8 Google Algorithm Updates Every SEO Experts Should Know
Google keeps rolling out major updates on their search engine. This is because as people want and need change, technology evolves to satisfy it.
This is where SEO Experts need to change their SEO strategies often as the past SEO strategies don’t necessarily work in the present. Furthermore, it takes time to optimise the website for SEO purposes to get the results we desired. Which is why SEO experts need to keep themselves updated on the major Google search engine updates
SEO experts also need to consider what’s the factor that affects the SEO such as their content, on-page optimization, image and video optimization, keywords, etc.
So far, there have been eight major updates towards the Google Search Engine. We will take a look on how each of the major updates affects the SEO.
Let’s take a look at all the 8 major updates for the Google Search engine.
1) Panda
This update is named after the Google Engineer, Biswanath Panda. This update rolled out in the Google search engine on February 24, 2011.
So what are the hazards that trigger this Panda update?
Thin content: Doesn't mean that articles with few words consider thin content. However, make sure it provides a thorough answer to the user’s search query when writing content.
Low-quality content: It means an article with a lot of grammatical errors together with a distracting image that does not concern the topic of the articles. This causes a negative user experience.
Unhelpful, untrustworthy content: It’s a type of article that causes harm and towards the user and does not help them in any other way. Google usually does not tolerate this kind of hazard.
Duplicate text: It’s often referred to as ‘duplicate content’. The Panda update does not tolerate the copied texts from other sources. Reusing texts from other sources to your website is not recommended because the search engine will take action towRDS your website.
Article spinning: This refers to changing the words without changing the meaning from other sources. Unfortunately, your content still has to be original before you submit it to the internet.
So, how do you adjust your strategy in this update? Below are the ways to comply with this update.
You should run regular site checks for the hazards that’s mentioned just now. To do that, you’ll need a site crawler, like SEO PowerSuite’s Website Auditor.
You can also avoid a potential penalty and create pages without the risk of accidental keyword stuffing with the WebSite Auditor’s new Content Editor module. Content Editor analyzes the pages of your top competitors and provides SEO recommendations based on the content that’s already successful in Google search.
Use a plagiarism checker like Copyscape if you want to check whether your content is duplicated elsewhere on the web.
2) Penguin
This update rolled out in the Google search engine on April 24, 2012.
So what are the hazards that trigger this Penguin update?
Buying links: Google’s Webmaster Guidelines states that it’s forbidden for users to buy links to rank higher in search engines.
Lack of anchor text diversity: It's another factor that affects your website link quality. Google will take action if this text is the same everywhere.
Low quality of links: Do note that your backlink has to be relevant and high quality to the linked page. You should quickly address this problem should you encounter this issue.
Keyword stuffing: Keyword stuffing is not recommended because it will cause a specific keyword to appear very irrelevant in some of the sentences.
So, how do you adjust your strategy in this update? Below are the ways to comply with this update.
Monitor your link profile’s growth and run regular audits with a backlink checker like SEO SpyGlass to stay safe from the effects of the Google Penguin update.
You’ll find a progress graph for your link profile’s growth in the tool’s Summary dashboard. Look out for any unusual spikes: those might be the result of a negative SEO attack by your competitors.
The stats that we know Penguin takes into account are incorporated into the SEO SpyGlass’s Penalty Risk formula. You should navigate to the Penalty Risk tab and sort your backlink list from highest risk to lowest. Links with a risk above 50% should be investigated. add them to the disavow file, download it, and submit it to Google’s Disavow Links Tool if they turn out to be malicious.
3) Hummingbird
This update rolled out in the Google search engine on August 22, 2013.
So what are the adjustments to your SEO strategies in this Hummingbird update?
You should create a high quality content
Use keywords moderately
Optimise your website to load fast on mobile devices
Use high reputable sources to build links
Moreover, it’s important to optimize according to the search engine algorithm:
Use text, images, and videos in your content that are related to your content
Create listings on business directories and Google My Business.
Include NAP (name, address, phone number) citations in those listings and on your own site.
Gain positive reviews and testimonials from your customers.
Leverage structured data on your site’s pages.
So, how do you adjust your strategy in this update? Below are the ways to comply with this update.
Expand your keyword research and focus on concepts behind the keywords. You should analyze related searches, synonyms and co-occurring terms carefully. Great sources of such ideas are Google Related Searches and Google Related Questions, as well as Google Autocomplete suggestions. You’ll find all of them incorporated into Rank Tracker’s Keyword Research module.
Use these insights to better understand your audience’s language and diversify your content. You’ll win both in terms of engagement and SEO by creating comprehensive content that satisfies searcher intent.
4) Mobile
This update rolled out in the Google search engine on August 21, 2015.
At this point of time, smartphones have become widely adopted by the masses in their daily life. This is why Google made an update towards their search engine to cater to smartphone users.
So what do you need to do to comply with this update hazards?
Responsive design: Make sure to adjust your website to suit any mobile screens so the user doesn't have to zoom in often when scrolling your website.
Large font: The fonts in the website have to be readable for the visitors to increase the user experience towards your website.
No unplayable elements: Make sure your content such as video and images can be supported in your website. Otherwise, your content will not be playable in your website which causes your users to close the website tab.
No intrusive elements: Pop Ups shouldn't be very distracting to your users when they are scrolling your website because it will only give negative user experience.
Space between interactive elements: It’s important to do this to avoid users accidentally pressing a button on your website by mistake with their big hands.
No separate website: This is so that you can dedicate your time in making your main website more mobile friendly. Should you need to do a separate website, make sure the link to another website is not faulty.
Image optimization: Excessive images can hinder the speed of your mobile website. This is why you should compress the image file size while still preserving the quality of the image.
No excessive code: Too much code on your website can also hinder the speed of your mobile website as well. This is why you should add your code in your website if only necessary.
So, how do you adjust your strategy in this update? Below are the ways to comply with this update.
Focus on speed and usability by optimizing your pages for mobile search. Google provides mobile-friendly and page speed tests to help you in this matter. The tests are integrated into WebSite Auditor so you can check your pages’ mobile optimization as a part of your overall website audit. You’ll find it in Content Analysis > Page Audit:
5) Rankbrain
This update rolled out in the Google search engine on October 26, 2015.
So what are the hazards that trigger this Rankbrain update?
Lack of query-specific relevance: This is where businesses need to apply relevant SEO strategies such as using the right keywords to counter this issue.
Shallow content: Your content needs to be more detailed in order to be more educational which gives valuable information to your users.
Poor UX: Bad UX design gives negative user experience because the mobile websites weren't optimised for different mobile screens which make it difficult for users to obtain certain information easily. This will cause users to leave the website immediately.
So, how do you adjust your strategy in this update? Below are the ways to comply with this update.
Optimize your pages for relevance and comprehensiveness with the help of competitive analysis. You can discover entire lists of relevant terms and concepts used by a large number of your top-ranking competitors with the WebSite Auditor‘s TF-IDF tool. You will see your search relevance increase dramatically when you find a way to add these terms to your content.
6) Medic
This update rolled out in the Google search engine on May 4, 2018.
So what are the hazards that trigger this Medic update?
Lack of authority on YMYL websites: YMYL websites literally stands for Your Money or Your Life. Google search engine cares about correct information rather than relevant information because low quality websites might affect a user’s wellbeing.
Weak E-A-T signals: E-A-T stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. Having weak E-A-T signals might turn away website visitors due to lack of trust.
So, how do you adjust your strategy in this update? Below are the ways to comply with this update.
There is no proven recovery strategy for the Medic update to date. SEO experts have suggested that it’s better to just hire an expert writer to lend their authority and credibility to your website. Other advice by SEO experts is to build entities for your brand.
However, the only reliable way to increase the authority of your website is by growing your backlink profile. An efficient approach would be to use a backlink research tool, like SEO SpyGlass, and borrow backlink ideas from your competitors.
SEO SpyGlass allows you to find the backlink gap between your website and your competitors’ websites. The best prospects are the high-authority websites that link to two or more of your competitors. This indicates that the websites are interested in your niche, but do not have an exclusive relationship with any one company.
7) Bert
This update rolled out in the Google search engine on October 22, 2019.
So what are the hazards that trigger this Bert update?
Poorly written content: It can result in uninteresting content which will immediately drive away website visitors after just reading a few lines at the beginning.
Lack of focus: A content that’s lack of focus will disengage the user as they were confused with the lack of focus the content has presented.
Lack of context: Just like lack of focus, users will not be interested to engage with the content as it’s very confusing and lacks details.
So, how do you adjust your strategy in this update? Below are the ways to comply with this update.
It’s important for businesses to strive for a meaningful copy as the Google search engine will reward good writing. It means that you should adopt a specific writing style depending on your niche. Also, do some research before writing an article to ensure you get the idea to ensure smoothness in writing.
8) Core Updates
This update rolled out in the Google search engine in 2017 until today.
These updates may refer to continuous updates on the major updates. Multiple SEO experts have tried to figure out which major updates Google already updated. At the end of the day, these core updates might be just an update on the previous major updates or maybe just a bundle of small updates in the Google search engine.
So, how do you adjust your strategy in this update? Below are the ways to comply with this update.
One thing you can do is track SERP history for the keywords you are targeting since the effects of Google core updates are often unknown. You can check which of your competitors have moved up or down in rankings and make an educated guess about the contributing factors once the updates happen.
Launch Rank Tracker, go to Target Keywords > Rank Tracking > SERP Analysis, and click Record SERP data to start tracking your SERP history. The tool will start tracking the top 30 SERP positions for each of your keywords.
Conclusion
There’s no doubt that all of these major updates on Google algorithm have truly impacted the SEO world. This is why businesses should update themselves with the updates as it might affect their SEO strategies. It’s also to prevent themselves from using outdated SEO tactics in their marketing strategies.
Source:
https://searchengineland.com/8-major-google-algorithm-updates-explained-282627
https://neilpatel.com/blog/the-ultimate-google-algorithm-cheat-sheet/