Explaining Major Google Algorithm Updates
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There is Google algorithm update almost every day. Let’s discover some facts about each of the updates and how to adjust.
- Panda
Launch Date
February 24, 2011
Hazards
- Thin and low quality
- Duplicate or plagiarized content
- Keyword stuffing
- User-generated spam
How It Works
Panda works by assigning “quality score” to web pages which are then used as a ranking factor afterward. Initially, it was used as a filter instead of part of Google’s ranking algo, but was integrated into the core algorithm officially in January 2016. Panda rollouts are very common, so the penalties and recoveries now take place quickly.
How To Adjust
Check the site for content duplication, poor quality content and keyword stuffing. For e-commerce site use original images as much as possible and use user reviews to make unique product descriptions.
- Penguin
Launch Date
April 24, 2012
Hazards
- Spammy links
- Overly-optimized anchor text links
How It Works
It down-ranks the sites with manipulating links. During late 2016, Penguin became part of Google’s core algorithm.
How To Adjust
Monitoring the link profile’s growth and using the backlink checker for regular audits can help in adjusting.
- Hummingbird
Launch Date
August 22, 2013
Hazards
- Keyword stuffing
- Poor quality content
How It Works
It helps Google interpret search queries in a better way and gives the results relevant to the searcher intent. If the words that searcher entered are not matching then it helps a page to rank for a query with a natural language processing depending on latent semantic indexing, co-existing terms, and synonyms.
How To Adjust
Extending the keyword research and concentrating over concepts, instead of keywords will adjust it.
- Pigeon
Launch Date
July 24, 2014 (US) and December 22, 2014 (UK, Canada, Australia)
Hazards
Poor on-page and off-page SEO
How It Works
It affects the searches having user’s location. It created a close connection between the local algorithm and the core algorithm. Local results are ranked with traditional SEO factors.
How To Adjust
Run an on-page analysis and for off-page SEO, get listed in quality business directories.
- Mobile
Launch Date
April 21, 2015
Hazards
- Unavailability of a mobile version of the page
- Low mobile usability
How It Works
It ensures that there is a top ranking of mobile-friendly pages for mobile and unoptimized pages are down-ranked or filtered out from the SERPs.
How To Adjust
Concentrate on speed and usability. Having Google’s mobile-friendly test can tell you about the aspects of the page’s mobile version to be improved.
- RankBrain
Launch Date
October 26, 2015
Hazards
- Lack of query-specific page relevance
- Thin content
- Bad UX
How It Works
It is part of Google’s Hummingbird algorithm and makes Google interpret queries especially those that have unclear meaning and provides best-matching search results.
How To Adjust
Optimize content for relevance and comprehensiveness with competitive analysis.
- Possum
Launch Date
September 1, 2016
Hazards
Tight competition in the target location
How It Works
Its purpose was to diversify the local results. It also ensured that the spam is prevented from ranking.
How To Adjust
Extend the keyword list and do location-based rank tracking.
- Fred
Launch Date
March 8, 2017
Hazards
Shallow, content containing affiliates and ads
How It Works
It targets websites violating Google’s webmaster guidelines. The websites usually include blogs with low-quality posts.
How To Adjust
If there are ads then the content should be of high quality.
