A Beginner’s Guide To Google Algorithm Updates
Reading Time: ~2 Mins | Written By: Jason Serafica
Google’s Algorithm uses a systematic process to deliver the most relevant results based on what the user searches for. The algorithm uses multiple factors to identify the relevance and authority of a specific page.
There are many updates that Google releases and usually won’t notify the public unless it’ll have a major impact. Therefore, it is important to stay updated and follow the best practices of Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
We’re covering the important Google Algorithm updates, so you can understand its importance and better utilize Google’s search engine.
Panda
Panda was launched in February, 2011 for the purpose of preventing duplicate content, plagiarized/low quality pages, spam, and poor keyword utilization. With that being said, pages with strong, unique, and valuable content are ranked higher than those that have none of these attributes, or have plagiarized content and keyword stuffing.
Penguin
Penguin was launched in April, 2012 to further prevent spam and irrelevant links with over-optimized anchor text. The Penguin algorithm down-rank sites with poor spamming techniques and SEO practices that violate search engine guidelines.
Hummingbird
Hummingbird was launched in August, 2013 to put an emphasis on user intent rather than the presence of exact-match keywords. The algorithm began to focus on not only the content’s quality but also the relevance to what exactly the user is searching for. Therefore, it boosted performance for local results.
Mobile First
Mobile first became a significant factor to Google’s algorithm by 2015. A good mobile experience is a must, since so many website visits now come from mobile users. Ensuring that your website is easy to navigate and loads fast for users tells Google’s search engine that your page is mobile friendly. Use this Mobile Friendly Testing tool by Google to analyze your website.
Fred
Fred was launched in March, 2017 to further prevent low quality content, paid ads overload, manipulative SEO techniques, and pages with little user benefits. The key with this update was to avoid too many ads placements and focus on providing quality content with strong link quality.
BERT Update
The BERT update was launched in October, 2019 and is considered as one of the major algorithm updates. Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) helps a machine understand what sentences mean. The update analyzes search queries rather than pages, which further puts an emphasis on user intent and search relevance.
As previously mentioned, there are many Google algorithm updates. Everything simply comes down to creating high quality content and providing direct value. User-first mentality and consistency allows for a successful long term SEO strategy.
Stay updated on the latest SEO updates and all-things digital marketing by subscribing to our newsletter.
