Facebook to devalue links to ‘poor’ websites

As part of Facebook’s news feed algorithm updates that they’ve just announced they plan to devalue links to low quality websites.

To many digital marketers despair Facebook has just announced a further round of news feed algorithm updates to start the year. We all know that they like to keep their users on their toes so this shouldn’t come as any surprise. Facebook believe in providing their users with the most engaging and relevant material possible so they believe that these are the changes necessary to achieve this. We’re not going to go into too much detail in this blog article about each individual update as a quick Google search will show you all the information you need however what we are interested in talking about is their plan to devalue links to low quality websites.

So, as we’ve mentioned, Facebook want to devalue links to websites that provide poor web experiences. By devalue we mean that when you post out a link to a website it classes as ‘poor’ it will limit the amount of audience or ‘reach’ that see that particular post. This could prove disastrous for many small businesses that already struggle with low reach and engagement on their business pages.

How do you know If your website will be classed as ‘poor’ you may be wondering? Facebook has reviewed hundreds of thousands of different pages linked to from Facebook and developed a list of common characteristics which may indicate that a web page has low-value content. Here’s how you can be sure that your website wont be devalued:

• Does your websites pages load fast enough? – Slow loading sites will likely be devalued

• Ensure that your websites pages do not have disruptive, malicious or shocking adverts across them

• Does your website have an SSL certificate to prove it’s secure? This will no doubt be essential in the future.

• Ensure your website has substantial relevant content across it

• Ensure that your website is working correctly with navigation links all linking to where they should

• Do you have analytics installed on your website? If you have the capabilities it’s a good idea to keep an eye on bounce rates and pages per session metrics to see if visitors are staying on your website when they land on it

The above are just a few simple steps to give your website a fighting chance against these Facebook updates. We’re sure that we’ll learn more about this as more information comes to light and we’ll certainly be keeping a close eye on it.

Does your website need bringing up to par? Delite are offering deliteful, no-messing business websites for a low one off or monthly cost. We’re confident that our websites will pass the Facebook algorithm test – Can you really say the same?