be relevant to your keywords.

*Page titles. These are also changing, less frequently using text from foundation links that appear on every page. This could have consequences for your navigation, but a better option is to be more vigilent in optimising titles.

*Date-related searches. Google is getting more strict about results for date-related searches, meaning that timeliness is even more important. Saying the right thing at the right time will have to become part of SEO for some companies.

*Languages. Google has improved its retrieval of pages in multiple languages, automatically translating pages.

*Recent content. Possibly the most important change was an alteration in how time-relevant searches are being answered. For these searches, Google is giving even more weight to content that was recently posted. You can talk to our experts at SEO Consult Australia about how this affects your site.

A lot of these changes reinforce what most SEOs are already advising. Concentrate on fresh content and SEO detailing and you’ll be fine.

Shuffling pages is always a risky thing in search engine optimisation terms. There is always the chance that internet users, search engine spiders, and most importantly your link juice, could get lost. This is why most SEOs recommend the use of 301 redirect codes whenever a page has to be moved.

The time when 301 redirects prove most useful in SEO is when moving domains. Moving domains is possibly the riskiest time for a site. Lots of things can go wrong. Using 301 redirects helps to make clear to Google’s spiders exactly what has happened to your pages. Testing by various SEO experts has shown that the code helps to forward the most amount of link juice to the new pages, as well, although some delays do occur. You can discuss this with us at SEO Consult Australia.

On the other hand, some SEO experts argue that 301 redirects shouldn’t be left there permanently. Google’s Matt Cutts introduced the idea of ‘PageRank decay,’ which is the gradual loss of PageRank due to the tiny fraction of link juice lost when a 301 is implemented. Over time, this can accumulate.

So, are 301 redirects SEO friendly? Even with the PageRank decay issue, 301 redirects are still your best choice for redirecting traffic to a new page. They are efficient, and Google prefers them. Should you eliminate old pages later on? The jury is still out on this one. Old links can still attract valuable traffic. Minimal loss of link juice may sway your decision, but it may not.