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Google’s algorithm, or the way in which it decides exactly how to present its search results in ranked order, is a closely guarded secret. The algorithm changes over time as search patterns change, and Google can only give general guidance to website owners about which factors might be more important in getting ranked more highly than others. It’s perhaps a surprise then that one of Google’s top search executives, John Mueller, regularly hosts Google Hangout sessions with professionals in the SEO industry, and allows them to ask some fairly specific questions about the workings of the search engine. A recent hangout featured the issue of re-ranking, or how Google goes back and looks again at sites where significant improvements have been made.

Deranked for Quality Issues

If you see your website starting to slip quickly down the Google rankings, then that’s a clear indication that something is going wrong. Often it’s harder to determine exactly what the problem is, but it’s often down to a quality issue such as having thin content on your website, links which are dead or link to poorer quality websites, or duplicated content. After you have identified the problems and resolved them, then you’d expect to see your website start to climb back up the rankings again. This is the process known as re-ranking.

The Google Process

If a website has a substantial overhaul and rewrites content, then the Googlebot crawler has to go back through each page of the website, evaluating it for quality. The Google executive stated that it was impossible to give a concrete answer to the length of time it took to re-crawl the site for quality issues, especially if it’s a new website which has been given a complete overhaul in terms of content and structure. As a ballpark figure, Google stated it might be around a month before the software has the opportunity to make sense of your new website structure.

Content on the other hand, takes longer to show results. Google’s software takes a lot longer to look at content and work out the quality of what they are looking at. Content quality changes can take around three or four months to be reflected in the Google rankings. This is a great example of why you should be suspicious of companies which promise instant, or very speedy, SEO results.

Overhauling a Website Takes Time

Improving the quality of a couple of pages can show results swiftly, but the statements from Google show that improving the ranking of a whole website involves two lengthy steps, and might take months. It’s probably therefore better to try to avoid the situation where you have to go through this process at all. Keeping an eye on SEO on a regular basis should spot any start of a slipping down the website rankings before it becomes a real issue. If you leave it until your website is on page six of the Google results and your visitor numbers have fallen off a cliff, it could take many months to regain your previous position.